Citizenship: America's great 20th century failing

I'm not talking about citizenship, as in the latest partisan argument du jour about our nation's Southern border and migration policies. I'm talking about citizenship the way it was used and taught in our schools back in the first half of the previous century - that now-nearly-lost-forever amalgam of habits, rules, and social norms that all served to temper a person's natural self-interest, forging behavior that somehow seemed to nearly always support "the collective" (that would be what used to be known as a community).

In perusing today's New York Times I see articles about a range of seemingly disparate topics:

• In the wake of the collapse of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis/St. Paul, it turns out that thousands of bridges in the US are in a similar state of disrepair. Officials are citing lack of available funds as one reason for it, along with local governments choosing to shunt off responsibility for footing the bills to their successor administrations;
• the world of sports being undermined by steroids, unscrupulous officiating, and unsavory off-the-field behavior (such as breeding fighting dogs);
• young and even pre- teens, pushed by over-zealous parents to focus on and excel in a single sport, seeking the help of psychologists to help them overcome mental blocks;
• families living in Silicon Valley communities with net worths over a million dollars, some in the several millions, feeling they need to keep working to keep up (with what it is not always clear);
• an editorial writer reacting to last week's article about medical costs and the way high salaries paid to doctors are a big part of the problem. The writer wanted to ask whether anyone thought his or anyone else's kids, who were capable of getting into med school, would do so if the salary for doctors was limited to a paltry $120,000 per year, the way it is in Europe;
• a recap of the week's news, showing how members of the President's cabinet, when asked to testify against Gonzales, invoked executive privilege in refusing to testify.

See the trend? No? In each one of these items there is a common theme. In some ways it will come as no surprise. The theme is greed. This should not be news to anyone over the age of about six years old, who can understand the concept.

What may come as a surprise (to some, anyways) is that greed is not the relatively harmless pursuit many of the over-achieverers or the other self-absorbed think it is. The bridge that collapsed killing a dozen or so motorists was caused by greed. And I don't mean some abstract, governmental notion of greed - I'm talking about the only kind of greed that truly exists: the greed of individuals. Leaders. People who are more concerned about maximizing their own little patch in this country than they are about the safety and well-being of those they were elected (and entrusted) to serve. For if I'm a local official and know about the need to spend extra dollars, but driving for that spending will either upset voters, or otherwise compromise my ability to do things that would get me even more votes, then I won't do it - even though it's the right thing to do.

And if I'm a professional cyclist training for the Tour, and I believe that using banned chemicals is the only way to be successful - and earn fame and fortune - then I will do it, even though I know it's wrong.

And if I'm a member of the President's cabinet, and I think I can save my hide by lying, or otherwise corrupting the proceedings against me or my administration, I will do it, even though I know it's wrong.

And if I'm a bright, school-minded teenager looking at career options, and doctoring doesn't pay enough, then I'm going to Wall Street, even though I really care about medicine, and helping people.

What in the hell has happened to us? When did we, as a people, stop caring about each other completely, and turn our focus so single-mindedly on ourselves? We have lost much of our understanding of what it means to be part of a collective; to be citizens who are part of one nation. We have forgotten what it was like to settle untamed wilderness, establish communities that banded together to fight the elements, ensure enough food to endure hard winters, and help each other build whatever the community needed to survive. In other words, maybe we've lost any sense of needing to rely on each other.

This is sad. It is frustrating. For a growing number of people the inequity of it all is infuriating. Marx predicted rebellion of the masses would be the outcome of a society that becomes too lopsided. Are we headed that way? Would that be a good thing? Is the war in the Middle East a well-considered diversion, intended by the current administration to keep attention off of the growing inequity and societal collapse inside our own borders?

I hope we can rediscover what it means to be a citizen again. I hope we can remember how important it was to our survival to be a part of "the collective." One suggestion: re-introduce the teaching citizenship to our children. Make it mandatory. I don't think that's enough, though. A lot of this starts at home - with parents whose values are communicated to their offspring as sure as day follows night. Wake up, people! We are doing this to ourselves.

A Gen Joneser's rant against being called a Boomer

John-John Kennedy was only three or four years old when his father was killed. And the image of this young boy saluting at the side of his father's casket is the only memory I have of that historic time, because I was four years old, too. I am not a boomer. Boomers went to Woodstock, burned their draft cards, had free love, and were the first yuppies. I was playing with Tonka trucks, watching Johnnie Quest, worrying about herpes and then AIDS, and wondering why I bothered going to college because it sure didn't look like there were many jobs available in 1982 when I graduated.

I was born in 1959, and am part of a cohort born from 1955 to 1964 that has about as much to do with boomer mores and cultural icons as Jimi Hendrix has to do with disco (the latter, by the way, was the music my generation was listening to when we "came of age.").

So create labels if you must; but please, leave me out of the Boomer group. I am a Generation Joneser - as in, "jonesing" for all the promises that were made to us, only to find out they were gone or otherwise unavailable by the time it was our turn. Oh, and in case anyone's interested, there are more of us than there are of those born in the previous decade.

Hey Madison Avenue! Are you listening??

A response to Stanley Fish's article in the NYT

Stanley Fish's article entitled, The Three Atheists, appeared in today's NYTimes. In it he reviewed three recent books on the topic of the irrationality and danger of religious faith. After reading his opinion piece I was moved to write my own comment on the subject, which I've reproduced here. I've been wanting to say this for a long time. Fish's article was just the trigger I needed, I guess.

_____________________________________________________________

That man has evolved a faith-based system of beliefs is not surprising - so many things which effect his livelihood and survival have been mostly out of his control for so long, it’s perfectly understandable that as a rational species we would evolve a super-being to whom we could plea for assistance. Farmers and hunters have forever been at the mercy of nature’s systems, whose mechanisms even now are poorly understood.

Even atheists must surely find themselves “hoping” for something to happen in their favor once in a while. From there is it not a short step to fashion some sort of mysterious being who, if not omnipotent, can at least tune in to our brain’s broadcast frequency and receive its signal? And then “hopefully” act on our request? It’s this second part, especially, that requires some kind of faith - in a power greater than ourselves, and, more to the point, greater than our limited understanding of the workings of nature would allow.

And so there’s the rub. Centuries of momentum are carrying us and our blissful ignorance merrily along the war-torn road strewn with IEDs, even in the face of dramatic advances in scientific knowledge and the education systems for its dissemination. Is it not fair to say that a fifth grader (third grader?) is educated to a level that would have exceeded all but perhaps a handful of the most highly educated people available in the 18th century?

The good news is - somewhere along the line we discarded the pantheon of gods from our polytheistic days, and settled on just a single god (or three or four - if you consider each of the major religions having a different one) in a monotheistic belief system.

I remain hopeful (to no god in particular) that we are now short steps away from humanity finally coming to the realization that the notion of retaining one last god of their choice is no less fanciful, and no more rational, than the belief system of the ancient Romans and Greeks, with their Hera and Zeus atop Mount Olympus.

— Posted by tom short

An Artist's Spark

Maybe what makes artists different is their ability to keep alive and visible to the world the spark that fires their soul, and the light that shines from it becomes their work.

I was musing on this as I left a meeting, and reflected on the things I left unsaid, the thoughts and feelings I had that remain unheard. They were sentiments that came straight from the flame in my soul. Why couldn't I let them out? What prevented me from giving them their due? That's simple: politics and business sense.

Having just been beat up for being a bit too real with my colleagues, I found myself editing my thoughts, even ones that seemed to me quite relevant.

And so perhaps this is the deal we all make - we keep the spark hidden, and the glow of our soul never sees the light of day, never shines for others to see. And at some point, for many folks, I suppose, it just sort of dies out.

So the challenge is, to keep the spark alive, to keep the flame aglowing, and to let that fire my passions and vision without leading to my destruction.

Razor Scooter Racing - new way to stay in shape?

[This was originally written as a series of posts on the CCS Forum, a discussion board for motorcycle roadracers. You can visit the forum here: http://www.ccsforum.com ].

It may seem hard to believe, but Razor scooter racing may be one of the best things you can do for off-season training. If that sounds crazy, or you think I'm pulling your leg, read on.

I bought my now-3.5-year-old nephew a Razor for his b-day this past summer so he could try to keep up with his two older sisters. In November Mom and Dad (his grand parents) hosted Thanksgiving at their house which is located on a small cul de sac. Only instead of the circle being wide open, it's got land in the middle of it, you know, like an oval race track.

So being a good uncle, and wanting to take full advantage of the 65 deg thanksgiving weekend weather, I thought I would encourage my neph/godson to take his Razor out for a lap around the "track" so he could show me his riding skills. His sisters joined in, and the next thing you know, I've got the three of them lined up and listening to me as I explain the basic rules of roadracing. Fifteen seconds was about all the time I had before one of them took off, the other two in hot pursuit.

After about, oh, five laps, Jake comes around and pretty much falls off his Razor into the grass, exhausted. Score one for Uncle T with the sister-in-law .

My nieces still had some gas left in them, and they cheered me on to join in the fun - "C'mon, Uncle Tom, you try it!" Wondering whether the tiny-looking device would hold up under my turkey-laden decidely-unchild-sized body, I hesitated for a moment, and then decided "what the heck." Caroline even offered to adjust the handle up for me, so I didn't have to race in a nearly-doubled-over hunch. So there we were, Caroline, Jennifer and I lined up and ready to launch. Caroline was assigned double duty as not only racer, but starter.

"One-two-three-GO!" And we're off. No one provided any details regarding race length, much less allowable equipment mods. But we were off like a shot anyway, and 8-year-old Caroline and younger Jennifer were both giggling with glee as we headed down the slight incline on the hole-shot toward T1, with Caroline clearly in the lead. I thought about dropping under her and stuffing her in the corner and started kicking harder, but still couldn't catch her. Coming off T1 (or NASCAR 2) the downhill becomes an uphill, the finish line is at the apex of T2, and it looked like Caroline was going to hold her lead.

But power ends up giving me the edge and I gain on her as we cross the line, and now it's half a scooter length as we head back down the hill. She's laughing at me, now, and taunting me - "I'm faster than you are, Uncle Tom". Between gasps I manage to sputter out to her, "There's more to racing than going fast."

Coming off T2 (NASCAR 4) I begin using some race strategy - I'm next to her on the inside, so I start walking her out toward the curb. I know she won't push back too hard - I'm bigger than her (hey, she's got nearly 40 years on me - I figure it's fair). Then as we head into T1, I dive in for the apex and exit wide, maintaining corner speed and flying up the hill. She's trying to follow, but runs wide, loses all her mo, and starts struggling up the hill to catch up.

At this point I could've just checked out, but I thought, what fun would that be? I'd end up exhausting myself, and have no more racing while I'm doing it. So I backed off a bit. And Caroline starts shrieking that little girl shriek - it's not really a scream, more like a giddy shrill squeal. This time she chooses an inside line coming off T2 so I can't walk her to the curb again as we head down the hill into 1. Smart girl. "You won't beat me now, Uncle Tom," she cries.

So she's got the inside and she's feeling pretty good about taking the corner and leading me up the hill. But this one is an easy one. She's got the inside line, and sets up for more of a radius turn, while I flare wide so I can dive into the apex, take a wide exit, and preserve the all-important mo as we head up the hill. And as a bonus, just for grins, I figured I could hit the apex tight and pinch her off to boot! MMMMWWWUUUWWWAAAHHH....(I know, I am an evil sh*t).

And it works - perfectly. I mean, Rossi perfect. I am a god. Poor Caroline is confused and demoralized. She can't understand how her ancient uncle could possibly be pulling her up the hill, with a clear lead and no hope now of recovery.

I figure it's a good learning opportunity for her - maybe upon further reflection she will - hopefully sooner than later - grasp the full meaning of the old saw I left her with: "Age and treachery generally overcome youth and enthusiasm." She collapses in the grass, I raise my arms in triumph, and make my way to the pits, chuckling to myself - "evil, Uncle Tom. Truly evil." But it sure was fun.

And then my older sister, Maggie, pipes up - hey, Tom, want to have a try with me?

"Uh oh" I say to myself. I've now got several laps in, and I'm feeling it a bit. Fortunately I've been mountain biking a good bit, so I at least have some conditioning. But that, alas, will be of little use to offset what my sister Maggie is bringing to the table. Although three years my senior, my sis happens to be an aerobics instructor. And marathoner. And, most recently, triathlete. Yup. And, altho she has no racing experience, she got the same competitive gene that I have. So this is going to be interesting.

The five board comes up, and she takes off on young Caroline's pink Razor, going for a couple warmup laps and checking her set up. The bars on these things are adjustable, and max high seems to work best for anyone over about four feet tall. Maggie figures this out quickly.

And now the one board is out, and Caroline is the starter, and we're off - it's a clean start and we're both pushing like mad as we head down the hill into one. I give Maggie the holeshot, figuring she's going to walk me up the hill and leave me in the weeds. "Man is she strong," I think to myself as I puff up the hill.

But I notice a bit of a wobble in her turning technique - she still hasn't gotten comfortable in the turns on these things - not surprising - they're kind of twitchy.

So on the second lap I power down the hill, not even worrying that she's on the inside line. I keep it wide and give one almighty push just before I tip it in and head for the apex. This propels me right over the top of her - she was slowing way down for the turn so we never even came close to colliding. Meanwhile I've got both feet on the scooter deck, and I'm just sailing, carving a nice, smooth arc around the turn. Then it's max power as we head up the hill. And she is toast. She can't believe it. I can't believe it. "How did you get up that HILL so fast?" she begs to know. "It doesn't look like much, but, man, it takes some oomph out of you to get up it."

I just laugh. "There's two things you need to know about racing, Mag. First, you need to know about going fast. And second, you need to know about racing!"

"Huh?" she asks. I just laugh. I'm done for the day, and as I give Jake his scooter back I have a big boy-was-that-fun grin on my face that's usually reserved for pitbike racing in the dirt on race weekends. I also realize how much my right thigh is burning from the isometric workout I just had - and what a workout it was. May have to organize some more of these races - just might keep me in shape during the off season.

Steal This: Fat Monitor

When the subject of weight and dieting come up, most people look at me and comment on how "in shape" I am. This is not a brag. And like many others who receive such compliments, I believe they really think that, but I personally know "the truth." Which is, I am in ok shape. But I still could shed 5-10 lbs from my gut and I'd be a lot happier with how I look.

So I moderate what I eat, and I exercise a bit, and try to walk places rather than drive or take public transport. But that gut just doesn't go away. You all know what I'm talking about - anyone who has ever tried to drop a couple pounds knows how difficult it is. And I can't say I understand what some people must have to cope with, trying to drop 30 or 40 or 100 or more. Can't imagine what that must be like.

I do know for my own self that one of the challenges to losing weight is knowing how much food is the right amount of food to eat at any given time. My present strategy involves guesstimating how much food it would take to sate me at a meal, and then trying to cut that in half, and eat a more limited amount. I do this because I've learned that about a half hour later I'm going to feel "full." And if I don't go for the half, and instead munch down the whole burrito (or whatever), it'll slip right down while I'm enjoying it, but in about a half hour I'll feel like I just swallowed a bowling ball. Not good.

But even with my halving strategy, I still find I am creeping up on the waist line, and I really don't like it. So what to do?

Well, what if I could monitor some bodily statistic throughout the day that would tell me whether the current food intake level was in the "gain", "hold" or "lose" range, weight-wise? You know, the way a diabetic monitors their glucose level using one of those electronic monitors with a drop of blood. What if I could see the numbers behind what my body is doing with the food I have eaten thus far in the day, and then gauge what I eat next based on those numbers?

I do this when I work out - with a heart-rate monitor. Gets to the point where I can tell what my heart rate is without looking at the readout, based on how hard I'm breathing, and what I'm feeling.

I really believe that if I could monitor whether my body was getting fatter or thinner in realtime throughout the day I would learn how to eat the right amount all the time, rather than guessing and halving, which is not working that well - but it's better than nothing.

Anyone know of a technology that can do this? Does it exist? Is it physiologically possible??

Postscript: on further research, I found a science journal article related to this published on the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition website. It is entitled, Biomarkers of satiation and satiety. It appears researchers are asking this question and finding some ways of providing answers. It also appears that a definitive answer does not yet exist. Stay tuned!

Steal This: Hearing aid + Bluetooth cell headset = ?

Have you noticed how the makers of hearing aids are responding to boomer vanity by advertising ever-more invisible versions of their product? And guess what? Phil Specter-loving, wall-of-sound-listening, turn-it-up-to-11-concert-going Boomers are going to need hearing aids, make no mistake about it. But they sure don't want anyone to know it.

On the other hand, I see people of all ages walking around with flashing blue contraptions stuck to the side of their heads making them look like some kind of freakazoid escapee from one of those nutty space serials on tv. Far from trying to hide the fact that they have this thing stuck to their head, these people seem to be trying to show off the fact that they have their head wirelessly connected to their cell phone (or is it an iPod?). "Look ma, no hands."

So...why not build one that does both? As long as there are a fair number of folks who think it's cool to walk around with this humongous electronic growth stuck to side their head, why not incorporate a hearing aid into it? Or, just build a hearing aid, flashing blue lights and all, that looks like one of these bluetooth rigs, but really is just a hearing aid?

Then you could be hip and deaf, and no one would be the wiser. Just a thought. Hello? Oticon? You there?

Big Green - A story from the future

IBM recently hosted Innovation Jam, a 72-hour web-based multilogue aimed at generating ideas for innovations in government, finance, sustainability, etc. One of the ideas was for IBM to move into services and consulting around something dubbed Big Green Services (a play on their informal moniker, Big Blue).

A technique called scenario planning is a useful way to encapsulate the richness of an idea without fully describing it in detail. I like playing with scenarios and decided to take a shot at writing one that would provide a sort of future vision of what Big Green Services might look like. This can be useful as a way of then determining what things need to be happening now, if the future vision is going to be realized. So here's my story from the future:
=============================================

Big Green Services: A story from the future
By: Tom Short © 2006

In 2007 IBM signed partnership agreements with the five largest energy utilities in the US to develop, sell and deliver energy conservation solutions across six targeted industries, plus residential. With energy prices skyrocketing and consumers becoming increasingly agitated with the attendant rise in prices and little corresponding rise in wages, the Fed and most State governments lined up with the new partnership, so that by 2008 there were matching incentives across the board to support the integrated energy conservation solution offerings that IBM and its various utility partners had jointly developed.

Now, in 2012, the wisdom of these pacts is easy to understand: energy savings equivalent to 10 new nuclear units are directly attributable to the partnership. Significant reductions in consumption and deep-computing-based approaches to grid operations management have put off major investments in transmission grid expansion, resulting in further cost savings for rate payers.

The future looks even brighter, since the joint IBM-utility partnership joined forces with Europe, Japan and Russia in a concerted effort to solve economically feasible fusion leveraging IBM's considerable research capabilities. Proof of concept is expected by 2014, and if all goes well, a prototype 100 MW unit could be operating by 2016.

The combination of the utilities' experience with transmission and distribution operations, and familiarity with customer needs, combined with IBM's world-class service-based business model were what made it all possible.
___________________________________________________
Originally posted on the IBM Global Innovation Jam Wiki
site, September, 2006.

=====================================

Interestingly enough, I just read a news feed this morning about a multi-nation consortium that has pulled together funding to push fusion research ahead. Will be interesting to see what their timing is. Here's the article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6165932.stm

Update: 12/07/2006: http://www.poweronline.com/content/news/article.asp?docid=b133d3d5-8219-4a1c-8be2-a8bf2408f126

Note to Gen Y: Please Don't Pull a "Lindsey"

In the closing hundred or so yards of her snowcross run for gold, snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis got so "caught up in the moment" that she apparently forgot she was in an Olympic race for gold, and crashed while attempting an airborne showboating move. The resulting silver medal would normally be cause for great celebration and feelings of accomplishment. And at some level I’m sure she must be feeling some of this.

On the other hand, this 20-year-old is also going to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that the gold was hers without a doubt except for what can only be described as a momentary lapse of judgement. Bummer, dude.

For the rest of us, the collective groan will probably be emitted for as long as the scene is replayed: it could well become this century’s "Agony of Defeat" clip. But more than that, I think it is emblematic of a generation: a disturbing omen, maybe a wakeup call, and almost certainly a preview of things to come.

Linsey Jacobellis and her peers are the neo-adult children of the Boomers, a great many of whom have grown up not with the proverbial spoons of silver, but rather gold or even platinum. Good looks, good grades, cool toys, hip gadgets, bohunk clothes, lap of luxury lifestyles – what’s the big deal? Everybody’s got it all, right? And how hard could it be to get anyway? Cool.

Well, Miss Jacobellis just received a dose of real life, and life can be cruel to those who take their eye off the ball at the wrong time. And it very often punishes hubris (look it up-it's a good word), something that has not changed since the Greeks.

A generation of future leaders, jaded with an unearned sense of success and over-inflated self-esteems, are going to learn Lindsey’s lesson the same way she did. They are going to be ahead of the pack on their way to the finish line of whatever race they are in, get caught up in the moment, pull a showboat move and blow the finish.. Then they are going to sit back and ponder what just happened, and how it could possibly have happened to their own good selves.

Unfortunately, it will not be a snowcross run in the Olympics. It will be competing in business with overseas countries full of people who are really hungry for success, who grew up without any spoons at all. In the 21st Century’s global, energy-constrained economy the US still has a lot of work to do to stay ahead. Fuel cells, fusion, sustainability, healthcare, social integration – each pose technical, political and cultural challenges equal to or greater than the challenges we faced – and overcame – in the last century.

The US would have to be the odds-on favorite to crack each of these sooner than later, and in so doing increase the chances that we can preserve the prosperity and security we have enjoyed as a country for so long. We just have to hope that the young talent just now coming into its own will overcome the urge to "get caught up in the moment" and avoid "pulling a Lindsey" long enough to make the big breakthroughs.

The alternative? Well, whatever.

Working

On Working

As I continue my search for a "real job" I find myself musing on my decision to exit the world of "real work" in the first place, as well as how I reached my conclusion that it is perhaps the sanest place for me after all.

The photography detour worked perfectly - a sabbatical away from all things corporate and big business, it gave me a chance to live out of my right brain for several months, and stop thinking entirely about the things that have occupied me workwise for the last ten years or more.

But through my pursuit of photography I have come to realize that the types of problems it asks me to solve seem somehow less expansive and complex than the problems I focused on in business. No surprise there, I guess. Compare these two challenges:

1. the challenge of figuring out how to get a group of fifty plant process engineers located in five different countries to identify and proactively share their ideas with each other, regardless of timezone, language, or plant pecularities

2. the challenge of figuring out how to adequately light a large room with strobe, and ensure the resulting flash is uniform, and does not create any unwanted shadows or flares in the image.

While both pose challenges that require solid problem-solving skills and analysis, it has become clear to me that I’m much better at, and happier, working on the first one. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever get to the point with my photo work that I’ll feel as consumed by any particular photo assignment as I do with virtually every client engagement I’ve ever worked on. And I don’t believe this is a function of the knowledge I have available to bring to bear being substantially less in the photo area, due to my less-intense pursuit of it over the years.

I think it has to do with the inherent complexity of the challenges that large systems pose. There’s so much going on, and an infinite variety of ways to proceed, that just getting to the point of understanding what’s important to focus on is an undertaking. And it is one that I really like.

So an insight I’ve gotten from this is: An interesting life is one that is filled with activities that provide the opportunity to exert the fullness of one’s genious in the service of some pursuit. A successful life, then, is one where those pursuits are in the service of some worthwhile cause.

• Motorcycle roadracing – full on intensity – maybe the greatest of all. Not particularly worthwhile, tho.
• Skiing – ditto.
• Consulting – very intense, and sometimes worthwhile. Depends on the industry the client is in and the type of project.

So perhaps the goal should be to continue on with the Work, and find industries that have a purpose larger than only making money.

So this is a composite shot I made. We have a skating rink in the middle of downtown (Milwaukee), and I just started shooting skaters the other day. I've been playing with deleting backgrounds and putting my cutout subject on plain white - I like the effect. With these skaters it's easy to simply turn the ice into pure white, and then put a bunch of skaters all in one frame. Next: play with scale (viz Bruegel).

Politics - a continuation of business by other means...

Think about it - it really is. And it is one of the great misfortunes of the 20th centure. Capitalism has a lot to answer for, to be sure. At the top of my list would be its surefooted erosion of civic values and social-mindedness into the deplorable state in which we find ourselves today. The United States. What a joke.

Big money directs big politics regarding what to do, which is to maximize the return on big money. Society? Social welfare? Civility? Who cares? These are not the stuff of economic success. Or are they?

When traveling overseas I am sometimes embarrassed to disclose the fact that I'm an American because of how we behave at home. More and more, I fear, we are becoming a greedy, uncouth people - self-absorbed and utterly uncaring about anyone or anything else.

Modern Art and photography - now what do I do?

Well, after yesterday's visit to the Art Institute in Chicago I must say I enjoyed reading this thread. Consider:

In the Modern Art gallery - around 13 framed 8-1/2x11 sheets of white graph paper, island mounted and framed in white, portrait, with a single pencil-drawn diagonal line drawn corner to corner, from NW to SE. That's it. Nothing more. Whither narrative (they can't speak - but do they need to??? - I sure as heck couldn't figure it out)? Whither metaphor?? Hmmm...

Upon reading the artist's explanation, it turns out these were inspired by his now-dead partner's medical readouts of his T-cell count, which was basically in decline as he died of AIDS. So the artist made these graph pages, and framed them. Interesting - as far as it goes. Empathy? Of course - dealing with death and dying must invoke that. But art? I'm still having trouble with that.

On the other hand, if narrative is an important aspect of art, then these works are loaded with it - only when one understands the narrative behind the work does the work suddenly come alive. Very odd. I find myself continuing to reflect on these works today as I write this. And research it (check this out: http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/singular_forms/highlights_13a.html ).

Dunno. Certainly has implications for our work in photography. Certainly makes me question even bothering with "pretty picture" compositions any more.

A couple black/white pix I'm working on.

I took this shot a few days ago, out the window of my car while I was stopped at a traffic light. I find myself doing that, or more often wanting to do that, a lot. Makes me wish, sometimes, that I had a hood mounted camera or something like that, where I could snap a shot where ever I happened to be looking when I wanted to.



This is a straight b/w conversion from a color raw file. I was trolling through a bunch of raws that I hadn't looked at before when I found it. I immediately thought it would look good as b/w, so I converted it in Photoshop. Did some minor adjustments to the tone, but it's otherwise pretty much a straight, full frame shot.

Greetings 

Greed - the real driver of the Battle at Harvard?

Mr. Atlas’s assertion that Harvard’s woes are a function of this decade’s culture war is presented as a self-evident truth that bears no further inquiry (NY Times, Sunday, February 27, 2005, The Week In Review, p 14). That the woes exist is certainly beyond debate. That their source lies in our nation’s left/right, red/blue, secular/religious axes should not be conceded so quickly, however.

To me the turmoil at Harvard could just as easily be attributed to an insidious, and as-yet not much talked about, aspect of our culture. Insidious and not discussed because it is so pervasive it has become the water in which we swim – which is to say, it is transparent to us. Let us consider for a moment the dynamics of 21st century capitalism, and the greed it has inspired.

As the capitalists themselves continue to be swept up in corruption and scandals we can account for it as overzealousness on the part of the perpetrators – they are capitalists, so that is what they do. Sometimes they just get carried away. And then there are the bloated salaries bestowed upon entertainment figures, which we endorse, if not envy, as a way of adding to their fantastical lives which we embrace for their escapism value.

So far, so good. “Greed is good, greed is right, greed clarifies…,” to quote a line from a late ‘80s film that did a nice job of capturing the zeitgeist of its era. This is what we’ve come to expect, so the fact that things get a little out of hand now and then is no surprise. And the NHL is the latest entertainment franchise forced to cancel it’s season due to getting a little out of hand.

Through the nineties, however, we add to corporate titans and entertainment superstars politicians and public servants as the latest casualties of our greedy culture. The county executive who is discovered to have overseen the padding out of pension plans for long-term county employees, resulting in huge obligations that local taxpayers will have to shoulder. The nonprofit leader running an inner city alternative choice school who is found to be diverting school funds to his personal accounts.

So now we have to accept that civil servants, people who we trust to have put the community’s interests ahead of their own, just by virtue of the fact that they took the job in the first place, now these servants can no longer be fully trusted to be acting in the local community's interests. This is a turning point. It’s one thing when people whose primary purpose is to make money overstep ethical or legal lines and find themselves in trouble for it.

But when people who have signed up to serve the community in local politics or nonprofit public service agencies are caught using their position to line their own pockets, then we have entered a new era. I’m not talking about national or even state-level pols, either. (Can you name a president of the United States, or a governor, past or recent, who was accused of using their office to increase their own material good? National and state level players are about power, not personal wealth – at least not while they’re in office. Aren’t they?).

The greed that was previously limited to the capitalist coliseum that is business American-style has suddenly found its way into the institutions we have entrusted with running and improving our communities – institutions run by self-less, dedicated individuals who have decided to follow a higher calling in spite of the relative lack of material gain that calling would confer.

And finally, we come to the Harvard situation, where now it is not just individuals within the institutions taking advantage of their trusted positions for personal gain - that is already becoming a familiar story. Now we find these individuals - these leaders - becoming more sophisticated, using their institutions as vehicles for realizing their own corrupted dreams of money, power and success. In the process they transform these institutions, making them more like a listed corporation – that faceless legal entity that is capable of all manner of wrong-doing, but almost impossible to prosecute criminally when its actions are discovered (you can’t put Enron in jail – there is, and never was, an Enron – only people who hide behind its corporate charter, and run for cover when things go south).

This latest development replaces the Main Street focus we once rightly assumed our public institutions had with something more at home on Wall Street. Nowhere is this juxtaposition of ostensible versus actual mission more apparent than at our elite universities. Why are tuitions climbing at such a fast rate? Look at the salaries of professors and administrators. Were these not once noble professions, populated by individuals who emerged from a process of self-selection, honored to be allowed the chance to do their research and teach at an institution of such heritage? A good wage may have been the norm - but not a great wage. A decent living, yes. The life of a rock star, no. Not any more.

It’s a competitive market out there, baby, and you’ve got to pay these prima donna Dons what they are worth on Wall Street, or it’s hasta la vista.

The transformation of our nation, of our culture, is now complete. We have local politicians and nonprofit leaders who prioritize personal gain over public good; we have church leaders rethinking how their institutions will have to morph in order to fend off the lawsuits from not only past offences, but also current liability claims for legitimate accidents that occurred during events for which they were the sponsor. And we have our most cherished, elite institutions transitioning away from their noble heritages of self-less mission toward greedy excess and “me-first” thinking.

Most disturbing of all, however, is that no one in the US seems to think anything is amiss. Could these problems be symptoms of the evil that our detractors in other countries are accusing us of? Are we too immersed in it to see it for what it is? We all secretly want a piece of the pie, don’t we? So what’s wrong with looking out for #1, and doing what little we can to grab it when the opportunity presents itself.

As a nation we are, and for a long time have been in denial, when it comes to all things capitalist. The Harvard battle is not about political leanings - it is about trying to reconcile the dissonance that is now an embedded feature of our country's culture. Maybe the Harvard issues will wake us up to that reality. (But I doubt it).

Chantin' in the Mansion

Originally posted: Friday, March 07, 2003

Posted 7:41 AM by tom
When I mentioned to my brother that there was a meditation/chant tonight and I was thinking about attending, he informed me that he was aware of a recent surge of meditation activity around town - people getting together and group meditating - all in the name of peace. I wasn't aware of any purpose attached to this evening's chant session. I just thought it would be nice to engage in a group meditation, as I hadn't done that for awhile.

As we discussed the notion of "chanting for peace", it occurred to me that this was yet another misguided Boomer-driven attempt to co-opt something spiritual and turn it to their own purposes. In this case, the purpose could be described as avoiding confronting the real issues that are at the root of the conflict we find ourselves in.

Consider the quote, attributed to Karl Marx: "In the birth of every system are sown the seeds of its own destruction." (Details, source, corrections gratefully accepted).

Then consider American society, our Constitution, and capitalism. One of the great things about the American experiment thus far has been the apparent adaptability of our system of rules, as defined in the Constitution. This system continues to operate after 200 years, and three major economic ages: Agrarian, Industrial, and now the Post-Industrial/Information age. What insight, what wisdom the Founders had, in defining such a malleable system. It is truly a marvel. The timing of it was spectacular.

Just before the Industrial Age was about to see it's first dawn, a group of renegades from Europe staked a claim to a vast landmass of then-boundless resources, interior water routes for transportation, and generally agreeable weather. The set of rules they established encouraged free thinking, the right to profit from one's ideas and labors, and the free flow of goods. And the Industrial Age was just getting underway. Capitalism was born, and what a healthy newborn it was. Consumerism had to evolve, too. How else to provide the massive pull on production, to drive an economy fueled by our bounty of natural resources, ingenuity and labor?

And therein lies the rub. Consumerism coupled with the Western tradition of focusing on other rather than self creates the juggernaut that may yet prove to be our undoing. And no amount of meditation is likely to change it - especially if we're "meditating for peace" ("other," not "self"). Which is why the title of this rant is "Chantin' in the Mansion." We want both - but it's the mansion that will be our undoing. Champagne socialism is still the goal, the ideal that many Americans aspire to. How can families earning $100k a year (with both parents working) possibly be considered among the "working poor," when that amount of household income is probably among the top one percent in the world?

The truth is, that meditating for peace won't work. It may help people feel better about living the excessive lifestyles we have come to expect in this country, but it won't assuage our detractors' animosity toward us. And backing off on consumerist behavior, on the desire for more, is not an option the majority of Americans will be willing to embrace.

So in the end I think we are in a precarious position. Twenty years ago it would have been hard to fathom how Marx could have been right about the seeds of destruction - "not this time" would have been the likely retort. I wish I could feel more optimistic about the future, but I don't. I think he was right. And it ain't gonna be pretty.