Profile Response: Starla Gresham Conway AR

Posted on January 26, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowStarla Gresham attended the Conway public schools, became a teacher, taught first grade for ten years, and then had the opportunity to join the Gifted and Talented (GT) team. As the ‘thinking teacher’ at a Conway elementary school, Starla spends one period every week with each K-4 class, and 2-1/2 hours per week with selected third and fourth graders in the Pinnacle program. Her class work includes projects like building something from a bag of trash and writing about it, or an extended version of twenty questions to untangle riddles like: ‘The baseball champions scored 12 runs but not a single man crossed home plate.’ (I guessed it was a woman’s team; in Starla’s riddle all the players were married). Starla has written a book on Creative Problem Solving and loves writing curriculum to help other teachers.

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-8-37-49-pmAfter visiting so many teachers who are disenchanted with our educational system it was a joy to spend time with a devoted teacher who still loves her work. Though she did say, “I’m glad not to have a regular classroom anymore. The restrictions on classroom teachers are so great these days.”

Consistent with her rigor, Starla investigated my website and prepared a response to my question as suggested by one of my earliest posts. Interestingly, even a GT teacher who specializes in riddles rephrased my question to the first person singular. That word ‘we’ is an uncomfortable one for most everyone.

How will we live tomorrow?

 

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How will I live tomorrow? Should I make this personal? I’m very much a “Pollyanna Positive” I see the glass completely full as opposed to ½ empty J

At this time my heart is very heavy as I watch my mommy disappear a little at a time each day. Alzheimer’s is such a cruel disease. This amazing woman did everything right, exercised every day, ate only healthy food, participated and taught bible studies on almost a college level, raised 4 wonderfully exceptional children almost single handily. (Dad was a traveling salesman) And now she’s forgotten how to brush her teeth. Every day when I go see here there is still that little sparkle in her eye when I walk in. My prayer is that the God she was so faithful too her entire life will take her by the hand “HOME” before that spark is completely gone. I live tomorrow with that hope and enjoy every second I have with her. Blessed!

I LOVE my job – I could stay home and make just as much money – but it’s not about money in the least! I LOVE my job! After 35 years I can’t see stopping. I will live tomorrow blessed to touch the lives of SO MANY innocent children (some stinkers) but where else can you work and feel like a super star when you walk in a room – kids waving arms, smiling, yelling Mrs. Gresham, Mrs. Gresham. Blessed!

Precious Baby Son – 500 words just aren’t enough! What an amazing son I’ve been blessed with to be a part of my life. I will live tomorrow watching him work so seriously on his Pharmacy degree. He takes the responsibility of helping so many people with such dedication, I will live with ride in my heart that I can call him Precious Baby Son!

How will I live tomorrow – hopefully making a difference in the people I come in contact with every day? My family knows I would do anything for them. My students know I’m always there for them. We have SO MUCH FUN – they don’t always realize they are learning. Blessed to have the freedom to freely worship my Heavenly Father. Just trying to be the best person I can be.

 

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Profile Response: Elysse Newman and Michael Repovich, Fayetteville AR

Posted on January 26, 2017 by paulefallon

 

HWWLT Logo on yellow“Architecture students are very good at applied problem solving and custom fabrication. There’s a certain degree of empathy that architecture students have.”

Elysse Newman and Michael Repovich exemplify the range of pursuits that can be launched from architectural training. The couple met in Washington DC, when they both worked for the large design firm, HOK. Elysse turned toward an academic and research path, focusing on the relationship between neurosciences and architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She taught at Florida International University, and recently became Head of the Department of Architecture at University of Arkansas. Michael kept his hand in direct practice, but recently switched to become the owners representative for the new children’s hospital under construction in Rogers.

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The U of A School of Architecture is renowned for its namesake, E. Fay Jones, whose finely conceived and crafted buildings gave Ozark regionalism international acclaim. Selecting Elysee, a research-driven architect, to head the department demonstrates a broader view of the school’s purpose. “U of A is changing as a whole. It’s promoting the public presence of higher education. What does an architect need to know in 2030? Look at the 99%: how can our students lead that conversation?

imagesElysse teaches a course in medical devices, an unusual offering in architecture. “We identify a user, observe, develop, and make prototypes.” As an example, Elysse described a group of students who recently developed an infill cushion that fit between the back and headrest of a standard wheelchair for a woman whose C5 injury was unsupported by that gap. “This is not the 1% design we see in magazines. It is not what the studio system promotes, but it makes a difference in people’s lives.”

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-7-38-27-pm“I think, despite appearances, we’re moving toward a more unified experience. Nationality is dying. We will continue to have regional differences; we will come to see the differences as good. We will come to understand ourselves as stewards of the earth. This is fifty to one hundred years out.

“We are not in a very good space right now. In the 1700’s you would see this dichotomy, ‘the best of times, the worst of times.’ We started to standardize time and measure. That was the beginning of physical globalization. Now we need to make the spiritual leap.

“This will have many ramifications. It will affect our view of women and men, race, money. The computer doesn’t care who you are. We have not caught up with how that changes us. This will affect every institution we have. Look at our politics. What we‘ve seen is because of social media, which is based on a computer.” – Elysse

“Depends on what tomorrow you’re talking about. Monday will be much like Sunday. We are coaxed into change, we don’t volunteer for it.

“In terms of the future I’m a doomsdayist. I think it’s going to be really challenging. We are damaging our capacity for human habitation. Our only saving grace is the balance between culture, technology, and resources. How we balance them will shape our tomorrow.” – Michael

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Profile Response: Kyla and Kurt Templeton Bentonville AR

Posted on January 25, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowEveryone in Bentonville has a Walton’s story, but Kurt Templeton’s is pretty good. His sister was Steuart Walton’s (third generation Wal-Mart heir) first girlfriend. True fact. One night when Kurt was eighteen, he and his sister went by the Walton’s house. “We were hanging out and I realized I had the nicest car of the bunch. These guys, richest on the planet, had old cars.” The Wal-Mart ethos of modest frugality runs deep, at least in the Ozarks. “So much of the company is predicated on people who haven’t had a break. The Walton’s have hunting ranches and vacation houses all around the world, but not in Northwest Arkansas.”

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-7-21-42-pmFifteen years or so later, Kurt’s worked for Wal-Mart ever since graduating from OSU, using his journalism degree and artistic talent indirectly. His wife Kyla also worked at Wal-Mart before stepping down when their two boys were born. The family lives downtown, within walking distance of the square, a block or two from some of the Walton grandchildren.

 

img_8402Kyla is a bicycle disciple and triathlete who competes in short competitions. “I don’t have the time to do an Ironman. I can’t leave Kurt with the boys while I ride a hundred mile or run a marathon. I like to swim, bike and run but I sprint them all.” Kyla heads the Arkansas Interscholastic Cycling League, which operates all over the state but is very strong in Bentonville, where Walton grandson Tom is one of many Walton’s with a keen interest in cycling and The Walton Family Foundation’s funds many cycling initiatives. “Every school in Bentonville has thirty bicycles. Every third grader learns bicycle safety and rides for PE.”

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-7-21-20-pmAfter the three and four year olds are in bed our conversation meanders into deep streams. In this town with such a singular corporate identity, people see benefit to corporations taking on roles traditionally allocated to government. As Kurt sees it, “Wal-Mart serves 160 million customers. Forty million could stop shopping there next week and have other options. All of Amazon’s customers can walk. Can you imagine having a four to six year contract with your grocery? That’s what we have with our politicians. Businesses are much more responsive.”

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-7-20-22-pmThen Kyla warns, “But what about Halliburton? They have a huge business but not in consumer products. What influence do we have over what they do?”

 

 

 

How will we live tomorrow?

img_8409“I haven’t really thought it beyond tomorrow. We’re corralling the Dirt Divas, the girl’s mountain bike group, to ride out to Blowing Springs. I’m looking forward to being in the woods and being with other girls. We’ll also have some good wine and cheese.

“How about the other way to take that? I think a whole lot of people are going to revolt against social media.” – Kyla

“Oh, good luck with that.” –Kurt, without looking up from his smartphone.

“That’s why I’m going mountain biking with my fiends tomorrow.” – Kyla

“That’s why I’m tweeting a bunch of people I don’t know. Social media is extroversion for introverts.” – Kurt

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“It’s a really hard question. I think tomorrow is a fork in the road. Politically, in the US and UK, it comes down to whether we want to isolate ourselves from people different than you or connect with them. It’s counterintuitive that we know so much about health but are so unhealthy. It doesn’t help that technology defines everyone by the worst one percent.

“As yogi bear says, ‘When you get to the fork in the road, take it.’” – Kurt

 

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Profile Response: Hamza Farooq, Bentonville AR

Posted on January 24, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowBegin life in Karachi Pakistan for youth and undergraduate degree, move to Malaysia for MBA, shift west to Dubai for consulting, rocket to Minnesota for Masters in Data Science and severe climate shift, on to New York City and land in Bentonville all before age thirty. “I have been here a year and a half, the longest I’ve been anywhere in a long time.”

When Hamza Farooq solved a data set problem posted on Kaggle.com, Wal-Mart came courting. “I had a job in a company in New York. Wal-Mart flew me here, took me in a room with a super computer bigger and faster than any I’d ever seen. They said, ‘you can play with it’ and left me alone for an hour. When they returned they said, ‘welcome to your new office.’”

imgresHamza lives in a minimally furnished one-bedroom apartment littered with The New York Times and The Economist. He’s reading Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life. He builds his own small computers and makes his own work hours. “My role is to determine the right mix of products to have on the shelf in any store.” To most of us, all Wal-Marts appear the same. I know where to find the bicycle tubes and Power Bars in any city. But the products and quantities in each store vary in ways a typical customer will not perceive. Hamza tweaks each store’s inventory, enabling Wal-Mart to sell twice the volume per square foot compared to most retailers. “There are 4600 Wal-Mart stores in the US offering over one million products to one hundred million households. I determine what goes on the shelf in Plano Texas.”

imagesThat determination involves huge quantities of data but also a dose of human interaction. “I spend a lot of time in stores and talk to people. It’s all about customer satisfaction,” which is related to employee attitude and efficiency. Hamza is expert and pinpointing the underlying problem of underperformance. “I use a normal curve for everything in life. There is no correlation or causation either way. If the customers are satisfied and the staff is happy, that is the key. If not, look at the externals, like the back room or the competition or whether the access road is under construction.” Those are the factors we like to blame, but they are almost always the outliers.

“I excel at behavioral economics. Pure economics assumes everyone has complete knowledge, but no one has full data, and we all make habitual and irrational decisions.” Hamza ordered entree #20 at Thai Basil without consulting the menu. “I have been here enough to know what I like. I don’t need to explore anymore. I order that dish every time.”

images-1Hamza has couchsurfed all over the world, but I was his first guest in the United States. “I don’t understand people here. They have such fear. In Berlin or Vienna people invited me in, we got to know each other. In Dubai every Wednesday was a volleyball match sponsored by couchsurfers. The unwritten rule was, ‘everybody plays.’ In this country, to get three people together is an achievement.”

What are we so afraid of? “People here say, ‘we need guns.’ In my country I live in a house with a wall and barbed wire and two full time guards. Still, I have been held up twice at gunpoint. This country’s politics run on fear, but there is so little to fear here.”

So why does Hamza, who could live and work almost anywhere, choose to be in the United States? “It’s Maslow’s Hierarchy. The problems here are real, but of a higher order than in the developing world.”

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-7-02-17-pm“In fear.”

Hamza must have seen my face drop at such a brutal response from such a nuanced individual. After a long pause, he added, “Fighting stereotypes and fighting fear.”

 

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Profile Response: Chris Cochran, Bentonville AR

Posted on January 23, 2017 by paulefallon

 

HWWLT Logo on yellow“Wal-Mart can be a force for good.” Chris Cochran is a Senior Manager in Sustainability at Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville AR. “The biggest effect is that we save the average family $2,000 to $3,000 per year – whether you shop at Wal-Mart or not.” Chris is a steady spokesman for his company. “Wal-Mart can influence the entire industry. When Wal-Mart established a minimum $10 per hour wage, that will become the defacto minimum wage.” The thirty-year-old runner studied International Development and Finance at Johns Hopkins and ran a coffee plantation in Honduras. “Wal-Mart has three sustainability goads: 100% renewable power, zero waste, and sustainability produced products.” His earnest enthusiasm is contagious. “Wal-Mart already uses 25% renewable energy and we are on target to reducing waste by 50%.”

screen-shot-2016-11-23-at-7-41-11-amWal-Mart entered the sustainability space, as techno-geeks like to say, in 2006. The decision was prompted by PR needs in response to bed press and lawsuits about their business and human resource practices. The company realized that it wasn’t just good press, it was good business. Last year Wal-Mart saved over $2 million through their recycling initiatives. Chris’ sustainability group is involved in the full spectrum of Wal-Mart decisions, from production to transportation to bricks and mortar stores to online growth.

screen-shot-2016-11-23-at-7-42-01-amChris is particularly interested in agriculture. “Agriculture is the root of economic development. Economic development is the root of all international relationships.” A recent project centered around erecting tents over grape fields in the Sonoran desert. Producers increased their yield and reduced water.

Chris grew up in Searcy AR, son of a theology professor. He pulled away from his original church. “Like most religions it was too much about what not to do rather than what to do.” He has a penchant for action and believes in the power of big solutions. He believes that government, as well as big business, can be positive. “FDR’s first 100 days illustrate how the federal government can be a force for good. It counters the prevalent notion that government is bad. I feel that this election, we have torn at the fabric of our society. If everyone had the opportunity to visit the FDR library, it would affect their perspective. It might not change their minds, but it could.”

screen-shot-2016-11-23-at-7-39-37-amDie-hard environmentalists scoff at Wal-Marts sustainability initiative – people in Arkansas shouldn’t be eating Mexican grapes not matter how efficiently grown – and climate change deniers reject it from the other end of the spectrum. But if we are going to sustain seven or nine billion people on this planet, we’re not going to do it without large centralized organizations. In this country, that means big business. Wal-Mart is the biggest of the big businesses. Being more sustainable may not be enough to stem the tide of environmental degradation, but it’s the right direction.\

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-11-23-at-7-37-42-am“We will live in an even more unequal society but the inequality will be post-human. Bill Gates will have an implant that gives him capacities that will not be available to everyone.”

“I work in sustainability. How will we feed nine billion people in 2050? We are already using 1.5 times the earth’s resources. And now people aren’t content with grain, they want milk and meat. Today, there are 800 million people who are undernourished. The inequality will create even more undernourished people.

“I like the movie, HER. There is a scene where everyone puts down their device and rediscovers each other. We will get to the point where we break through the noise of technology. We will seek contentment. We will decide that media is not free and pay to cut through the noise.”

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Profile Response: Denise Bell and Chris Sykes, Hulbert OK

Posted on January 20, 2017 by paulefallon

 

HWWLT Logo on yellowChris Dykes’ father was a high school teacher on Tulsa’s south side – the white part of town – when 1970’s era desegregation prompted the school system to shuffle their student mix or face a court-imposed system. A high school in the poor, black, north side of town was turned into a magnet school. Chris’s dad switched to Booker T and spent the rest of his career teaching philosophy and advanced English to students willing to travel the extra miles for a rich education.

img_8355About the same time he purchased an acreage on a creek outside of Hulbert. Chris spent weekends and summers up in the woods and streams. His father retired to a small cottage on the property with a central wood stove, encircled with books.

Meanwhile Chris became a librarian at the Tulsa Public Library reference desk. One day, Peggy Herbert, a semi-star of the 1950’s and glamorous Tulsa native approached the reference desk. After she left, a homeless man asked Chris to use a railroad atlas. Unbeknownst to Chris, his dad watched both interactions. Afterward. the philosophy teacher told his son, ‘You treated them both just the same.’ img_8351

“Our libraries are the most important institution we have; more important than the church.” But Chris kept getting nudged up. “As a male I got a career path, but I only wanted to answer questions.” So he left the library, travelled Europe and worked a variety of literary and sports-car related jobs. Then he returned to Tulsa and discovered Denise Bell in a bookstore.

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The couple spent more and more time at the farm. They started a business growing lavender and built their own house beyond Chris’ dad. “Lavender is romantic, but hard work. It’s all done by hand.”

img_8353Denise Bell is a reserved woman, self-contained in presentation and movement who enjoys working with her hands. Eleven years ago she discovered knitting. “Knitting is math; it’s all about the pattern you build and counting.” Denise knits fine lace with thin thread; nothing like our conception of knitted sweaters. She is a master who teaches specialty classes all over the country. The couple abandoned lavender for Lost City Knits, an online business of exotic yarn. Their recent book, Ultima Thule, is a delightful mash-up of Shetland lace pattern, stories of the Highlands, and coffee table photos of the breathtaking Scottish landscape. Chris rose from the table to fetch the lace Denise is working on at present. Suddenly Denise is standing, bobbing, pointing out the delicate pattern. She catches herself. “I ought to stop talking.” Her excitement for knitting is palpable, contagious. “I am besot by it.” I marvel and applaud her enthusiasm.

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How will we live tomorrow?

img_8357“Have the answers gone south in the past week? I have a prepared answer and its negative. How will we live tomorrow? With more information and less wisdom; more isolation and less connection.

“But we have a bicycle tourist who opens himself to anything and that flies in the face of my answer.” – Chris

“As a woman I am more worried about the future. This has deteriorated in the past ten days. Because we live remote, our encounters are limited, so we can control them. I do hope that we swing back to acceptance, not tolerance, of others in our society.” – Denise

 

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Profile Response: Keith Reed, Perkins OK

Posted on January 19, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellow“We live in a time of cultural complacency. People just sit there and take it. We don’t protest. We just take what the preacher says.”

There’s nothing complacent about Keith Reed. After completing two long tours: the first across North America from Acadia, ME to Portland OR via Canada with two nieces in their twenties; the second through the Alps with his two sons; Keith decided to create the perfect warmshowers experience at his home. He began with a portable barn shed with a roll-up door, futon and wood stove, added a lean-to kitchen with bath, then a front porch across the length with a suspended bed for sleeping outdoors, and fire pit for warm conversations deep into the night.

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Keith understands that cycle touring is about the people you meet rather than the sights you see. “One of the top days would have to be the first day we relied on someone else. We had just got into New Hampshire. It was pouring rain in a small town. We huddled under a shelter, which turned out to be the porch of a library. While we stood there, a children’s program let out and a bunch of mother’s came out. They decided to take care of us. After some time and phone calls they said, ‘Go down the road about a mile, someone will be there to take care of you.’ We rode in the rain. There was a woman with a parka waving us into her driveway. She took us in, made us warm, gave us supper.”

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The night I arrived in Perkins Keith did much the same. The District Cycle Shop in nearby Stillwater sponsors Monday night rides. Keith invited them our way. A dozen or more cyclists sat around the fire trading stories and cycling tips. The only difference was I didn’t have the bad weather Keith described. The group was amazed at the fair weather I’ve experienced in a full year on the road. I am thankful for my good weather luck so far; content to hear other cyclists’ stories of storms rather than endure them myself.

How will we live tomorrow?

img_8320“I would have had a different answer a week ago. I am surprised at how profound the election has affected me. The word for me is ‘closer’. We need to get closer. There are more people who will need attention and care. My gut feeling is to pack it up and get out of Dodge, but I don’t want to do that. We will have to live closer.”

 

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Profile Response: Marion Paden, Oklahoma City OK

Posted on January 18, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellow“At the end of your life how do you want to be remembered? I would like people think I’m funny, but I can’t control that. I also want them to think my life made a difference.” For over thirty years at Oklahoma City Community College, in a number of capacities including Dean for Students and Vice-President, Marion Paden felt certain she made a difference. “OCC is the fifth largest college in Oklahoma. It provides college experience and education for students who cannot access our residential universities.”

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Two years ago Marion decided to branch in a new direction. She became Director of Leadership Oklahoma, an education and community service organization that provides training sessions to emerging leaders about the critical issues facing the state, including agriculture, government, penal system, oil and gas, education, Native Americans, and transportation. Each year fifty individuals participate in immersive experiences such as visiting death row inmates and observing petroleum fields to witness first hand the factors that shape life in Oklahoma. Upon graduation, they join the growing ranks of fellow participants who, hopefully, have a broad perspective of the issues that face this state.

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Marion is excited about the educational sessions she’s developed, but wants to increase graduates’ activities and reach. “My slogan is ‘other ways work.’ We have to figure out what they are and try them out.” From Marion’s perspective, the value of Leadership Oklahoma is more than what the program participants receive; it’s what they give back in return.

How will we live tomorrow?

img_8287“I hoped you had the answer for me. I am frightened. It is the work I am doing and it keeps me up at night. The trajectory we are on is not a good one. I am a glass half-full kind of girl but now I am looking at empty.”

 

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Profile Response: Judy Ferguson Oklahoma City OK

Posted on January 17, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowJudy Ferguson: mother of six girls; home school teacher; marathon runner; short order breakfast cook; manager of Francesca’s outlet store; sod farmer’s wife; soccer player; coffee drinker; comfort food cook; mud runner, devout Christian.

After a day at work, many working mom’s heat up leftovers or boil spaghetti. Judy got home after five and at 6:30 p.m. ten of us stood in a circle of hands in the kitchen while second youngest Jasilyn offered the evening prayer. Then we devoured two pans of fresh meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and smore cupcakes for dessert.

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Each daughter, age 5 to 21, has a different home school curriculum. The oldest has auditioned for ‘The Voice’ and is pursing a record contract. Others compete in volleyball, soccer and cross-country at home school competitions all over the country. The day I left they were off to Omaha for the weekend.

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-12-31-53-pmJudy sleeps four or six hours a night. “Never five, an odd numbers makes me cross all day.” She drinks coffee from morning ‘til night and insists it doesn’t affect her sleep. While awake, her energy never seems to flag.

Judy has an expansive view of love and life. She’s developed an increasing relationship with her birth father, whom she didn’t see for over twenty years. She recognizes aspects of herself in him and her half-sister, ten years junior. “He makes me feel whole.” Judy’s parents are not keen on this, but Judy wants it all. “It doesn’t detract from us in any way. The mscreen-shot-2016-12-21-at-12-35-01-pmore love we have, the more people we love, the better for everyone, the better for the world.”

 

Judy wants to spread that love even after she dies. “People can be cremated into ink for tattoos or even diamonds. That’s what I want, to be turned into something precious so each of my girls can have a piece of me.”

 

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-12-30-10-pm“One day at a time I try to make memories. I want to make new memories, to step out of my comfort zone. I ran a marathon for fun. Then I realized it was exciting and gave me a thrill. Each was different. I run the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon every year because I believe in the cause. But I know it too well now, it’s not new. I like running new marathons, in different places, in different weather.

“I want to give my girls memories. I don’t have many from my childhood. You only have one life; I want to pack it with memories.”

 

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Profile Response: Mary Reynolds and Louise Goldberg, Oklahoma City OK

Posted on January 13, 2017 by paulefallon

HWWLT Logo on yellowDuring high school circa 1973, Mary Reynolds wore corduroy pants and a cargo jacket, blew a wicked trumpet, and honed her musicianship more carefully than her algebra skills. During college visits home I enjoyed hearing her band, ‘Sisters of Swing,’ at small OKC clubs. They countered the age of disco with a smooth jazz sound and timeless classics. No one’s ever coined a bluesier ‘Tuxedo Junction’ than Mary and her wistful ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ still rings in my head as a pedal across the plains.

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Mary has cobbled together a life in music with stints in New York and Austin and side jobs as a field hand, bus driver, and store clerk. These days Mary leads a performance life. She sings regular church gigs, teaches private students, and has a new band, ‘Miss Brown to You’ that explores her own music. She collaborates with her longtime partner in life and music, Louise Goldberg. “We write new songs that sound like standards.”

imgres-2Like all gay people our age, Mary and Louise have lived through the transition from rejection to marriage. Louise still recalls the conflicting guidance of her two grandmothers, “One said, ‘as long as you’re happy;’ the other said, ‘you’re breaking your mother’s heart.’ Mary and Louise married recently but are careful how they appear in a city where gay couples are still tormented. “We don’t holds hands on the street. We don’t want to invite trouble.”

How will we live tomorrow?

screen-shot-2016-12-21-at-12-06-24-pm“I’m always hankering for a simpler life; a life more in touch with nature. Young people are starting to value simplicity and diversity. They want to live in cities. They seek each other out.

“When I think about self-driving cars I’m angry. My head explodes. It’s technology taking value out of our lives.” – Mary

“I’m not a linear thinker. I don’t know how we will live tomorrow. I do know what needs to be fixed… I don’t know how to live in a tribe; it’s not something I’ve done or want to do. If you live in your tribe, you give up so much for that comfort…

“How will we communicate with each other? The whole focus on fear and aggression; it’s dangerous. Look at language. I want to explore the rich differences that language illustrates among us. Asian languages do not have a subjunctive tense. The concept of regret doesn’t exist. They cannot express, ‘I wish I could have done…’ There is a whole part of the world that doesn’t have a subjunctive tense, and here I’ve subjunctive tensed my way through life.

“Look at our belief systems. Every human has their own, every family, every group. The ability to evaluate and question what we believe, and to logically consider what others believe, is not available to everyone.” – Louise

 

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