The World at Lunch

With the world at lunch,
I am left to contemplate the silence
of the office.
Idle pens stand at attention
in the suvenier coffee mug;
the phone cord sleeps stretched
out on the desk like a sunning snake
on a sheet of limestone;
the curser blinks with impatience
because there's nobody home
to move her.
With the world at lunch,
the office festers with hunger.

Innovation and the Ideas Economy

Looking back through the political and cultural zeitguist of the Twentieth Century, one can point to several ideological trends that have guided thought, progress, and mid-wifed revolution. In the 1930s, it was the New Deal. In the 1960s it was the fight for civil rights. In the 1980s it was the superstar athlete. In the 1990s it was the internet, and digital music and photography. And now, looking back over the first decade of the Twenty-First Century, it is terrorism, nationalism, conservationism, activism, the smart consumer, and most importantly, in the 21st Century, it is innovation and ideas.

From our position in the eye of the largest economic recession since the Great Depression, we can turn our heads and notice a great diversity of problems that need our attention, and a great diversity of talent waiting to help. If Thomas Homer Dixon is right, if there really is an upside of down, then problems such as renewable energy will be the new challenge for a heroic idea yet to be explored, and the very challenge that molds a cure.

Around the world, our leaders are quick to point to the red sky at morn, and they are quicker still to worn us that it is innovation that will solve these problems. This must lead to thoughts of where this innovation will come from. Will it come from the billions around the world that live on $2 or less a day? Whatever the problem, our leaders are quick to point out that the cure, or big fixes, demands nurishing innovation.

Nurishing innovation begins in the schools around the world, where children have access to the type of stimulating environment that supplies perhaps the most fundamental element of innovation: inspiration! Whether you are looking at a painting, rehearsing a play, playing a muscial instrument, looking at molecules through a microscope, or disecting a fetal pig, the classroom is the breading ground for the ideas that this world needs.

However, during such economic times, it seems that education is being treated like the cherry on the sunday of life. If it is not a job that creates a product that people buy, that in turn creates disposable income for somebody else, it doesn't seem to matter. Take for example, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. This past weekend, CNN's John King, during his program State of the Union, interviewed the Governor about her embattled state. Michigan, the blue collar driver of the American automotive industry is doing whatever it can to help ease the pain of job losses and industry cut-backs. In reorganizing Michigan's economy, the Governor pointed out that school funding for art and music was cut to put money elsewhere.

Now, don't get me wrong, it is hard to argue against saving people's jobs in favour of funding a child to play musical instrument. But the symbol is more important. In a world so heavily reliant on the next big idea, education funding should be the last thing touched. Opportunities such as allowing a child to look through microscopes, or play musical instruments provide inspiration needed for real innovation. If we take these opportunities away, what are we left with?

Driving Through Memories

Driving through memories,

I get lost in their black & white 

picture frames    contains a shutter 

full of you & me.

Follow me down, 

down this trail with me,

past the coffee shops,

bus stops shelter me 

from the fall into the summer

time and play-ground swings   Under

the clear-night sky,

counting kisses and promises

spread out into the unknown of night

Driving through memories, 

at the place I've seen before   Though

I try not to notice their 

silent voices still ringing in my head   I get 

lost in the echos of the things we used to say

while daring the stars to blink back.   

The Activist

You're painting your face in the rain,

and it's getting you no where.

People comment on your pretty colours

as they disappear in the run-off 

that drowns your feet.

They don't understand you,

so they shoot you dead

stares

as they walk past.