A zen perspective on how we think about the future
In his Creativity_unbound blog, Edward Boches talks about the brilliant Uniform Project. Sheena Matheiken launched her social initiative last year as a fundraiser. She wore the same dress every day for year to make a statement about the value of simplifying your life and wardrobe. In the process she raised over $100,000 to send kids to school in India and learned that her fans and followers would help in a variety of ways — buying dresses, donating to causes, providing accessories, offering to spread the word...
Today’s NY Times reports on the growing US trend toward multi-racial identities. One in seven new marriages is between spouses of different races or ethnicities, according to data from 2008 and 2009 that was analyzed by the Pew Research Center. Multiracial and multiethnic Americans (usually grouped together as “mixed race”) are one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups. And experts expect the racial results of the 2010 census, which will start to be released next month, to show the trend continuing...
Last night I was a guest to Cleveland’s annual “Shorty” event. Here a group of about 100 filmies view and vote on the top three short film candidates for this year’s spectacular international film festival. Two of the top three selected by the group were on my top three list. A friend who has been a long time organizer at the event commented that favorites are often predictable even among very diverse films from diverse countries seen by a diverse crowd of indie film lovers. So it leads to the design inquiry: What...
In commentary on the protests in Egypt today, someone on Twitter today cleverly suggests that because of the government’s internet shutdown, the country should be renamed “Gypt.” Worldwide connectivity changes the transparency dynamic for transparency-disabled governments, leading to the question of whether there should be an international treaty disallowing any government or business to shut down internet access to paying customers. And while we're at it, should internet access be a human right given its evolving...
So this is a radical proposition. What if learning in schools was real? It’s the question: Why should schools engage students in any learning that doesn’t immediately benefit what is currently happening in the community? Why couldn’t they become literate in reading, communication, math, technology, science, history, arts, and life skills while contributing to what the community is already engaged in? They would actually learn what the community was engaged in. Businesses, health care, construction, gardening, public...
After 700 interviews and analysis, a US federal commission issued a report outlining the cocktail of causes behind the 2008 financial crisis. The “avoidable” crisis was a trifecta intersection of social irresponsibility (greed), non-transparency (deception), and ineptitude (incompetency) across a wide swath of the highest compensated and power wielding government and business leaders. Or as the academic jargon goes, it was a “systemic” phenomenon requiring systemic not compartmentalized fixes or prevention strategies...
The dinner conversation with a group of change agent friends last weekend featured the story of one woman’s experience teaching high school government in her wealthy white suburban school system. To facilitate learning on power, she divides the class into a majority and minority, identified by the wearing of different colored tags. Each group gets a different set of rules based on class inequality of power. For example, the minority can only use a designated bathroom, must take back seats in classes, and have other...
500 independent bookstore owners convened this month in Washington DC for the Winter Institute conference for their niche of the industry. They featured and debated new strategies for indie book selling, many of which fall into the non-book lure categories like integrating wine bars, cafes, educational programs, and other consumer product lines. It makes sense today since many books are read “with” other activities and interests that map to experiences and products. Some are relying on online e-book sales and social...
“We are at war.” This was a recent declaration by DeMaurice Smith, executive director who heads up the NFL union representing 1700 players whose average annual income in their average 10 year career is $1.7 million. The war is against the owners of teams who annually average $1 billion each. Money and power have been bed mates since the beginning of time. So, what is the collective responsibility of fans, if any, in this upward spiral?
10-time author and designer with a focus on change in organizations and communities. HappinessChoice.com. Contact Jack at jack(at)happinesschoice(dot)com
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