Photo copyright Norbert Rosing. This German photographer's books of photographs of polar bears are astonishing. This photo is one of a series
depicting spontaneous play between a bear, who wandered into a camp in
Northern Canada, and a sled dog team tied up there overnights, over the
course of a week. Thanks to my brother-in-law Paul Brun for the link.
Why the Institutional Education System is Beyond Fixing: John Taylor Gatto confesses the seven lessons that the education system really teaches:
(1) confusion, incoherence and disconnection (by teaching without
context), (2) know and stay in your place, (3) don't care too much, (4)
how to be emotionally dependent, (5) how to be intellectually dependent
(wait to be told what to do and think), (6) your self-esteem is
provisional on what others think of you, (7) you can't hide, even long
enough to think for yourself. The system was designed to produce
compliant industrial workers, but now operates on its own momentum.
Unschooling is the only way out. Lots more Gatto in these videos. Thanks to Avi Solomon for the links.
Do What Makes You Happy and See Where it Takes You:
Drawing on Joseph Campbell's work, Nick Smith wrote a thoughtful and
inspiring article back in 2006 on what might be called Improvisational
Living. Stop planning and seeking and start pursuing what you're
passionate about, what your instincts tell you. Recognize your true
bliss, not what you've been conditioned to believe you want and need.
Open yourself to new possibilities and realizations, and let go,
instead of doing what you think is good for you. Be true and gentle to
yourself, and allow yourself to discover what will really make you
happy. "We are only really happy when we are present in the moment." A must read. Thanks to Rick Wolff for the link.
A Global Warming Pep Talk: Richard
Heinberg at PCI cautions us not to burn ourselves out in the struggle
to educate and respond to the threats of global warming. Thanks to PCI's Richard Bell for the link. Now that the Antarctic ice is collapsing, we need to take heed of this advice.
Saul Griffiths' Game Plan for Global Warming: Great presentation deck with a bold approach, hard data and compelling graphics. A great companion to George Monbiot's Heat. Thanks to Avi Solomon for the link.
Obama's Economic Vision:
Although I continue to believe the winner of the 2008 US Elections
won't make a bit of difference to what will happen to our global
economy or civilization in the years ahead (just as Al Gore's vice
presidency made no difference), I've been reading the speeches, and if intelligence and vision were enough to bring about change, Obama's economic ideas would take us a long way back from the precipice on which we now sit.
How Was It to Be Dead?: An amazing short story
by Richard Ford from 2006 in the New Yorker about a man who's wife's
ex-husband suddenly reappears after being missing in Vietnam for 30
years. Thanks to Patti Digh (whose new book is now available for pre-order) for the link.
Nominations Open for Worst Corporate Offender: CAI is seeking input on the worst corporatists in the world.
World Cafe Meets Second Life:
George Lakoff's group held a World Cafe (an application of Open Space)
in Second Life, featuring my friends Nancy White and Michelle Paradis,
on the theme How can we use virtual reality to further progressive values? Nancy's brilliant graphic summarizing the event is below. Thanks to Siona for the link and Amy Lenzo for the writeup.
Thought for the Week: From Karl Weick's The Dynamics of Renewal: Renewal Through Writing (thanks to Andrew Campbell for the link):
The story line of renewal seems to be this: As earlier projects begin to unravel and turn sour, there is the perception that activities are becoming less sensible. That perception is the result of fragmentation
produced by a loss of context, ineffective sensemaking, or inattention to the world...The
feeling of disorder is reflected in questions (e.g. what’s the story,
why are we doing this, what’s wrong)... To reduce this disorder, people
need to act in ways that reconstruct context, strengthen sensemaking, and restore attention...[using] tactics such as: Listening, Writing, Goal-setting, and Dialogue.
Whenever
my projects stall, I write. I write free associationally to see what
relates to what and what those relationships might mean. I write
voluminously in the hope that I might generate some variation that will
prove to be a more attractive whole, a more sensible starting point, or
a more compelling outcropping for a languishing project.
I write
allegorically to capture small moments that may embody more vivid
summaries of ongoing projects. I write continually to find better words
and clearer ways to join them that improve the wisdom, sense, and
relevance of projects. I write indiscriminately in order to stumble
onto themes that would not normally show up given the limits of my
frames of reference. I write respectfully to get hints of the tacit
knowledge that might form part of the infrastructure of events. And I
write passionately to discover the "voice" that I may bring to an
issue, and what the resonance in that issue may be for me. |
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
