I owe a friend of mine a huge debt – she helped me to understand spiritual growth in ways I’d never previously imagined. She recently posted a beautiful facebook note explaining the reasons she loves to dance. Interestingly enough, her motivations were almost the exact same as those that drive me to rock climb.
In the most recent issue of Urban Climber, several of the most talented climbers explained why they climb. If you’ve ever looked at people dangling on ropes, entrusting their life to a 1 inch piece of nylon, and wondered why we do it, read on:
“I am in constant pursuit of perfect movement, the union of body and mind. I sacrifice my energy and spirit towards achieving this ultimate goal.” – Emily Harrington
“My experience – the act, the movement, the ritual, the normality – is my form of prayer, and my deity is everything. Stone – imperanent and energized, yet not living – it is the point of nature I communicate with.” – Dave Graham
“… it becomes a place of worship, escape, a solitude unmatched by anything else, an incessant need.” – Joe Iurato and Tim Kemple
“Climbing, by the accident of its intensity and place, transports you to a realm of a truly human experience free of the blindness and weight of the observer… As emotions reveal themselves, but don’t explain themselves, a spiritual existence is present. You are simply another piece of this natural world and not an observer of your place in it.” – Kevin Jorgeson
Reading an article about who had the President’s Blackberry email address, I began thinking about the evolution of access to the President. Access runs in both directions — both in access to POTUS, and his own access to others.
George Bush (the elder) and Bill Clinton (the one and only) both had fax machines installed for themselves. The amount of mail they received is unimaginable, so they had a private line installed for themselves and gave the phone number out to only a select few. By allowing their closest allies the ability to fax them, they were able to puncture the cone of silence that senior management will typically try to enforce around their boss. While a chief of staff can determine which memos reach POTUS, it’s harder to limit the faxes that come through.
I’m glad that BO fought to keep his blackberry. Presidential access to email is a major step forward in electronic communications limited to just faxes. Faxes are a one way form of communication (when is the last time you replied to a fax with another fax?), while email encourages two way communication (or wider distribution through list serves).
With this fight Barack has signaled his determination to ensure that his information sources are not limited. I predict we can expect more actions that will allow him to remain better connected to the public.
One possibility would be to allow the public to vote on the news stories and blogs which they believe President Obama should read that day. If the President promised to read the most highly rated stories, it would offer citizens a viable way to organize together to bring issues to the President’s attention. There are many paradigms for these kinds of systems, such as those used by Digg, Memeorandum, and Buzz Monitor. With forethought, this could become a useful tool for both the President and for advocacy groups. This sort of program, as well as the kinds developed by MySociety, promise a entirely new way of conceiving of representative government.
The President has appointed a highly talented Googler (Katie Jacobs Stanton) as his Director of Citizen Participation, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing some very interesting experiments in public engagement coming down the pipeline over the next 4 years.
Hey everyone.
Stay tuned for more soon.
- Rob
