wiggle room for hope
I woke up this morning to the sound of rain pounding the thin, corrugated roofs of the apartment complex where I had lived most of my life. Many things have remained the same in this place--the swimming pool with its cracked tiles, sunk in the middle of the ruins of the abandoned community center; the stray dogs and kittens (there are no stray puppies, for some bizarre reason) that wander the community aimlessly.But the community is greener than I have ever seen in twenty years. Residents have reclaimed little plots of land and transformed them into garden spaces. The pool has re-opened. (The ruins remain.) The neighborhood authority has provided free registration and vaccination for pet dogs. Even public drainage has improved. (Marginally.)
Change is possible. And we are its agents.
So on this possibility for change will I bank my career and my life in the Philippines. There is not a lot of space in this densely populated city, but there is wiggle room for hope, and after all, that's really all the room we need.
~
In a couple of weeks I'll be developing (and, by next year, teaching) courses for a new and exciting (at least to me) distance-ed program at the University of the Philippines. The proposed Bachelor of Arts program in Multimedia Studies aims to produce graduates who are not only knowledgeable with multimedia and communication technologies, but articulate with the philosophical/theoretical underpinnings and social implications of the development in the field. I'll be pushing for an emphasis on futures studies, methodologies, and critical insights. I've started a new blog for this undertaking, and I'm officially closing this one. It's been a fun ride.
Now, on to corrupting young, innocent minds. Whee!
Diego
[Nietzsche] distinguishes two kinds of nihilism: one of weakness, one of strength. The first says, "God is dead. The self does not exist. O woe. We are doomed." These second says, "God is dead. Daddy's gone. Now we can play." ... [I]t is this second, active, dancing nihilism that can animate communal creativity precisely to the extent that it liberates us from the looming presence of God or the supergo telling us what we ought to be doing instead of playing.
- James A. Ogilvy, "Creating Better Futures: Scenario Planning as a Tool for a Better Tomorrow"
We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again
Some sunny day
- Johnny Cash
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