Idea: A Community-Powered Musical Water Park

When I was in college, I joined a band.  It was the only band I've ever joined, and it was just for a few minutes one morning.

Every Sunday an ad hoc group would form -- some Rastafarian, some street people, some hippy students, artists, and some yuppy-types would gather and "jam" together on drums and various percussion instruments ranging from sticks to pots & pans to trash can lids to cow bells.  What a thrill for me, a musically-inhibited pip-squeek, to be part of a real live musical event alongside musical geniuses.

Years later, when I was working in downtown L.A., I would walk over to a food park and buy lunch, and sit along with hundreds of strangers and watch the "dancing waters" fountain perform to music.

When I was building a community network and reading about "neighborhood development" and "community-building," the idea popped into my head to combine those two phenomena into a "community-powered" musical water park, where the play equipment - the swings, see-saws, etc. -- all contribute to the water displays, the kinetic sculptures, and the music.

I've heard of found art and kinetic art (kinetic sculpture), but this is a bit of both, with other elements.  The opportunistic, public nature of it makes it almost like "musical graffiti" with elements of water, wind, sun, socializing, civic activity, recreation, collaboration.

The "magic" of the park in my imagination is that the music would be entirely up to the people in the park.  No two days at the park would be alike: every "session" would be unique.

Some of the instruments would be easy to play -- percussion instruments, for example: simple drums or cowbells, a "wind chime" with pipes of various sizes hanging down in a row, and "hammers" operated mechanically by foot-levers or teeter-totters or pedals.  Streams of water shooting from "water cannons" could ring bells or cymbals.

Various human-powered instruments and displays could also be assisted by wind or solar-power (or wave, or small-hydro).

Cooperation and timing would be required to get the fountains working and the pipes "singing."  Some of the instruments would take several people -- a dozen or more -- to get them working, adding a bit of mystery and discovery to each visit.

Rumors would spread of new "levels" of music to be discovered.

It would be a place where all kinds of people, young and old, friends and strangers could get together to play, exercise, listen, watch, rest, perform, explore, jam, get outside, and get away from the TV and the Internet for a while.

Sara Groves: Less Like Scars

Today I heard this song on last.fm by Christian singer Sara Groves and thought it was brilliant, beautiful, timely. (If you know who wrote it, please comment.)

Less Like Scars

It's been a hard year
But I'm climbing out of the rubble
These lessons are hard
Healing changes are subtle
But every day it's

Less like tearing, more like building
Less like captive, more like willing
Less like breakdown, more like surrender
Less like haunting, more like remember

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like
Character

Less like a prison, more like my room
It's less like a casket, more like a womb
Less like dying, more like transcending
Less like fear, less like an ending

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars

Just a little while ago
I couldn't feel the power or the hope
I couldn't cope, I couldn't feel a thing
Just a little while back
I was desperate, broken, laid out, hoping
You would come

And I need you
And I want you here
And I feel you

And I know you're here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad, bad situation
But you are able

And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars (x3)

And more like
Character

Civilry in Public Discourse?

While searching for good hashtags today, I wanted to include something that connotes what I've been reading lately, and look for people with similar interests.   I've been following blogs on civil society, freedom of expression, democracy, government accountability, transparency, gov 2.0, patriotism... and kindness.

But that's way too many terms to include in a tweet, much less at the end of at tweet.

If one wants one's message re-tweeted, one should not use-up all 140 characters!

So, even within the 140-character limit, brevity is key.

So, as necessity is the mother of invention, I stumbled onto the new term "civilry" -- a portmanteau of "civility" and "chivalry."

As a hashtag, it has the advantage of containing the real word "civil" (suggesting the word "civility") and the sound of the word "chivalry."  But it has a noticeably incorrect spelling so that it stands-out (not overlooked as a typo or abbreviation or pidgin English).  With a hash sign in front of it (#civilry), it looks more "official," if there is such a thing when it comes to Twitter lingo.

Feel free to use the tag #civilry in your civil discourse, noble microblogging pursuits, and odd T-shirt sayings.

I really haven't studied the mechanics of a good hashtag or portmanteau, but it will be interesting to see if this one catches-on.  I welcome all feedback.  Cheers.