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September 11, 2011

9/11/11: A Decade of Breakdown and Renewal

A decade ago, a 25 year old in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I remember driving over the Manhattan bridge, seeing the smoke coming from the first tower, and thinking what idiot crashed some small plane into the World Trade Center.

In the hours and days that followed, I remember feeling the amazing shared sadness across New York City. It was both the worst of times and best of times, when our individual experience became shared across worlds.

What if we had chosen peace?

No where was this sense more prominent than in Union Square, where a memorial emerged and there were intense conversations about what our response should be as a nation. For that first week, I remember thinking, "What would be possible if the United States chose to take a deep breath and choose a non-violent response to this act of terror?"

Eli Pariser had started an email list called 9/11 Peace that gathered hundreds of thousands of email addresses of those calling for restraint and peace. Imagine a 21st century defined by such a profound choice inspired by Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, and one of the original crew - Jesus of Nazereth.

Radiohead Idioteque: This is Really Happening

Of course, the Bush administration chose the more expected and less inspired path, which led a team of us to create the video below, inspired by the prophetic Radiohead song Idioteque, which we completed in November of 2001.

Now a decade later, reflecting on my time away from ground zero, having lived internationally in France, Singapore, and London, and now based in San Francisco, I still feel deeply connected the New Yorkers and others who have felt the impact of war over these years.

We Have Always Been at War, Our Time to Rise

Because I grew up without experiencing any violence towards me, I know it's naive for me to tell those impacted by war to choose peace. But the recent movements across the world, particularly the true non-violence leadership in Egypt, give me hope in the face of the institutional breakdown and extreme weather. I offer the song below as a tribute to those continuing to build.

The first inspiration for the song below came the night of 9/11, on the promenade in Brooklyn Heights, where I experienced New Yorkers singing together outside for the first time. Over the years, as I continued to listen to both old and new voices of those impacted by war, this song has continued to evolve and grow. This morning, on the tenth anniversary of that day, I put the finishing touches on the lyrics and finally discovered the name of the song, "Our Time to Rise."

For all of those who felt and continue to feel the sadness and loss that comes from acts of war and terror, and all of those who are building towards the dream of a world that chooses non violence, thank you and keep building.

Posted by Colin | Permalink | Comments ()

December 10, 2010

The Beginning of the End of 2010

It's Thursday night during a tough week in early December. The rainy winter has begun, but it's nowhere near as cold as it's been in Brooklyn or London. I haven't sat and written much since March, but it's been an amazing 2010.

Beginning the year with our time in India, and then moving our life to the Bay Area was a huge step. I have struggled with choosing the morning or doing improv Sunday Sessions as much as I committed to back in February, but the big victory in my life is that 2010 was the year that I actually chose a project.

Thanks to the ever lovely and powerful Christie George, a summer MBA intern and his amazing cousin, we finally moved LoudSauce from an idea that I talk about to an actual crowdfunded ad platform that funded a national TV ad and real posters on real bus shelters in San Francisco.

I've been told great advice for years about what it takes to actual create what you envision. But 2010 was the year that I finally chose to follow the advice of people like my friend Huned and the wise young startup leader Eric Ries: just build the closest thing to what you envision. Even fake parts of it if you have to. Go through the full cycle. Then listen, learn, adapt and repeat.

So as I look forward to the holidays, in a time where there is a lot of depression and transition in the air and in the weather, I feel privileged to be able to slow down with my parents, my brother and sister, and our broader family. I'm particularly looking forward to remembering the spirit of Christmas Eve and Jeko, and reconnecting with the 2009 Club to look forward into the always evolving next chapter.

Now off to sleep and back to work.

Posted by Colin | Permalink | Comments ()

August 3, 2008

Trailer for the book Crowdsourcing

Interesting to see a video trailer for a book, makes sense especially for something like this. The next wave after Crowdsourcing in my view is Crowdfunding for the future.

Croudsourcing Trailer

Posted by Colin | Permalink | Comments ()

July 10, 2008

Dancing feet to power a new London club

Check this from the ever inspiring source for new biz ideas Springwise: "dance energy has popped up again in the form of an eco nightclub that's slated to open next week in London."

That's hot. I'm definitely gonna have to free the white booty that night.

Posted by Colin | Permalink | Comments ()

June 28, 2008

Google News from the Possible Positive

For all the news about yesterday and today, there is surprisingly little positive news written about how things may turn out for us in the coming years.

There are of course more positive predictions of technological innovation, but rarely around the positive possibility of human beings to actual work things out.

Among conversations with friends over the last few years, I've wondered if we could create a news organization that comes from a certain place in the future, say 2020, where certain cultural and political breakthroughs actually happened (ie, economic behavior shifting toward sustainability, Israel and Palestine working together).

In this vein, check out this fake Google News page coming from some unidentified moment in the future. While it is a bit far fetched, the fact that it has generated such interest shows that people are hungry for a more pro-active vision for what's upcoming.

While it's clear that there are many things that we cannot control, I believe that we can be responsible for how the next 20 years turns out if we come from that future and start telling the story of how it happened by showing us today how it's already happening.

via Open the Future

Posted by Colin | Permalink | Comments ()