"A particle pontificating on infinity"
— Ariel Durant
Spatial thinking allows us to visit a place geographically and ask questions. Beyond a latitude and longitude we now have perspective. Certainly topography exists but looking beyond the horizon, we see lived life.
How long does a commute take on public transportation? Is there access to expedient and efficient options in a community? How far to the nearest hospital. Are the sidewalks present and if they are, how walkable are they? Look at zoning and planning regulations. Whom do they benefit and where is the potential harm?
Zooming out (or in) when exploring geopolitics informs another layer of insight and interest.
In what I like to refer to as visiting my NYC museum memberships, this week contains a variety of exciting walks through of course the Met, but also MOMA, International Center of Photography (ICP), The Armory, and Cooper Hewitt.
I wrote a bit about the ICP…
Resounding clatter about AI taking over our creative pursuits might be dependent on the origin of your ideas. Think of your experience both professionally and from life as nodes in a large network. This is your secret sauce. Folks reaching for speed and sameness will be well-served but you my friend can sparkle like the unique little diamond that you are.
The Cooper Hewitt is the Smithsonian Design museum. In fact, your Smithsonian membership provides access to a little bit of wonderful on 90th at Central Park.
“ Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial explores design’s role in shaping the physical and emotional realities of home across the United States, US Territories, and Tribal Nations. The exhibition is the seventh offering in the museum’s Design Triennial series, which was established in 2000 to address the most urgent topics of the time through the lens of design.”
A point of reference for me continues to be place. The dynamics of how we make our own ‘container’ of relevance zooming in and out to our homes and to the world writ large.
Lucky enough to witness Davóne Tines singing as he might have in his grandmother’s living room in years past, he reimagines what place means as a nomadic storyteller and operatic singer.
What are you thinking about for your next story, either written or as a presentation? I keep exploring the idea of place. It brings to mind a permanence but only in an ethereal sense. We are unable to experience an objective “now” — it doesn’t exist. Look up at the sun. You are seeing it as it appeared 8 minutes ago!
Let that motivate you out into the world. You will be late anyway—better than never.
It is good a philosopher should remind himself, now and then, that he is a particle pontificating on infinity — Ariel Durant
