Written over lunch in the East Village during a walk through lower Manhattan.

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Sometimes working at a school that boasts innovation as its middle name leaves me feeling stale and inadequate for my role. “I haven’t done anything new and exciting lately! I’m not ahead of the curve!” This conference looked to be the remedy and something that would benefit all facets of my job, from looking at teaching and learning differently to spreading our name like wildfire.

The conference failed to disappoint. They provided a printed, wire-bound agenda for note-taking, but I was simultaneously shooting great quotes from the speakers up onto Twitter. The hashtag #IUNY13 was lively and often revealed comments I missed or didn’t quite wrap my mind around the first time. In this instance, I think my experience was heightened by this digital engagement. I submitted my tweet text to Wordle and got this interesting word cloud to visualize what I reflected upon. Click on the image to see it bigger (requires Java).

After live-tweeting and retweeting my conference highlights, I wanted to compile these into an easily-followed story for an onlooker. Storify came to the rescue. Have you utilized this social media storytelling-facilitating tool? It’s also a plugin on WordPress. Ingest my social story below (I prefer the dynamic slideshow format), and let me know what you think about this method of sharing an experience!

Live tweets and retweets from the Fast Company Innovation Uncensored conference in New York City

The ideas in this post are mine and do not represent those of THINK Global School.

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Not only am I disappointed in my frequency of reading sessions but in the heel-dragging I’ve done about pursuing books that continue to reveal themselves as valuable and relevant. In 2008, I learned about Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind from the father at my nannying job. Not one to chase fruitless endeavors, I knew he was recommending a quality read, especially since the recommendation came after the gushing of my worldview.

Well, four and a half years and innumerable reminders later, I have finally checked this book off my “To Read” list. The following are the sections I highlighted and mused about in the margins, many of which I found to be unique sentences, others quite relevant to the constant questions I ponder at work.

In order to better grasp the context of these quotes, keep in mind that Pink considers there to be six fundamental human abilities that will make the right brainers rule the world: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.

Excerpts worth quoting or noting

“All that stuff that the right hemisphere does–interpreting emotional content, intuiting answers, perceiving things holistically–is lovely. But it’s a side dish to the main course of true intelligence.” p16

“Written language, invented by the Greeks around 550 B.C.E., has helped reinforce left hemisphere dominance (at least in the West) and created what Harvard classicist Eric Havelock called ‘the alphabetic mind.’” p17

“…most developed nations have devoted considerable time and treasure to producing left-brained knowledge workers. This arrangement has been a rousing success. It has broken the stranglehold of aristocratic privilege and opened educational and professional opportunities to a diverse set of people.” p29

“Only against a backdrop of abundance could so many people seek beautiful trash cans and toilet brushes–converting mundane, utilitarian products into objects of desire.” p33

“The paradox of prosperity is that while living standards have risen steadily decade after decade, personal, family, and life satisfaction haven’t budged.” p35

“But abundance has freed literally hundreds of millions of people from the struggle for survival and, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert William Fogel writes, ‘made it possible to extend the quest for self-realization from a minute fraction of the population to almost the whole of it.’” p35

“To survive in this age, individuals and organizations must examine what they’re doing to earn a living and ask themselves three questions:
1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?” p51

“…pushing students to reflect on the meaning and mission of their lives, encouraging what [the Education Ministry of Japan] calls ‘education of the heart’.” p53

Design

“‘[D]esign, stripped to its essence, can be defined as the human nature to shape and make our environment in ways without precedent in nature, to serve our needs and give meaning to our lives.’” p69

“They’re learning to bring disparate things together to a solution. That’s what designers do.” p71

“‘Good design is a renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know it was missing.’ -Paola Antonelli, curator of architecture and design, MOMA” p72

“Had Palm Beach County had a few artists in the room when it was designing its ballot, the course of U.S. History would likely have been different.” p84

“‘To be a designer is to be an agent of change.’” p86

“Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.” p91

Story

“The essence of persuasion, communication, and self-understanding has become the ability also to fashion a compelling narrative.” p65

“Stories are easier to remember–because in many ways, stories are how we remember.” p101

“When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact.” p102

“‘If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.’ -Barry Lopez” p116

“We can see this yearning for self-knowledge through stories in many places–in the astonishingly popular “scrapbooking” movement, where people assemble the artifacts of their lives into a narrative that tells the world, and maybe themselves, who they are and what they’re about, and in the surging popularity of genealogy as millions search the Web to piece together their family histories.” p116

Symphony

“While detailed knowledge of a single area once guaranteed success, today the top rewards go to those who can operate with equal aplomb in starkly different realms. I call these people ‘boundary crossers.’” p134

“Today, thanks to astonishing improvements in telecommunications, wider access to travel, and increasing life spans, we come into contact with a larger and more diverse set of people than any humans in history. Metaphorical imagination is essential in forging empathic connections and communicating experiences that others do not share.” p140

“‘A large part of self-understanding,’ says Lakoff, “is the search for appropriate personal metaphors that make sense of our lives.’” p140

“…this ability to perceive one’s own life in a way that encompasses the full spectrum of human possibility is essential to the search for meaning.” p143

“Asking ‘Why?’ can lead to understanding. Asking ‘Why not?’ can lead to breakthroughs.” p154

“If you want a creative life, do what you can’t and experience the beauty of the mistakes you make.” p157

Empathy

“‘Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives.’ -Oprah Winfrey” p161

Play

“‘Games are the most elevated form of investigation.’ -Albert Einstein” p191

“For a generation of people, games have become a tool for solving problems as well as a vehicle for self-expression and self-exploration.” p192

“‘A natural facility with humor,’ Sala says, ‘is intertwined with, and appears to be a marker for, a much broader managerial trait: high emotional intelligence.’” p198

“Perhaps most important, laughter is a social activity–and the evidence is vast that people who have regular, satisfying connections to other people are healthier and happier.” p203

Meaning

“At a higher level is what Seligman calls the ‘Good Life’–in which you use your ‘signature strengths’ (what you’re great at) to achieve gratification in the main areas of your life.” p226

If you’re interested in more book suggestions, visit Good Reads and browse a wide variety of travel narratives and other genres. Contact me if you have a book suggestion.

There are affiliate links in this post. I was gifted this book.

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During this Boston-based break week, I’ve been getting back in touch with this ole blog-o-mine, photography, and activities I rarely enjoy at work, like reading or going to events around the city. Though my attempt to see an advanced screening at a cool, old movie theater didn’t pan out, I was successful in attending a speaker event at MIT’s Media Lab.

You’d think I’d have done ample research already on a program/building attached to a snazzy institution that bears a similar name to my own course. Nay, I have had no time to do such frivolous, awesome things. I’ve made it into the MIT buildings, to film Noam and all, but the Media Lab was impressive…almost an operational exhibition of innovation in the making. My jealousy was raging.

I wasn’t just wandering aimlessly this afternoon in the Media Lab; I was there to see a speaker and witness an anal-retentive production team in action. Whoa, that was a meticulous sound check. They produced a webcast that ran live online, but I felt like testing out my own webcasting abilities with Ustream.tv. Check out the conversation below on regulation and access to the Internet by Susan Crawford, author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age.

Nomadderwhere’s video streaming by Ustream

New tools. New capabilities. New information. Just trying to keep up with my mini-manifesto!

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I began with the image I loved the most, because it’s the latest creation. The rest fell into place based on the whim of my finger at that moment. Whatever reasoning determined was reconsidered with the next pass of the eyes.

This exhibition being my first–and at a significant location for me–I have a strong desire to make all decisions with intention.

The initial definition

And so, I went to my original post on the definition of nomadderwhere. It goes a little something like this:

A nomad never stops. A nomad moves and continues to flex their idea of home and comfort. A nomad doesn’t settle on one way of thinking or one surrounding. It’s a lifestyle of adaptation and life-long learning.

Nomadderwhere is a philosophy: it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters that you’re always learning and flexing with your surroundings, whether you’re traveling or stationary. To capture this idea is to capture the art of travel; to know the importance of movement and to become self-aware…because you are the only constant in your world.

It’s about connecting with a place and its people. This facilitates learning, when exposure leads to questions and answers and understanding. I learn when I stick around and talk with the people of the area. I used to thrive on the quick picture and hitting the next path, but having a big photo library does not sustain me. Knowing myself and partaking in the active pursuit of knowledge; this is what sustains me.

I must note this posting date in 2009 was not the earliest use of the term. I made it up in 2008 prior to graduating from university. It was meant to replace my school e-mail address and be something I could distribute without others knowing my name (not sure what specific examples I had in mind, but I still think it’s not a bad idea). I remember the little yellow Post-it that held all my failed attempts and the eventual success. I think “navigatorade” was on there.

The above description clearly came after some extensive traveling and deep contemplation of travel’s integration and meaning in my lifes. I came away with a strong belief in learning and education that even preceded my work for educational organizations…or my eventual transformation into a teacher!

Weighing the definition against the years

Back to this exhibition…in May of this year, I will be showing my favorite images on a LCD monitor with a supplementary physical/digital guide that connects viewers to the stories behind the images. The audience is my hometown population, to which world exposure and travel opportunity have been afforded to some but not all. The exhibition is called “Far Far Away” and will show international work from Wabash County (possibly former) residents.

Since I’m not in the right time or place to print and frame my images, my work will be digital, and the guide will bridge viewers from their instantaneous read of an image to the digital reflection of the story behind it on Nomadderwhere. My hope is to deliver interesting moments for a viewer to engage with and offer the opportunity to immerse themselves in a visceral experience. Ideally, they might even contribute to a dialogue in the blog comments. No, wait. More idyllic than that, they would find a call within them to pursue opportunities that would lend to life-changing experiences. I know they’re out there at any price range, any opportunity cost. Dare I dream.

So how does one sequence these 60 or so images in a way that further compounds the underlying message? And thus, I went back to my “philosophy.” Reading it aloud and recording for playback, I ordered my images to match the keywords and themes that resonated. I took a script unknowingly written 3.5 years ago and based my first real showcase around it. No edits.

But is it still relevant as is? Haven’t I evolved or changed my mind in that time? After experimenting in Fiji, working for Project Explorer, and teaching at a traveling school, wouldn’t I have adopted new strands and nuances to what governs my lifestyle?

Let me bring out the proverbial red marker, though I never use one at work:

A nomad never stops (ha, well I’ve definitely slowed down a tad with my four month max). A nomad moves and continues to flex their idea of home and comfort (completely true…my nesting habits are strong, odd, and different in each place). A nomad doesn’t settle on one way of thinking or one surrounding. It’s a lifestyle of adaptation and life-long learning (…that must always be acknowledged as an experiment, one that benefits from successes AND errors).

Nomadderwhere is a philosophy: it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters that you’re always learning and flexing with your surroundings, whether you’re traveling or stationary (it often makes me sound self-righteous, but I still echo this point to those who never change places). To capture this idea is to capture the art of travel; to know the importance of movement and to become self-aware…because you are the only constant in your world (this point is also a liberating one for those who recognize the exploration possibilities at home).

It’s about connecting with a place and its people (I never feel supremely successful at this connection, but if that sense follows in line with “The more you learn, the less you know” then I guess I can never tell). This facilitates learning, when exposure leads to questions and answers and understanding (this reminds me I’ve learned a helluva lot with the idea of school). I learn when I stick around and talk with the people of the area (and photograph seemingly banal but ultimately illuminating subjects). I used to thrive on the quick picture and hitting the next path, but having a big photo library does not sustain me. Knowing myself and partaking in the active pursuit of knowledge; this is what sustains me (I am learning alongside my students, and if I stop, I should slither into a hole and rot away).

I guess I had plenty to add. Yikes, that red marker concept is a little too powerful for the meager aim for moderation. I think it’s about 90% there, and the last 10% must reflect the myriad life experiences I’ve had since scribing those words, since I joined the work force doing something I loved, since I’ve accumulated 53 new country stamps on my passport.

The revised definition

I’m glad I took on this exercise. I’ve been set on my concept and blog appearance for a couple years now, and those digital facelifts were usually when I would reexamine and finesse what I proudly attach to my name. Having just renewed my web domain this week, this situation came to mind recently.

Here I sit, in my Boston penthouse I did not earn, rewording and restructuring the governing rules of my lifestyle blueprint. I feel fairly lucid and deliberate today, ready to laminate this revision in video form. I encourage you to watch, examine the words for yourself, and provide feedback on this redefined mini-manifesto.

A nomad never really stops. A nomad moves and continues to flex their ideas of home and comfort as these relate to their evolving understanding of life. A nomad doesn’t settle on one way of thinking or one setting forever. It’s a lifestyle of adaptation and life-long learning that must always be acknowledged as an experiment, one that benefits from the successes as well as the missteps.

Nomadderwhere is a philosophy: it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters that you’re always learning and flexing with your surroundings, whether you’re traveling or stationary. To capture this idea, to know the importance of any range of movement, and to become self-aware, because you are the only constant in your world; this is to capture the art of travel.

It’s about the constant pursuit of a deeper connection with a place and its people. This facilitates learning, when exposure leads to questions and answers (or further questioning) and possibly even understanding. A nomad learns by sticking around, talking with people, dropping their guard, and observing moments that ultimately inspire greater inquiry. This path lends to introspection and assurance that one’s path leads to fulfillment and, as a result, a better world.

What are your thoughts on this definition of nomadderwhere and the lifestyle/mindset it describes?

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2. I’ve enjoyed using social media to mock social media with my students.

3. I watched a blizzard klobber Boston (and then walked over 2 miles in that waist-height snow in opposition of cabin fever).

4. I live around some characters who like making lemonade in this snowy, bitter city.

5. We ran into an old colleague and roommate, Marta, while on a school trip to Washington, D.C. The opportunity was a reminder of how social media can work to illuminate two ships passing in the night and allow the chance for a poop deck party.

6. I found my great-uncle’s grave stone in Arlington Cemetery. Plot 1776.

7. I visited a bookstore near MIT and found a good read…then fantasized about having enough time to read it as well as every other book in my mental queue. Maybe I’ll soon finish Video Night in Kathmandu…

8. I got the chance to visit Howard Gardner’s office at Harvard and poke around at his letters from Piaget and multiple copies of his authored books (translated for half the world, seemingly). This outing reminded me of when my high school English teacher told me I seemed to have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. And now I was meeting that theory’s creator…

9. I discovered the Friendly Toast, an institution it seems many Bostonians think of fondly. Huevos rancheros for dinner with some star students before Oscar-nominated shorts was a swell night out.

10. A month and a half later, I’m still mesmerized by my view and the beautiful skyline I get to see every day.

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From May 1st to June 2nd, I will be exhibiting some of my travel photography in a location that is very special to me. Not only will this be my first photography exhibition at a gallery, but the gallery is the Clark Gallery, in honor of my late grandfather Clark, whom I never had the chance to meet.

The Clark Gallery lives inside my town’s focal point, the Honeywell Center. As I’ve mentioned in many anecdotes, without the Honeywell Center, I wouldn’t have known that other cultures and opportunities existed…and therefore wouldn’t be where I am today.

This exhibition entitled “Far, Far Away” is a chance for some people in Wabash, Indiana to see destinations and cultures they otherwise might never see. Additionally, all the images were taken by people who claim Wabash as their hometown, adding a layer of accessibility to the images. The other person sharing the space with me will be showing many images from Antarctica. Just amongst the two of us, our images will span all seven continents!

Embedded below is a Flickr set of the images I’ve selected thus far. My images will be displayed digitally on a TV screen in the gallery, which makes my selection and the cost of exhibition much easier as I work remotely. I’m also creating a printed catalog that will sit next to the TV with image thumbnails, a mini-map pointing to the location of the photo, and a QR code connecting to the back story of that image.

I’m interested in knowing which images are impactful and effective for you! Feel free to leave comments and give me direction of what I should include or exclude in this exhibition. Are you particularly curious about seeing image from any of these countries specifically? And what information could be provided in order to fulfill what you want to know about the images or moments depicted?

This is also cross-posted on THINK Spot.