On Desire

I watched one of the worst movies last night, one that I had seen long ago – Dino De Laurentiis and David Lynch’s Dune. There were so many awful things, but especially bad were the voice overs of characters thinking.

I’m working on a voice over for Around Lake Michigan, a way to get the search started. It might be fun to do an homage to De Laurentiis / Lynch. Imagine the ALM guide, gazing heroically over a rocking horizon or shaving in his rain pounded tent. We hear his thoughts…

•••

Where you see rocks, watch out! They’re going to come alive… Alan Watts.

Earth is a giant ball of rock and metal skinned with life. Where does the rock end and the life start? People are alive, and trees and animals, that’s for sure. There’s even tiny things alive in the soil. Life is everywhere. Supposedly though, these things are not alive – water, rocks, air. Folks argue about how life came from non life – god or darwin. I am more interested in how life stays here. Whether by accident or design, the earth is a nice place to live. Everything is just so – the precise amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, consistent temperature, the right kind of light… but how does it stay that way? Somehow, life friendly conditions are maintained. That’s the global life support system, (analogies from NASA and science fiction abound).

Can humans damage or break the global life support system? Have we already? Maybe. Probably. Shit.

A more useful question is, can humans live in accord with it? Can we actually become an integral part of the global life support system? What would that look like?

A sustainable civilization would be in perfect accord with the global life support system. Concepts like garbage and pollution would be obsolete, archaic. There would be no consumption or waste, only cycles of transformation and renewal. Energy is free and abundant.

Hard to imagine, right?

The amazing thing is this…

•••

This could be a preface for the premise.

Good times under the catamaran last night. A core cadre libated and kibitzed until the wee hours. Pictures to follow. Patrick stayed over and helped clean up. Now the lake temple is once again presentable. Can a party have a point, an objective? For me, gathering merry souls under the twin hulls of the fabulous Hello World is the beginning of a blessing.

In a scalding tub, burning away the muscle ache from yesterday’s kooky backward run. I skip showers for several days running just so I can dip neck deep in steamy agua caliente.

Today I bought a minivan from my fam and pondered how to introduce the concept of future artifacts into the project. I’ve got some major elements present in the current extended trailer. What’s missing is character development including DK’s science fiction influenced premise for Around Lake Michigan which points to artifacts of future sustainable civilizations. Take a breathe!

What does an artifact of FSC look like? Tricky, that. An artifact is anything that gets us past the hospice culture and on into living. Sure there will always be uncertainty, but can’t we take the pistol out of our maw for a decade or two, just give it a rest? Yes we can! Yes we did – in the post present.

Artifacts are telegrams from the future – we solved it and here’s how. Jet cars or sail boats? Soylent green or CSAs? Artifacts can be RL processes and perhaps cybernetic extensions. When Mozilla builds an open source Facebook into Firefox – that sort of thing. If Monsanto were run by Geshe Michael.

I know, it’s Dan Kelly’s perplexing internal world. Not since Tolkien has any artist fabricated a fantasy so arcane and detailed. Forget about comprehensible, this is the future talking. Buckle your seatbelts.

We’ll clarify all soon enough. The really big waves are preceeded by a sucking sound.

44 days until the scheduled launch. In 3 weeks I’ll look back wistfully and think, “I remember back when there was plenty of time.”

The logistics of sailing and camping for three months are significant. There’s the boat itself which includes spare parts and repair supplies. For those who haven’t sailed, know that it takes lots of rope, pulleys and metal doodads.

Navigation is handled mostly on the iPhone with compass and chart applications, but I’ll carry actual compasses for backup. There’s also safety equipment required by the Coast Guard like flares and lights.

Food and shelter is handled with a wilderness camping kit – backpacking tent, sleeping bags, tiny stove, pots etc. Don’t forget the CNA or Composting Nitrogen Accumulator, aka Poopomatic TM.

On top of getting around and maintaining life, remember we’re making a movie here. That means at least one camera, cables, tripod, microphones, hard drive, laptop, batteries and solar panels for charging it all.

All this stuff has to weigh less than 250 lbs and be sealed in dry bags. There’s no cabin on Hello World.

Boats, islands, spaceships and planets are related – they have finite carrying capacity, specific conditions (gear) are required for life and long term survival requires attention and careful planning. Around Lake Michigan explores this idea, it is the project’s inherent artifact.

How do we realize sustainable civilizations? We find artifacts and figure out what they imply.

I’ve been so focused on social phenomenon that my first thought when I wake up is to get online. With only a month left before launch, it’s time to kick the habit.

I’m replacing my morning urge to compute with yoga and tai chi practice. I’ve joked about being eye candy for the camera but the truth is that Around Lake Michigan is physically demanding. I might spend hours hanging in harness if there’s big wind. I’ve got to pack and haul 70 lb drybags twice daily and push 300 lbs of sailboat on and off the beach… for three months.

My friends know I’ve been into yoga for about 20 years and studied tai chi since 2004. As a pragmatic guy, I judge the value of these disciplines by what they have enabled me to do, both physically and emotionally. I can call upon deep resources when things get intense.

Being fit and capable is as essential as packing flares and first aid. I’m confident I can get up to fighting trim within the month.

How is physicality an artifact of a future sustainable civilization? Yoga and Tai Chi are ancient practices with an expanding reach, even discounting the trite and goofy mutations. Bodies must move for optimal health, we are not designed to be sedentary. To be fit is to be alive and present. Julie had this great insight about the metaphor of planet as island, island as boat, boat as planet. With her usual directness she added – body as earth. Our body is a metaphor for earth. If we wish to be adept stewards of the earth, we must begin with our personal cosmos and portable ocean – our own body. Learning to steward and celebrate ourselves, what a concept.

8:30 am on Crystal Lake and it’s quite brisk and still. Strangely though, it feels different than the deep silence of a couple days back. This morning i don’t hear so many creatures speaking and their timing isn’t concerted, they just tweet and caw whenever.

The difference could be that two days ago was vernal equinox. Why wouldn’t the birds behave differently on this day? Tuned into the rhythms, it might be the day when they take inventory – who has survived the winter? Who is present and ready to begin our great dance again? Perhaps the silence in between the strange cadence of thier calls is a listening.

Whether or not Michigan’s last wild wolverine has died, we don’t know. Our culture is not very wild aware. The wolverine’s passing makes me wonder how animals assess their surround, the available cast of characters. It would seem likely that they might. It’s a gaian viewpoint to expect this degree of inherent organization in wild things, but then I am an earthman, what other viewpoint is there for me? Why deny my own experience?

Species interact, depend on each other even if they’re in competition. It’s a little theory on the second* day of spring, Enjoy.

* Spring equinox was March 20  at ~12:30pm EST (UTC-5), so today is the second day (< 24 hours). If we go by dates then it’s the third day.

Either by…

http://twitter.com/OnDesire

or

http://twitter.com/FutureArtifacts

Thanks for taking the time to check us out.

My name is Dan Kelly and I am working on the documentary movie. From May – August of 2010, I’ll be sailing a 16 ft catamaran all the way around Lake Michigan – solo. That’s about 1000 miles.  Along the way I’ll visit people and places related to sustainability. With a high quality mobile production kit,  I’ll record my discoveries and post them here.

I want to establish local connections before I go, that’s why I followed you. You might have great ideas about where to stop or who to visit. Perhaps you’d like to meet me yourself and talk about the future over tea or a beer.

Feel free to wander around this site and learn more. If you are intrigued with the project, email me directly wild@artisthouse.com or  follow me for updates on Twitter – http://twitter.com/OnDesire.

Thanks for your time!

Dan
Hello World
and the On Desire team

Awareness is my way. Science and religion both miss the point when they ask us to deny our awareness, what we just know. Not know from common sense or by faith, by analysis of data or by memorizing some scripture, but know from being alive. What’s worth cultivating and the basis for any worthy protocol is to trust our own experience, to attend to our own experience and be open to our moment. Thus are we able to navigate and enjoy the quirky world in all it’s marvelous contradiction.

Hello World on this exquisite Saturday!

Open water on Crystal Lake, the ice is off.

Woke to the murmer of a gray lake and an empty wind in a deep silence. The kwhoo of a morning dove, caw of a crow, and the trill and warble of song birds never overlapping. Each event takes it turn, opening and closing the lovely quiet as if to make it more.
The sudden rich echo of a seagull’s cackle reminds me what’s ahead. A maybe March in Northern Michigan, maybe waking up, maybe winter is over – just maybe. Around these parts that’s enough.
Without my morning sojourn in the icy outhouse, I’d be a just another human without a clue. So thanks Dan Kelly for having the good sense to accumulate nitrogen outside and open to awakening.

Is the social phenomena getting out of hand? I trust that I’ve peaked on the Facebook learning curve with the establishment of the On Desire fan page – complete with RSS feed.

I’d like to shift gears and get back to actually making my movie. I’ve already complained to Julie about all this, she was like “Suck it up dude, outreach is essential.” Where’s my hot intern, my bushy tailed bright eyed assistant director? Where’s my staff? I’ve got an awesome team of advisors and collaborators no doubt, gratitude for that! Before I go blind from staring at arcane interfaces designed to completely fry the fatty tissues of the human brain, I’ve got to attract some administrative talent. We’re hiring!

You can catch the wave of the future... Join Trickster Pictures LLC today!

On Desire

• our collective destiny – Desire

• philosophy (coming soon)

• open process (coming soon)

• history

• guestbook

• definitions (coming soon)

• open process projects and events

• Around Lake Michigan, Search for Sustainable Civilizations

•  premise

• character development for the guide

• objectives

• 2009 expedition

• movies

• map

• inventory details

• 2010 expedition

• proposed itinerary

• map

• inventory details

• collaborators

I needed a break from social phenomena this morning so I went outside and cut down some trees. How does that jive with the project ethic?

About 20 years ago I allowed the lawn around the Artist house to grow wild. The non native grass sprouted long and tufty and then native flora started to reappear, tiny conifers and the prehistoric looking dinosaur grass. The massive poplar, a landmark of the yard, surrounded itself with new saplings and then toppled into the lake. This event coincided with the first visit to Michigan of my yet to be exwife. I ignored the implications and married her anyway – but that’s another story.

Poplar trees grow fast, they probably are filling an important niche in reforesting of open land. Around the house they are vulnerable to infections that twist thier trunks and rot them out. That’s how it was with the two monsters I knocked down today. They were over 30 feet and maybe 15 years old, loosing thier core near ground level. A big storm could snap them off and then what? Maybe my or my neighbor’s house, or even me – crushed.

I dusted off the electric chainsaw and dropped them carefully, directing the thick trunks to a safe landing. Next step will be to chop them up, clear the braches and create a staging area for Hello World.

If you are landing here from Facebook, relax – you’re safe now.

OK everyone, this is going to be our first old fart singalong. Instructions:

click this…
lyrics

then this…
music

If you don’t read music don’t panic – right after the “doo, doo, doo” (16 beats in) start SINGING… really belt it out!

Special thanks for Andrew Gold of being such a future civilization trooper.

Thaw is coming and Crystal Lake is preparing to move. From crispy white to frosty green and deep blue, the solid ice is thinning. Soon enough – great sheets of quartz splinters blown ashore by big wind and singing a shattered song, a chorus of clinks.

I ran roads today, 3 miles in 27:11 or 9+ minute miles, with a starter mile backward in 10:00. Better than the 11:00 minute miles I ran at the end of February. Progress! I’m weighing in at 184, lean on the shoulders and buttery round the abs. I’m going to give birth to a beautiful energy baby soon.

I am a real person but for the ALM movie it’s useful to think of myself as a character, to take a director’s eye view and reveal unexamined assumptions that might be important to the story.  I don’t mind the audience thinking that the Dan Kelly character is mildly delusional, a Walter Mitty type. If we establish that he is a functional kook, then the premise (doom) doesn’t need to be supported with empirical evidence, it’s just his world view. Folks will be happy to ride with him on his emotional roller coaster.

When it’s too late to turn back, we’ll reveal what’s really going on }:)

•••

This is the nearly true story of a mostly unknown middle age artist. A man who’s trysted with various modes of expression but never quite established a viable career. He’s coasted along on family money supplemented with spotty freelance work and the rare grant. He’s divorced with neither kids nor much savings to speak of.

He’s a geek but enjoys pushing his physicality, handsome but socially inept, a cult leader sans cult. In spite of not amounting to much of anything, he imagines himself an key figure in a grand unfolding, a mystic hero stashed away and awaiting deployment. He senses invisible forces arrayed against him and intuits that he must be someone of great importance to be so targeted.

His shelves are stacked with science fiction and the Wizard of Oz makes him teary. He loves being in the wilds and feels that the entire earth is alive and probably self aware. This sacred epiphany stands in stark contrast to the seemingly suicidal bent of his fellow humans who undermine the global life support system with habitual mediocrity.  Endowed with an epic perspective, he deduces a secret enemy at work – trans dimensional conquistadors yanking the puppet strings of power.

He decides it’s time to act, to take personal responsibility as an agent of earth. He buys a decrepit sailboat, spruces it up and schemes a dream.

Sailing a 30 year old catamaran 1000 miles Around Lake Michigan, Searching for Sustainable Civilizations – our guide, Dan Kelly.

My Dinner with Andrea meets The Sea Hawk

We know sustainable civilizations will show up within the next 10-15 years because if they don’t, we are doomed. Since we expect to survive, sustainable civilizations are a given. Obviously civilizations don’t just pop into existence overnight, they take time to emerge. Therefor, we should expect to find fragments and partially assembled components of sustainable civilizations scattered everywhere around the planet – right now. These artifacts of the future can be discovered and shared. We can extrapolate from them and understand what they imply. They can show us how to align ourselves with the emergence.

What kind of a character would dream this up?

Bounce rate has dropped from 40% to 10%, whoo! Congratulations team, landing page analysis and revisions are a success.

We’re generating a trickle of new visitors by selective follows on Twitter every day. From analytics it was pretty clear that the landing page didn’t engage, almost half of new visitors saw it and left. During the meeting we discussed how the landing page could be simplified and focused.

Note to self – remember to snap screen shots before making changes to key pages!? Since I didn’t make http://ondesire.com available to search engines until recently (doh!)  Waybackmachine doesn’t have an archive, so there’s no before shot. If I’m lucky I’ll find an archival screenshot on our local drives. For now, the best I can do is show the after and describe the before, bah.  Anyway, here’s the landing page circa 10-03-12 at 11:12.

http://ondesire.com landing page 10-03-12 11:12

Header

The title was been changed from “On Desire” to “Desire”.

The subtitle was changed from “Big World Small Footprint” to “The crux of human experience, our collective destiny” – Melonie, Dan

Page

The page title was changed from “You are Here” to “Our Collective Destiny, Desire” – Melonie, Dan

The body text was simplified to explain the On Desire concept and emphasize the only active project, Around Lake Michigan – Steve, Dan

Two active movie links were added, tho the picture is not obviously a video link yet – Patrick

Sidebar

Archive was changed to BLOG – Julie

A twitter icon was added

Launch date was added – Julie

PAGES was removed. Around Lake Michigan pages were brought to the top of the list and On Desire to the bottom.

Added An Around Lake Michigan premise page which will become a 15 second “watch this first” video link. The page starts with character development and then presents the character’s premise, addressing Jonathan’s doom feedback – Melonie, Jonathan, Dan

Other

I’m fleshing out the links on the collaborators page and making a point of linking to resources like WBAI and SOMA (great music). Not only do I want to share the resources that inspire the project, these links increase the interconnectivity of ondesire to the rest of the www.

I am a fan of WBAI FM in NYC. Fortunately, I don’t have to be in Brooklyn to enjoy the broadcast.  Not only is WBAI streaming on the web, but archives are available for 90 days. WBAI is totally listener supported. There are so many great programs, here are some of my favs…

WBAI Evening News

Wakeup Call

TalkBack! – Hugh Hamilton

Taking Aim – Ralph Schoenman, Mya Shone

Positive Mind – Armand DiMele

Personal Computer Show

Off the Hook – Emmanuel Goldstein

Liquid Sound Lounge – Jeannie Hopper

Hour of the Wolf – Jim Freund

Golden Age of Radio – Max Schmid

Free Speech Radio News

First Voices Indigenous Radio – Tiokasin Ghosthorse

Equal Time for Freethought

Eco-Logic – Ken Gale, David Occhiuto

Earthwatch with Robert Knight

Explorations – Michio Kaku

Democracy Now!

Counterspin

Behind the News – Doug Henwood

As I Please – Simon Loekle

All Mixed Up – Peter Bochan

Jonathan has been questioning the veracity of the doom assertion in the ALM / artifact premise. A premise or pitch is a shorthand introduction to a project – typically delivered in less than 15 seconds (and often in an elevator). A great pitch should distill a project and summarize it rather than simplify. Here’s the current version of the ALM pitch.

We know that a sustainable civilization is coming because if it doesn’t show up, we (human beings) are doomed. Since we all expect to survive, survivable civilization(s) must emerge within the next 10 – 15 years. That means they must be already coming together, they must be in the process of emerging right now.  We can can expect to find fragments and partially assembled components everywhere. These artifacts of future survivable civilizations can be discovered and shared, growing awareness globally. That is the objective of Around Lake Michigan.

Is this premise inherently misleading and broken? Jonathan offered some interesting insights.

Jonathan – What’s the proof that we are doomed? That reminds me of mainstream media’s fear mongering and exaggeration which makes intelligent folks allergic.

The more I think about it, the more of a core issue it seems this might be, as far as making this site truly communicate with folks.

It isn’t clear who is the source of the information, when you say that there’s dark things up ahead. Where is this prophecy coming from, you (dan kelly), the scientific community, the mainstream media, etc.? If the prophecy is coming from one of these sources, then you need to explain why the audience should be looking to themselves to answer what the solutions are, rather than this source. And that isn’t usually easy.

Example, if the scientific community is saying global warming is the problem to focus on, and people respect them and this opinion of theirs, then they’ll naturally look to the scientific community to tell them exactly what they should do about it. They won’t look to themselves for the answers, because they weren’t even capable of noticing the problem until science pointed it out to them.

Another example is 9/11. From observations and common sense people could see that it was not an accident, but not who was to blame for it. Later that same day the government/media started putting up a picture of Osama Bin Laden, explained who he was supposed to be and that he was supposed to be responsible. And so it was the government/media that folks followed to war, not their own individual pieces of knowledge or independent viewpoints.

If you want to break out of this system, of people following “leaders” or “experts”, and instead trusting in and finding solutions to problems themselves, then they have to become aware of the problem within their own experiences and minds. Otherwise it is just more blind faith. You need to show people the symptoms of a problem they can become aware of within their own life experience, independently. Ask them to confirm what you are saying within the things they have already seen.

Certainly if the artifacts of the solution are already around us, there must also be the artifacts of the problem for people to confirm what is going on for themselves.

Within the context of ALM and this website, you as the stand-in character for the everyman, the joe average, could talk about your personal experiences that made you become an environmentalist. Maybe recount how you saw certain things change over your lifetime that made you aware the present course was heading in a very dark direction.

Then recount some of the artifacts of a possible future way of life, that you experienced over your lifetime, that lead you to start this search for a sustainable way of life.

This reminder about individual experience is indeed powerful and worthy. Mass disconnection from direct experience is what makes the toxic consumption juggernaut possible. On Desire is a DIY effort, it’s about taking personal responsibility for the situation. “What situation?” Jonathan asks. What exactly is our ALM guide, Dan Kelly talking about? Let’s tease out some story from this.

A character effectively developed is believable. The audience travels with the ALM guide because they can relate to him, his struggles and aspirations have been offered and accepted by the audience. They don’t need to agree with him or even like him to go along on his journey, they just have to get him. Search the posts for “guide” for more background on this.

Andrea made the point that Dan Kelly can’t be a detached observer. Who would believe that a detached observer would fix buy a 16 foot cat and sail 1000 miles searching for artifacts of a survivable future? That sounds slightly passionate if not a obviously nuts. This character is motivated by something more compelling than reports on CNN, he is acting from his gut. He may be delusional, but his direct experience has galvanized action.

Of course the audience should look to their own experience, absolutely. That’s what makes character development possible. It’s tricky to ask for that in the premise though, there’s just not enough time. All we need to do is communicate that this is Dan Kelly’s premise, and illustrate how he acquired it.

Now the pitch starts like this… There’s this guy who believes (insert premise). Well – that’s interesting, how did he come to believe that? Cue character development.

The character development will illustrate how this guy’s direct experience – a heady brew of ecstatic physicality, presence with wilderness, speculative storytelling, an affinity for science and intuitive mysticism intoxicated him with the premise.

If the character makes a robust commit to act on his direct experience, that will be an example for others to attend to and act on theirs… and we’ve made a training film.

In conclusion, deconstructing the premise is a useful exercise. The character Dan Kelly has an epic bent. He has a strong feeling that earth and her human inhabitants are facing a crucial moment. Does he conjure the threat of annihilation to spice an otherwise dreary RL existence? Is he tilting at windmills? There’s no story without conflict, right?

Frodo lives!

Sheila Stafford says that many drowned men are found with their flies open, suggesting that boats and urination can be a dangerous combo. This was one of many topics we covered during an arts luncheon today with Flora Ricca Hoffman and Melanie Steffes at Poppycocks.

We’ve had two dream team meetings, in Brooklyn (Faisal, Erica and Dan) and last Saturday in Beulah (Steve Elrick, Melonie, Jonathan, Lucas Kelly and Dan).

Inviting collaboration and contribution was the focus of Saturday’s meeting. Components of the ask package for fundraising were presented and discussed. Our collective web presence, including project blogs like http://ondesire.com and contractor blogs (http://meloniesteffes.com and http://jonathankellyarts.com) are key. We reviewed the design of the landing page for http://ondesire.com and discussed what our expectations are for it.

•

Melonie – The silhouette image of Dan on Hello World looks “girly”. It’s the first thing I think about when I see this page.

Dan – This is because the camera pack on his left side  gives an impression of wide hips which combined with the long hair  makes the image a little confusing.

Actions

Is it disturbing or discordant to visitors? Some testing is needed. It’s possible to either switch out this picture or try to ps the camera pack out. Might not be a bad idea to broaden my shoulders and add an ornate cod piece while were at it.

•

Jonathan – I’d like to see a link to the latest news, so that folks can jump to immediately to the last 5-6 posts.

Action

The simplest solution is a link to all posts. The most recent will show up first.

•

Melonie – “Desire – the crux of human experience.” That’s important, it should be a headline or bigger.

Dan – “You are here” was intended to give a sense of place, suggesting maps and geography. We can repurpose this for the maps area.

Action

Replace “You are Here” with the crux of human experience” to give it more prominence and simplify the page. Move you are here to the maps page.

•

Dan – On Desire was conceived as a container for many projects, Around Lake Michigan being one of them. Currently, ALM is the only project in there, so it needs to be more prominent.

Action

On the sidebar, move Events up to the top and all the ondesire.com background down to the bottom. Perhaps move the background out of the sidebar totally.

•

Jonathan – The archives take a lot of real estate, be good to move them farther down the sidebar so it’s less cluttered up top.

Dan – Not sure that’s possible. If we had a little WP magic we could link to a separate page where the archives could live. Look into it.  A benefit of the archives being on the sidebar is it demonstrates project longevity.

Action

Investigate whether archives become a landing page link?

•

Dan – Perhaps Dan and Hello World are the vanguard for a wave of expeditions worldwide, perhaps one objective is to inspire other expeditions. ALM could be a demonstration on how to look for artifacts of a survivable future. How could the site be an aggregator for artifacts? Searchers could report discoveries by…

writing a letter / email

leaving a phone message

sending audio or video recordings – youtube, vimeo etc.

Steve – what about incorporating song writing? Steve relates a recent effort to rewrite the lyrics of Route 66 to fit the sights along M22. Could this be worked into ALM? Would song writers and performers be inspired with images of trip geography?

Dan – I really wanted to bring my guitar with me last September, the idea of a giant song writing quilt is awesome. Lucas and Melonie are both making music too, Steve sings so maybe we already have a strong base.

What other ideas can we deploy for hooking the general public into the project?

Action

Who could organize  and manage the music project? How would it work? What’s our protocol for integrating new artifacts, a resource for contributing must be developed.

•

Melonie – Right now the project is the Dan show. We need more artifacts up ASAP.

Dan – absolutely. We have some great material.

Action

Priority – put up other interviews.

•

Dan – The premise, the pitch. We know that a sustainable civilization is coming because if it doesn’t show up, we (human beings) are doomed. Since we all expect to survive, a survivable civilization must emerge within the next 10 – 15 years. That means it must be already coming together, it must be in the process of emerging.  We can can expect to find fragments and partially assembled components everywhere, right now. These artifacts of a future survivable civilization can be discovered and shared, growing awareness globally. That is the objective of Around Lake Michigan.

Jonathan – What’s the proof that we are doomed? That reminds me of mainstream media’s fear mongering and exaggeration which makes intelligent folks are allergic.

Dan – maybe “doom” switched to “things getting really unpleasant,” (wink, nod). Kind of under-promising approach.

Jonathan – Showing change from past to present, activate personal observation.

Melonie – focus on the good stuff, spreading the solutions

Action

A 15 second premise video could be the first thing that visitors encounter.

Jonathan – we need definitions on the site, like xroll, civilizations and artifacts.

Action

Build a project dictionary or a wikitionary

Dan – How do you guys feel about the process of blogging?

Melonie – an old friend found me through my website, I was embarrassed. the first thing I thought was I hope he didn’t read my blog.

Jonathan – I am posting technical stuff because I don’t feel very creative right now. When writing about technical issues, there’s a lot of overhead involved in explaining something simple. Saying exactly what I want, a process of taking stuff away.

Melonie – What about exploring your feelings about the project?

Dan – We will continue to blog, because it’s very powerful to look into ourselves and express what we are becoming. It’s very helpful for our development as artists and for our ability to communicate clearly – to each other and to the world at large. It’s an investment in ourselves.  Melonie’s reaction is very telling, why should we be embarrassed about our own thoughts and feelings? What’s the matter with developing a public presence? Is that ego or just sharing? An open project means we share our lessons and discoveries.

Action

Steve and Lucas can be encouraged to launch showcase sites with Jonathan and Melonie’s help. Jonathan and Melonie write a 1 or 2 paragraph premise – why writing and sharing my journey makes sense for me, or if it did make sense for me, why would it?

Hello World floats above the kitchen facilitating daily communion.

A sustainable civilization is a diverse proposition that includes all our future activity and experience. An artifact of a sustainable civilization is any object, process or behavior that points to the fundamental operating principles of a sustainable civilization. These principles in turn reveal individual perspectives that are in sync, viewpoints worth adopting. By adopting these viewpoints myself, I can travel into the future.

What’s the difference between changing the actual date and experiencing a Future Resonant Life? A significant date change means gray hair and wrinkles for my nephews and nieces while a FRL lets them grow slow. Why bother tasting a happy collective destiny if I’ve got to loose my peeps? Obviously whack, that.

So here’s the FRL groove so far and Prime Directives of Around Lake Michigan. Can you say “primordial soup”?

• reuse, renovate, re-purpose, multipurpose, rebuild, maker aesthetic, DIY

• low impact, small footprint, efficient, resource sipping, frugal, improvise, make do

• in accord with the global life support system. recognize and integrate into evolved cycles, inter-connection and inter-reliance

• RL networks, community, social capital, reputation economy, whuffie

• open source, open process, building knowledge, creative commons, transparency, global archives

• science fiction – extrapolation of social and technological developments to find the future and influence it, applied imagination, exploring alternate scenarios yields better choices.

• art, supercharged communication, cognitive hacks, surprise, direct experience transfer /  translation, experience of being fully alive, mysticism, shamanism, storytelling

• other…

Writing under Hello World

Sign a petition and help Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox to protect Lake Michigan by closing the locks in Chicago.

http://StopAsianCarp.com