Tag: Great Depression

Last summer day

The academic calendar starts just about now.

A different season. Different drum beat.

Formula and conjugation.

Grades and test scores.

Cafeteria and classroom.

Principal and peers.

Pranks and punishment.

Same starting point, different finish lines.

Education is democratic in nature.

I admire people in wheel chairs, still being wheeled their way around the library, trying to reach up to the latest titles (Tillman or Unbroken).

I wish we could apply Moore’s Law to our cognitive development.

As it turns out, our brain capacity can process much more information, forming knowledge stream, and turning them into usable grains of wisdom (emotional and social intelligence).

The end of all learning should be to form a capacity for empathy, to see others in their historical and social context, from their frame of reference.

This is the underlining assumption of many art forms such as cinema and work of fiction.

In fact, we need escapism. During the Great Depression, Hollywood did quite well.

This time around, cinema still manages to stay afloat (without McCarthyism).

We also enjoy the news as presented live and downstream much faster thanks to broadband connection. Newsbreak has been more interesting than fiction (The Social Network, Arab Spring and London Summer – which BTW, an antithesis to the fairytale version of the Royal Wedding , same version as earlier centennials’).

This summer has been a summer of disasters, from environmental (drought) to economic *(drought), from political blunder to criminal assaults (Oslo).

But our kids are back to school. It’s a blessing in disguise. It brings back normalcy.

Or something like it. It reminds us that we have been there,and are still here years later.

Had we known then, what we know now.

That vantage point could only be viewed from hindsight.

It’s called exposure and experience. It’s called empathy. It’s called optimism, because the last summer day, actually signifies the beginning of a beautiful Fall, with foliage and cool fronts. In Vermont and Maine, Fall actually is the most beautiful and livable time.

Hopefully, it’s a start of a new fiscal year and fiscally restrained calendar for leaders around the world. Remember, they once started this season like everyone else: in an elementary classroom. Same starting point, different finishing lines.

The trilogy and the tragedy

Back in September of 2008, the first of the Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) provided us with a perfect literary escape: exotic, foreign yet so close to home. She managed to play with fire and rose from the grave to finally “kick the hornet’s nest”.

What a catharsis! You look at the two columns, fiction and non-fiction, the choice is clear: who wants to read about “Too big to fail”, “Crash of the titans” “On the brink” etc.. Our heroine got juice: she could ride the motorcycle,

hack into a database and defend herself in the subway.

Sort of Charles Bronson (Death Wish)  reincarnated.

The trilogy acquaints us with an alternative and fascinating life style. It is an euro-exotic escape, at least for the entire three installments.

Stocks were up, stocks were down.

Our character was shot down, bandaged up and got in shape to stand trial against the system, or more likely, a rogue group using the system to keep her down.

Hollywood was thriving during the earlier Great Depression.

This time around, it plays safe with the return of Superman, Spider Man, Batman and Iron Man.

Except that, this time around, the audience won’t sit still and wait to download the movies.

The audience (User-generated content) is filming real events (and should Superman fly by, he will get on video as well).

Street protests in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya , shot by I-phones,

gave us front-seat view.

No, the trilogy has nothing to do with the tragedy surrounding us still.

But somehow, it resonates and connects the millions of us, who read the books, and viewed the films. It’s as if finally the adults can show their kids that “hey, I am hooked on something too” ( since you got your Harry Potter series.)

Most of us, in our life time, might not get to Stockholm. But this gives us a chance to hear , see and feel the winter chill of a Nordic street. And perhaps, for the first time, felt connected with those Icelanders, who despite similar distance from New York Stock Exchange, have been affected in a big way by securitization and CDO’s.

Just like Asian stocks today. The event in Tripoli triggered a $100/barrel of oil, which forced a lot of automobiles in China and elsewhere to stay idle in their designated garages. If the “Girl with a dragon tattoo” is finally translated into Mandarin, I am sure many will find the time to read and feel fascinated.

At least, in fiction, the ending seems to tidy up.

Unlike our common tragedy called life.

facebook lite

On Facebook Lite, people with mobile devices can just send a quick comment and get on with hearing the President Speech.

http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/09/11/with-facebook-lite-a-step-deeper-into-twitter-terrain/

Social networking not “for here” but “to go”.

It’s the equivalent of talking to friends while on a moving train or automobile, or  while paying at the cash register.

We are a society in a hurry. Real hurry!

And I must admit, Twitter did give Facebook a run for the money.

Snappy attention. Shorter bursts of data stream. Get to the point and in your face.

“You lie”.

It’s common for us to go about all our lives, doing a million things, good , bad and ugly, only to be remembered by one short burst or comment.

The President warned Wakefield High School Students to be careful of what they post on Facebook.

I might add, especially be mindful when commenting on Facebook Lite. The nature of mobile device might fool one into thinking that it’s just a short text message. No it’s not. It’s micro-blogging. And it meant to post, not sent and be received by an intended audience of one.

Back to consumer sentiment.

According to the latest poll, people (80%) are still bewildered, the state of a deer caught by an incoming head light.

Despite Bernanke being a student of the late Great Depression, he couldn’t make the problems go away.

We need to send someone to jail. We did. We need to get people  a new set of wheels. We did.

We need small wins, consistently. Well, we haven’t. Cash for (rusty) appliances? Cash for bulbs? Cash for clunkers?

I propose Cash for old phones. That way, we are stimulated to move on to Smart phones wired with Facebook Lite.

Nurse a Miller Lite while at it. Friday afternoon, on White House or any house lawn, thumbing your key pad . Can we all get along? But I still am careful about what I post. We got enough to deal with these days, from ID theft to IOU. Who need unwarranted short bursts that will come back and haunt us digitally, and eternally.

You see, bad comments are now so democratized that they don’t belong in the purview of public figures, just like

blogging wouldn’t be just for Martha Stewart or Huffington. Just being at Wakefield High will do. And it’s not the word count that counts. Short bursts, like “you lie”, will do. My short comment is “you win, I win, win-win”.