Bridges That We Need To Cross

PotD / Published

Bridges That We Need To Cross

August 7, 2016

charles i. letbetter - bridges we need to cross

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. —Nikita Khrushchev

charles i. letbetter - bridges that need crossing

There are many bridges we must cross and sometimes the biggest decision is how to cross them

“Do you want me to throw you over the bridge now or later?”

My thoughts had already catapulted me off into distant lands so I did not immediately grasp the question, prompting its repeat.

“Do you want me to throw you over the bridge now?”

White grocery bags held together in her left hand give her the appearance of possibly being homeless, the glassy sheen to her eyes and her otherwise kept attire indicated a greater probability that at least her body had a home, even if her mind and soul had been dismissed by whatever pharmaceutical cocktail forced her to wander the near lifeless streets of Elgin.

At least she was smiling.

When she repeated the question I mumbled a hasty, “Not today, thank you,” as though I might give her offer more lengthy consideration on some later date. I looked over the crumbling concrete railing at the sludge-brown water of whatever river smirked slowly below. What would she have done had I responded with an enthusiastic, “Sure, you toss me then I’ll toss you!” Internally, some small wrinkle in my brain chuckled at the potential hilarity while the remaining neurons fired away at all the instructions necessary to keep one’s body propelled forward.

Thinking About Bridges

Having time to think opens precarious doors. One’s initial thoughts focus on the inherently obvious and can entertain a logical analysis of known factors. Given sufficient time for processing, though, the mind eventually begins substituting the illogical in place of the logical. Unknown elements replace known factors and before long one inevitably tumbles headlong into conjecture and the impossible world of “what if.” Within such ambiguous territory, fears enjoy free reign, popping up in every concept until they leak past the world of the unknown to pollute the world of the known. Suddenly, nothing seems quite so certain anymore.

Except, there’s still that bridge and it’s potentially life changing offer.

Ever stop to think about bridges? They are fundamental to transportation, or any manner of transition. Bridges represent a desire to leave one place, one existence, one ideal, in favor of another, the two being separated by some form of chasm which cannot otherwise be traversed.

Look carefully at the construction of a bridge and one finds the very structure itself is the definition of change. Such was true even of ancient bridges; on either side of a ravine may be roads or paths of sod, yet the bridge itself must be made of a different material, usually wood or stone. Modern spans of asphalt spread on beds of gravel are bridged by delicately poured concrete under-girded with steel. Engineers would never consider building an entire road from the same material, using the same methods as bridges; the expense alone makes such an idea impractical. As a result, it is almost impossible to cross a bridge that does not invoke change.

What’s On The Other Side

Often, one sets focus solely on whatever lies on the other side of the bridge. After all, whatever exists over there is the reason we cross the bridge in the first place. Yet, what too often catches us by surprise is the change invoked by the bridge itself; a change wholly unlike what waits on the other side.

And in that consideration, that change requires pre-change, the question of a seemingly mentally challenged pedestrian takes on a whole new meaning. “Do you want me to throw you over the bridge now or later?”

Here find both cause and solution to failure; it is not that one does not want or fears the change on the other side; but that we are unprepared for the intermediate change of the bridge and, caught up in the panic of the unexpected, we either jump or allow some random crazy person to toss us over. As a result, we end up soaked by the muddy waters of despair, never achieving the change we so ardently desire.

What we fail to realize is that what we experience on the bridge is necessary preparation for what we find on the other side. Bridges are designed to get us there, not stop us in the process. We need what bridges offer.

Lessons From Disney

Granted, some bridges have the innate ability to invoke fear.

In the Disney movie “Shrek,” the ogre and Donkey arrive at the dragon’s castle to find they must cross a less-than-secure looking bridge below which flows a stream of fiery molten lava. Donkey is immediately concerned and, half-way across, is ready to turn around and go back, willing to leave the princess for someone else to rescue. Shrek proceeds to employ distraction tactics and before Donkey realizes what is happening, they both are safely across the bridge.

And what distraction did the giant green ogre use to get donkey across the bridge? The threat of being flung over the side!

Two matters are worth noting in that story. First, it was Donkey’s over-thinking the safety of the bridge that allowed room for the fear to engulf him. Had he simply walked cautiously across the structure he would not have encountered any problem. Second, when paralyzed by fear, we sometimes need the help of a friend threatening to send us over the side before we can get across.

“Do you want me to throw you over the bridge now or later?”

Back In The Real World

Outside the Adams street entrance to Chicago’s Union Station, an older man, his back hunched from the reality of a life lived, sits on a bench and removes from his shirt pocket a pack of Marlboro Lights. His old hands trembling, he removes a cigarette from the pack and lights it. Not a scenario that sounds too terribly unusual, especially given that almost every other bench in the area is occupied by someone else doing exactly the same thing.

What makes this gentleman unique is that, prior to fishing the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, he had to first remove and shut off the oxygen tube from his nose. Every drag on the cigarette was obviously painful and labored. More than once the man winced as he struggled to draw the nicotine down into what little remains of his lungs. When finished, he replaced the tube in his nostrils, turned on the portable oxygen tank strapped to his back, and resumed a more relaxed and comfortable breathing rhythm.

Talk about addictions all you want, ultimately the man couldn’t, wouldn’t, cross the bridge. Crossing the bridge, for him, means putting down the cigarettes and he has made the decision that suffering is preferable to crossing the uncertain path leading to quitting.

Don’t Burn It Yet

We may find it easy to criticize the old man for making such a self-destructing choice, but how often are we guilty of making choices of equal fatality to our careers, our families, our well-being, our happiness, all because there is some bridge, some challenge, some fear that we must first conquer before we can reach our goal?

No significant change happens without some manner of transition. If there were no canyons between the status quo and progress, we might well slide between one state of being and the next without realizing any chance had occurred at all. Yet, it is those muddy rivers, those gullies, the ravines and ditches, that create boundaries, territory markers, and we simply cannot move from one existence to the next without crossing some manner of bridge.

Many of life’s bridges we zip across without care or worry, scarcely even noticing that the ground beneath us has changed. However, as we cross some of the most meaningful bridges of our lives we will often be faced with that now lingering question: “Do you want me to throw you over the bridge now or later?

Perhaps the old woman wasn’t so crazy after all. Something tells me she knows the answer to that question better than any of us.

pop culture / PotD

Who Are You Calling White Trash?

August 6, 2016

I worked with these liberal elites for 28 years at CBS News, and they were always throwing around the term ‘white trash,’ by which they meant poor southerners who didn’t go to Harvard. I’m not sure why that makes them trash. —Bernard Goldberg

Our desperation to create division between classes has never been stronger. “White trash” is a label that needs to go away.

I look around the living room this morning and have to shake my head. There’s a litter box next to the couch. Children’s discarded school uniforms are scattered across the floor. I assume the mates for those shoes are around here somewhere. The couch is supposed to seat six, but at the moment Kat and the dog are all that actually fit. My desk is cluttered with everything from a broken weather vane to children’s books to a leatherman resting on top of a Beatles CD on top of a Madonna CD. Yeah, we still have CDs. As I contemplate the mess we call home I can’t help but wonder, “Are we white trash?”

I came across this article by Holly Genovese on AuntieBellum and was struck not only by how much her words hit home with me, but with several other people I know who had seen the same article. Ms. Genovese comes from a small town in Pennsylvania that apparently has a less-than-desirable reputation. Despite all her education and academic success, it was her hometown’s reputation that dogged her professional incline. She says:

It is one thing to have your hometown judged by your peers, but it is quite another to realize that qualities you possess, habits born of a lifetime that you don’t even realize you have, make you read as unqualified or unfit for your chosen profession.

Damn. I know exactly how that feels and many of the people I know and love have similar experiences. This isn’t cool.

Growing Up Human

I was born in rural Kansas. At the time of my birth, my father pastored a very small church part-time while working flight line assembly at Boeing, Wichita during the week. He didn’t make much money. At times there was barely enough food. Still, we got by. My childhood was happy, filled with the usual ups and downs that come with growing up in the 60s and 70s. I didn’t think of our family as poor because everyone else around us was at a similar socio-economic level if not worse.

Then, I went to college. I was the first person on my father’s side of the family to actually graduate with a degree. I considered moving out of state and pursuing an advanced degree but many of the adults I respected at the time, from my parents to one of the state’s U.S. Senators, questioned whether such a move would actually pay off in the long run. Not that they doubted my talent or ability one bit, mind you. They were thinking in terms of whether the advanced degree might actually make me unemployable in Oklahoma. Had I stayed in Oklahoma, they might have been correct.

There is a danger to staying in one place too long, especially when one is poor. Not only do we become too comfortable with our surroundings, we don’t realize just how far removed we are from the rest of the society. I won’t deny that there’s a social gap between those from rural areas and those raised in the city, but is that enough to make any of us “white trash?”

No Place Called Home

Ms. Genovese recounts her experience and I found it far too relatable:

The more formal education I acquired, the larger the gap between my family and I became. My parents are incredibly proud of me and have never been anything other than supportive. But everyone from cousins to former employers have insinuated that I am arrogant because I left my small town for the city and enrolled in a Ph.D program. Why couldn’t I get a real job in the Harley Factory? What could you even do with a history Ph.D anyway? And most common of all, was I ever coming home? Slowly I realized the answer to that question had to be no.

A week after we moved from Oklahoma I knew there would be no moving back. Ever. I saw the change in facial expressions when someone would say, “You’ve got an unusual accent. Where are you from?” and I would answer, “Oklahoma.” No one was impressed. Some struggled to not laugh out loud. Sometimes I would try shaking things up a bit and say I was from Kansas, but that response wasn’t any better. Both states are considered “white trash” among those in more academic and professional urban circles.

Moving down to Atlanta wasn’t any better. One advertising executive was rather blunt. “You’re a long way from home, son,” he said with a southern drawl that came draped in a Confederate war flag. “Do the rest of your people speak English or do they live on a reservation?” The insinuation was obvious. While New Yorkers might consider Georgians white trash, Oklahoma was even further down the white trash scale. What did we do to deserve such treatment?

Class Shaming By Any Other Name

Again, we relate to Ms. Genovese:

I will never fully belong in the world of academia, and frankly, I don’t want to. But I also no longer fully belong at home. And I can’t complain (nor do I want to). … I am the dream, the local kid who did good. But nobody tells you what it’s like, the incredible loneliness that accompanies that kind of class jumping that many people dream of.

The pictures at the top of this article were taken at my 30-year high school reunion, which is now a few years past. Those young women were my classmates. They’re all bright, intelligent, and beautiful as anyone else. Okay, so when the DJ plays YMCA, they can’t resist hitting the dance floor. I’ve seen the same thing happen in a fancy New York ballroom. Most all my classmates (at least, the ones for whom I can still account) are hardworking people deeply involved in their communities. They may not all have advanced degrees, but they know what works for where they work.

I dare any Harvard graduate to change a truck tire without getting their tweed jacket rumpled or bottle-feed a new orphan calf without getting their loafers covered in bovine excrement. We may not have any Fortune 500 CEOs among us, but that doesn’t make our social class any less important.

Pick-A-Part

I would like to blame social media for giving rise to the dearth of shaming that takes place, but we all know it was there long before the Internet. “White trash” was a term thrown around even when I was a kid. Such behavior wasn’t right then and it damn sure isn’t acceptable now. This same disregard for the value of every human that gives rise to class shaming is also responsible for the rampant racism, size shaming, gender shaming, sexism, and ageism that puts us all at odds with one another. Whether the term we’re using is “white trash” or “slut” or “fag,” the effect is the same. Each term of derision serves only to divide us, to separate one from another, to weaken our society by pitting one against another.

None of us are perfect. Sure, some of my high school classmates foolishly voted for one of the worst governors in the history of the word. At the same time, I know at least three Ivy League grads who gave their money to Bernie Madoff. Where you grew up and where you went to college does not make one any more likely to do stupid shit that we later regret. Some of us like Big 12 football. Some of us like yacht racing. One group may not understand the other, but that doesn’t make either group better.

We are never going to all agree on anything. Differences of opinion are important for us to learn and to grow. If our country is to genuinely move forward we must realize that our biggest threat comes not from external terrorists, but from those who would tear us apart from the inside, calling one group stupid, or white trash, or ignorant, or any other divisive term. We need to stop.

And by the way, when OU takes the field against Houston that first Saturday in September, I will be singing Boomer Sooner at the top of my lungs, almost certainly off-key and not giving a single fuck. If you think that makes me white trash, just deal with it.

Art / Music / Photography / PotD

The Power Of Dreams

August 5, 2016

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. —Carl Jung

Dreams allow us to find creative solutions because there’s nothing to stand in their way.

My youngest son, the 18-year-old, has taken to wanting to watch horror movies on Netflix before going to bed at night. There is a severe dichotomy to his reasoning for choosing the last moments of the day to watch something that frightens the subconscious. He likes the emotional intensity of horror and suspense, but the movies give him nightmares.

Last night was a perfect example. I’m sitting elsewhere, reading, when I get a text message:

Why you leave me alone out here in the living room wanting to watch a horror movie?

When I didn’t respond quickly enough, he sent another message asking if I was almost done with my reading. He wanted to watch a movie, but was too frightened to watch one by himself. I stayed up to keep his mind occupied with other things while he watched some tale of creatures that live in the woods. Then, he had to watch something more fun before he could go to bed. Some dreams can be terrifying.

Dreams are strange beasts that we don’t understand in any great detail. For all the studies that have been done, scientists still don’t know why we dream. Neither does anyone really know why some dreams seem to have cognisance while others are nothing more than collections of random nonsense. If there was a failing to Dr. Jung’s research, it was the presumption that all dreams must have meaning. They don’t. Yet, without them, our lives get messed up in a hurry.

Turning Off Your Brain

Quick biology lesson: There is a part of your brain that, primarily, manages your impulse control, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This is a very important part of our brain, especially when it comes to social skills. The DLPFC is that filter that stops you before you call your mother-in-law an old cow in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. The same fold in your brain also prevents one from murdering everyone who is slightly annoying. We really need this part of our brain to work, and work well.

Care to guess what part of your brain gets shut off when you sleep? That’s right, the DLPFC shuts right down and takes a nap of its own. Actually, the entire prefrontal cortex takes a much-needed break. We work some parts of our brains harder than others when we’re awake and the prefrontal cortex uses that time to essentially catch its breath so that it can keep us from doing something stupid tomorrow.

Without the DLPFC in operation, however, our minds are free to roam. There is no inhibition in our dreams. All the creative mess on the right side of our brain, including the part that makes connections between bits of information, are allowed to wander at will. As a result, our dreams become full of really random and surreal thoughts as things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other begin to collide. At the same time, though, this uninhibited state allows us to find solutions that we otherwise wouldn’t consider.

The Upside Of Dreaming

Dreams have always fascinated us. As a result, scientists have attempted to study them for years with varying success. While there has been a lot of speculation, only relatively recently with the use of fMRI have we been able to begin to really understand what our brains are doing when we sleep, and specifically when dreaming. There are a number of different portions of our brain that are turned on and more active when we are asleep. Equally important, though, are the parts that stand down and let the creativity flow.

What may be most interesting is that we don’t have to dream all night to receive the creative benefits. Studies show that a good nap wherein we achieve REM sleep can boost cognitive association and creative problem solving by as much as 60 percent.You might want to let your boss in on that bit of research the next time you get caught sleeping at your desk (Ulrich Wagner and Jan Born in Nature, 2004).

Chances are you’ve experienced this phenomenon before. You have a problem to which you cannot seem to find a solution no matter how hard you might try. Then, you go to bed and in that foggy space between being awake and asleep the answer suddenly comes to you. Eureka! Problem solved.

Our minds can be at their most creative when we’re asleep, as well. Rocker Keith Richards tells the story of falling asleep on a night in May of 1965. Near his bed were a guitar and a tape recorder. When he woke up, the tape was at the end of the reel. Upon rewinding the tape, Richards found the opening of a song, along with an entire verse, followed by forty minutes of snoring. The song? (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

The Down Side

Life can be cruel sometimes and one of them is a nasty disease that specifically affects the DLPFC. While shutting that thing down during our dreams is a good thing, losing it completely kills us. However, before we die, we can get very, very creative even if we’ve never shown an inkling of artistic interest or ability before.

The disease is frontotemporal dementia. There is neither a known cause nor a cure. Like many forms of dementia, the process can be slow and doesn’t present itself the same way in every person. However, one of the things that happens as the DLPFC deteriorates is that people suddenly develop a tremendous artistic interest and ability they have never shown before. People might suddenly develop an interest and ability to paint, or sculpt, or write, or compose music when they’ve never had any training or even any overt exposure to the medium. Their skills develop more quickly than normal because that part of the brain that tells them they can’t, or shouldn’t, is no longer there. The creativity flows unabated right up until the point of death.

Yeah, creativity can be a killer. I’m sorry, did no one mention that to you before?

A Happy Medium

I don’t think too many of us really want to die for our art. Being creative is wonderful and we love it when the ideas are flowing freely. However, few of us are willing to trade off longevity to capture a new photograph or develop a new style of painting. Is there a way to be so creative without winding up in a pine box?

Turns out, there is. We can actually teach ourselves to temporarily turn off the DLPFC so that, for a moment, we can experience the creativity found in a controlled dream state. The practice is most frequently found in forms of improvisation, especially jazz music and improv comedy. Artists such as John Coltrane, YoYo Ma, John Baptiste, and Steve Martin all learned to develop that ability to let go, turn off the part of the brain that says, “No, don’t do that,” so that nothing stands between them and the pure flow of creativity.

Not that such spontaneous creativity comes easily. Years of practice are involved. There are basics to be learned so that when the creativity begins to flow the mind automatically knows what to do with that information. When it works, though, many artists describe the effect as being in a dream state. Many don’t even realize that they’ve completed a performance. With the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex shut down, it’s like being awake and dreaming at the same time.

What do we take from this? Perhaps we need to take Kierkegaard a bit more seriously when he asserts, “Sleeping is the height of genius.” For some, that may mean breaking up our day so that we have shorter periods between dream states (aka frequent naps). For others, perhaps taking an improv class to learn how to let go of our inhibitions might be appropriate. Everyone is a little bit different, so each solution is going to be somewhat unique.

No matter which path you might take, though, the power of dreaming is real. Let’s tap that source and get creative.

Current Issues / Hashtag Philosophy / PotD / Social Commentary

The News In 140 Characters

July 30, 2016

It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. —Jerry Seinfeld

Does anyone read the news anymore or do they just look at the tweets and the headlines?

I saw an interesting editorial cartoon yesterday, which, of course, I didn’t have the foresight to actually save so that I could accurately reference this morning. The cartoon lamented the fact that when historians look back at the exchanges of this presidential election, it will be candidates 140-character tweets they’ll examine rather than anything like the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

The comparison is stark. How news and information is delivered has changed not only in terms of media, but the brevity with which news is delivered. Sure, there will be debates during this campaign cycle, but even those will ultimately be reduced to sound bites of 140 characters or less.The Twitter limit applies not only to the application, but to the reduced size of our attention spans.

Once upon a time, the details of the news and the excellence of reporting and writing were honored. Winning a Pulitzer prize was an exception because of talent and skill. Now, winning a Pulitzer is an exception because someone actually put in more than 300 words worth of effort. Long-form reporting still happens at places such as the New York Times and Washington Post, but then the media departments of both newspapers instantly find ways to reduce thousands of words to a 140-character tease.

Even here, I create a 140-character excerpt that appears in social media links to the article. Hundreds of people view that excerpt, but only a fraction of those read the article. We frequently use nude imagery not because it has anything to do with the article, but because it is a quick way to get attention.

Tweeting The News

Almost every newspaper of any size now has a media department. That staff is responsible for not only creating 140 character descriptions of articles, but managing and measuring the responses they get to those descriptions. Read through the comments on almost any provocatively written tweet or Facebook post and it becomes evident that many of the most volatile remarks are made by people who never actually read the article; they’re just responding to their interpretation of what the article might say based on the structure of that tweet.

Great tweet writing is a skill and in today’s media it is just as important as headline writing and copy editing. A well-constructed tweet can bring thousands of eyes to a topic, or can leave one totally ignored. Knowing which hashtag to include, the precise verbiage that is easily understood, is not something that was traditionally taught in journalism schools. Rarely does anyone notice when a tweet is done well. Let a newspaper or politician miscommunicate online, though, usually through a poor choice of words, and watch the shit hit the fan.

To illustrate my point, let me share some of the most recent news tweets across a variety of topics. There’s more information behind each tweet, but how many people will actually bother to click through and read the articles? I’m betting not many. Fewer than 10 percent of readers ever click a link, here or anyplace else on the Internet. Let’s see how you do.

Politics

A federal appeals court has struck down North Carolina’s voter ID law https://t.co/kmgKFZgXen pic.twitter.com/pHe3L19znH

— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) July 29, 2016

Flint officials now face criminal charges for doctoring water reports and concealing lead test results. https://t.co/jzpyXpVPw1

— New Republic (@NewRepublic) July 29, 2016

EXCLUSIVE: Clinton campaign was also hacked in cyber attack on Democratic groups – sources. https://t.co/Q8HhKcBwYZ pic.twitter.com/GJGCqlIOag

— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) July 29, 2016

Information

One of the largest ever #dinosaur footprints has been found in #Bolivia – thought to be from an #Abelisaurus https://t.co/HHyxzqYYUb

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 29, 2016

Pope Francis entering the former German Nazi Auschwitz I camp through ‘Arbeit macht frei’ gate. pic.twitter.com/dMvBzNPG7J

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 29, 2016

#TeamUSA will sport the first-ever illuminated Olympic Flag Bearer jacket by @RalphLauren at #Rio2016! 😍 pic.twitter.com/fHram8xceG

— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) July 29, 2016

Society

Taco Bell is testing out a “Cheetos Burrito” https://t.co/Z7Vgk5zGX4 pic.twitter.com/TxpAFVkh02

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 29, 2016

Minnesota judge denies claims of 29 would-be heirs to Prince estate https://t.co/uL9A4vslTl pic.twitter.com/CABORiB6m4

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 29, 2016

Let these swimming babies soothe your soul https://t.co/gM33icfnb5 pic.twitter.com/oVw664XBE1

— Jezebel (@Jezebel) July 29, 2016

Putting Things In Perspective

How many of those articles did you click through to investigate? Any? Consider that a few short years ago those nine stories would have been enough to fill a 30-minute television newscast (sports and weather aside). In print, they would have dominated the A section of any newspaper. Yet, here you have it all in 140 characters and some well edited GIFs.

I’m old, so it is difficult for me to see this shift as anything other than a loss of information and understanding. Reading through a flurry of tweets, we might come away feeling more intelligent and informed, but we don’t actually know enough about any of those stories to speak knowledgeably and authoritatively. Not that such a lack of information ever stops us. We’re quite willing to go ahead and open our mouths anyway, facts be damned.

What probably bothers me most about this change in how we receive information is that without all the details we are more likely to react harshly, sarcastically, and with suspicion. We don’t trust the tweet because we don’t allow ourselves to gain enough information to understand the full story. We lack compassion. We lose the opportunity to learn. We fail to consider different perspectives. We wander around so ignorant that we don’t recognize ignorance.

If you’ve made it this far into today’s article, you likely already understand. Of the few people who started the article, less than five percent finish. Again,that’s not just true here, but for most any online reading.

Perhaps one day the pendulum will swing back the other direction and we’ll appreciate well-written and ardently-reported stories again. This 140-character world doesn’t work for me. We need more information, not less. I suppose that’s every individual’s choice, though, isn’t it?

Sigh. At least there’s a nude picture at the top.

PotD

Creative Depression For Win Or Loss

July 29, 2016

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do. —Amy Winehouse

charles i. letbetter - creative depression for the win

The plight of the suffering artist is more than cliché. Depression is real, and we’re more creative because of it

I’m not sure that I have known any artist, regardless of their medium or level of skill, or financial success, that hasn’t battled with depression. Some more frequently than others, perhaps. Some seem to live in that state to such a degree I’m not sure they could function otherwise. All of us, though, endure those depressive periods where all seems hopeless.

Tales of great beauty and art coming out of depressive fits are cliché. Could Hemingway have written Old Man and the Sea if he’d been sober the whole time? Would the songs of Amy Winehouse have struck such a deep chord if she had been happier and more “well-adjusted?” Coming up with examples of famous creatives who had their bouts with depression is about as easy as walking into Starbucks and ordering coffee: you have plenty of choices.

Those stories are all anecdotal at best, though, if not somewhat apocryphal. Is there actual science behind this theory, and is our depression for the better or the worst? One of the books I’ve read this summer is Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. There is much in this book that I might reference at another time, but what strikes me most this morning is his chapter dealing with drug use and depression among creatives. What is generally perceived as antisocial behavior may, from a scientific standpoint, be part of the very thing that makes us creative.

Needing Inspiration

Lehrer approaches the subject of creative depression by examining how creative inspiration develops in the brain. He notes that observation of “sadness” among creatives has been observed for centuries, even as far back as Aristotle, who said:

… all men who have attained excellence in philosophy, in poetry, in art and in politics, even Socrates and Plato, had a melancholic habitus; indeed some suffered even from melancholic disease.”

If all creatives have this problem with “melancholia,” however, how do we turn that into something creative? The answer lies in how that depression causes us to focus. Our perspective during moments of depression, especially when things are at their absolute worst, puts us in a position to see solutions we would not otherwise consider.

Joe Forgas, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales has demonstrated multiple times that moments of depression “sharpens the spotlight of attention, allowing us to become more observant and persistent.” To some degree, one might even say that the state of melancholia forces us into a creative place because it is necessary for us to survive.

Depressive Determination

Is depression absolutely a critical part of creativity? Not in every case, of course. Still, there is a lot of evidence that it is periods of sadness and worry, both long and short, that lead us to create a perfect masterpiece. Nancy Andreasen, a neuroscientist at the University of Iowa in the early 80s, found that 80 percent of writers met the diagnostic criteria for depression. Why?

Because being creative isn’t easy. Nietzsche, in Human, All Too Human, referenced the notebooks of composer Ludwig van Beethoven noting the countless revisions he would make to his compositions. Over and over and over he would work a phrase until it was exactly what he wanted to hear. What came across to the public as inspired genius was actually the result of hours of dedicated, highly skilled work. Granted, it was the work of a musical genius, but the fits of melancholia he suffered, his fear of failure and rejection, drove him to refine this work until there were no errors.

Too often, I think, we expect creativity to just come flowing out from us like turning on a tap. We don’t stop to think that those hours spent filling in the details, proofing and re-proofing a text, editing and re-editing and even re-re-editing an image, are all just as much a part of the creative process as the initial burst of putting something on paper, or canvas, or pixels.When we are depressed, it is actually easier for us to linger over a piece of art, a line of poetry, or a phrase of music and play with it until we have it just right.

No Romance

Being creative isn’t all this romantic smarminess that one imagines might come with public acceptance of one’s work. Creatives have for centuries relied on drugs, alcohol, and sex to fuel them through the struggle and pain of the creative process. Our work is more than just a moment of inspiration. Once we have an idea or concept, it can be a prolonged battle to actually turn that idea into something ready for public consumption.

Creatives are, as a group, highly disturbed individuals. Lehrer references recent research by Hagop Akiskal showing that “nearly two-thirds of a sample of influential European artists were bipolar.” We swing between that moment of “Aha! I have an idea,” and the malaise of depression that comes with actually following through on that idea. Not all of us make it. Many wonderful projects are dropped because the emotional and/or mental pain of seeing them through is too great. We chase our depression with more drugs, more alcohol, and our addiction to the high that comes with the moment of inspiration ultimately kills us. We overdose looking for that next perfect music hook, or that next great lyric, or that next world-changing photograph.

Creative life isn’t easy. We need encouragement. We need camaraderie. We need places that are safe for us to work through the details. We need friends who understand this process, this whole thing about being creative has the power to kill us if not kept in check. The shadow is always looking, waiting to drag us to the depths.

Creative depression that becomes too severe can ruin us. We lose sight of what we were creating. The pain prevents the work from being done. We need help, not just from professionals (though, that is certainly an option more of us should consider), but from a supportive community, both online and in person, that has the ability to understand and be supportive.

Creativity can kill, but it doesn’t have to. Now that we understand a little better, perhaps we can be more communicative in being and finding that support we all need.

PotD / Social Commentary

I Can’t Help You

July 27, 2016

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. —Galileo Galilei

We always try to help others, but there are times when there’s nothing more we can do.

If you follow us on Facebook, you might have noticed that we rescued a couple of kittens over the weekend. We didn’t feel that we had any choice. They had been dropped off at a neighbor’s house early last week, not even old enough to be fully weened. With temperatures high and the neighbors going out of town for the weekend, to have left them there would have almost certainly been a death sentence.

Catching them wasn’t easy. They had learned quickly how to scamper away and hide from danger. Kat was able to catch one, a girl, almost by accident last Friday. It would be two more days of frequent attempts before she would catch the second. They were dehydrated, hungry, and scared. We brought them in, bathed them, gave them food and love, and are carefully nursing them back to health. The little girl is doing well, but the little boy still has a ways to go.

There are times in our lives when we are like those kittens: alone, helpless, defenseless, and nowhere to turn. Left on our own, many of us might die. Homeless statistics show that hundreds die every year just from being out in the elements day after day. While there are many wonderful people and organizations who try to help, though, there are always those who fall between the cracks.

Flawed Philosophies

I’ve been there, living out of my car, or living on the street, thankful for friends who made sure I ate occasionally, or got a shower every once in a while. Needing such a severe degree of help is humiliating. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be in that position. Yet, it happens more often than anyone realizes. Even those who gather statistics on the homeless realize there are more that are not counted, perhaps twice as many, as there are those known.

Help is there for some, but not for all. The general philosophy of most aid organizations, and certainly that of government agencies, is that little to no help is available as long as one appears to have any resources of their own. One local well-known shelter requires that one be completely homeless, on the street with absolutely no other option, for at least 24 hours before they offer any assistance. When these organizations do offer help, the aid comes with a long list of rules, some of which require exposure to proselytizing efforts.

This “strings attached” approach of helping assumes that people will take advantage of any generosity that is not carefully managed, and I’m sure there are several people who might do so. However, such a philosophy hurts those who are genuinely in need. Not everyone can wait another 24 hours. Not everyone can attend the worship service. Not everyone can jump through the hoops. As a result, thousands fall through the cracks and go without help.

Applying Compassion

A couple of years ago, we were downtown for some large-scale event and had purchased food from one of the event’s vendors. Kat’s food came with pickles that she didn’t really want. So, she removed the pickles, wrapped them in a napkin so as to avoid making a mess, and then set them on top of an already full trash can. Almost immediately, a man who appeared to have not bathed in a while unfolded the napkin and picked the pickles out of the trash.

Kat didn’t hesitate. There was more than enough change from our meal to pay for another. She took the change, placed it in the man’s hands, and encouraged him to buy something more than pickles.

The look on his face was one of surprise. He hadn’t asked anyone for help. He wasn’t panhandling. He wasn’t expecting anyone to give him anything.

Kat acted out of compassion. She didn’t ask him any background questions. She didn’t invite him to a support group or a religious meeting. There was no waiting period. She saw an opportunity to help and took it, filling a gap others missed.

Compassion-based programs do exist, but they’re few and far between and woefully underfunded. Many potential donors feel the organizations are reckless with their money because they act first and inquire later. Yet, if real need is to be addressed, compassion is the only attitude that is genuinely effective.

The Pain of Saying No

How many times have I heard the words, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you?” Sometimes they were said in anger that I had requested a service the person or agency didn’t want to provide. Some were incredulous that I had even asked them to do anything, such as donate to a charity or support an environmental cause. There are plenty of people who simply don’t want to help anyone, ever.

For those who have an ounce of compassion, however, turning anyone away for any reason, no matter how legitimate that reason might be, comes with pain. I’ve seen government agency workers cry because a mother who was desperately in need of food for her infant was not, on paper, destitute enough to meet the agency’s qualifications. I’ve seen some aid workers break their organization’s rules and give out of their own pockets to someone unable to jump through the hoops.

When one sees a real need and can’t help, turning people away can physically hurt. Yet, when resources are limited, or non-existent, there may be no choice than to utter those fateful words. One might exhaust all they have and still there would be need.

A Different Direction

Perhaps one of the most difficult situations is when we see someone who needs help but doesn’t want help, or doesn’t realize they need the help. The kittens were certainly in that predicament. While we could see they were starting and in need of immediate intervention, they were frightened and suspicious of anyone who came close. Catching them and helping them was, for the kittens, a moment of trauma.

People are not necessarily different. Not everyone sees the imminent danger they’re in because the circumstances give them a distorted perspective. Some have been hurt by those claiming to help. Some are addicted to medicines that were intended to help but now hurt. Helping these people can be almost impossible and traumatic. Yet, they need people who don’t judge them, who don’t preach to them, but just help.

Too many rules, people trying to turn assistance and help into a profit-making scheme, requirements for insurance and some source of income, make it impossible for those on the margins to get help. We are sentencing them to death every time we say those words, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”

No End In Sight

Ending this article is difficult because there is no end to the problem. For every kitten we are able to save, dozens more die from malnutrition and neglect. For every person we feed, hundreds more are starving. There is no end.

Yet, we continue to do what we can. By tomorrow, we may need help ourselves. Nothing is certain. Even the best of intentions sometimes fail. As we are helping others, the thought creeps into the back of our minds, “Will anyone be there when we need help?” The prospects of how alone we might be in such a situation motivate us to help those already there.

We can’t heal all the world’s hurts, address everyone’s most urgent needs, on our own. We know that. We give help to both humans and animals when we encounter them and have the ability to do something right then. We try to not be the ones who push people off to government or religious organizations. We especially try to not say, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you.” We do our best to give real help to real need.

What about you? If I asked you for help today, what would be your response? Think about it and then look around you. Someone close needs your help. Don’t be the one who turns them away.

PotD

Matters Of Conscience

July 26, 2016

Arguing with your conscience is like having a debate where no one wins.

Matters of conscience force us to look at ourselves and the reflection isn’t always what we expect

I hate arguing with myself.

First, I like to think that the vast majority of time my opinion on a topic is based sufficiently on fact and is, therefore, correct and defensible. Granted, that’s a rather egotistical viewpoint. But then, if one is not confident in their own opinions how can they defend them?

Second, matters of conscience force me to take more than a superficial look at myself and I’m not always pleased with what I see. When I argue with my conscience I see my true motivation, which is sometimes nothing more than winning the argument.

One doesn’t win when arguing with their conscience. One might reluctantly choose one side or the other as a course of action, but in the depths of your mind, you still question. Was the road taken really the best direction? Too often, the consequences aren’t evident until much later.

Points Of Contention

Kat is very good about being the voice of my conscience. She sees right through the horseshit. Typically, we agree on most matters. When we do disagree, though, she’s quite accurate in voicing my inner misgivings.

For example, we both agree that the two major presidential candidates are undesirable. We would rather neither of them wins. However, we disagree as to whether a vote for a third party candidate helps the cause of democracy or puts us in a precarious position that might lead to fascism. Theoretically, it is possible for a third party candidate to win if everyone dissatisfied with mainstream candidates were to cast their vote in that direction. However, history does not support that theory as a realistic alternative. We are at an impasse.

We find ourselves in similar quandaries over matters of how to effectively discipline children, how many pets we can rescue, and the exact limit of acceptable chaos. With each issue, the problem lies not in the fact that we disagree, but more that neither argument is factually wrong. These debates strain our conscience when a decision must be made, often quickly, yet fall short of convincing either of us that we’ve made the best decision.

Finding Resolution

This is one of those times I don’t have a solution to the problem. I can’t even, in good conscience, recommend someone else’s opinion. For all the reading I’ve done, I still end up more conflicted than I do convinced. Resolving these matters of conscience remains elusive.

There will be more challenges today. Should I take the lead on certain matters, which is what appears to be expected, or should I guide someone else through the steps? Do we tackle a large project today or let it wait until we have fewer distractions? What are we going to have for dinner?

The questions can seem so simple when asking them, but the mere presence of multiple options means sorting through the choices and arguing their merits. My mind already hurts in anticipation of the struggle.

And still, today is just like every other day.

Photography / PotD / Social Commentary

Learning For Yourself

July 25, 2016

We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. —Peter Drucker

Learning as adults comes more often through what we teach ourselves

Back-to-school season is officially here. Local news stations are reminding drivers this morning to watch for the flashing lights of school zones as a staggered start to the fall school season begins this week. Stores are packed with parents shopping for school supplies and uniforms while children are making every attempt to get the most out of their summer.

We’re no different around here, though it is rather complicated. Kat is on the closing end of her studies, planning to graduate in early October. My youngest son decided to do his final year of high school here, so we’re busy getting him transferred before the 10th. The one I’m looking forward to the most, though, is when the little ones start back to school next Monday. Finally, peace and quiet again!

At the same time, however, we need to realize that learning isn’t limited to what happens in and around school. Intelligent people have long known that learning never stops. Even more, it’s what you learn on your own that often makes the most difference in our lives as we grow older. The classroom gives us a foundation for how to learn, but learning is something that we must keep doing if we are to have any hope of understanding what’s going on around us.

Learning Versus Obsolescence

Try this on for size: much of what you were taught is already obsolete.The older you are the truer that statement is. Word definitions change. Science changes. Technology changes. Limits once considered insurmountable are suddenly surpassed and exceeded several times over. Our understanding of history changes. Even the difference between political parties change.

Carlin Flora wrote a wonderful article for Psychology Today on “The Golden Age of Teaching Yourself Anything.” The article emphasizes the degree to which both technology and social construct make self-learning accessible across such a wide spectrum of knowledge that most anyone has the potential to become an expert in anything without ever setting foot in a classroom. Perhaps more importantly, though, is that such self-learning is critical to remaining a productive part of society.

What looked like occupations that would have no end 30 years ago are now, in many cases, either obsolete or else employ such a common level of skill as to have become commodities. Basic computer operation, for example, once required considerable training and an understanding of abstract math. Now, the average 16-year-old can perform tasks that exceed the abilities of a masters-level computer science major from the 1980s. Self-learning isn’t an option, but a necessity.

Beyond The School

James Marcus Bach in his book, Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar says:

I happily plunder knowledge wherever I find it. I don’t seek the destruction of schools. I am out to dismantle something else—the popular belief that schooling is the only route to a great education and that the best students are those who passively accept the education their schools offer.”

Schools are wonderful in their ability to give everyone a basic foundation for how to learn. However, they don’t even come close to teaching us everything we need to know. To assume that one graduates from an institution no longer needing to learn is foolish. Learning only increases as life progresses.

Take Dick Drew, for example. In 1925 Drew was a sandpaper salesman for 3M, which was then largely a minerals company. While attempting to sell sandpaper to mechanics at a body shop, he observed the difficulty painters were having with two-toned paint jobs. Skipping over all the fun details, this sandpaper salesman learned about paint, learned about adhesives, and invented masking tape. The world has never been the same.

Learning all we can about as many different areas as we can increases both our critical and creative thinking. The more information we have stored on the left side of our brain, the more creative connections can develop on the right side of our brain. If we are having problems with a creative block, the answer may very well be learning something new.

Breaking Barriers To Learning

Many of us went through school at a time when pedagogical theory focused on different students having a different learning style. One student might be said to be a more visual learner, one who doesn’t pick up information from reading, but does from seeing a task done. Others were said to be tactile learners: they gained information by completing a task themselves. Guess what: the whole theory might have been wrong.

Flora’s article looks at the “rigorous analysis” by Christian Jarrett, a cognitive scientist and the creator of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest blog. Jarrett doesn’t seem to believe in learning styles. He says:

Although each of us is unique, usually the most effective way for us to learn is based not on our individual preferences but on the nature of the material we’re being taught.

The example Flora uses is this: “Novices learn better from examples; more expert learners benefit from solving problems. And combining activities, such as drawing a diagram of a cell after reading about it, improves learning for just about everyone.”

Taking Jarrett’s theory to an applicable end means that anyone can learn anything. The potential is not limited to a learning style that might make resources unavailable. If you want to learn something, do so.

Conquering The Fear Of Learning

If learning is so accessible, then why aren’t more of us taking advantage of that opportunity? We’re scared. We’re insecure. We don’t want to fail … again. When we are not confident in ourselves then we are less likely to explore. We shelve our curiosity in favor of sticking with what we know.

New and developing technology may be the most frequent example for people of my generation and older. We’re comfortable enough with the technologies that were developed when we were younger. But now that technology is largely obsolete. We hear people talking about the Internet of Things and not only do we not understand what that is, we are, as a group, generally afraid to find out. We don’t like feelings of stupidity, ignorance, or inadequacy. These new technologies raise those emotions so we avoid learning to dodge the emotion.

One factor that may contribute to our shyness is our experience in competitive environments. When we’ve been made to feel that we are not smart enough, that our ideas aren’t quite good enough, that we’re not “winners,” we feel inadequate. We don’t trust our ability to learn enough to contribute to any substantial change.

What we must realize is that how smart you are doesn’t matter nearly as much as being open to learning more from whatever source might deliver it. Having an attitude that you can learn, that you want to learn, allows one to learn in greater quantity, sometimes without being consciously aware that learning is taking place.

Redefining Success

Curiosity drives our growth and spurs our interests into different fields of learning. The final challenge is realizing that we don’t have to know it all. Success isn’t determined by the amount of knowledge we accumulate, but by how we utilize the information we have. The student of physics doesn’t have to run a particle accelerator to relate theories of attraction and velocity to more esoteric applications.

We all have the ability to learn. Learning helps keep our brains active and may (not making any promises here) help ward off early onset dementia and Alzheimer’s. Success lies in the fact that we know more at the end of today than we did at the beginning.

With so much information at our fingertips, learning has never been so accessible to so many. Whether you can create the structure necessary for self-learning or if you need the guidance of a teacher, the door is wide open. Explore. Discover. Be amazed.

Photography / PotD / studio nudes

One Protest, Many Voices

July 18, 2016

Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy… or they become legend. —Jim Harrison

charles i. letbetter - one protest, many voices

One photograph is all it takes to ignite the voices of many people in protest

We’re not going to mention the two political conventions taking place over the next two weeks very often. At least, not unless they do something really wild and crazy like start shooting at each other (which, I suppose, could very well happen). Political conventions are, in general, nothing more than giant pep rallies. Very expensive pep rallies. Neither one is little more than an opportunity for the party elite to get together and embarrass themselves. The voices speaking are nothing more than echoes of bovine feces we’ve already heard.

Both conventions have their protestors, too. Police are a bit concerned as Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he doesn’t have the power to suspend the state’s open carry law. This means anyone can legally carry any type firearm right up to the convention’s doors and there’s not a lot police can do about it. We’ve already seen tempers flare among protesters at campaign events. I appreciate why law enforcement might be feeling a bit nervous.

Not all forms of protest, however, are violent. There are plenty of ways through which people can make their voices heard without risking personal injury to themselves or anyone else. One such protest took place early Sunday morning in an open field not too far from the convention center. Just over 100 women met at the secret location, took their clothes off, held up mirrors, and took a picture. There was no question the act was one of protest, but exactly what the women were saying depends on who one asks.

Meet Spencer Tunick

If you follow the world of photographic art any at all, you’ve heard or read the name Spencer Tunick. For several years now, Tunick has organized some of the largest nude gatherings around the world as part of his photography projects. One recent project involved over 3,000 people. Another had everyone covered in body paint. While he certainly has his detractors, the one thing Tunick does well is organizing these exceptionally large events with precision and accuracy. He is mindful of local laws and is careful to not let matters get totally out of hand.

Tunick also allows the voices of thousands of people to be heard through a single photograph. While others may march and yell and scream, Tunick’s silent photographs carry the voices of their participants beyond a single moment. Whether the event is designed to protest poverty, homelessness, or some other critical situation, Tunick’s work keeps the reason for the protest alive as long as the pictures last. Marches fade into the dust as their echoes die off, but not photographs.

This project, which is part of Tunick’s “Everything She Says Means Everything” art installation occurring later this year, is quite a bit smaller than most. He was likely wise in doing so. A protest of only 100 women drew a lot less attention from Cleveland law enforcement than a couple of thousand would have. He also made sure the event was on private property, which he had permission to use, took place first thing in the morning so the number of spectators was few, and lasted only a few minutes. If someone is going to organize a nude protest, Spencer Tunick is the person to do it.

Many Voices

Tunick had a reason for choosing Cleveland as the site of this protest. He told the assembled women before asking them to disrobe:

The Republican party has given an excuse to hate. We have daughters and we want them to grow up in a society where they have equal rights for women.

The women had their own reasons for being there. These quotes were published in the Esquire article linked above:

I’m here because I’m a trans woman and we’re not supposed to like our bodies and I don’t like that. It’s going to be great! I’m very antsy; it’s like Christmas morning. -Harmony Moon, 25

Because of [Donald Trump’s] negative views on women. I think this is a great way to contrast that. -Monica Giorgio, 19

This 65-and-a-half-year-old Jewish grandma wants to take the best picture I’ve ever taken. -Marsha Besunera Klausner, 65

Donald Trump has said so many outrageous, hateful, inflammatory things. He underestimated his female, Republican vote. I feel like he shot himself in the foot a little bit. I don’t think he knows there’s a black, single, 35-year-old mom, like me, who is listening to what he’s saying. I don’t think he knows I’m in his political party—and that’s unfortunate. -Cathy Scott, 35

For me, it’s less about Trump and more about creating positive energy around the RNC and to create light where there maybe isn’t as much. -Sabrina Paskewitz, 23

Others took their voices, and pictures, to Twitter to announce their participation in the protest.

This AM, The Donald will have a chance to “Kiss my @ss“. #WhatSheSaysMeansEvertything #SpencerTunick #GOPConvention https://t.co/s19xtZ2xEZ

— Megan Browne (@mmbrowne) July 17, 2016

Love your body. Love yourself #EverythingSheSaysMeansEverything #SpencerTunick #cleveland pic.twitter.com/vWRlDERbhL

— Kim Leonard (@LittleMs_Kim) July 17, 2016

#EverythingSheSaysMeansEverything #SpencerTunick #Summer2016 pic.twitter.com/Y11EwhCDQo

— Leah Willis (@mamaofnje) July 17, 2016

A lovely experience at the #spencertunick shoot bringing together 111 beautiful, powerful women. Many thanks to the… pic.twitter.com/ifVFQ3fxzS

— Sharon Yoo (@Sharaoke) July 17, 2016

Stating A Message

I would be rather surprised if yesterday’s protest had any effect on the Republican nominee. If anything, I can imagine him using the event to make more derisive and divisive comments about women. The presumptive nominee doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Therefore, protests that don’t actually confront him and directly upset his agenda don’t appear to have any effect on the candidate.

However, that does not mean voices were raised in vain. The pictures from yesterday have already made their way around the world. Every time one of those pictures is shared or published, it takes with it not only the voice of Spencer Tunick but also the voices of every woman who participated. Just because one person chooses to not listen does not mean those voices were not heard. Others do see. Others do hear. When the message is as important as this one, the voices grow until they become a mighty shout that cannot be ignored.

I’m some ways I’m rather jealous of Spencer Tunick. I’ve done some larger multi-person nude shoots, but I’ve never topped 25 people. His ability to organize and complete such large projects amazes me.

Even more important, though, is the fact that these photographs are the voices of thousands of people. Voices that will not fade. Voices that demand to be seen as well as heard. I can’t think of a better reason to get naked.

Art / Fashion / Photography / PotD

Are We Still Photographers?

July 13, 2016

charles i. letbetter - are we still photographer

Photographers must learn not to be ashamed to have their photographs look like photographs. —Alfred Stieglitz

charles i. letbetter - are we still photographers?

Is the ability to do more justification for abandoning what we’ve done before?

Take a look at the image above. Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t, or maybe you’re not sure. Any of those opinions is acceptable. What’s important, though, is that I did not ask you to look at a photograph. I asked you to look at an image. Photographers understand the difference. What you see here might have started with a camera, but the offset double exposure was manufactured in Photoshop® as was the processing. What you see above barely resembles the photographs at all.

Are we still photographers? I’m speaking specifically of those of us who consider the medium of photography our profession, or at least more than just a casual hobby. British fashion photographer turned media specialist Nick Knight doesn’t think so. In an interview published this morning in Business of Fashion, Knight makes the case that we do so much more with images today that we can no longer put modern imagery in the same class as that produced by legends such as Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorpe.

While I found the interview itself rather gratuitous and was annoyed by Tim Blanks anointing of Knight as some kind of creative god, there are some valid considerations. What we do with imagery now can be considerably different than what we were doing 30 years ago. But does that mean we are not photographers? If we’re not photographers, what are we? How do we define ourselves and our work?

Carrying Around A Camera

Perhaps the question of whether we are photographers wouldn’t such a volatile issue if people would just stop asking us, “what is it you do?” Replying with, “I’m a photographer” has been my answer for more than thirty years. Identifying as a photographer is a role that people understand. Regardless of how manipulated an image might be, publishing entities still give credit to a photographer. We simply can’t think of any other way to accurately describe our work without launching into a detailed diatribe that hits the boredom point after 15 seconds.

Knight refers to what he does as “image-making,” for lack of a better term. His justification is that the end product might include sound or 3D or any number of other elements he might include. He also thinks photography is dead in traditional terms. He refers to his website, SHOWStudio, as “the home of fashion film.” Nick is very good at what he does, but when we strip it down to its core, the base product is still the same: photography.

While what we do with a photograph has changed, however, the base product hasn’t. Nick’s not carrying around equipment that’s any different from the rest of us. The base product of a still camera, even if it’s housed in a phone, is a photograph. If the base product is multiple images strung together so as to infer motion, then it is a motion picture, or film. Therefore, the people who create those photographs or films are known as photographers. We can add additional titles on to that, but for public identification purposes to call ourselves anything other than photographers is just silly.

To Modify Or Not To Modify

At the heart of this issue is whether and how we modify an image. Now, let’s be clear: photographers have always modified images. The type of toner being used is the most basic form of image manipulation. Toner changes the base color of an image. This is why some older images are different shades of brown or amber, while others have a more silver or blue hue. To say that photographers didn’t begin manipulating images before 1985 is disingenuous at best.

What has changed, though, is the ease with which image manipulation is done. Global filters are everywhere, even on your cell phone. All one has to do is touch a button and the image is altered in any number of ways. More advanced software allows us to add and remove objects as well as change the shape of things and people. Sometimes those modifications are necessary and welcome. Other times, though, the results are nothing short of a disaster.

Nick mentions his amazement with what people are doing on Instagram. Yet, over the past couple of years, one of the most-used hashtags on the social media site is #nofilter. People are proud and happy when the photograph they take is of sufficient quality, in their opinion, to not require any form of filtered distortion. Much has been made in the media about magazines altering the shape of models’ bodies. A growing number of prominent models are including riders in their contracts that prohibit any physical alteration of the pictures for which they’ve posed. While there are many modifications available, they are often not well-advised.

Evolving As A Medium

Nick makes an interesting statement that not only reflects his views of photography but of its relationship to society. He says:

… we must be creating new things. We must be evolving as a species. We can’t be the same physically and emotionally as we were 500 years ago. We’re no longer chimpanzees, but we’re not where we’re going to be. Although they are the same stories, we’re not exactly the same people.

I don’t think anyone would question that the equipment with which we take photographs has changed dramatically. Photography has been in a constant state of evolution, if one wants to continue misusing that word, from its very inception. Wet plates, copper plates, film of various sizes and quality, digital development and everything else has kept the medium of photography in a constant state of flux.

Photographers have always been agents of change. We are constantly looking for a different way to use this tool to express ourselves. While the rate of change has sped up thanks to the technology brought to bear, and the number of people involved, to infer that the medium has ever been stagnant is misguided and, quite honestly, insulting to the photographers like Avedon and Mapplethorpe who helped push the medium forward.

Take My Picture, Please

While there is plenty of reason to get all excited over the new and different ways one can use digital images to create things never before imagined, we cannot let go of the fact that all the cool and creative things people like Nick Knight and others do is the exception, not the rule. The primary use of a camera always has been, and still remains, to capture a moment. We see it in the selfie obsession that has consumed the Internet. We see it in the volume of pictures people post to various social media sites. Filtered or not, what matters is that photographs remind us of something we did or something we saw or someone we loved.

A lot has been written about how Millennials are an experience-based generation. They invest less in physical objects and more in doing things. As a result, they are less interested in hiring someone to create a distinctively new and different digital image and more interested in hiring photographers to capture those experiences that mean the most. From weddings to diving expeditions to parachute jumping, photographers are much more frequently asked to capture those experiences than create something cold in a studio.

Not that there isn’t a place or demand for what Nick Knight and others do. There is. But the global demand for their work and innovation is nowhere near being strong enough to warrant completely redefining the entire medium. At the end of the day, all anyone wants is for us to take their picture.

Tomorrow, We Will Still Be Photographers

Our medium of capturing images continues to change. We all know that. There are some incredible and mind-altering advancements coming in the very near future that could well change, again, the way we look through a camera and decide what to capture. How we process those images continues to change as well. Wonderful things are coming down the road.

Perhaps, someday, when we gain the ability to take recognizable pictures in the dark, we can refer to what we do as something other than photography. The word means “writing with light.” As long as there is still the transfer of light onto media so as to capture an image, we will still be photographers. There’s nothing in that word to cause us shame. Embrace it rather than run from it. We are photographers and damn proud of it.

Advertising / Fashion / PotD

You Better Shop Around

July 12, 2016

Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard. —Paul McCartney

Shopping has changed and using a single source is rarely a good idea

Today, July 12, is the big Amazon Prime sale. Think of it as second Christmas. Sales are huge. People who never shop online make purchases during this sale. Traffic numbers are immense. The best deals sell out in a flash. Every other retailer on the Internet cringes when the online juggernaut has this sale. Amazon is so huge, so overwhelming, that no one can afford to compete. Even Wal-Mart doesn’t try to match prices. They do offer free shipping with no minimum purchase, but that’s nowhere near the savings some Amazon deals offer.

This is the way shopping works now. Deep sales, free shipping, and everyone has to find a way to compete with the big guys. There’s always a sale somewhere. No one ever pays list price. Even Amazon stopped showing list prices. Instead, they just show the sale price because that’s what they know people want to see when they shop online. The sale price.

Luxury goods have been in a free-fall all year. Discounters, outlet shops, mid-market retailers, and re-sellers are where all the business is going. Online fashion magazine Business of Fashion says stores need to look and think more like Facebook. The op-ed by John Bricker says that stores need to be more of a social gathering place, not just a place to shop. Coffee bars, art galleries, and social events are all part of the shopping experience as Bricker imagines it.

I’m not sure he goes far enough, though. People still shop around. Let’s look at alternatives.

Tighter Integration

Bricker’s article mentions that women in the 25-35 age group pre-shop, arriving at a store already prepared for what they want. Why didn’t they go ahead and make the purchase online? They want to feel what they’re getting. That’s not surprising, but retailers are still not playing that strategy to their full advantage. The online experience needs to merge with the brick-and-mortar experience so tightly that shoppers consider it a single event.

For example, if a woman finds a set of sheets online that appear to be what she wants, she should be able to mark and save that product without putting it in a shopping cart. She already knows she’s not making the purchase online, so why would she put the item in a cart? Yet, if she doesn’t, she loses the location of the item and may have difficulty finding it when she wants to go back. Then, when she gets to the store, she has difficulty finding the sheets she wants midst all the stacks of other sheets. If she doesn’t find them quickly, she leaves frustrated.

Stores would do better to lock down that sale by doing three things:

Provide a way to save items of interest online
Encourage the shopper to visit the nearest store to see that item
Use the store’s app to guide the shopper to interested items when they arrive at the store.

Just those three things would increase actual sales by at least 10%.

Help Customers Compare Prices

This is taking a tactic once used in large New York department stores and giving it a digital comeback. Retailers know people shop around online looking for the best deals. Let them do the same in store as well. Wi-Fi connected apps at displays could easily list the price of an item and then show what the same item sells for both online and at other brick-and-mortar stores in the immediate area.

What this strategy does is keep a customer in the store. You don’t want to run the risk of them walking out the door to compare prices and never coming back. That already happens far too often for most stores. By allowing customers to comparison shop right there in the store, the retailer could choose to match a competitors price, provide coupons to apply to the sale, and inherently increase the stickiness of keeping people in the store longer.

Of course, this means marketing people have to do a better job watching competitors’ pricing, and that can be a very difficult job. However, with the ability to search instantly across a wide number of sites, building an app that would track such competition on the fly shouldn’t be too terribly difficult. For all I know, that software may already exist. If it does, though, it needs to be used more efficiently.

Make The Store A Destination

We read a lot about Millennials looking for experiences. Retailers can tap into that by making shopping more of a destination; a place one wants to go even if they’re not actively in the market for anything the store offers. Sorry, but coffee and art are yesterday’s marketing tactics. Retailers today need to find more event-driven and exciting reasons for people to come through their doors and shop.

I still remember when a specific sporting goods store opened in Atlanta with a 40-foot climbing wall in the store. My boys loved going to that store just to climb the wall. Sure enough, we purchased something every time we went. When that store was bought-out by a competitor, though, they took out the climbing wall. Care to guess how many times I’ve been in any of that retailer’s stores since? Zero. I’ve no immediate need for their products, so I walk on by.

Whether online or brick-and-mortar, retailers have to do more than just offer sales to get people to look. If I were CMO of a major chain right now I would be looking for some way to make stores attractive to Pokèmon Go players. What the store sells is irrelevant. Getting more people through door inevitably means more people are going to shop. Playing to social trends rather than marketing trends may be the stronger strategy for the future.

Increase Visibility Of High Need Items

Briker also mentions that people separate their shopping into two groups: wants and needs. They buy the needs first, often without much comparison shopping, then shop around for the things in their want list. The traditional tactic has been to put high-need items toward the back of the store so that people have to walk past everything else, increasing the possibility of an impulse by. For many years, that strategy has worked.

What grocery store chains such as Kroger have found, though, is that placing high need items such as milk, eggs, and bread near the front of the store, close to the checkout, increases brand loyalty among consumers. When a busy mom needs to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home from work or between shuttling kids from soccer practice to piano lessons, she remembers the store that saves her from walking all the way to the back. She’s more likely to return to the same store when she needs to buy a full basket of groceries.

Fashion retailers, especially department stores, could learn a lot from this tactic. Consider what shoppers most likely need and make it accessible without having to traipse all over the store. A hair straightener is not likely to be a must-have-right-now purchase, but a lipstick is. Sports socks are not sexy, but when the drier eats half your last pair you need a replacement before you go running in the morning. Build brand loyalty among a generation not inclined to be loyal.

Shop Around

More retailers need to consider throwing out the playbook and completely re-examine what it means for people to shop. Even those in the over-65 age group don’t shop with the same habits as they did ten years ago. Everything about shopping is new. The winners are going to be those who don’t look like retailers. Embrace innovation and realize that one has to meld into society to benefit from it.

pop culture / PotD

Consider The Source

July 6, 2016

Crazy old people are our entire source of polling information. —P. J. O’Rourke

We have become careless about what information we believe, even when the source is obvious

As long as there has been verbal communication among humans there has been a propensity to exaggerate and distort facts to make oneself look good or persuade others to agree with their opinion. Many mistakes have been made because people chose to believe rumor and conjecture over evidence and reason. This isn’t something we can blame on the Internet. We were already very good at believing stories without regard as to the source of information.

Rumor mills exist in every small community, feeding on the presumption that someone did something wrong or unethical without bothering to check for facts. Such rumor mills were especially strong in the churches we attended while growing up. There was almost always an accusation that some poor soul, who had fallen out of favor with someone else, had been caught “sinning.” Perhaps it was the rumor that the school superintendent had a glass of wine with his meal while attending a conference out of state. Or maybe the idea that Widow Jones had a male friend she would visit over in the next county and sometimes she didn’t come home until the next morning.

Those pushing such rumors were almost always the same few people. As a result, any time such a story made it’s way back to my father, the pastor, he would simply roll his eyes and say, “Consider the source,” and move on. He understood that giving a rumor any attention only helps it to grow.

Welcome To The Internet

One of the great promises of the Internet is its ability to give almost anyone and everyone a chance to make their voice heard. Information is not limited to media or official government sources. When something major happens, there is frequently someone on hand either live tweeting or even live streaming the event. The challenge comes when accounts from official sources differ from pedestrian sources.

A perfect example is the case of last night’s shooting by police of a man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. If one clicks that link, you can read the account of the incident as reported by the Associated Press, a generally trusted news source. Their story is that a man leaving a convenience store called police after allegedly being threatened with a gun by a man selling CDs. Police arrived, an altercation ensued, and the CD seller was shot.

However, if one looks at all that is on Twitter regarding the incident, including a video that might be disturbing for some, one might come away with a very different opinion. The video alone is enough to sway opinion dramatically. I fully expect this event to explode as the day grows and more people find out about it. Rumors and conjecture will dominate the story. Figuring out which details are fact and which are fiction becomes difficult in moments like this.

Don’t Believe Everything You Read

We were given that instruction back in high school, were we not? At the point that teachers begin assigning projects that require research, we are warned that not every source is reliable. Again, this happened long before the Internet. Just because information is printed somewhere doesn’t make it reliable. An account of an event from Associated Press, for example, was considered more reliable than one from Time magazine. The tendency of the latter source to editorialize opened the door to rumor and supposition that might not be based on evidence.

Unfortunately, we’re now willing to believe anything that comes in meme form and agrees with our own opinions. We’re not even bothered that sources aren’t cited. In fact, I’m frequently alarmed that, despite my continued effort to cite sources in all my articles here, rarely does anyone actually click those links and verify the source. I could be feeding everyone a truckload of bullshit. As long as what I write is consistent with what one normally expects from me, no one questions anything.

How do we know which information is correct and which is a lie? Unfortunately, we can’t always know for certain. However, on major issues, two primary sources have come to bear that are generally more reliable than most. Those are Snopes and Politifact. Between the two, they address the majority of rumors getting the most amount of traffic on the Internet. While they’re not authoritative in getting anything corrected, they at least provide us the ability to check sources. Let’s take a look at some trending topics they’re dealing with today. [Headings are links to source stories.]

Sharpie Marker Giveaway

This is an example of dozens of other retailer giveaway scams, none of which are valid. In this case, the image that pops up in your Facebook newsfeed claims that Sharpie is giving away a set of 24 markers just for liking and sharing their page. The problem is, when one clicks the link, they are not directed to anything owned by Sharpie at all. Sometimes the links even appear to be random.

While Snopes doesn’t accuse the perpetrators in this case of operating a phishing scam, any time a link takes you somewhere you weren’t expecting to go your information is in danger. Almost nothing is free. Both retailers and manufacturers have found better and more reliable ways of getting your attention. If someone wants to give something away, consider the source. Nonprofits still do occasional giveaways, but major corporations don’t.

Britons Did Not Understand The Brexit Before Voting

Even I fell for this one. With sources such as the Daily Mail and the Washington Post making claims based on their interpretation of Google trend data, it was extremely easy to be taken in. However, it turns out that the headlines were wrong. Journalists who didn’t understand how Google trends work misinterpreted the data. As a result, what the newspapers were printing was inaccurate. Still, assuming that the source was reliable, every other news agency then ran with the same story.

Oops.

Politifact goes to great length in attempting to explain how the mistake in reading the Google trends data could result in less-than-accurate statements. Turns out, that a) the data is a sample, not the whole search set, b) it is impossible to tell if people were making the same searches before the vote, and c) other more detailed and informed questions wouldn’t be included in the survey set.

Marti Hearst, a professor for the University of California at Berkeley’s school of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, said: “Only the most common (and therefore the most ignorant-sounding) search queries will make it to the top”

Think When You Read

We have an obligation when reading to test the validity of any source. Just because someone says something we like doesn’t make it true. Richard Harrison of Pawn Stars is not dead. When we share and perpetuate such false and misleading information, we contribute to the problem. How does anyone know what to believe? If even the Washington Post can be fooled, how do we ever know which source is reliable?

The answer is that we have to examine the evidence ourselves to the extent possible. We’re not always going to get everything correct, but we can minimize the amount of dishonest and misleading information we share. Don’t take anyone at their word. Not even me. Any time you see text in a different color, that’s a link to a source. Chase them. If I’m wrong, let me know.

We are all part of the information system now. We have an obligation to get it right.

PotD / Social Commentary

Freedom To Chill

July 4, 2016

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use. —Soren Kierkegaard

Eschewing all the seriousness afforded this day, let’s celebrate the fact our lives are not horrid

Happy Independence Day, United States! My, but we do love our 4th of July celebrations. Fireworks, parades, bands, families, and cookouts are all part of the tradition. We also have a tendency to wax philosophical on this day. Look around the Internet and you’ll find dozens of essays on freedom. Some quote the Declaration of Independence: “When in the course of human events …” Others quote the preamble to the Constitution: “We the people, of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union …” Plenty discuss responsibility and many honor the sacrifice of those who have fallen.

All of those topics are well and appropriate for the day. I have no problem with the topics themselves, but at this point in my life, I’ve heard those topics run into the ground. One would have to be masterfully eloquent to keep my attention very long.

I understand the responsibilities of being an American. I appreciate the sacrifice of those who served and are serving (we’ll be talking with our Marine later this morning). The part of being an American I have difficulty doing is what many of you seem to do so well: sit back and relax. I can sit and try to watch a movie, but it is difficult to not have my phone in my hand. There’s also the matter of keeping the kids and the animals from destroying the house. One does not just sit and chill in this house without some effort. Where is that freedom thing, again?

Freedom To Not Work All The Time

Please note the qualifier in that heading. I’m not saying there is a freedom to be a lazy bum that sponges off society. Few people in our society actually milk us for our generosity. A majority of people who receive some form of federal assistance are employed, but still earn less than the $1000 a month income cap on assistance. But everyone who works needs a break. We look forward to our weekends, our vacations, and our federal holidays. While we may work hard, the US still has a party mentality that celebrates those moments when we’re not working.

Except, I can’t do it. You’re reading the results. Despite the fact that it’s a holiday, I’m sitting here in the wee hours of the morning doing research and writing. Kat always suggests that I just rerun a previous article on days like today. Certainly, I have the freedom to do that and give myself the day off. I can’t bring myself to do it, though. I have to get up to walk the dog, anyway, and as tired as I am, I feel obligated to sit down and create at least one new article every day.

Keeping busy is a point of anxiety for me. I need to be doing something all the time. Even things that should be relaxing, such as grilling out or entertaining friends becomes work for me. Still, I think of the garment workers in Bangladesh who work 80+ hours a week, live in cramped dorms provided by their employers, and rarely see their families. They do not have the freedom to not work. They have no choice. No matter how busy I make my life, I am still better off because I have the freedom to stop if/when I wish.

Freedom To Improve

We are all far from perfect. There is a lot we don’t know, even though there are books written on almost every topic imaginable. Fortunately, we have the freedom to improve. We can read. We can take specialized classes. We can even go back to school and get a degree completely different from anything we’ve done before. While perfection may always elude us, we have the freedom to make ourselves a little less imperfect.

An important part of that improvement is the freedom to read anything we want. I read with interest this week how what we read matters in our brain development, even as adults. Those who involve themselves with “deep reading,” such as academic journals, non-fiction, poetry, and literary fiction, hold advantages over those who only read online or mass-market fiction. Deep reading synchronizes the communication areas of our brain. As a result, we speak better, write better, and are more articulate in our conversation with others.

I remember hearing in school how children in the former Soviet Union were given tests at an early age that determined their eventual occupation. They were trained to a level of proficiency in that occupation and that was it. Improvement was limited and opportunities were few. I am thankful we have the freedom to make ourselves better.

Freedom To Love

We’ve had to fight for this one and there are still many places across the US where loving whomever you choose to love is challenging. The freedom to love, though, has grown tremendously over the past two years and shows no sign of letting up. Part of that whole being able to chill and relax thing is dependent, at least in part, on being with people you love. This is why families get together on holidays such as this.

Loving is important and understanding why we love the ways we do deepens and enhances our ability to love. At least, I think it does. There is a book by Skye Cleary called Existentialism and Romantic Love that I highly recommend. In the book, Cleary considers all the various webs of relationships into which we’re born. She explores the complexities of loving and being with others and how that affects our place in the world. After reading the book, I’m fairly sure there are even more areas of love we have yet to explore.

Not everyone is so fortunate, though. There are still too many places where LGBT relationships carry a death sentence. There are too many places where young women are not allowed to choose their own mate. The freedom to love is a relatively new concept for the entire world. We should celebrate that we are here to appreciate and take advantage of the progress.

Freedom To Be Entertained

I don’t watch a lot of television, but it’s there when I choose it. We don’t go out to a lot of movies or shows, but they’re there when we want them. We have more entertainment options than we have time. There are even places you can download or stream movies legally. We are inundated with the freedom to escape reality for as long as we need.

Entertainment is a critical part of our lifestyle and our ability to chill on weekends such as this. Whether we’re taking in live music or binging on Netflix, our entertainment choices give us the opportunity to set aside all the worry and stress that threatens to kill us. Some of us are good with an hour or so a day. Others need a bit more. Plenty of people even sleep with their televisions blaring away at them. While a danger of slothfulness is worth watching, that we have such freedom is exceptional to this time and place in history.

I plan to try very, very hard to chill the rest of the day. I want to enjoy that freedom, maybe take a nap, sing songs with my 18-year-old, or enjoy a cup of coffee with Kat. Thousands of men and women died for this freedom, after all. Even the lesser freedoms are worth celebrating. So light up a cigar if you’re so inclined, fill a glass of scotch if you have it, and let’s enjoy the day.

Happy Birthday, America. Thank you for the gift of that freedom to chill.

Mythology / PotD / studio nudes

Everything Is Temporary

July 3, 2016

One can have many regrets in life, but they are temporary. There are lessons to learn from every mistake. —Jeev Milkha Singh

charles i. letbetter - everything is temporary

Everything that exists has a beginning and an end. Nothing lasts forever.

When I looked out the window a moment ago, the sky in the East was a dark, brilliant pink. Now, it is just gray. Rain is coming and while it might be problematic for those with outdoor plans it’s nature is to pass over us and be gone. My youngest son is here but only for a month. As much as I would like him to stay, his visit is temporary. He must return home in time for school.

At the center of most every major belief system is the concept that everything that exists, has existed, or will exist on this planet and throughout the universe is temporary. Things are planted, grow, and then wither. People are born, live their lives, and then die. Stars in the sky burst into being, burn bright, then implode upon themselves. Everything is temporary.

Not that everything reaches its demise within the same time frame. The 1971 James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever works on the premise that diamonds are valuable because of their strength and permanence. However, while the erosion of a diamond may not be something observable within the span of a human lifetime, even they do eventually dissolve like Jill St. John’s career.

Being Temporary Is Good

Permanence is overrated. Some people want to live forever, but if life is not temporary then neither is the pain and suffering that accompanies it. Some people want great buildings of architectural importance preserved in perpetuity. Yet, with the crumbling or demolition of the old comes the opportunity to create new, perhaps better and more functional buildings.

When we regard something as permanent, we immediately devalue that object or idea because we assume that it will always be there. Many times, when I was younger, I stood by the grave of a deceased parent as their adult children mourned that they did not spend more time with them. “I thought they would always be there,” is the cry of many who were neglectful because they did not appreciate the temporary nature of life. We think towns and cities last forever, but they don’t. Mountains and oceans are temporary, even as they’re always changing and adapting.

The temporal nature of the universe is important because it allows us to appreciate what is here now. While we might miss certain items and aspects and people from the past, knowing that our life here is temporary provides us with some motivation. We focus our attention on those things we might lose. As we realize that everything is temporary, we appreciate more of what is around us. Even our lives earn greater respect as we consider our temporary nature.

Appreciating Life

While we inherently know that life is temporary, we don’t always realize just how short it might be. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) posted the account of a tragic shooting that occurred yesterday. A large extended family had gathered to celebrate the life of a deceased loved one. As family members were standing outside a home, an apparently unrelated person walked up and started shooting. There was no apparent provocation. At this point, there’s no evidence that the shooter knew anyone in the family. He shot three people. One died on the scene. One died a couple of hours later at the hospital. A three-year-old remains in critical but stable condition from being shot in the hand. Life is just that temporary.

At the same time, though, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was 87 when he died this week. While he outlived most his peers, he understood the temporary nature of life. His mother, his father, and his younger sister all died at Auschwitz. The temporal reality of their lives and others he knew motivated him to write his award-winning biography Night. That book brought the horrors of the holocaust to life and emphasized the value of all life.

Without death constantly lurking, would we appreciate the lives we have? Almost inevitably, we would take greater risks, indulge in things that are harmful, and worry less about the danger our actions might bring to others. If we had no fear of death, would we have any compassion for others at all? That life is temporary keeps us focused. Knowing our days are numbered pushes us to do things now rather than later. Our actions are kept in check and we have greater compassion for others because life is temporal.

Government Comes To An End

Earlier this morning, I was reading an article by David Van Reybrouck on “Why Elections Are Bad For Democracy.” He makes the argument that the concept of one person/one vote is flawed because not every voter is intelligent or necessarily thoughtful in the way we vote. Such a deficiency leads to harmful results, such as the Brexit, because it is falsely assumed that Britain leaving the European Union was the will of the people. He argues for something called Sortition, selecting legislators by well-managed lottery. The advantage would presumably be that those who are inherently unqualified would not be elected.

Others are willing to consider even changing our very form of government. In a Gallup survey done last year, 47% of Americans said they would consider voting for a socialist. Stil,l others would happily vote for a totalitarian who would provide hard-line consistency in government over a prolonged period.

As we celebrate our independence from British rule this weekend, now is a good time to consider that democracy as we know it is temporary. As our current system becomes increasingly dysfunctional, dramatic changes to that system become inevitable. What we celebrate now may not exist 20 years in the future.

Awareness And Contemplation

If all that exists is temporary, then how are we to respond? Do we live in fear of our inevitable demise or do we seize each day and look to make it count? Do we consider how our actions might make existence even more temporary for other lives, other economies, or other cultures? Do we contemplate anything at all?

As we become more aware of our temporal nature, we realize we must do the most with what we have. There is no time worth wasting. If we are to create, we must create now. If we are to show compassion, we must show compassion now. If we are to revel in the love of another, we must love that person now.

My late mother endured many turbulent periods during her life and not all of them were handled well. She was fond of saying, though, that, “this, too, shall pass.” She understood that nothing, even the bad days and bad circumstances were going to last forever. She embraced that which is temporary. Perhaps we should do more of the same.

Let us dance in the rain. Let us love unconditionally. Let us live the fullest of lives now.

Advertising / Social Commentary / video

Awareness You Can’t Escape

July 1, 2016

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. —Aristotle

Awareness sometimes requires cultivation. Other times, one cannot escape it.

Awareness is a state of consciousness, the point at which we realize something exists and are able to understand that existence, at least, in part. Sometimes, awareness has to be carefully cultivated. Physics, for example, holds various levels of awareness, the deepest of which only come with intense learning. Other matters, however, are more straightforward, perhaps even blunt. All one needs to know in order to respond appropriately can be said in a matter of seconds. Fire, for example, is hot. Even a baby understands after the briefest experience that fire is hot.

Every day, we develop more awareness. Perhaps we see a new store or read a new book. Maybe we have a conversation with a friend. Everything we do has the potential to increase our awareness. Even watching commercials.

Each year, at Cannes, the best advertising campaigns are presented and given awards based upon the quality of work. Some do an amazing job of selling a product. Others blaze new trails in technological innovation. What always strikes the hardest, though, are those that create awareness. These are the ads that make you stop and think, and give you information that leads you to act, become involved, and begin conversations.

Of this year’s winners in the film and film craft categories, four gold winners did an amazing job at creating awareness. I want to share those with you. Watch each one and let them change you.

Make Love, Not Scars

Acid. The word immediately raises warnings of danger for most teens and adults. While there are many legitimate uses for acid, however, one of the most frequent is as a weapon of personal destruction. We don’t see as many acid attacks in the United States. Awareness is low because it is usually treated as a felony assault and handled through local justice systems. Elsewhere in the world, however, acid attacks are devastating. In countries were various forms of acid are sold openly and are easily obtainable, acid attacks are a common form of personal vendetta. Most of the victims are women. Many victims are under the age of 18.

Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai created the following piece to raise awareness of this horrible issue. Incidents involving acid attacks are growing, but governments are doing little to stop them. The piece is short. Please watch. If you are inclined to investigate further, please visit Acid Survivors Foundation.

Never Alone

For many gay people, coming out to one’s family and friends is one of the most frightening experiences of their lives. One can never be quite certain how people might respond. Will they be accepting? Will they be angry? Will this be the end of relationships?

If one is captain of the Wales national rugby team, that fear is overwhelming. Rugby is a tough sport, one of those games allegedly created for and played by only the manliest of men. Gareth Thomas faced that fear. What he discovered, however, was that he was part of a team that had his back, no matter what anyone said. With millions of fans, there were inevitably some who didn’t understand. Still, the team supported Gareth and they continued to win games.

Guinness sponsored the award-winning film piece developed by AMV BBDO London and produced by Stink London. There’s no mention of beer here, though. No one goes out and has a pint at the end. Instead, the emphasis is on the power of a team, supporting those whose lifestyles are often vilified and misunderstood. Everyone who comes out as gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender needs a team behind them. Be part of the team. The version that won the award is below. You can watch Gareth’s full story here.

https://youtu.be/rBOTKSQ89M8

Manboobs

Censorship on social media is severe. Most apps assume that anything on your computer or especially on your phone is accessible to minors. Argue all you want, I know all too well how difficult it is to keep sensitive materials away from little hands and prying eyes. Once children reach a certain age, the more one tries to deter them the more determined they are to see what’s there.

However, that censorship becomes a complete pain in the ass for organizations trying to raise awareness for things such as, oh, let’s say breast cancer. Talking about breast cancer becomes exceptionally difficult when one can’t show real breasts. How does an organization teach women how to check for lumps, an extremely important form of early detection, if they can’t show breasts?

Some brilliant minds at the David agency in Buenos Aires came up with a creative way to address those problems for an Argentinian awareness and support organization, MACMA. The spot comes with a bit of humor but is also extremely informative. Viewers are then encouraged to make their own video. If you care to do so, let me know. We’ll be happy to help.

https://youtu.be/Ais88Os_CTg

Dear Daddy

Our final piece hits really, really close to home. Until I had a daughter of my own, I didn’t think much about the vocabulary I used and tolerated from others. I didn’t give as much thought to what might be harmful. In watching and helping Tippy grow, I’ve learned that even the most innocuous, unintentional things we do and say truly matter.

We are moderately aware to the sensitive nature of body image. However, this piece developed for Care, Norway, raises awareness to a whole new level by putting it in terms that are inescapable. Just imagine if your unborn daughter could write you a letter. This short film is one of the most moving pieces I’ve ever encountered.

Conceptual credit goes to ad agency Schjaerven Reklamebyrå and production company Tangrystan, both of Oslo. I dare you to watch this film and not be moved. If you’re a daddy, or about to become one, I dare you to not cry.

The majority of ads are not all that serious. The majority of ads aren’t worth our time. These four, though, hit us with an awareness we need. There is no escape. You have now been enlightened. Go, enlighten others.

Advertising / Art / Fashion / Photography

Goodbye, June 2016

June 30, 2016

All June I bound the rose in sheaves, Now, rose by rose, I strip the leaves. —Robert Browning

With the year half over, leaving June is like setting a marker, daring the rest of the year to improve

June 30. The year is half over. While the month has had its happy moments, such as the wedding of two dear friends, June has also seen a lot of death, a lot of turmoil, and an incredible amount of global stupidity. We’ve suffered the largest mass shooting ever in the US. We’ve laughed about secret sex parties. We’ve mourned the death of a real champion. We even tossed Kat in the water. For a mere 30 days, a lot happened. Our world has changed dramatically from where we were at the end of May.

To some extent, today puts a half-way marker on the year. We look back and see all we’ve lost, all that happened, and we dare the rest of the year to be better. We’ve had enough suffering. We don’t want more bad news. We don’t need more nonsense. We need new champions rising to the cause. We need faith restored in our governments. We need to feel that the entire planet is not hurtling out of control.

Of course, none of us can predict the future, and I’m not sure we want that ability. What we might see there could be too frightening to imagine. We’re also too early to start writing obituaries for the year. We can’t yet give up hope when so many good and wonderful things could yet happen.

Pictures You Might Have Missed

Midst all the activity of this month, chances are you might have missed a picture or two along the way. In fact, we’re pretty sure you did because we know which articles received the least amount of attention. So, before we totally close out this month of June and proceed forward with our year, we want to give you a chance to catch up on the pictures. There were some new ones this month, which is surprising given how busy we’ve been. So take a moment, enjoy the view and we’ll look forward to July.

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Advertising / Fashion / pop culture / PotD

Information Overload

June 30, 2016

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? —T. S. Eliot

charles i. letbetter - information overload

The glut of information comes at such a heavy pace so as to make keeping up impossible

I don’t know about anyone else, but the volume of information I receive on a daily basis is impossible to consume. While the majority of articles, press releases, and various studies shoved my direction do have some value, there is simply not enough time to digest and comprehend the bulk. I end up setting some pieces aside to read later and then get to the end of the month, like today, and realize I have a backlog that needs to be addressed.

Even then, I know there’s some information I have to let go. That article that says one out of three internet users are content creators? It’s been sitting there for two weeks. The information seems interesting, but there is not enough time to get into the details. A detailed essay on the dumbing down of America has been sitting there since the 7th. Incredible amounts of information that is highly applicable to this election season. Too detailed for my schedule, though. I have to let it pass.

Still, there are some stories that, for various reasons, I can’t let pass without at least a tiny bit of comment. This is information I am quite sure you need, that will impact every aspect of your life. Okay, not really, but some of it is damned entertaining. The headlines are links. Click them for more information.

Alexander Wang Is Now Chairman/CEO Of His Own Brand

For those outside the fashion industry, this may sound like a rather obvious move. It’s not. Fashion designers are notoriously bad at the business side of things. That’s why conglomerates such as Kering and LVMH own so many top-name labels. People who are wonderfully creative, such as clothing designers, too often attempt to apply that same creativity to the business side of the house and it rarely works.

Alex takes over the head of the boardroom from his sister-in-law and his mom, both of whom have been running things rather well. Certainly, Wang would not have been able to spend the time at Balenciaga had they not been in place. They’ve done an excellent job of steering his young brand through its first ten years. Influencers such as Marc Jacobs haven’t hurt, either.

The fashion market has changed dramatically in the past five years, though, and strategies that made sense when the label was founded no longer work. The move signals a new direction, though it remains to be seen what that new direction might be. Alexander Wang is one of the top US fashion brands at the moment. Let’s hope he doesn’t blow it. We’ll file this information under things to watch.

Kering Ordered To Pay Hedi Slimane $13 Million

Speaking of Kering, they were sued earlier this month by former Yves Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane. Honestly, when I first saw a related headline, I rolled my eyes. I think Slimane was expecting another label to pick him up quickly upon his departure from YSL. His expectations were a bit too eager. Few talked with him at all and none of the conversations reached a serious stage of negotiation.

That means the rather extravagant designer was starting to feel the financial impact of not having a regular income. So, what does he do? Find a loophole in his former contract and sue his former employer for failing to include a non-compete clause in his separation agreement. Understand, a non-compete means that a designer cannot just hop directly from one label to the next for a given period of time. A non-compete is what is allegedly keeping Raf Simons from taking the head job at Calvin Klein. How does this make sense?

Non-competes, in the fashion world, are generally compensated. Labels essentially pay a designer to not work (in an official capacity) for usually two or three years. The $13 million Slimane was awarded should keep him going long enough to create a new strategy.

Dove Release New #MyBeautyMyWay Campaign

Dove has been using messages of affirmation for women in its ads for some time now. While there has yet to be any firm information showing that the tactic is adding anything to the brand’s bottom line, the campaigns are at least socially popular. This particular campaign comes along at a time when body image and self-image, especially among women, is a significant issue. Women are tired of the cat calls and the impolite statements regarding their appearance. Dove’s campaign encourages women to define their beauty their own way. Take a look at the 60-second ad:

My expectation is that an overwhelming number of women can identify with at least one if not multiple statements made. Additional ads address the details of each of the six women shown in this introductory piece. The timing ties into the presidential campaign as well. With a woman as the presumptive Democratic nominee and the misogynistic tone of the presumptive Republican nominee, women are feeling more empowered to be vocal and reclaiming their personhood.

Still, how long can Dove continue these campaigns without them adding significant revenue? Altruism doesn’t pay the bills.

Starbucks Is The Favorite Food Brand Among Millennials

Is anyone really surprised by this one? Of course not. Anytime we stop by one of the coffee stores we have to wait in line behind two or three 30-somethings getting their mocha-soy-caramel-latte-frappucino on. All I want is a venti blonde roast. Black. Yet, I still have to wait while each of the millennials in front of me orders a drink with far too many syllables to be healthy, then mulls over the ever-growing list of food items that look and sound healthy. Can I just get my coffee, please?

Click the link above, though, and what you’ll see is a list of the top 17 most popular food brands among this top group of shoppers who are the driving demographic for almost every company on the planet. Look through the list and you’ll notice a trend that has been part of Starbuck’s strategy from the beginning: Fresh, healthy and innovative. The growing food menu items address the fresh and healthy issue. The drinks have always been innovative. Starbucks has made the strategy work for them and other brands are finally beginning to see the value as well.

Even we old codgers benefit. With everyone adjusting to lure millennials, we’re all eating better whether we like it or not.

Crystal Pepsi Is Making A Return

Depending on how one feels about the product, we might file this interesting piece of information under “too good to be true,” or “what the hell are they thinking?” Crystal Pepsi, which is supposed to taste exactly like the original product, hasn’t been on store shelves since 1994. There is a very good reason for that: no one wanted a cola that looked like 7Up. The caramel color is part of the identity of a cola. The drink was treated more as a novelty and then slipped slowly away.

Today, though, artificial dyes are under attack from the healthy/pure food woo groups. You know, those same people who are convinced that Monsanto is out to destroy the entire food supply (they’re not). While the actual peer-reviewed science regarding food dyes only shows a danger in a handful of very specific colors consumed in high quantities, the concept of going without dyes has a lot of marketing clout. The move worked for Hershey, after all. They saw a significant sales bump after announcing they had eliminated artificial coloring from their chocolate.

The difference between Hershey’s and Pepsi, though, is that the chocolate still looks pretty much the same. The color may not be identical, but at least it’s still brown. Take the artificial coloring out of Pepsi and you have something that does not look anything like a cola. The move didn’t work well the first time. We’ll see if this effort is different.

French Cable Now Has Porn Ads

Americans like copying a lot of trends that are popular across Great Britain and France. With the UK having pretty much sabotaged itself with the whole Brexit thing, France is getting more of the attention at the moment. Maybe a bit too much attention. The French cable provider Cable+ has come up with a set of ads that, while hilarious to view, would be almost impossible to duplicate for the American market. Let’s see if I can describe this delicately …

It’s porn.

Apparently, French Cable providers can get away with a lot racier content than we can here. In the American cable market, the most shocking thing one is likely to see is the blood bath known as Game of Thrones. We can be explicit in our killing, but not our sex. That might explain some problems with our culture.

What these French ads do, though, is hilariously parody old-school porn by removing one person from the scene. So, you have real porn stars looking as though they’re getting it on, but their partner is missing. Why is the partner missing? Because all the good porn has moved to Canal.

It’s a bit much and definitely NSFW. I’m not posting the ads here. Click the link, though. They’re hilarious.

Take A Break

After that last bit of information there, I think we need to take a break. I need another cup of coffee. I hope at least one piece of information here improves your life somehow.

Advertising / Photography

Why Photographers Are Not Full-Time

June 29, 2016

charles i. letbetter - why photographers aren't full-time

As long as I can still be on my own and do my own thing and be working full-time, it’s great. —Marian McPartland

charles i. letbetter - why photographers are not full-time

Many photographers want to work full time. What stops them, though, is more than just attitude

I was one of the lucky ones. For almost 20 years, I was paid exclusively for being a full-time photographer. I was fortunate to have an exciting job, in exciting locations, with expenses paid, insurance, vacation, and a 401k. I was one of the few.

One can work full time at being freelance as well, but the pay is rarely equivalent to a full-time salary and the benefits are almost never present. Making it as a photographer in today’s world is hard work and, to a large extent, the reasons most of us need at least a part-time job escape most people. Running your own business is never easy work, no matter what field one is in. For photographers, though, the challenges are frequently insurmountable.

I came across this article on LinkedIn earlier this week with the headline, “Why Most Photographers Don’t Work Full Time.” The author is Jenna Johnson, a “community manager” at ZenPhotos.com. I was hopeful the article might have some real insight as to the problems facing freelancers. I was disappointed. Instead of a constructive, real-world look at the photography business, all Ms. Johnson presented was a bunch of emotionally-driven, change-your-attitude claptrap that offers no substantive advice at all.

Full Time Is More Like Overtime

Sure, we would all like to be employed full-time as I once was, but the number of those jobs still in existence has dwindled dramatically over the past 15 years. Many companies find that utilizing freelance talent plays better on their bottom line. They don’t have to pay benefits, cover HR costs, or even pay social security in most cases. Companies also take advantage of the fact that many photographers undersell their services and quote rates considerably lower than what the company would pay a full-time employee.

Freelancing as a photographer means doing much more than just taking and editing pictures. When we work for ourselves, we become our own HR department. We have to take care of our own insurance, our own business expenses, our own social security, and even our own equipment. We also have to do our own marketing, branding, and advertising. This is no easy job by any stretch of the imagination.

Add up all the time I spend doing market research, meeting with potential clients, marketing, handling social media, adding content (such as this article) to our website, and maintaining equipment and I can fill a 60-hour week without ever picking up a camera. I’m sorry, but a lack of confidence, treating it as a hobby, and impostor syndrome don’t even begin to factor into the challenges most photographers face.

The Real Reasons

The reasons for not being full time are draped in a reality that challenges every small business owner. We’ll keep the list brief.

Lack of start-up capital. Being a photographer is expensive even if one is working out of their home. If one is going to be full time, however, there are numerous additional expenses that must be addressed before hanging out one’s shingle. Everything costs money and finding that money keeps most photographers from ever making the leap to full time.
Lack of committed professional facilities. If one wants to work full-time without working themselves into complete exhaustion one needs their own studio. Cooperative studios with multiple photographers are often the best option, but without committed space larger clients such as ad agencies and real magazines have difficult taking a photographer seriously.
Failure to understand the market. I love shooting nudes and have, on occasion, even sold a few. However, there is no realistic way, sitting here in Indiana, that I am going to earn a full-time income from that market. Every market is different and has its niches, but not every market plays well in every location.
Not understanding the difference between marketing and branding. There are a lot of articles on marketing one’s photography business. Information that really understands branding a photography business is far less. Most photographers blow it on branding. I’ll have to write more about this later.
Being in the wrong place. If one wants to be a full-time photographer, one has to be where there are full-time clients or at least be able to reach them efficiently. Being full time in Red Oak, Oklahoma is much more challenging than being full time in Atlanta, Georgia. If the opportunity is not there, one might need to move.
Lack of business skills. Being a good photographer doesn’t make one a good business person. Tax and other business laws are serious and you have to do those things yourself or hire someone to do them, which is expensive.

Honest Assessment

Photographers tend to have strong egos and are not necessarily open to criticism. Many of us share those traits. Unfortunately, if one is going to succeed as a full-time photographer, we need an honest assessment of all our skills, not just photography. One can be a fantastic photographer and still fail miserably at running a photography business.

Sure, attitude is an important part of one’s success, but that’s true of owning any business. Encouraging someone to quit their day job and become a full-time photographer is irresponsible if we’re not looking at the real barriers to entry. Being full-time just doesn’t work for many people and as photography itself becomes more commoditized that opportunity shrinks even more.

We all would love to do nothing but take pictures all day. Unfortunately, that situation exists for only a handful of people. There is much more that goes into being a full-time photographer. Consider all the variables before striking out on your own. Good luck.

Current Issues / PotD / Social Commentary

No, You Do Not Understand

June 29, 2016

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. —Socrates

charles i. letbetter - no you don't understand

A recent survey illustrates how wide the gap is between how whites and blacks perceive racism

What we understand about any given topic is generally a lot less than what we like to think. Even after thirty-plus years, you won’t catch me claiming to know everything about photography. Knowing the limits of what we understand on any topic is important. Being open to different perspectives and various sources of information helps us to learn and grow.

What we understand, or don’t understand, about race, though, is critical. What we think we know shapes our attitudes and perceptions not only about the topic of race, but about the people whose appearance is different than our own. The tone of our voice, the vocabulary we use, even our physical mannerisms change based on what we think we understand about people of different ethnicities and backgrounds.

There are gaps of perception between people of any two races, but the strongest and perhaps widest gap, particularly on the topic of race and equality, may lie between the two most broadly identified groups: blacks and whites. A new survey released Monday by the Pew Research Center highlights just how incredibly wide that gap is. For all the advancements we like to think we’ve made, what we understand about each other isn’t much at all.

Starting With An Open Mind

I feel, to some degree, that I’m coming into this conversation with a perspective that may leave me disadvantaged. I don’t identify as either white or black. Both Cherokee and Choctaw ancestry exists in our family makeup, along with a hodgepodge of European strains. I choose to identify with native peoples because I feel that ethnicity more closely relates to who I am. Interestingly enough, when my hair is long people tend to respond to me in the context of a person of native heritage. When my hair is short, though, as it is now, I am treated more like an old white guy.

I also have the ability to observe how Kat’s children are treated. While their biological paternity is black, they are both relatively light skinned. Little Man even has light blue eyes. Tipster is the darker of the two, but rarely has anyone, including teachers, identified them as being of mixed race. Their exposure to black people and black culture is limited to classmates and neighbors.

What we understand, the nature of our experience, is changed by how we racially identify. Our perceptions are based upon what we perceive in comparison to our own experience. Therefore, we must come into any conversation about race with our minds open to the fact that what we actually understand is very limited.

Understand We Have A Problem

Racial inequality in the United States is a problem. Denying the severity of that problem makes it worse. We see inequality in the justice system. We see inequality in the policing of black and white communities. We see inequality in education. We see inequality in legislative representation. If we genuinely want to understand each other more and improve the situation, we must first acknowledge that the problem is real. Unfortunately, not everyone seems able to do that.

While whites generally recognize that blacks are treated less fairly in legal matters, especially those involving police, their perception of inequality in more normal, everyday activities, such as applying for a loan or mortgage, at work, or when shopping or dining out
is skewed. Blacks understand the inequality of those situations because they experience the inequality of those situations. Whites, on the other hand, are blissfully unaware of the struggle blacks face simply trying to do the same things everyone else does.

Perception does not necessarily equate with reality, but the sizable gaps in those perceptions illustrate the severity of the problem. White people, as a group, don’t understand just how much inequality black people experience. Perhaps, as that awareness increases, the perspective can change. Helping people become aware of the problem is the first step toward solving it.

Politics Blur Our Vision

One major factor in how whites perceive racial inequality is political party affiliation. Generally speaking, Republicans understand far less the reality of racism and are often quite annoyed when the topic is even raised. They mistakenly think they have a good understanding when the reality is they don’t have a clue.

For example, on the question of how much attention is paid to race, 41% of whites say that too much attention is paid to the topic. By contrast, 58% of blacks say we discuss race too little. Break that down by political party, though, and the picture gets more interesting. Among White Republicans, 59% say too much attention is given to matters of race, among Independents, 42% agree, but only 21% of Democrats hold that belief. 49% of white democrats believe that too little attention is paid to racial inequality.

Some numbers we see played out in real life. 78% of white Democrats say the country needs to continue making changes addressing racial inequalities. By contrast, only 36% of Republicans agree and 54% of Republicans believe things are just fine the way they are. If you were wondering how a racist, bigoted xenophobe could become the presidential candidate of the Republican party, you now have your answer.

Understand We Must Move Forward

One place where both blacks and whites agree is that individual discrimination is a greater issue than institutional discrimination. How we treat each other, one person at a time, makes a tremendous difference. Improving our personal relationships with each other inevitably trickles up into how corporations and institutions treat people. We each make a conscious decision when we meet someone how we are going to treat them and that has to improve.

Legislative representation at every level of lawmaking has to improve as well. This is challenging so long as political gerrymandering of voting districts is legal. Especially in the South, there are too many districts whose lines are so impossible distorted that it is impossible for black people to elect a black representative. At the federal level, there are only 43 black members of the House of Representatives and, quite shamefully, only one in the Senate. Being woefully under-represented is criminal. We need more black representatives in Congress.

Finally, we need to accept that white people don’t understand the challenges of the black community nearly as much as they think. Whites must take a new look at the tremendous advantage their race affords them. The playing field is nowhere close to level and white people, in overwhelming numbers must commit to changing that situation.

Sure, you have a black friend or two, and maybe you even work with black people, but if you think you really understand the challenge of being black in America, you’re wrong. Open your eyes. Open your mind. Let’s change this country.

Current Issues / Mythology / PotD

Peace Eludes Us For A Reason

June 27, 2016

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. —Mahatma Gandhi

charels i. letbetter - peace eludes us for a reason

Our desire for peace is stymied by the road blocks we forcefully push into the path.

Peace is possible. I have no problems with that concept. We can live in harmony with one another, be happy together, and live more fruitful lives. We’ve known this my entire life and we know exactly how to get there. So why does peace elude us? Why do we seem to careen from one conflict to the next?

For billions of people, the path to peace lies within their religion, their belief system, and that should work. With as many people who believe on some level, one might expect that peace would be inevitable. Unfortunately, in too many cases, it is the leaders of those religions who toss up roadblocks. When religious leaders spew hate, when pastors stand on pulpits (literally) and claim that their deity should strike dead all LGBT people, or support a bigoted, xenophobic, homophobic candidate for president, they put hate in the way of our path to peace.

Not that we need their help. We provide enough roadblocks on our own. Our continued quest for power and dominance over other people, or even our own lives, creates canyons that become impossible for us to cross. Our inability to give up our desire for things, our desire for external pleasures, our insistence on being the best at any and all costs, make finding peace impossible.

Some Get It Right

Not everyone is quite so removed from peace. There are a couple of people who stepped forward over the weekend and offered, once again, to illuminate the path to peace for us. Interestingly enough, both are the top religious figures within their extended belief systems. They differ on a great number of details, but they both know the way to find peace.

Pope Francis was aboard a flight to Rome from Armenia, talking with reporters, when he made a statement that shocked many but lit a candle of awareness for many more believers. He said:

I believe that the Church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons. The Church must say it is sorry for not having behaved as it should many times, many times — when I say ‘the Church,’ I mean we Christians because the Church is holy; we are the sinners. We Christians must say we are sorry.

The Catholic church has traditionally been slow to apologize for anything. What Pope Francis instructs believers to do, however, is cleansing. Making amends for wrongs of the past clears away many of the roadblocks that prevent us from moving forward. He sets an example for people to follow not only in asking forgiveness but effectually stating that actions the church has taken toward LGBT people, the poor, women, exploited children, and its stance on weapons are wrong.

Reaching Even Deeper

While the pope’s comments are welcome and refreshing to the ears, they alone are not enough to drive us toward peace. Apologies and asking forgiveness are a good start, but there are more personal issues with which we need to content.

Probably the best use of my time this weekend was watching and listening to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism during his visit t o Indianapolis. That over 6,400 people were in attendance speaks to how many people are struggling along a path toward ultimate peace and tranquility. The Dalai Lama’s words were often mixed with humor, but his instructions were strong.

“We are all brothers/sisters,” the Dalai Lama said frequently in an address focusing on compassion. He related compassion as the most human of emotions. “Now scientists even say, basic human nature is compassionate. The compassionate feeling toward your enemy, the trouble maker … only we human beings can do that.” He referred to the love a mother has for her child and a child for its mother, instructing that such love breeds compassion that is the source of peace for the world.

Getting There From Here

The Dalai Lama offered many ways we can remove the roadblocks holding us back from achieving peace, both personally and corporately. Among them, were:

Stop linking religion to violence and fanaticism. “There is no such thing as Muslim terrorist or Buddhist terrorist,” he said. “There is just terrorists. … Those who commit such acts of violence are insincere in their religion.”
Education of the current generation is key. Multiple times the Dalai Lama emphasized that compassion must be part of the curriculum and an emphasis in how we teach children if there is to be any hope of change. He said that it was “too late” to change the hearts and minds of older people, but that the education of children in how to be compassionate could bring a more peaceful world.
Everyone has the potential for love and compassion within them. The Dalai Lama spoke often of a “seed” of love within everyone that holds the potential for compassion and that we must first focus on growing that seed before attempting to take on the world.
Action, not prayers, changes the world. The Dalai Lama brushed off the concept that prayers and “releasing pigeons” had anything to do with world peace. Rather, he said, “We created this violence, so we can reduce this violence.”
Accept that we are all the same. Again, referring to the world’s population as brothers/sisters, he said, “Sometimes there is too much discrimination on color, on class — rich and poor. This actually (is a) man-made distinction.” He emphasized that we call come from one source. We are all the same.

Knowing Where To Start

Looking across what seems like a minefield of obstruction, one might feel overwhelmed by all that must happen before we can change the world. The starting place should be obvious: start with yourself. There is nothing we do, nothing we say, that is not an extension of who we are and how we feel about ourselves. We must change ourselves before we can change the things outside ourselves.

Maybe, just maybe, religion might work for some. The Dalai Lama said, “All religions carry the same message — love, compassion, things like that. That’s the basis of our harmony.” Understanding, of course, he is referring to the core tenets of religious belief, not the various bastardizations found in the majority of worship centers.

Others may find that path through meditation, yoga, deliberate focus, conscious awareness of the temporal nature of all things, finding happiness in being.

There is more than one way to get there, but each of those starts with you and I finding that seed of love within us, building that into an immense compassion, and then teaching that first to our children and then to others.

We can achieve the peace that eludes us but we cannot expect it to come from anyone other than ourselves.

pop culture / PotD

Ride Or Die Trying To Walk

June 25, 2016

Life ain’t always beautiful, but it’s a beautiful ride. —Gary Allan

charles i. letbetter - ride or die walking

Driving a car has been part of the great American adventure, but soon our only choice may be to ride, not drive.

I remember quite distinctly my 16th birthday. Actually, I only remember a specific portion of the afternoon of my 16th birthday. Poppa picked me up from school and drove me over to the DMV in Muskogee for my driving test. I had already passed the written test in Driver’s Ed. Now, it was time to take that monumental step. I was nervous. Some of my classmates had to take the test multiple times before passing. Not me. I aced that test on the first try and was excited to show off the horrible picture on my new license. I would no longer have to ask for a ride every time I needed to go somewhere.

By contrast, my 18-year-old son is quite comfortable in the passenger seat. Even though age-wise, he’s been eligible to get his driver’s license for two years, he’s still in no hurry. He’s quite content to get a ride from his mom or his brother. As it turns out, his attitude may be the better approach for the future.

By now, I’m just going to assume that everyone is at least topically familiar with the development of driverless cars, especially Google’s various models. The concept still scares us a bit. For example, what happens if/when an automated car hits a pedestrian? There are still issues to be worked out, but the further development of the vehicles seems inevitable. Even car manufacturers such as Audi are getting in on the act. The day may soon come when all one has to do is get in a car and ride.

Complications Are Inevitable

As automated cars begin to fill the streets, though, other things beyond cars have to change as well. Streets, for example. Just this past week, solar powered roads started their first real-life test on Route 66 near Conway, MO. With so much of the nation’s asphalt and concrete infrastructure crumbling, now seems to be a good time to start modifying the nation’s roadways so that they might better accommodate driverless cars. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Most voters would likely go along for that ride.

A general assumption is that most automated cars will see primary use on freeways and Interstates where access by pedestrians is either restricted or prohibited. There, in a space designed for cars, automated vehicles already accel and are a safer ride than being in a human-driven vehicle. Again, it sounds like good news, given that traffic deaths spiked the highest last year since 1965. We’re actually becoming worse at driving.

Automated cars in urban situations, though, have not been as thoroughly tested. We assume they would be better at navigating city streets efficiently, especially as they develop the ability to communicate with each other. Traffic signals may no longer be necessary as cars instinctively know when to stop or change course. Great, again, if you’re riding.

But what about pedestrians? How do automated cars know when an individual is crossing the street? What if a child’s ball bounces out into the road? Will an approaching car know to not only avoid the ball, but watch for the child that might be following?

Walking Days Are Numbered

An article in this week’s The Atlantic takes a fairly in-depth look at how the rise of automated cars may spell doom for pedestrians. The move isn’t unprecedented. Consider how many suburban neighborhoods already are void of sidewalks. I can personally speak to the number of places where walking simply isn’t safe. Not only are there no sidewalks, intersections are too wide to cross during the few seconds afforded by a traffic light. The danger is real now and doesn’t get any better.

One possibility is that crossing the street might require some form of digital transaction. Pedestrians might need a wearable device that communicates with either the cars or perhaps the street itself to negotiate the right to cross safely. Jaywalking, something largely ignored in cities like Indianapolis, would not only be illegal but life-threatening as well. Without that transaction, cars wouldn’t know to stop.

What if that transaction had a price? Would you pay to cross the street? In some scenarios, it might be easier, and safer, to summon a ride for a trip only a couple of blocks long rather than risk walking. There is also the chance that pedestrians would find themselves excluded from a high number of heavily-trafficked streets. The days of my walking to the nearest coffee shop would be over.

Driving Becomes Illegal

When automated cars become populous enough that they outnumber traditional cars, it only makes sense that, for safety reasons alone, driving becomes illegal. Automated cars make fewer mistakes and have the ability to communicate with each other at microsecond speed. People can’t do that. While technology might prohibit a driver from executing a dangerous move, sooner or later laws are going to change to favor the safer option. Your driving days are over.

One one level, that may not seem like such a sacrifice. No drivers mean no road rage, no getting stuck behind a slow driver in the fast lane, no one cutting you off at the last minute. However, driverless cars have a point A to point B purpose to them. There is no joyriding in a driverless car. One does not just go out for a leisurely ride through the park, or go exploring down a road they’ve never traveled. Instead, driverless cars are designed to take you to a specific destination using the most efficient route possible. Sit back and enjoy the ride, even if it’s the same ride you take very day. Say goodbye to any sense of adventure.

Social Issues

The Atlantic raises some rather important social issues as well. One dominant scenario has no one actually owning their own car, but rather using state-funded Uber-like services instead. This move to forced public transit would almost certainly disadvantage the poor and those whom society marginalizes. Roads have already been using to divide cities both economically and racially. When one’s only option for transportation is a city-sponsored automated car that won’t come closer than five blocks to your house, you have a problem.

The “right to ride” has to be insured as such programs develop. If individuals of the future are not allowed to drive their own cars or even own their own cars, the right to access transportation is one that has to be addressed to avoid it being used to further marginalize people.

There’s also the likelihood that, since automated cars will follow a software-type non-negotiable license, that car manufacturers will require permission to sell your travel data, just like Facebook and Google sell your online data now. This may not seem like a big deal until governments start using the data to limit where one can travel, or what time of day one can catch a ride.

We Have Options

None of this means that a ride-only future is necessarily bleak. Pedestrian-only pathways could provide both a convenient and safer option for those who walk or ride a bike. Such trails are already popular, we just need more of them connecting every party of a city.

No-car-zones are already being considered in some places, such as Oslo. While the details of such an option would be unique to every location, it would provide some safety for those of us who prefer to walk across short distances.

Going for a ride is an experience that is going to change dramatically. Exactly how fast that change happens is anyone’s guess, but few are expecting the normal 20-year adaptation cycle to apply. This is a reality that is coming at us fast. We have to learn how to ride or else we may die walking.

Art / Current Issues / Fashion / Mythology / PotD

Protest Naked: 10 Illustrated Reasons

June 23, 2016

What is art, after all, but a protest against the horrible inclemency of life? —Aldous Huxley

charles i. letbetter - protest naked: 10 illustrated reasons you should

There is much wrong in the world, but only a few things arousing the passion necessary to protest.

Yesterday was amazing. Following the lead of legendary civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Democratic members of the House of Representatives decided to protest that chamber’s lack of a bill on gun control by holding a sit-in. Mr. Lewis understands the power of a sit-in protest. During his work with Dr. Martin Luthing King, Jr., Mr. Lewis was involved in many such protests, including a rather famous one at a Woolworth’s lunch counter. As a result, the House of Representatives came to a grinding halt and House Speaker Paul Ryan managed to look like a fool in opposing them.

Staging a protest can be a powerful weapon when it is done at the right time, by the right people, in the right way. The sit-in worked because the time was right. After the events in Orlando, a majority of Americans, some polls say as much as 90 percent, favor some form of gun control. The fact that GOP leadership refuses to even consider such a bill gives Democrats incredibly clout with public opinion swaying in their favor.

There are other things, though, that are worth protesting. We think the strongest form of protest is not only holding a sit-in, but doing so naked. Showing up for something without clothes demonstrates a deeper level of purpose, passion, and commitment to the cause, whatever it may be. Nudity in protest represents honesty, transparency, and truthfulness. When faced with a sea of naked bodies, a lot can get done. So, here’s our list.

Gun Control

The protest has already started. Now, we should take it to the next level and get everyone naked. Okay, maybe not everyone. Older members are good leaving on their skivvies. Still, with all the passion and attention that yesterday’s protest raised, now would be a good time to go all in and make Republicans think twice before trying another procedural stunt like last night’s vote. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t have extended background checks and registration, and require insurance. We do the same for cars and that doesn’t impede on anyone’s right to drive a car. Guns are more dangerous. We shouldn’t hand one out to every idiot in the village.

The UK Brexit Nonsense

The issue being voted upon in the UK today is whether or not the country should leave the European Union alliance, aka, the Brexit. Smarmy conservative Brits, rather on par with the intellectual absence of our own Tea Party, have convinced a large number of Britons that they need to separate themselves and go back to being independent. While, on the surface, that might sound attractive, what every major economist, every major bank, and every political ally have tried to warn these fools is that removing one link causes the whole fucking chain to fail. Every major industry that does any business outside Britain is going to be hurt. This isn’t the 16th century, folks. Britain is part of a global economy. You don’t just get to walk out. So yeah, this is worth staging a nude protest.

Wall Street and Big Banking

Eight years ago, the cheating and stealing ways of Wall Street and big investment banks caused our economy to collapse. Millions of people lost their retirement funds, their college education funds, and other investments. At the end of the day, though, no one was really punished sufficiently to result in any change. Now, all signs point to yet another collapse within the next three years, one potentially made worse depending upon who becomes president. Remember the Occupy Wall Street movement? We think it’s time to bring that back. Naked.

Fur

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is already using nude protest methods in their “I’d Rather Go Naked” campaign. Cara Delevigne, Alicia Silverstone, Pink, four Miss USA winners, and a host of others have already stripped for the sometimes racy and often banned ad campaign. Yet, the use of fur in fashion hasn’t let up a bit. While some European designers are beginning to substitute synthetic furs, which are longer lasting and often softer, Italian design houses especially, many of which began as furriers, have been resistant to change. One of the worst offenders, though, is American designer Dennis Basso. Each season he sends dozens of furs down his runway, even for summer. This is nonsense. Raising and harvesting furs for fashion is cruel. Perhaps we should all just go naked.

Religion In Politics

On Tuesday, the presumption Republican nominee for president announced an “executive council of evangelical advisors.” If anything should have your ready to protest in the buff, this should. No one does more to harm civil rights, women’s reproductive rights, and LGBT rights than do evangelicals. That a presidential candidate would embrace such hate and allow them to give him advice on policy should frighten every American. Why these people think they have any right to stick their nose into anyone else’s business defies reason. Our Constitution dictates separation of Church and State for a damn good reason. Don’t talk to me about imaginary second amendment rights when first amendment rights are taking a greater beating.

Freedom of the Press

Yes, journalism and the distribution of information, in general, has some issues. However, for all their faults, we still need these news producers to keep us informed at an introductory level. We may have to dig to find the truth of a story, but we wouldn’t know about the story at all without them. We’ve already talked about this to some degree, and watching how a billionaire is gleefully sending Gawker into bankruptcy extends our concern even more. The presumption GOP nominee for president has also banned several media sources from his events because he doesn’t like their criticism. Freedom of the Press is a critical element to our democracy. Getting naked to protest infringement upon that freedom should be a no-brainer.

Global Warming & Science Denial

Maybe we can stage this protest outside; just be sure to bring plenty of sunscreen. The ongoing denial of science in general, and specifically the matter of global warming, is both worrisome and dangerous. Global warming itself is not something that changes based upon how many people believe. The effects of the problem, the consequences of our inaction, are going to happen whether we pay them any attention or not. Do we wait until we’re neck-deep in water or our children are sunburned while waiting on the school bus before we begin a large-scale protest? This is another topic that seems natural for nudity as well. If we don’t do something, we’ll all need thermal shields.

Rape Culture

One of the most disturbing things I’ve read today is the account of a German model who was raped and then, adding insult to injury, fined because the judge doesn’t think she was actually raped. This is, of course, complete and utter bullshit and warrants a protest of thousands of naked women marching through the streets. Why naked? Because there is no better way to emphasize that a women, alone, is in control of her body. Her being naked does not justify rape. Her wearing short skirts or high-heeled shoes is not inviting rape. Being drunk or high is not a license for rape. It’s time to put this rape culture to an end.

Costs of College Education

I was special and took five years to finish college. Paying for it was a challenge and when I finished the amount of debt felt like a horrible burden around my neck. However, my debt over 30 years ago was less than $20,000. Today, students pay that much or more per year. Have classes improved that much? No. Have non-athletic facilities improved that much? No. Has the value of a college degree improved that much? Hell no. Yet, if anyone wants a job, even an easy one requiring no skill, the preference is for college graduates. Naked bodies lying all across the quad at homecoming sounds like an honorable protest to me.

Restrictions On The Human Body

Why aren’t we seeing any nude protests? Largely because, in most places, they are illegal. Or, we think they are. The Supreme Court has already ruled that being naked is a viable form of protest and political expression. We are still stymied, though, by so-called decency laws that confusing to read and legally fraught with error. Police see a naked person, or a group of naked people, and assume they must be doing something wrong. We must fight for our right to use our bodies, unclothed and unencumbered, as a means of expression and protest. There’s no logical way this protest cannot be naked.

I’m sure there are more things that might benefit from naked protest. I’ll leave you to decide what those might be. What’s clear, though, is that when large enough groups of voters become passionate enough about an issue, legislators listen. I cannot think of a more important issue than our bodies. I cannot think of a stronger means of protest. If I start, will you follow?

Photography / PotD

We Don’t Shoot Like That Anymore

June 21, 2016

The fashion industry certainly has its obscene sides. The cost of a coat can be obscene. So can the cost of a photo shoot if you’re working with a really good photographer. —Carine Roitfeld

charles i. letbetter - we don't shoot like that anymore

Technology has changed the field of photography, but the very method in which we shoot and what we shoot has changed as well

I was a bit saddened to read that the world’s oldest photography studio closed last week. Photography was still a new medium when Charles Shepard and Samuel Bourne set up shop in 1863. Wet glass plates were all the rage, with their chemicals and fragile state that required multiple people to use safely. Taking pictures was a time-consuming and delicate process. We don’t shoot like that anymore.

We all know that technology has changed photography in the most dramatic of ways. We constantly lament how difficult it is to keep up with new versions of cameras coming out every few months and software updates being constant. Just this morning, Adobe’s Creative Cloud popped up to let me know I have three updates waiting. There’s always something. When TechRadar published their list of best cameras for 2016 back in January, we saw a preference for mirrorless cameras while the larger and some might say clunkier DSLRs were at the bottom of the list. With each change comes an adjustment in how we shoot.

How we shoot and tools with which we shoot are not the only things to have changed, though. What we shoot has changed as well, and that is something that camera manufacturers aren’t necessarily considering as they develop new models.

Blame cell phones

A significant portion of the shift in what we shoot is due to ubiquitous cell phone cameras. A rather presumptuous article on TNW claims that Apple doesn’t understand photography. The author criticizes the way iPhone forces images into certain folders and forces slideshow creation fails to allow for the temporary way in which people use their cell phone camera. Since I don’t, and won’t, own an iPhone I can’t speak to the particular peculiarities of its operation. However, he does a good job of demonstrating how the average person has a dramatically different view of photography that we did five years ago.

For example, if someone hands you a business card, you can take a picture and there are apps to help manage those business card images. Same goes for receipts, contracts, and other paper-based items one might encounter on a regular basis. Those photos don’t require a high degree of sharpness or fifty-gazillion focus points. The number of megapixels required for those uses is irrelevant.

Instead, what is important is that the images be easily transferred to other devices and/or the Internet. The images don’t need to go into a slide show. They don’t need to be shared with friends. They don’t even need to stay long.

Pros have changed as well

Cell phone users aren’t the only ones who have changed what and how they shoot. Professional photography methodology and purpose has changed along with the technology. We have not only found different ways of shooting, but we’ve developed a new perspective in what is worth snapping the shutter. The very basics that were once considered fundamental often don’t apply, or at the very least seem pretentious or inefficient.

One example would be the use of tripods. Anyone who actually went to school for photography (not me) was likely told that, outside live-action journalism, everything should be shot on a tripod, even at fast speeds. The reasoning is that using a tripod allows one to get the frame and all related settings correct before snapping the photo. Prior to switching to digital, I used a tripod for at least 90% of my shots. So did everyone else. Photography today, however, is more spontaneous and on-the-fly. We plan less and go more on instinct and gut reaction in an attempt to better capture the emotion of the image.

We’ve also changed the lenses we use most often, with long glass being preferred by many, and if we carry multiple cameras they’re likely to be very different, even different brands, rather than duplicates with different glass. Even though DSLRs are remarkably lighter than film cameras, we still find them clunky. Many now carry a point-and-shoot in their pocket for the quick shots their DSLR might miss.

What we need in a camera

The disconnect comes in that cameras have not adjusted the tool set to match the changes in how and what we shoot. Here are a few things I’d like to see on my next camera:

Easier swapping back and forth between RAW and JPEG. A button on the back of the box with an indicator in the viewfinder as a reminder of which mode I’m in. I shouldn’t need to change cameras or sort through menus, just push a button and shoot.
Better image stabilization. Body, not lens, is where stabilization needs to happen. Sony has been doing this for a while but others are slow to catch up. The more action and movement-oriented photographs one takes the more important this aspect becomes.
Support for multiple lighting options. Having to put a remote control flash sync on top of my camera is cumbersome at best and frustrating at its worst. I see little reason why radio control for flash sync cannot be standardized and built into the camera. Maybe put that in place of the on-camera flash.
Better environmental proofing. Light-weight plastic bodies are practically worthless. Too often, one has dust specs on the sensor after the first use. Cameras need to be able to shoot in the rain, in extreme temperatures, and even in the middle of a sandstorm without being rendered useless. We’re too advanced for this to not be happening.
Stronger image and camera security options. More needs to be done to make sure that Exif info stays with an image, even if it is acquired through questionable means. The same applies to our physical cameras as well. Stolen gear is a blow to a photographer. Tracking it should be easy.

Adjusting to the change

Many of the differences in how and what we shoot have occurred without us really giving much thought to why we have changed. Adjustments to our methodology are a reflection of how we view photography more as a communications medium. We don’t just take portraits, or landscapes, or pictures of our vacation. We use our cameras to capture information, to illustrate a point, or to express an emotion. We often work in real time and polished processing isn’t always a concern.

Perhaps, as photographers, we need to reconsider exactly what we’re doing with our cameras. Are we missing opportunities and markets? Are we recognizing that what our clients expect now is not the same as it was five years ago? Is our work and our business evolving to match the needs of the world around us?

Changes to photography are not limited to cameras. All those things that once held true have changed. We don’t shoot like that anymore.

PotD / science / Social Commentary

Smart or Stupid, Is That A Question?

June 19, 2016

charles i. letbetter - smart or stupid, is this a choice?

I’m not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues. —Franklin D. Roosevelt

charles i. letbetter - smart or stupid, is that a question

Is there a problem with being smart or are we trying to justify stupid?

Americans, apparently more than any other country, have an obsession with being smart. We heap praises on those who demonstrate intelligence beyond the norm and we get upset when we realize that our educational system is producing graduates who can only read at a fifth-grade level. Even our television viewing skews toward characters we perceive as smart. Programs such as Scorpion and Elementary (based on the character of Sherlock Holmes), consistently generate high ratings. We even like our comedy smart. The highest rated sitcom, for multiple seasons, is The Big Bang Theory, where we watch allegedly intelligent scientist bumble their way through life. One of the reasons we like that show is because it delivers lines like these:

Leonard: Sheldon! We have to do this!

Sheldon: No, we don’t. We have to take in nourishment, expel waste, and inhale enough oxygen to keep ourselves from dying. Everything else is optional!

The bluntness of the exchange makes us laugh, but at the same time, we recognize the intelligence of Sheldon’s response and consider ourselves smart when we use that line on someone else the next day. We like being smart. Although, perhaps more correctly, we like thinking that we’re smart. Many of us are lacking in cognitive skills. The intelligence of television characters doesn’t rub off and make us smarter. Some people are stupid.

We Have A Problem

Once upon a time, the rate of acceleration in IQ among high school graduates was pretty impressive. Psychologist James Flynn found that from 1932 to 1978, IQ scores in the US increased by 13.8 percent. Putting that in other terms, a score that was average in 1932 would be in the bottom 20% in 1978. Yay us! I’m in that 1978 group. We’re smart!

Unfortunately, that trend failed to continue. Just because we give allegiance to intelligence doesn’t mean we’re all doing well in the brain category. Measurements are tough to come by and even more difficult to verify, but that are glimpses of where we stand. Consider that the College Board, the entity that administers the SAT, considers a score of 500 as a benchmark for who will do well in college. Not everyone takes the SAT, but if we look at states where the test is free and participation over 90 percent, we find that only 33 to 40 percent scored above that benchmark.

An article published this month in The Atlantic, while trying very hard to convince us that there is an unfair war on stupidity, admits that:

… less intelligent people are more likely to suffer from some types of mental illness, become obese, develop heart disease, experience permanent brain damage from a traumatic injury, and end up in prison, where they are more likely than other inmates to be drawn to violence. They’re also likely to die sooner.

Being Smart Isn’t Easy

I was amused by Jeffrey Zacks’ essay published on aeon disproving brain-training games and exploring how difficult it is to expand our level of intelligence. His list of things that are marketed as improving our intelligence, such as programs offered by Lumosity, which rocketed to a high of 50 million users, and PositScience, which isn’t quite as popular but uses a similar methodology, is long. He makes a very good case against brain-training, especially.

One of the general issues with many of the concepts that are supposed to help us improve our brains is that they only focus on one particular segment, usually related to memory. For example, does anyone else remember those little plastic games with the tiles that moved around to create a picture, or put numbers in order? Those little devils actually help advance our cognitive ability, but only in the area of recognizing patterns. Likewise, those tricks for helping remember people’s names do improve some memory skills, but only in terms of memorizing lists. The effects are not transferable.

While we think of Adderall and Ritalin as being primarily used with children who have attention deficit issues, there is evidence of them improving the cognitive ability in normal adults as well. This area of study might actually be promising accept for the fact that the effects are short term. They give a momentary boost of cognitive enhancement, but then it stops as the drug wears off and over time the “crash” goes below the starting baseline. Users are trading a moment of lessened ability for a moment of enhanced performance. Oh, and the drug that works best? Nicotine. Go figure.

Solutions Are Available

Strip away the biases of both articles, and what we find are solutions that can make us all smarter and reduce the rate of stupidity (yes, I’m using the word) that seems to be prevalent over a frightening number of people. We simply cannot excuse the growing trend among those whose cognitive abilities are diminished to demonize those who are smart. Atul Gawande, in his commencement address to the California Institute of Technology, made an interesting conclusion after talking about the growing distrust of science:

Even more than what you think, how you think matters. The stakes for understanding this could not be higher than they are today, because we are not just battling for what it means to be scientists. We are battling for what it means to be citizens.

Indeed, we need to be smart and that means we need to do the things that not only make us smarter, but put us back on track toward making our children and grandchildren smarter as well. Top priorities must be decreasing poverty and improving the quality and availability of early childhood education. One of our most stupid moves comes when we oppose funding that can solve both those problems. At the same time, nutrition and exercise, especially cardiovascular activities such as swimming, biking, and walking, are among the best ways to not only increase cognitive ability but prevent its decline as we get older. We have options.

Is This Really A Choice?

One thing for certain is that I’m not going to stop calling out those actions that are stupid. Perhaps we do need to be more careful in clarifying that, generally speaking, it is one’s actions and not the specific individual who is stupid. At the same time, though, we must realize that we are not nearly as smart as we like to think. We could be much smarter, even if we’re older and out of school. Our future depends on increasing our country’s overall intelligence so that we don’t do something incredibly stupid like nominating a bigoted, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, reality television host for president.

Oops, it may already be too late.

Current Issues / PotD

Orlando Is Our Own Fault

June 18, 2016

If it’s never our fault, we can’t take responsibility for it. If we can’t take responsibility for it, we’ll always be its victim. —Richard Bach

charles i. letbetter - orlando is our own fult

We cannot blame others for the problems we ourselves have chosen to ignore. If there is a fault in the world, it is our own.

The revolution may be televised, but the next mass shooting will likely be live streamed. Much has been made the past couple of days about the death of a Chicago man who was gunned down while he was live streaming on Facebook. Everyone rush to look. Last I checked, the captured video was still available on Slate.

Now, how did you react to that paragraph? Were you sad? Were you angry? Were you disgusted? Or did you dismiss the whole thing because it happened in Chicago, the murder capitol of the U.S.? Did you roll your eyes and make the assumption regarding the victim’s race? Did you make a moral judgement?

How you responded determines how much at fault you are for the very condition that allowed the event to take place. None of us are innocent. We are all part of this country together and it is what we do together, corporately, how we act, how we react, that determines whether we, as a society, are progressive or destructive and if we’re totally honest with ourselves for a moment, we’re being incredibly destructive.

Dodging Blame

When a shooting happens such as the one in Orlando a week ago, everyone is quick to point fingers. It was the shooter’s fault. It was the shooter’s parents’ fault. It was the shooter’s wife’s fault. It was the president’s fault. It was the fault of Congress. It was the NRA’s fault.

While I am not the least bit dismissive of the responsibility of the shooter and his family, after all, he made the decision to do what he did, no one else, I am not ignorant of the fact that we, you and I, helped shape the conditions that seeded the thought in his head, fostered the hatred that grew in his heart, and made sure his purchase of a semi-automatic assault rifle as the appropriate ammunition was as easy as possible. You and I did that. We aided a murderer.

Orlando is our fault.

We Are The Media

Why do we have so many mass murders in our country, far more than any other developed country in the Western world? The answer is that we make it a popular thing to do. While this is easy enough to blame on the media, the reality is that you and I are the media. More people get their news and opinions from social media than anywhere else, and it’s not traditional news sources they’re reading. Instead, we are more likely to read a story that a friend has shared. That makes you and I part of the media. We are participating in the dissemination of news.

So, every time we share a picture of the Orlando shooter and/or his family, you are telling the next mass shooter that this is an easy way to become famous.

Every time we mention the shooter’s name, you tell the next mass shooter that this is a good way to get people’s attention.

Every time we marginalize a person online because of their race, the tone of their skin, their heritage, their gender, their sexual preferences, their height, their weight, or their religion, you’re telling the next mass shooter that it’s okay to hate those people.

Every time we pass over a hateful comment without correcting the person, we might as well be placing a gun in the shooter’s hands because we’re telling them it is just fine with us if they spread their hate everywhere. If we ignore hateful words, we’ll ignore hateful bullets as well.

We Are The Government

All this bullshit about blaming the president or blaming Congress needs to stop. Not because they failed to pass any form of legislation that would make it more difficult for people to buy the weapons used in mass shootings, but because we are responsible for who is sitting in Congress and the White House. Remember when the Democrats filibustered the Senate for gun control legislation this week? While they were yammering on and on, 48 more people were shot! Here’s how that mapped out:

Image from Vox

We have spent the past 12 years complaining about a do-nothing Congress. What an incredibly stupid thing for us to do. Why? Because the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate, enough to shift the balance of power, is up for re-election every two years. So, if Congress continues to not do anything about violence, if our elected officials from the White House on down continue to do nothing about gun control, if Congress continues to do nothing but stand there and waste tax payers’ dollars, IT’S OUR OWN FAULT! We had the opportunity to remove every damn one of those lazy jackasses from office more than once and we have failed to do so. Remember Mr. Lincoln’s line about this being a government for the people and BY THE PEOPLE? That puts the responsibility squarely on our own backs.

Congress has two years to act. If they don’t, it is our responsibility to remove them. Yet, when we keep voting for the same idiots because of a party affiliation or because of tradition, we are only making the problem worse. We are responsible for who sits in Congress and we are responsible for removing them when they sit there doing dumb shit rather than protecting our country.

We Can Fix This

We created this mess, this society that fosters mass shootings. We can clean it up. We have to clean it up. Change doesn’t come from a President. Change comes from people like you and me who start making a stand, who stop being quiet when someone says something stupid on social media (friend count be damned), who changes their own behavior to reflect their values rather than ignoring everything that passes by. There are some very specific steps we can take.

Pay attention to incidents of hate and violence at an early age. The Orlando shooter’s classmates are talking about how violent he was while in school. The problem is not that the incidents went unnoticed, but rather that no one did anything to intervene and actually address the issues of anger. We cannot ignore the impact of negative social behavior at an early age.
Shut down anyone who talks pro-terror and pro-hate online. We have previously been far too tolerant of hate speech online. We have always been of the opinion that everyone has a right to their own opinion. We’re too willing to agree to disagree. Yet, those negative statements are how Daesh recruits and inspires people to kill others. Shutting down those hateful comments and statements may well help reduce the amount of terroristic influence Daesh and other groups have.
Vote. Not just at the federal level, but at the local and state levels as well. There is more hate being spewed by state legislatures than our federal government could ever conceive. Find those who are purveyors and creators of hate and remove every last one of the jackasses from office. This is an election year. There’s no reason to not make it an electoral blood bath.
Don’t be quiet. I know a lot of people don’t like to get political in their speech and especially in what they say online. Being adamant about a political opinion can make some relationships awkward and difficult. Fuck awkward and difficult. Fuck friend and follower counts. Silence infers that you agree with the stupidity. Take on the bullshit that is the presumptive nominee for the Republican candidate for president. Speak up!
Walk the talk. Check yourself. Not just online, but in life. Who are we marginalizing? Who are we demonizing unfairly? How are we treating the people who are around us every day? We have to improve. What we do, what we say, how we respond to every challenge we face makes a difference.

Call To Action

We created this monster. We are part of this society that fosters and breeds mass hatred that results in mass shootings. There is no one to blame but ourselves and we have to stand up and take responsibility for dismantling the monster we’ve created. We cannot be a people of peace if we tolerate and perpetuate hate through our action.

Right now, somewhere in the United States, someone is thinking about creating an event that would make Orlando look like a cake walk. If we, you and I, do nothing but blame the media and Congress and guns and the NRA, that person may well succeed. Stop blaming and take some responsibility.

Orlando was our own fault. Don’t let it happen again.

awareness

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers. —Nikita Khrushchev

Thinking About Bridges

What’s On The Other Side

Lessons From Disney

Back In The Real World

Don’t Burn It Yet

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I worked with these liberal elites for 28 years at CBS News, and they were always throwing around the term ‘white trash,’ by which they meant poor southerners who didn’t go to Harvard. I’m not sure why that makes them trash. —Bernard Goldberg

Growing Up Human

No Place Called Home

Class Shaming By Any Other Name

Pick-A-Part

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Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. —Carl Jung

Turning Off Your Brain

The Upside Of Dreaming

The Down Side

A Happy Medium

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It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. —Jerry Seinfeld

Tweeting The News

Politics

Information

Society

Putting Things In Perspective

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I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do. —Amy Winehouse

Needing Inspiration

Depressive Determination

No Romance

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We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. —Galileo Galilei

Flawed Philosophies

Applying Compassion

The Pain of Saying No

A Different Direction

No End In Sight

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Arguing with your conscience is like having a debate where no one wins.

Points Of Contention

Finding Resolution

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We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. —Peter Drucker

Learning Versus Obsolescence

Beyond The School

Breaking Barriers To Learning

Conquering The Fear Of Learning

Redefining Success

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Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness. And they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy… or they become legend. —Jim Harrison

Meet Spencer Tunick

Many Voices

Stating A Message

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Photographers must learn not to be ashamed to have their photographs look like photographs. —Alfred Stieglitz

Carrying Around A Camera

To Modify Or Not To Modify

Evolving As A Medium

Take My Picture, Please

Tomorrow, We Will Still Be Photographers

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Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard. —Paul McCartney

Tighter Integration

Help Customers Compare Prices

Make The Store A Destination

Increase Visibility Of High Need Items

Shop Around

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