Getting hot in the kitchen

Literally and figuratively. Literal as in kitchen with western window, so heat gain from cooking with gas is not appealing. Not to mention keeping up with the garbage...I'll say no more.

Figurative in that I am incredibly honored to have been invited by Ronni Bennett, a new shero, to be one of eight guest bloggers on "Time Goes By."

I gotta get my kitchen in order. No question it's gonna get hotter.

SXSWi, anyone?

South by Southwest interactive is drawing near...

The university has requisitioned a gold pass (interactive and film) for our group, and the anticipation is mounting. Austin transforms from a fairly sleepy college town into a beehive of activity during SXSW. We don't get passes for the music portion, but I don't care. I had a grand time last year, and met lots of brilliant, friendly people, and learned oodles about what's happening on the WWW.

I'm looking forward with great excitement to connect with folks I met last year, and meet new friends. And of course learn lots of new tricks.

Are you planning to attend SXSWi this year? Get in touch with me by commenting on this post, and I'll try to arrange a meet-up.

I know Liz Henry will be here, she's leading some sessions. And of course the ubiquitous Bruce Sterling. Dan Rather will give one of the keynote addresses, and His Wakiness, Ze Frank will be in attendance. The Sims daddy is scheduled, and more Web gurus than you can shake a stick at. And it's OK to end a sentence with a preposition. I said so.

The BlogHer ladies are coming, I hope we have a gathering at some point. I'd love to meet Ronni Bennett, and some of the silverback women bloggers. The boomers are hitching up to the 'net, and my new friend from the Boomer Chronicles may grace Austin with her presence.

This has been a phenomenal year of networking and meeting visionary bloggers and communicators. It has certainly enriched my life, and I've only scratched the surface. To think SXSW is growing annually is mind-blowing. As long as I can live in Austin, I plan to attend this event, if I don't do anything else.

One teeny problem is that I have a March 15 deadline for a fairly hefty, in-depth article about the tenth anniversary of our division's Innovative Instructional Technology Awards Program (IITAP) that's presently eating my lunch. The program awards cash prizes to faculty who have developed instructional tech for their classes, and so much is going on at UT that I'm totally inundated with history and descriptions of brilliant Web applications for the classroom. It's totally cool, I'm just a little worried about delivering on time, there's so much to include.

I have a pretty good angle, but the volume of interviews, notes, and putting the pieces together is taking all my time and effort. Would that I had an assistant to take care of the more pedantic chores--scheduling interviews, transcribing notes, doing laundry and dishes.... I need a housewife or househusband!!

This is going to be a dynamo month. A concert on March 31, SXSWi, the article deadline, and a couple of professional development classes just for openers. Then there's the Zona Rosa writers group, side editing gigs, not to mention my day gig--I'll be lucky to get to April in one piece. And I desperately want to visit my daughter in Boston and meet the Boomer Chronicler.

So if you're heading to Austin for SXSWi, let me know--let's get together!

Woodstock Generation, a contemporary view

A fabulous new friend sent this essay. Beautiful writing, with a stunning flower to accompany the piece. Thanks Bruce, looking forward to our next encounter.

WOODSTOCK GENERATION: WAKE UP, RECLAIM YOUR CORE VALUES, & TAKE OVER!

In case you haven’t noticed (just kidding!) your planet needs you. (No kidding!)

Those of us who experienced the consciousness revolution of the 1960s first-hand may have sometimes felt since then that the decade in question became an anachronism. Later generations often considered the ’60s “uncool.” Or at best quaint, unrealistic, or puzzling. The slogan “Peace & Love” became something corny, trite, even embarrassing. How many of us proudly profess to be a Flower Child, or to believe in Flower Power? It’s time to reconsider. For the planet’s sake.

I’m not prone to nostalgia, & I certainly have no desire to return to any earlier time. On the contrary, if I’ve learned anything in the last four decades, it’s the importance of being present, living in this moment: BE HERE NOW. Recently, to this challenge of mindfulness, or remaining engaged in the immediate, direct experience of living NOW, is added a new awareness.

My lifetime of searching brings me to something I’ve had all along. What some call the “Law of Attraction” is the latest key that has fallen into place. Recent scientific studies of happiness reveal that success does not cause happiness. Instead, happiness is a precursor of success, a pre-condition making you more likely to succeed. To struggle for goals only attracts negativity. Just do your best. BE HAPPY NOW. Flow.

This is definitely the most exciting, promising, & dire moment in human history. The planetary biosphere we call Gaia will most likely persist with or without us. We’re talking wake-up call. In order for humanity to get its act together in time to survive as a species, those who care enough must be willing to assume the roles of authority that our experience has prepared us for.

The so-called Baby Boomers are mostly those who remember when the Woodstock Festival happened, whether you attended or not. Most of you who recall that era have gone on to relative affluence & material success. Yet how many are truly happy now? Many have lost their way, forgotten what we have always known deep inside. We live in a culture built upon discontent. Still if you want what you have, you have what you want.

Most of the Woodstock Generation is now materially successful. In reality, the 1960s were not primarily about drugs or great music. Flower Power was a genuine evolutionary surge, a spiritual acceleration, a massive infusion of global awareness, even cosmic or universal concepts entering into collective awareness. The world has never been the same. It never will be the same. It can be better.

That era did not end with 1969. It went to seed. The seeds scattered over the planet & are now reaching maturity. Some of those now involved in politics simply never “got it” about Flower Power. In the early 21^st Century as the pendulum swings from political darkness toward a new dawn of awareness, we cannot afford to let it swing all the way back, ever again. Let that swing become a spiral of life. A dance of joy.

This is about waking up, though most of humanity sleepwalks through life, & that’s OK. Only the movers & shakers need to awaken. It’s about re-claiming our core values, what really matters: Peace & Love. It’s about taking over by accepting full responsibility for your actions, by assuming the kind of authority that serves the best interest of the planet. Only in this way can you serve humanity.

And indeed, many far younger humans have already gotten this message, that Peace & Love are what really matters. If there’s a future for us, it must be extremely green. As James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia Theory says: “The well being of Gaia must always come before that of ourselves: we cannot exist without Gaia.”

You can only teach others by example, by loving yourself well enough to care deeply about others. By loving your planet enough to place Nature first, the rest follows naturally.

Peace & Namaste,

Bruce

Copyright 2007 Bruce P. Grether/ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A very merry unbirthday, or half birthday to me!

Today is my half birthday! When I was growing up, our family lived all over the country, and would take a couple of weeks each summer to return to Texas to visit the grandparents, paternal set in Elgin, and the maternal set in Greenville. Greenville at that time had a creamery called the Sabine River Valley Ice Cream Company. They had special flavors in the summer, including honeydew melon, which was my favorite. So on July 18, my half birthday, he would take me and my sisters to get ice cream cones. Later, I named my favorite Aussie in honor of the creamery, the day, and my Papaw. We called her Sabine, or E would call her "Bean" for short.

Spent another wonderful weekend seeing friends I hadn't in over 30 years, one I've been in contact with since I moved back to Austin, and met several new friends. Some of the women were old high school mates of the younger sister of a long time dear friend of mine. Got that? One of those two degrees stories. One of the women invited my friend and I to stay with her when we take our New Mexico journey this September. We already have invites to two homesteads, both are solar-powered and off the grid, and the house (or collection of stations) we visited this weekend was also run by the sun and off the grid.

For my half birthday present to myself I finally got serious about unjamming my scanner, and was successful! YAY! I've been scanning some photos that I know I don't have the negative for, except I'm noticing some strange discolorations which I think are from the scanner glass plate. So not totally successful, but enough to get moving again, which feels good after so long. All those watery striations on the photo above are not actually on the photo itself. The upper left photo taken on Velasco St. in Dallas, TX in probably July of 1968. Right photo is of Kathy, Loralyn, and me at the L.A. airport in 1970. Or at Love Field in Dallas...dang, can't remember whether I was coming or going! I'll be scanning lots of those pics that I can't find negatives for.