Screening Your Resolution for Effective Outcomes

​Screening for Persuasive Resolutions

The most important thing for resolutions
to manifest is committed self-persuasion. [1]
But that doesn't mean a resolution must be achieved by yourself alone.

With a quiet turn of the New Year, and now being able to say with some degree of confidence that I survived three full decades on earth, I'm starting to realize celebrations (many of which I barely partook in) also exist as a form of persuasion. And celebrations can be significant even away from other people, though never far or completely independent from others.

Just as important, the way we form our resolutions--setting intentions can be done in a way to remind us why we're committed to taking action toward something we want rather than discourage us from not reaching our goals.

Effective resolutions come from one's capacity for effective self-persuasion. What if, instead of mandating a specific future and living under the tyranny that comes with limiting one future for yourself, that people entertained the opportunities of their lifetime with questions to keep them moving forward? Like how scientists might create a hypothesis before diving into experimentation.

I often champion the worth of thoughtful questions because they allow you (or organizations [2]) to find and create new answers in multiple situations, time and time again. From a scientific point of view, the value of a hypothesis is that it lets us move closer to the truth by discerning whether a specific influence will have an effect on an anticipated outcome--and just as important, we can potentially let others replicate the results too. And my friend Onyx is often quick to warn people that "committing to only *a* future can be a dangerous false choice."

Life is a creative endeavor, why must our aspirations terminate into a specific sentence or outcome like "losing weight" when you can commit to experimenting with specific and intentionally chosen actions that will always contribute to manifesting multiple goals?

"How might I consistently improve my health?" or better yet, "How might *we* improve our health?"

"How might I enjoy more activities that contributes to my physical fitness?"

"What does eating well look like?"

"What does taking care of myself, or loving myself look like?"

When we engage in long-term efforts to create systemic change that require more than what an individual or group can explicitly control, and it's the same kind of thinking that's probably necessary for people to make meaningful change as individuals who live in a world filled with plenty of people and experiences that go well beyond their own selves.

Does it change the fact that we still need goals and milestones? No, what matters is the *resolution* our goals are framed with--and yes, that's a play on words. Think about resolution in terms of digital screen definition -- how granular is your goal?
If it's too specific, it warps your reality in unfavorable ways--watching a youtube video in high definition on a clunky old computer sometimes brings the entire computer to a halt. Watching it at a 180pixel resolution might not overburden your graphics card, but it might not do service to the viewer in showing the details of an event or a picture of a map that might be important to remember in the near future. How can you take more effective steps toward making a good resolution? Look to the trajectory of your past experiences and the ingredients playing into their circumstances. If none of it has changed and you're setting sights on lofty goals for your New Year's (or any other time of year) resolution, you might need to create more persuasive ways to reach that goal.

If eating healthily isn't easy because healthy food is rarely if ever available, maybe it's to find ways to increase your chances with being in places that offer healthy food--deepen your friendship with a local gardener, work toward a new job or promotion that provides better mobility for taking care of your basic needs. These are roundabout but important steps to your bigger priorities, and it's important that you honor the challenges even when it didn't seem like part of the bigger picture you envisioned when looking from the cusp of a new year.

        .       .       .

One of the many gifts genuine interpersonal connection brings us is that a friend, a sincere coworker, or even kind strangers can help "screen" out unnecessary information and put part of the reality you live with in check -- though it goes without saying to engage wisely as some don't know where you want to go, and bad relationships can have powerful negative repercussions. So another person's agency and ability to check in on you can count as a system, just like making commitments to yourself for exercising with goals or milestones with your rest, eating, and emotional health habits too.

In other words, friends can boost your ability to achieve what you set out to do that becomes a form of persuasion that better futures are possible--and you can do the same for them too!

Last year international life coach Bere and I put together an event called "Party Like it's 2019!!!" [3], where the value of the activity comes from being able to experiment with iterations of who you are, and set up systems that help keep you on track with what you aspire to do along the way. One of Bere's biggest points of emphasis in her coaching came from being able to break down big endeavors with specific and achievable goals.

In the world of organizational and systemic change (complex systems) I studied and worked with during and after University, the same concept's about recognizing how the things you have direct control over plus tangible reminders can create structure to influence your paradigms about the world [4].

It's how gratitude exercises often succeed by letting people realize visceral past experiences and outcomes can present them with reasons to be happy (or satisfied, or hopeful) because they show us a different trajectory of choices available that we didn't see before.

That's the magic of empowerment too--that you can suddenly generate 300% more with 100% of the ingredients you already had with a simple shift in perspective.

Confidence at its essence is about trust--trust in oneself, trust in others, or trust in an endeavor--including the promises or resolutions we make. Often when we're overwhelmed, we lose track of what we've done before and what we remain capable of doing.

My friend Marnese Jackson and I would also check in with each other on a weekly basis as we worked through unstable housing, irregular transportation, living with kids, family challenges, and professional priorities that also extend into community and civic impacts. Sometimes the best thing that came from it was the ability to unpack our overwhelm and remember what we've done or sought out to do.

And as strategists, futurists, and science fiction writers might all agree: good strategy is the practice of good science fiction. When we create believable futures, they're often rooted with discernable, plausible, and replicable truths that allow us to leap beyond the ingredients we know into new places.

Since the future becomes the present with every moment, you'll have plenty of opportunities to find a persuasive resolution. Hopefully you're finding something for moving together forward now.

[1] https://lighttelecommunication.blogspot.com/2019/01/persuasive-resolutions.html

[2] http://ismotion.co/2013/12/purpose-in-questions/

[3] https://www.eventbrite.com/e/refreshing-your-vision-party-like-its-2019-tickets-43259414072# 

[4] https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ZWASyBqmHHcGFyVkxWNTEyYTA/view

https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/how-turning-your-goals-into-systems-can-change-your-life.html

Possibly related and useful--for setting more feasible systemic goals; one of my biggest challenges was the feasibility side of goal setting, a lot of visioning processes and goal setting processes are admittedly very time and effort intensive to the point of feeling overwhelming--I have some ways for dealing with it but I'm certain there are better and curious to see how the following turns out:
https://www.inc.com/heather-wilde/3-simple-steps-for-setting-your-next-business-goals.html

Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash
I don't know who this woman is but she's definitely looking at a screen and reaching
with what could be described as resolve. By the way, staring at
blue light from screens can degrade your eyes
so try to look out to the real world instead.

Coping with tragedy

i humbly reach out today to ask how each of you are dealing with the tragedy facing our world.
in particular, i’m overwhelmed by the Paris attacks, shootings in the U.S., plane bombings, my wife’s mother’s sever depression, Jake’s passing, and the lunacy of Presidential candidates. not to mention the suffering i see and hear in friends and acquaintances on a daily basis.
i’ve lived without a TV and haven't visited News websites for 7 years. recently, i’ve been visiting people with TVs and now i sit in a coffee shop in Upstate NY that’s non-stop “Breaking News” with video of people being carted away on stretchers. i’m getting nauseous and physically overwhelmed by what seems to me a concentration of suffering. is it because i’ve been sensitized by not tuning in everyday? or are others feeling overwhelmed by the seemingly incessant tragedies? are we under attack by fear? how do i cope?
one personal response bubbled up: find a deserted island and move there, build a small compound, and a large wall. y’all can come.
if that’s not probable, what mindsets, practices, inspiration — or lack thereof — do you use daily to grow resilience in this seemingly tragic world?
with love,A

Hi A, Thanks for sharing how you feel and mustering strength to seek support--the key items that really opened my mind and confidence in what people can do despite oppressive or overwhelming circumstances emphasize putting events in the world and what we can do about them into perspective.

Here's a compilation of what I use/developed for myself and often share with others over the years and now up to current events ranging from personal to a broader systems thinking approach:

[personal] 
(1) Embrace an experience/event with a mindful approach to gratitude 

1. Receive and accept what’s given from reality—choose to embrace some aspect of it or the experience as a gift in your own reality (the parts of life you have domain/agency over)
2. Consider what the gift does for you
3. Consider what the gift says about the giver and situation
4. express heartful thanks
   [emotionally sincere to the giver/situation--if the situation is very ambiguous, try to make it very tangible, rationale will follow below in #4]

[existential](2) "You always have choices, even at the moment before death" -my mom supposedly quoting from a marine

Resolve to broader or principled commitments in life, and that we have opportunities to live moments that are a culmination of our choices. I ask/answer three questions to myself:

1) what are 3 choices you can make right now?
2) what is the courageous choice?
3) what are you willing to die for?

It might be counterintuitive and you don't have to share those answers, but it makes a wildly emotional and complex mystery a bit easier to relate to when you frame it in the strategic positive.

[paradigmatic](3) Clarify your relationship to the problem on a systemic level & vice versa
How you can make meaningful impact or intervention with the overarching issue from where you are.

From there, try to collaborate with others (teammates is a great place to start) since I guarantee someone else in the world is also thinking about the same thing from another angle.

[systemic](4) I'll also point you to systems thinking, the notion of "Structure & Agency", and risk governance for navigating complex challenges--no need to get too caught up in the details, it its heart, the two feed into one another:

Structure (environment, institutions ,etc.) influence individual behavior.
Agency (you! your community & capacity to leverage/mobilize it) can influence Structure (the environment).


If music and stories make it easier to remember, there's also the phrase "emotive mechanics":
https://medium.com/hocma-the-science-of-the-heart/emotive-mechanics-in-east-detroit-23a9272d85a1#.ef6kkaq73

It's easier to explain rather than read but here's a guide--also the rationale behind tangible acts for gratitude:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ZWASyBqmHHcGFyVkxWNTEyYTA/view

On recent events, I've mixed feelings about sharing super widely or among acquaintances as it's an early-stage mix of exercise for myself & outreach experiment. Here's how I thought about gun violence with intent to intervene on a systems level--having ways to look at or even frame something as a problem implicates that solutions exist for resolving it: https://iandtran.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/stakes-is-higher-with-cake/

I'd be glad to chat or do a hangout if you'd like to talk. Be well, we're here for you, and take care of yourself in any case.
Ian D. Tran

Resilience: a function of strength and commitment?

Perhaps a truer test of strength comes from resilience.  It's an act of strength through fortitude.  In times of duress, we learn most from our body, mental acumen, character, integrity of the team, community, etc.

Surges in our strength can surprise us when considering our momentary capacities to handle a situation, but our sustained commitment and endurance allows us to glean a more authentic understanding and confidence for ourselves.

Wisdom to be

Wisdom as it is.

I recently gave feedback on the draft speech of a fellow social entrepreneur who was invited as a keynote speaker for the Jane Goodall Vision 2020 symposium.

While I won't be there for the symposium (it's in Australia), I can imagine the following for events of this caliber and magnitude:  people are privileged to attend, and the event organizers bring in some of the best speakers they can find to leave all their attendees charged with the finest of rekindled hearts and solid wisdom.

While I was more or less familiar with various strategies she explores in her speech, I'm starting to realize how tremendous an opportunity it's been to have access to her speech and organization: due to the nature of the organization's programs, I've been privileged to learn about some of her organization's deepest challenges in ways that most people would never imagine possible for someone working with it in such a short amount of time.  I know that in some way, the things they might have struggled with are the very same things I struggle with too.  They probably boil down to very simple (but tremendous!) things that were affirmed at the end of her speech: perseverance, commitment, and belief in your own success before you begin.

If you're left with the same things you had questioned before, it's time to get moving--sometimes you must live to understand them, rather than know them to live.  Some ideas retain resilience even when we don't feel we have a complete grasp of reality or the concepts in our minds.  Those come from learning by undergoing the most trying challenges of fully living our lives.

Heed your vision to find your bearings before committing, keep your eyes open, and dive in

Life and the Life Sciences Orchestra

Hi Sharon,

There's one more thread of thought I'd like to share about the program and my experience with the LSO and how it can relate to audiences. Even if the article will be printed tomorrow without it, I think it's important to share as it adds some depth to what I was trying to capture in our conversation yesterday.

In essence: we're privileged to discover glimpses of what drives the nexus of art and science, and we have the opportunity to experience profound reminders about the nature of life as part of the symphony.

I vividly remember one of the French Horn players rushed out of rehearsal to attend to one of his patients during rehearsal this season. Last year in the summer, our piccolo/flutist passed away after a long grapple with breast cancer and chemo therapy shortly after performing in the spring concert. Our director, Oriol Sans, sent the following letter to members of the symphony:

"At this moment I want to share a few words with you. Last week I went tosee Lisa at the hospital, and it was an experience that I will neverforget. The open and honest way she talked about her cancer and what wasgoing to happen to her, made a deep impression on me. Among other things,she told me that for the last year music made her forget about all thehealth problems she was going through. Music didn't cure her, she said, butit helped her to get through that.
I told her what a great example she was for all of us. She came to ourrehearsals with a crutch, without it, with a wig, without a wig, with longhair, with short hair... But she was always there, and I never heard asingle complaint from her. Until the very end, the illness never stoppedher to do one of the things that she most loved: making music. The sameweek of our last concert she didn't agree to a last round of chemo untilthe doctors promised her that she would be ready to play for our dressrehearsal and the concert.
I think that I can speak from all of us when I say that seeing her examplewas truly a gift. I am glad that my last words to her before I left herroom at the hospital were thank you."

Medicine and health care are intimately connected tied to the life and environmental sciences. Given that the causes of cancer are an interconnected mix between genetics, diet, and environmental factors ( http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/cancer_and_the_environment_508.pdf ), the past experiences are a reminder to me about some of the people and things we love and strive to creatively improve about the world we live in.

One last note: Curiosity and experience drive the arts and sciences alike: "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." - Albert Eistein

As mentioned in the program notes written by Oriol for our upcoming concert, the Mahler symphony was deeply influenced by themes from nature and our relationship with it--it features bird calls (of a cuckoo) in its opening movements, and the story of a hunter's funeral--attended by animals. Shostakovich's Festival Overture was performed as a fanfare for the 2009 nobel prize. The LSO presents an opportunity for audiences and participants alike to entice a shared sense of wonder.

Thank you again for sharing your time to consider my thoughts, I hope I was able to share this in time with you.

All the best,
Ian D. Tran

---
B.S. Environmental Science, Political Science Minor Class of 2012 The University of Michigan-Dearborn

Discipline is [the path to] freedom

"Discipline is [the path to] freedom."
-See:
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/self-discipline/
http://www.mindperk.com/articles/discipline-the-path-to-freedom/
http://www.coachcharrise.com/discipline-is-freedom/
http://www.randygage.com/blog/discipline-creates-freedom/

By this maxim, we may better examine the second amendment's assertion that we have the right to bear arms under purview of a "well-regulated militia".  But what constitutes a militia?  What happens when much of the civilian population is armed?

Perhaps we could pursue detailed legal answers to those questions, but the point I'm raising has everything to do with recognizing responsibility, discipline, and regulation as analogous requisites for our freedoms.

Mandatory Compassion

What's the difference between compassion and love? When does compassion become mandatory for good character? I started exploring those questions through this tune and the stories behind it. [Edited: 19 IX 2013]

Willie (in reply to a complement about him as a tremendously compassionate person): "Ian, I appreciate that.  I'll humbly accept that, but in some ways I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..."

Some people become notably extraordinary in response to or as a product of extraordinary circumstance and exposure.  He had gone to prison three times, and started turning his life around through his determination to be who he knew he was capable of becoming--a better person and an artist.

If you get a chance to hear to his story there several key moments during his final time in prison:
1) choosing not to eat meat (at a time when vegetarian options were almost non-existent) while in prison as a way to prove he had control over something in his life
2) one night, a neighboring cell mate who had a reputation for drawing passed one of his pieces over to one of Willie's cellmates, and from then forward he knew he could draw and started sketching
3) seeing the sense of peace that painting brought to one of the inmates
4) a moment where another inmate noticed he was drawing and sat down to show him how to draw with three dimensions for about 5 minutes

He ended his addiction to drugs and later earned his GED, then a college degree, ran 3 Detroit Free Press marathons, and worked at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wellness Center for a little over 20 years before retiring early to live the wisdom he preaches and pursue his art with greater focus.

It's important to acknowledge that his addiction had negative impacts for other people beyond himself--and that's at the core of his statement "but in some ways, I didn't have a choice--you know how my life's been..." He'll be one of the first to acknowledge and warn people about addiction and the realities of prison and its role in criminal justice. At the same time, he also understands that many of the events which led up to addiction could have been circumvented in many ways--whether it was through the attitudes instilled in him by others as a child to having an earlier exposure to healthier and creative means for expression.

Willie has been a mentor and a champion for my own efforts.  I learned so much about compassion and artistry from sporadic visits with him in the past year as he Worked at the Wellness Center--sometimes just from watching him sketch as he told some of the stories I shared above. Or by the way he remained relentless about encouraging me and finding opportunities that could advance my musicianship even as I focused on other kinds of work.

Willie attributes the magnitude of his compassion in large part to his experiences, though I could say there's a fair amount of credit due to his character and commitment too.  His life story's tremendous, and I wish more people have met him or can spend time with him to learn about it firsthand.

However, through his reply to my appreciation for what he does and how he lives, I realized he noted a distinction in gauging one's character: there's more to being and becoming a great person than just meeting circumstance with magnanimous compassion.  Perhaps actively seeking opportunity to help others becomes the next distinguishing gradation in our humanity.  While it's something both Willie and I do, the extent of which that it happens as a regular basis is something new for me to focus on.  Not necessarily because I didn't care about or didn't do it before, but because I hadn't seen life with this degree of clarity until I meditated over Willie's reply.

Another question arises about actively helping others: at what point do we let another person be as they are?

Perhaps it behooves us to examine a maxim of life:  be as you are unless you yourself find compelling reason to change.   I suspect many try to live by it, yet what does this maxim say about our relationship with other people?  A distinction and balance exists between seeking--active, and intentional form of aid--to help and helping as an outcome of a reactive/passive or perhaps something simply receptive to opportunity.

I'm still exploring this concept, and I've also titled a new piece "Mandatory Compassion" based on this conversation.

Start 9 I 2013, # 12:24 pm 18 I 2013

.  .  .

I've since realized the difference between love and compassion.  Love is a proactive endeavor which exists in the interest of helping others be at their best.  Compassion tends to be reactive and circumstantial.  We may help others upon recognizing some need that can be met, but if not, we might empathize for a moment and move on. I also attribute some of this to sharing lunch with a homeless man, Mr. Westberry, at a time when I just happened to have enough extra food to share a hot meal during a very cold December day in Ann Arbor.  That event ran through my head as I started playing the opening notes of the piece, and Willie's conversation versus my encounter with Mr. Westberry galvanized concept behind this title.  [#edited 19 IX 2013]

Being "completely wrong about GMOs": Scaling responsibility with technological escalation

In reply to this blog post by Torie Bosch of Slate about an advocate's change of heart toward Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) for meeting world hunger: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/01/03/mark_lynas_environmentalist_who_opposed_gmos_admits_he_was_wrong.html

Bosch's post was irresponsibly framed.  It misleads the public into thinking the challenges behind GMO practices are settled.  Maybe* (I'm very, very skeptical but will remain open minded.) there's a case for GMO methods in genetic/medical research and such in very controlled spaces, but when it comes to claiming they're necessary for world hunger, it's like trying to justify nuclear energy for meeting global energy demand when we have yet to guarantee a safe legacy of fuel extraction and waste disposal that doesn't compromise the health of others.  Alternative strategies and technologies exist that have fewer negative legacies.  Granted, a lot of it can be harmless, but we're operating on a level that's so profound that it can cheat the defenses of our evolutionary protections in ways that we're incapable of knowing until we've met its consequences.  It transcends our known responsibility to a point that we don't know how we're ethically accountable.

As acknowledged in the article, a fair share of anti-GMO advocates don't appreciate the monopolization of large chemical companies and their strategic business models.

Consider common approaches to Monsanto's GMO business:

1) Develop pesticide/herbicide/fungicide resistant crops so that farmers can use a lot of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides on their plots--as a chemical company that pioneers GMO techniques and patents cultivars/dna for pesticide/herbicide/fungicide resistant crops, it wins in two ways: people buy their seeds, and people use more of their chemicals.

2) Patent genetic sequences, allow the DNA to spread into the wild/neighboring non-GMO crop farmer land (this is a kind of negligence that the every day person has yet to find legal redress for),  let the crop cross-pollinate with untainted crops/wild plants, sue any cross-contaminated farmers.

3) Develop self-terminating "suicide" gene that creates infertile crops like corn,  allow the DNA to spread into the wild/neighboring non-GMO crop farmer land, once it's cross-pollinated, hybridized GMO plants (including those tainted in the wild or owned by non GMO using farmers) self-terminate after a season, create absolute dependency on the supplying GMO seed company in the region.

A prevailing concern with GMO work that isn't addressed is the uncertainty of outcomes when integrated back into the environment and living systems like a person's body.  If there are people willing to take the risk, fine, but it never ought to be done at the expense of those who cannot voice or choose to opt out.  GMO in food gambles with our evolutionary abilities.

Other things people might want to note about this "confession":

1)  An activist, while many are worthy of respect in their own right, isn't necessarily a scientist (which Mark Lymas acknowledged).

Just because an outspoken person changes stance on a complicated issue (this one's the kind that gets a technical classification as a wicked problem from complex system scientists), it doesn't mean the problems of the issue are no longer valid.  In stating he was "completely wrong" about GMOs denies many ethical problems that have yet to be understood and resolved.

I don't fear genetically modified food, I worry about its unintended consequences in other living things and the rest of the world.  Living things are relatively resilient, but we I don't appreciate a gamble that goes against what my evolutionary background prepared me for.  Most people don't even know about the things that I'd be concerned about.  Unless you've had vigorous scientific environmental and biological exposure and training, the things I would add as important arguments probably aren't heard and appreciated by the lay person on a regular basis.

2)  Science is different from engineering and industrialization.  It's also not the same as advocacy.  

Science is the process of discerning truth.  Advocacy is a change-oriented political act that summons the perceived truths ("facts") found by science to champion a hypothesis/claim (i.e. GMOs are good or bad).  Engineering and industrialization strive to maximize functions--productivity, efficiency.  Aside from science, none of these acts that people try to champion (i.e. we need more free enterprise so that small businesses can compete with the giants)--more doesn't always mean better.  What difference does it make if the majority of the small-scale GMO competitors also maintain unethical practices?  Quantity does not speak to quality.  Furthermore, none of these "civil virtues" (engineering and industry) are wholly accountable to comprehensive reasoning and justification for the sake of humanity.  While they behoove profit for those privileged to leverage them, they don't guarantee that people will respect the dignity of other beings as ends rather a means to their end.  Even people who truly adhere to Ayn Rand's notion of objectivism would find concern in that argument (there's a paradox to her definition of objectivism that I've found, so I see something bigger that's missing to her framework of objectivism).

3)  The world already produces enough food to feed everybody.  

I don't even need to dive into academic peer review literature to back this claim, see here (worldhunger.org), here (oxfam Canada), and here (The UN Chronicle).

If anything, the world's people need to learn how to live better within their means in ways that don't necessitate intensive land use.  Look up your estimated ecological footprint, if everyone lived the way I did, it would need about 4 and a half times the arable (farmable) land that our planet earth currently has to offer.  For an American living in the Metro-Detroit area, this is a fairly efficient footprint considering how much we tend to rely on automobiles and imported foods.  The average American's (footprint stands at 5), and it's really challenging to minimize further unless big changes in housing and infrastructure (i.e. transportation, substantive renewable energy as a primary source) are involved.

The world's people might not be good at figuring out how to innovate or discipline itself in living with, maintaining, and cultivating sustainable environments, but food shortage is best articulated as a local challenge.  I'll dare say food sustainability is inappropriate to reduce into a singular global problem to be solved with a large international monetary fund (even the IMF/Worldbank eventually tries to consider problems at a local scale) and technological wonder crops from exotic places or chemical companies that pioneer GMO methodology.  I might be lacking direct sources at the moment, but read to the bottom and you'll find a few things that give you leads into how I've come to this opinion (hint, college courses in sustainable ecology and agriculture).

4)  Also, let's have the death of environmentalism now.  

We don't defer all of our ethical behavior to ethicists, we let them inform us about better ways of living, but the responsibility remains our own.  Environmental issues don't affect environmentalists only, they matter to everyone, and everyone needs to find ways to exercise ethical actions that contribute to making the world a better place.  Nordhaus and Shellenberger have a better articulation about this in their essay called "The Death of Environmentalism", feel free to read that too.  The world doesn't need to be saved.  People need to save themselves in ways that don't necessitate the compromise of other living things' fundamental well-being.

So what should we do?

I'm short on time to spell out answers, but in the context of this post, I'd recommend getting vigorously acquainted with the principles of sustainable agriculture, ecology, and ethics.

Ask Dr. David Susko at The University of Michigan-Dearborn for his thoughts. teaches an excellent course on plant ecology.  His thesis work found ways for farmers to successfully (environmentally and economically) transition from conventional agriculture to organic practices.  The rest comes down to dialog.

Here's a place to start, though I'm not sure what their contents will cover yet, University of Florida's teaching it online for free:
https://www.coursera.org/course/sustainableag

Beyond & Back to the Sense of Wonder

I'll perform two West African (Guinean) drum pieces tomorrow on sangban (a medium-sized drum) and cowbell with the West African Drum Ensemble at UM-Dearborn [side-note: we're a pretty tight ensemble, woodchips fly off of the drumsticks every time we play, and in the spirit of "MORE COWBELL!" I broke a cowbell, as did another ensemble mate as we rehearsed.  I'm pleased to report that the replacement cowbells are bigger {thus fulfilling the request for more cowbell} and sturdier].

Tangentially related image:
Ameyaw Kofi of Ghana performing on djembe
at the River Folk Music Festival in
Manchester, MI in 2010.  He has almost no
relation to the West African Drum Ensemble of UM-Dearborn,
but the instrument and the opening rhythms
he played are similar.

The first (called Wurende), I learned to my delight, is a harvest rhythm.  Sometimes a motion makes things click.  Our instructor, Dr. Vera Flaig, explained that the rhythms are played as farmers worked the field to gather the end of the year's harvest, and also performed at the beginning of a season for planting.  What really caught my memory was that she made a simple reaping motion, which instantly reminded me about railroad songs, and drum beats for rowing.

I believe the arts are most substantial for their ability to evoke authentic curiosity and appreciation for the world around us (see "the reality aesthetic" for my writings on that).  This "sense of wonder" (as environmental author Rachel Carson would describe this sensational sort of inquiry) opens the door to deeper inquiry and learning, but beneath that, the tangible and practical nuances of the arts also go undetected in our lives on a regular basis.  I think the social nuances of music are frequently lost in media and a fair amount of society.  For many, it's a challenge to explain how the arts are a valuable part of culture and society beyond giving an argument about "art for art's sake".  I suspect it's because we're exposed to it as background noise through a machine (radios, computers, other media players), encounter what seems like insubstantial music, or more likely, we're unaware of the content or context of the music.  Yet many people in the U.S. still value musicians enough to devote large portions of their wedding ceremonies.   Think about it in a Judeo-Christian ceremony--aside from words spoken by the priest and bride/groom, people spend a lot of time in a church wedding ceremony listening to a musician.  Stranger still, I suspect most of them hire musicians whom they might never have met before.  Meanwhile, while the military no longer give buglers the responsibilities they once had, it still uses music (think running cadences) for purposes of morale, and I suspect singing while running also adds to endurance as well.  Wurende, the Guinean harvest rhythm mentioned above, is a powerful reminder of music in a similar context.

Dr. Wayman investigates the title of the Boccherini, expresses
his enthusiasm for the composer, and adds his thumbs up.
Photograph courtesy of UM-Dearborn's
institutional advancement photographer.

Today, I played a Bocherrini piece at an event that celebrated international diplomacy and the United Nations.  I received a vivid complement from a UM-Dearborn Political Science professor Dr. Frank Wayman who focuses on war in his research and teaching.  The beginning of one of his trademark courses, "Peace and War" (link goes to a very rich and educational syllabus), actually focused a great deal on defining war and scaling conflicts, and very little on giving explicit focus to the elements that create a vibrant example of a nation in peace.  In that class (and in most international dialogue), "peacekeeping" forces, would actually be better defined as "drastic-security-keeping" forces since they are usually deployed to stem, minimize, or quell violent conflicts in drastic circumstances.

Aside: According to the statistical data he presented in both the class and today's special "Two Cheers for the United Nations" (a reference to a book titled "Two Cheers for Democracy"--the two cheers [out of three] implying that substantial work remains to be done--presentation on the United Nations, "peacekeeping" forces are at least successful in reducing the number of casualties in wars despite the frequency of wars.

I found it ironic that a professor who focused so much on the characteristics of war (in part defined by the number of direct conflict-related deaths, non-combatant civilian casualties weren't included) and genocide really enjoyed hearing music Boccherini (he's a huge fan of the Boccherini cello concerto).

I wonder what that means?  Surely we can find something to speak about our sense of humanity in that...