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.

Contractors Respond to Rising Security Concerns in Haiti

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - Aftershocks are still hitting in Haiti almost two months after the earthquake struck there.  A West Michigan woman just returned from Haiti because of the growing dangers in the country.

Mallery Thurlow (right) is a Cornerstone University graduate who started a foundation in Haiti. She had to return to the United States at the end of February 2010 after violence increased.

More than a month and a half after the earthquake hit Haiti, you would expect things to be improving. But Thurlow says, "The situation has really gone from bad to worse. The earth is still shaking. We've had 3 earthquakes just in the past week. ... The Haitian President has actually stated that this is no longer an emergency situation. ... As panic started to spread, the gangs started to come out at night. And it's made a very dangerous situation." (read more...)

Ms. Thurlow describes gangs armed with semi-automatic weapons going from house to house on her street, breaking in, shooting the residents, and stealing their belongings.  Ms. Thurlow hopes to return to Haiti soon along with better security to protect her orphanage and herself.

Kidnapping is apparently another growing concern. Kidnappings for ransom were an ongoing concern before the January 12 earthquake.  But now that large numbers of foreign workers have entered the country backed by huge sums of money, officials are expressing concern that the number of kidnappings might increase.

Are the donations we have made to nonprofit agencies actually funding ransom payments to criminals such as those described in the article below?

Port-Au-Prince (AFP, March 12, 2010, Marc Burleigh) - The kidnapping of two female aid workers, a Belgian and a Czech, cast a shadow over the relief operations carried out by more than 300 foreign organizations in Haiti. It was the first abduction to occur in Haiti since the earthquake, Haitian police said. The two were freed Thursday, after spending six days in captivity, according to their employer, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF; Doctors Without Borders). The head of the Haitian police anti-kidnapping unit dealing with the investigation, Francois Dossous, told AFP he was "a little worried" about the case, suggesting it might herald a crime wave against the thousands of foreigners in Haiti. (read more...)

Security Contractors Available to Assist in Haiti

Seattle resident Tony Myhre runs a security and personnel company which offers professional security consulting services, Jet City Consulting.  JCC is able to immediately provide licensed and permitted staff for physical security and convoy protection in Haiti.  Tony has been using social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter to advertise to relief agencies and to raise awareness among their donors.  You can read Tony's postings at the Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief group on Linkedin.

Support Our Troops... and their families! Click to help these ideas win the $50K Pepsi Refresh Everything contest in March

I am promoting support for Operation Gratitude to win $50,000 in this contest in March 2010.

Here's how it works: Everyone is encouraged to VOTE EVERY DAY for up to 10 ideas. At the end of the month, the ideas with the most votes win -- 10 from each prize category.*

Here are my favorite Military-related ideas for March 2010 :

* $50K - Send 100,000 Care Packages to troops deployed in Afghanistan this year (Operation Gratitude)
* $50K - Grant wishes for active-duty members of our US military (Wish for Our Heroes)
* $50K - Help children of fallen soldiers deal with the loss of their parent (Our Military Kids)

Remember: come back every day of March to vote for these ideas!  Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments below.

Please share this article! http://impact4g.blogspot.com/2010/03/support-our-troops-and-their-families.html   Re-post to your own blog or share this at Facebook and other sites.  Sharing this with 5+ friends will really help the votes to add-up quickly.

* Only the top 2 ideas in the $250K category will win