“The end of the world as we know it.”

Posted on April 5, 2010 by

Somehow I missed the music of the ’50s and ’60s and so I’m catching up in the ’10s. A fast Internet connection, a subscription to Pandora, a couple of speakers* in my study—and I can listen to streaming music as I work. R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” caught my ear: fast, funky and provocative. These days, “The end of the world as we know it” seems like the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the ,truth about life in general and my life in particular. Maybe you feel the same way.

Everyday there is something new to learn: a new version of Photoshop, shifting my domains from one registrar to another, launching a blog. And those are the easy ones. It gets tougher. How do I support an adult daughter who is learning how to coach a young adult son who is learning how to be a good partner to his girl friend, both of whom are in the sink or swim school of hard knocks for being good parents of a new baby-due-any-minute-now, all at the same time. That’s a learning curve! If you followed the family tree, you’ll note that I have to learn how to become a decent grandfather and great-grandfather all at the same time. I’m too young for that kind of challenge. It really is the end of the world as I know it.

In the ’80s, R.E.M. sang , “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”

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Posted in society/culture, spiritual prowess, spirituality

Leaning forward, filling backward

Posted on April 2, 2010 by

There’s a lot of craziness going on these days. Broken political systems. Indecent wealth on the top and innocent suffering at the bottom. Name calling and shouting matches pretending to be free speech and civic responsibility. It’s not a pretty sight.

Streaming music and YouTube videos are awesome. My new Wacom Bamboo Dock and mini-apps is pure magic. We’re bathed in the delight of world music, fusions of this and that, instant downloads and HD on demand, and still the celebrities go nuts and get divorced while the homeboys shoot ’em up and babies die. We live in this amazing age of global connection and universal possibility and still the powers that be are fiddling around with their hands in the till and their minds on the next election.

I think we mostly know better, but can’t quite figure out what to do with the messiness that comes along with all of the miracles. Everything is too big, too complex, too entrenched, too scary, too heavy to lift or too hot to handle. I tend to ping-pong back and forth just trying to keep my mind sorted out and my attitude up. But it eats at my heart to see society bog down and people stay forgotten. We’ve got work to do before we play and playing is too much fun to burden with a guilty conscience or a distracting to do list because we didn’t stick to our knitting—caring for our neighbors. So what’s a cultural creative with an itch to write to do? Continue reading →

Posted in creativity, society/culture