Has anyone caught this fascinating talk on experience versus memory on the TED site?  This one is a bit longer (20 min) than the usual video I post to the blog.  But the subject is fascinating. If you take a peek, you’ll hear from Daniel Kahneman, who is said to be one of the most influential living psychologists. He and his former partner, Amos Tversky, won the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work in behavioral economics.

Kahneman starts by telling a story of a guy who goes to a “glorious” concert.  But at the end, there is a loud noise, that the guy describes as so bad it ruined the whole concert.  Kahneman argues that the concert wasn’t ruined, just the memory of the concert.

“What this is telling us, really, is that we might be thinking of ourselves and of other people in terms of two selves. There is an experiencing self, who lives in the present and knows the present, is capable of re-living the past, but basically it has only the present…And then there is a remembering self, and the remembering self is the one that keeps score, and maintains the story of our life…Those are two very different entities, the experiencing self and the remembering self and getting confused between them is part of the mess of the notion of happiness.”

If I’ve piqued your interest, then hit play below.

I’m curious what photographers and artists would have to say about this notion of the experiencing and remembering selves.  How does photography or the visual arts play into this concept and the cognitive trap of measuring experiences and emotions that Kahneman mentions (want to weigh in, Mike?)  What do you think, reader?  This has got my brain churning.

Saludos,

Megan

It does not take long after arriving in the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires, to feel the passion and creativity that permeates just about every part of daily life. This sprawling modern city with a European feel seems to embrace just about every form of expression with vigor. Architecture, design, food, Tango, music and the visual arts find a knowledgeable and appreciative audience in Buenos Aires. In this respect, it is not surprising to find a growing acceptance for what is often considered a serious problem in other major cities of the world. Graffiti, also know as street art or tagging (a mark left by gangs to define turf) plague most urban environments and is treated by authorities and society at large as a crime.

My first real exposure to graffiti that clearly had a purpose beyond vandalism was the Berlin Wall prior to German unification in 1990.  Creative, defiant, and powerful images of every kind were placed on the West Berlin side of the wall with the support of the local population and government. I would walk for miles along this concrete canvas often under the spyglass surveillance of East German guards in watch towers.

Graffiti, unlike its more constrained cousins, gallery paintings, is primal, raw, large and more concerned with communication than being an object to be consumed. Perhaps this is why despite its power galleries and museums worldwide have been slow to acknowledge the talent working today in major cities around the globe.

Even though contemporary graffiti and street art can defy easy categorization, many street artists are taking it upon themselves to market their designs and art through the production of posters, T-shirts, prints and some even welcome commissions that include interior space. In Buenos Aires one such collective that combines a bar, nightclub and galleries with a generous dose of graffiti is “Hollywood in Cambodia”. Located in the Palermo district among trendy shops and restaurants, it serves as a home, hangout, meeting place and hideout giving the street art crowd roots to grow. “Hollywood in Cambodia” is also a featured stop in Graffitimundo’s popular tours showcasing the city’s best street art.

Increasingly throughout Buenos Aires and especially in neighborhoods like Palermo, San Telmo, and La Boca, graffiti art is gaining acceptance. While technically still considered a property crime, many residents and even business owners are tapping into the power of this often raw visual form. It is not uncommon to hear stories of police pausing to admire a work in progress or have trendy business owners commission a unique façade treatment. No doubt city planners with more homogeonous expectations must be pulling their hair out. One highly regarded restaurant, Tegui, invited several artists working in graffiti to collaborate on its façade and the result is an edgy, chic wall of words and images that clearly has helped it to stand apart from the crowd of fine eateries.

One catalyst for this creative explosion appears to be the traumatic economic collapse in Argentina in 2000 and 2001. Less violent than rioting and looting, graffiti artists were seen as giving voice to an angry population during this turbulent time. What remains today is a wide range of styles and techniques created by a talented group of nonconformists that continues to grow in acceptance.

At the very heart of this art form is the basic need to express the human experience and it is a direct link to the rock and cave paintings of past civilizations. Ultimately there can be meaning for our lives in the messages on the walls. It only requires that we invest with curiosity, wonder, and an open mind in this art regardless of where it is found to enrich our lives.

More images can be found at the Graffitimundo Flickr site - check it out!

I just caught a glimpse of this fun video on YouTube made by Stargate Studios, a high tech production company that does visual effects for film and television.  I was pleasantly shocked. I couldn’t believe how many backgrounds, and even foregrounds, had been modified using technology.  Do you recognize a popular TV show or movie you’ve seen in the series of clips? I shouldn’t be surprised.  So much of what we consume in terms of media is altered these days–from print ads that are airbrushed, to million-dollar Hollywood films that feature monsters and heroes created on a hard drive.  What we perceive when viewing the final product is sometimes only the final layer to a process.

As a radio producer I think about this process a lot as I listen to, watch or view media in some way. And now that I teach radio production to young people here in Oaxaca, I consider media literacy an important part of the learning process to creating media of any kind. What’s behind the media we consume?  When we look at an image or listen to audio, someone had to place that camera there, that microphone.  Someone is directing our “gaze” towards something. It’s good to be aware of that.

Have you ever seen the movie Broadcast News?  It’s from the 80’s, starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Albert Brooks. I always think of that scene where Hurt’s character’s ethics as a reporter are called into question. The news crew is sent out with one camera to perform an interview. So as you might imagine, they set up the camera facing the woman being interviewed.  However, like many news shows, they want to grab some video of the reporter listening to the interview that they can edit later and splice into the interview.  You’ve seen this before.  Think of any time you’ve watched Barbara Walters or Mike Wallace interview someone. You see a cut of them asking a question, then the interviewee answering, then a quick shot of the interviewer nodding as they listen, right?  Well, if you only have one camera, which is very possible for small news crews, you have to shoot those questions and nods after the interview has finished.  What you see is not what actually happened, but what the crew has reproduced. In the case of Hurt’s character, we find that during the actual interview he is caught up by the emotional story of the woman he is interviewing and truly cries.  When the interview is over, and the crew turns the camera on Hurt to grab a few quick shots of him asking questions and nodding, one of his line producers laments that they didn’t have two cameras to catch his actual emotional reaction, which would be “good television.”  He rebuts, “Give me a second. I can get myself there,” and then summons a few manufactured tears for them to film.

So, is there a difference?  Is there a difference between filming stock shots of interview questions after-the-fact, and reproducing emotional reactions? And sometimes I wonder why are we filming the interviewer at all if the story is about what the interviewee has to say? What’s the purpose? What do you think?

I don’t think the production of media is necessarily bad, or created with a sinister intent to mislead us.  There’s obviously a different set of guidelines for broadcast news and entertainment media. Like the video from Stargate Studios, production can create imaginative scenes and stories that transport us somewhere else, somewhere we couldn’t otherwise go.  Touching up photos can make an image pop, draw the eye somewhere new and unique, make a statement, no?  I invite you to visit our galleries and take a closer look.  Think about the story and process behind the images.  Sometimes that process is just as fascinating as the naked image itself.  Questions, doubts, revelations can arise from peering just a little bit closer, or from a different angle.  And we invite that inquiry.  Come take a look (or invite someone else to by sending off a card)!  And then tell us what you think.  We’re interested in the dialogue.

Cheers,

Megan

What is the value of the work we do?  How do we measure that value?  Are salaries commensurate with the value of our labors?  I would wager that many would say “no.”  I certainly would.

We can talk about the comparatively low salaries for our public school teachers in comparison to the pay scale for professional athletes; or the institution of a minimum wage to counteract the inability of markets to provide income equity for the least able members of the work force.  But what I want to know is, if we were to develop a new system, a system that awarded value to jobs not just based on economic terms, but also for their social and environmental benefit to society, what would that look like?  And how do we get there.

Enter The New Economics Foundation (NEF) and their report called  “The Value of Work,” released last year around Christmas time.  “For the first time, NEF is attempting to put a value on what different types of employment are ‘worth’ to us as a society…In doing this we hope to throw light on the disparity between the way our society rewards certain activities that might have little social benefit and disincentivises others that have far greater social benefit. Not only are people encouraged to pursue a bottom line no matter what cost (e.g. sell a mortgage to someone they know can’t afford it) but the jobs that may be the most socially and environmentally destructive may be attracting the best and brightest staff at the expense of other professions.”

The report uses valuation techniques to track and measure the social, environmental and economic value that six professions produce – or in some cases undercut.  It also sets out to bust some myths associated with the subject, like:

• We need to pay high salaries to attract and retain talent
• Workers in highly paid jobs work harder
• The private sector is more efficient than the public sector
• Pay always rewards underlying profitability
• Some jobs are more satisfying, so they require less pay

I’m curious, how about you?

I’m trying to imagine what it would look like if salaries were based on a more holistic measure of the benefit to society.  Would garbage men be the new millionaires? Or teachers?  Would cinema stars find themselves making minimum wage (no judgements here about the actors; I love the movies. I’m just speculating)?  What are the benefits to society for various professions, professions that go unobserved and undervalued, but are of tremendous use to us all?

“The research will also challenge our notion of what constitutes ‘value’ and suggest mechanisms for measuring a broader and richer set of costs and benefits that are not captured in the bottom line. It seeks to disrupt the link between pay and status and draw attention to the impacts of different kinds of work that are often hidden behind paychecks. This will go beyond the usual emphasis on nurses and teachers to jobs that often go unnoticed.”

If you’re interested, go check out their article.  You can download it from the site for free.  NEF has tons of other interesting studies and reports released from their site.  Some that consider the implications of changing the global workforce to work a 21-hour day, or a toolkit for making active choices to change your energy use habits for the better.  It’s a pretty tremendous resource, and all of it available to the public for no charge!

Saludos,

Megan

Need some help getting started on our site?  Well come take a quick look with me.  I’ll take you on a quick tour of how to send your very own card. Watch our new video tutorial today!

Enjoy!

Megan

Well folks, the fourth of July approaches. In the United States that marks a day to celebrate America’s Independence from England.  While here in Oaxaca, July 4th is Election Day in the state.  These occasions can inspire both celebration and ire, depending on where you sit.  For me, since the date can invite consideration for my history, civic work or the role of governments and citizens, I prefer to take this July 4th to reflect on myself and my actions as a citizen of the world.

How am I affecting the world I live in?  What is my role as a part of civil society?  What can I do to have a positive effect on my immediate surroundings? How can I be a good citizen even when I live outside my own home country?

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the misdeeds and shortcomings of our governments and elected officials on days like the fourth. What they do changes our lives in a myriad of ways, often not for the better.  So much so, that I can sometimes get mired down in feeling inert or helpless to affect a change. But the truth is, there are SO many people doing amazing things on the small, micro levels that do have a tremendous impact, even if only in one small space of the world.  And it’s that civic work that I want to think about on the fourth of July; it’s that work that that I want to celebrate.  Let me give you an example from my life…

Hub Oaxaca Work Space

For the last year I have been working with a small group of tireless people here in Oaxaca to set up a space called The Hub.  The Hub is a global network of spaces and communities that inspire and support imaginative and enterprising initiatives for a better world. They are places that borrow from the best of a member’s club, an innovation agency, a shared office and a think-tank, to create a new kind of space for social change–supporting social actors directly in their areas of work. Here in Oaxaca, we have been setting up a local Hub with a mind towards our regional context. Oaxaca is a majority indigenous area; it’s economically poor, and rural. It is often described as the line between the industrialized North and the traditional indigenous communities to the South. Our Hub, Hub Oaxaca, is a community concerned with well being, sustainability and the open exchange between communities–traditional and emerging–here in Oaxaca.

Hub Oaxaca: Collective Learning

Every day that I work at the Hub I meet new people who are doing amazing work at a small level to change our world for the better.  A guy starting a bicycling initiative to inspire alternative and eco-friendly ways to commute around the city.  A therapist who uses art to transform the lives of the children with whom she works. Artisans who are laboring to start a training school for apprentices, so that artisanal traditions and crafts are not lost, but where innovations are also encouraged. It’s inspiring to see!

Who is working where you live, or work to make a positive change?  Are you affecting your surroundings in a constructive way (even if just in a small, personal approach)?  Who are you as a citizen of the world, wherever you are in the world? Make a list.  Put pen to paper to recognize what you’ve done as a neighbor, a parent, a friend, a co-worker.  Maybe you vigilantly recycle, or you planted a garden in your community. Perhaps you’re attentive to keeping a peaceful mindset and a compassionate demeanor. Or maybe you listen attentively to a colleague, an elderly neighbor, a friend. It doesn’t have to be big to make a difference. And what is it that you want to accomplish before the next Election Day or celebration of independence in your home state or country? What steps could you take in the year to come?

And if you can’t find examples where you live of positive work, then take a look here. This is a great site called Philanthropist.org.  Philanthropist.org allows people  like you and me to become philanthropists. As a donor, even in small amounts, you can support entrepreneurs and volunteers working on exciting projects around the world by contributing a small loan or donation. Often times it is difficult for small social actors to receive financial support; the majority of funding is funneled towards institutions. Philanthropist.org supports small social actors who are not a part of large charitable institutions, or those that have not formed official non-profits (a costly process) to get the financial support the need to make an impact at the micro and macro levels.  Check them out.

There are tons of initiatives around the world, like Philanthropist.org, working to support and celebrate the actions of the myriad people interested in making a difference.  Surf around on the web, scroll the bulletin boards at rec centers or churches, or just look around your community, or inside your own home for a good example.  You might be shocked to see how much good work is going on.

Cheers,

Megan

It’s been a slow month on the blog thus far.  I apologize for my absence.  It hasn’t been a slow month in reality.  To be honest, I wish I had some tool to slow things down in my real life so I could better enjoy certain moments.  Well, now I do!  It’s been created by Phantom, a line of digital cameras that allows the user to record a video at as many as 1000 frames per second.  It’s pretty incredible what you can notice at 1000 FPS.  Take a look…

Now, I’m not trying to advertise for Pedigree dog food, or for Phantom cameras, for that matter.  And I certainly don’t have $2,500 to spend on a camera.  But this is a pretty great video; all those little paws and the small gestures of pleasure from each of those pups! Oh, how I wish I could snap my fingers and slow down the day to take in the details.  How about you?  What would you slow down?  What would you watch at 1000 FPS?  I’m curious.

Saludos,

Megan

There’s been a lot of press over the last two years about the state of the world economy, and the corporate concept of ‘too big to fail’. I’d like to turn that statement on it’s head and propose that in today’s world, we need to focus on the fact that our critical thinking should address the concept of ‘too small to fail’. In other words, for the most stable and peaceful global economy in the future, we need to provide individuals with the tools to lift themselves out of poverty and to succeed. One of those tools is microfinance.

If you are familiar with some of the microfinance organizations like Kiva, their mission is focused on providing micro loans to adults in developing countries. There is a new movement, which takes it a step further and focuses on the next generation and their college level education – Vittana.

Did you know that in most countries student loans do not exist? Vittana provides the avenue for people like you and me to participate in the student loan process and fill that void. Vittana works in developing countries – Vietnam, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru – with local microfinance organizations who develop the selection criteria based on their knowledge of local culture and the job market.

Loans are given to students in their final year of college or those in short term vocational programs to assure the highest rate of success. It’s estimated that by finishing their education, they will improve their income earning potential by 200-300%.

Vittana’s business model is one of student loans, not scholarships. Once the student graduates, they begin a repayment schedule which is outlined on the website along with the profile of the student. As with all microfinance, this is a hand up, not a hand out.

The dignity that comes with the ability to make a living, support yourself and your family is invaluable and a currency that we all need to trade in for our successful future. I hope you will check out Vittana and make a student loan today.  Feel free to join the HarmonyWishes community and be a part of our lending team or create one of your own!

Green My Parents

I read an interesting article recently from one of the New York Times blogs about an environmental program geared towards harnessing the immense energy and tenacity of children.  It’s called Green My Parents.  As they state on their site, GMP, “is a movement that activates & enlists kids to lead their families in measuring & reducing environmental impact at home & ‘challenge’ their parents to share savings with kids.”  The effort was just launched this past Earth Day, and now has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, trying to spread the word to young people and their parents all over the globe.  I love the way the GMP empowers kids to take a more assertive role in decisions at home, leading the way for their families.  Sometimes we need the optimism and creativity of the next generation to help push us towards the innovative and oft-traveled paths.

Many of the GMP tips are focused on countries like the U.S., where infrastructure allows for many of the changes they suggest.  However, a few tips are applicable for other contexts. I would love to see GMP chapters pop up in other countries around the globe, adapting the format for local and regional needs and opportunities.  It could be a great global community project, all pioneered by kids!

This same blog also brought me to the TED site again to watch a short speech given by young dynamo, Adora Svitak.  Svitak is no stranger to speaking in public, despite her young age (12 years old).  In this TED video, she posits that adults need to encourage “childish thinking”: “bold ideas, wild creativity and, especially, optimism.”  Unhampered by past experiences, Svitak points out that kids tend to dream big; and perhaps our job as adults is to (1) learn from that example, and (2) create environments to encourage and incubate those big ideas.

Spring is a great chance to foster your child-like dreams, or those of a child you know and love.  The weather is warming up and new energy is in the air.  How can you take that natural vitality that Spring has to offer and approach a task with “childish” optimism and ingenuity? Or can you enlist a young person you know to collaborate with you in a personal project, or one in your community?  You might find the exploration rejuvenating! 

Cheers,

Megan

I’ve got a lot of fun YouTube discoveries this month for you,  HarmonyWishes community.  So get ready to strap in and take the visual (or auditory) journey.

This latest find I stumbled upon while on the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) video site.  (The link is actually via YouTube).  TED hosted a conversation about “Notes & Neurons” and the common, almost innate connection humans have to the Pentatonic scale. If you don’t know what a Pentatonic scale is, don’t worry, me neither. I had to look it up.  “A Pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitches per octave in contrast to a Heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale.”  Apparently, Pentatonic scales are very common around the world, found in Celtic music, West African music, rock, blues, melodies from Korea, China, India.  The list goes on.

In this video you’ll see musician Bobby McFerrin demonstrate the very ingrained notes of the Pentatonic scale with the audience.  He comments that no matter where he performs this exercise, whatever country, the result is the same–”everyone gets it.”

It’s sometimes hard to believe in our giant world that we all could share some innate capabilities or instincts.  Here at HarmonyWishes our mission is to embrace and encourage diversity and tolerance.  Exploring our differences, as well as our common characteristics, whether through music, ideas, images or sound, is important to us.  We’d love to hear your stories of commonality in unexpected places.  You can share it with us here on the blog, or send us a line.

Happy May!

Cheers,

Megan