Public policy should be driven by a few essential questions: Who are we? What do we stand for? How do we want to be remembered; what is our legacy to the future? These foundational questions underpin this second essay on the jobs plan we need. Before you dismiss this out of hand as absurdly idealistic, …
After seeing the economy bleed jobs for so long, it was hard to watch without ambivalence as President Obama finally rose on Thursday to call for a transfusion of public funds for job creation. I felt some measure of relief: at last, our national leaders are paying attention to the suffering caused by economic policies …
Note to readers: This is the fifth in a series of blogs I am delighted to be writing for Harmony: The WomenArts Partnership Project. They will appear biweekly on the WomenArts site (when you get there, scroll down for a list of blog installments), and I will also reproduce each one here. In this and …
The east is awash in Irene and earthquakes, and commentators everywhere are noticing how utterly shook up the world order also seems to be. Here’s Tom Friedman in the New York Times: [T]he European Union is cracking up. The Arab world is cracking up. China’s growth model is under pressure and America’s credit-driven capitalist model …
The last Harmony Project blog explored two of the many reasons for artists and activists to collaborate: to put a human face on issues, bringing them home much more powerfully; and to engage people in unearthing and exploring their own direct, personal relationships to issues. In this blog, two more ways that artist-activist collaborations multiply …
The stories our leaders tell us matter, probably almost as much as the stories our parents tell us as children, because they orient us to what is, what could be, and what should be; to the worldviews they hold and to the values they hold sacred. Our brains evolved to “expect” stories with a particular …
Note to readers: This is the third in a series of blogs I am delighted to be writing for Harmony: The WomenArts Partnership Project. They will appear biweekly on the WomenArts site, and I will also reproduce each one here. What can be accomplished when women artists and activist organizations work together? Most activist groups …
The meaning of collaboration ought to be straightforward: its Latin root means “working together,” plain and simple. But in practice, artistic collaboration is a continuum. At one extreme, it’s a total partnership between an artist and organization, in which a project’s style, content—even the arts media used—are jointly conceived, evolving through ongoing dialogue and negotiation. …
Judging by the prevalence of advice books on the best-seller lists, a great many of us believe there’s a formula for success in almost every endeavor, and that we can learn it from life’s winners—sports heroes, self-made billionaires, box-office stars, famous lovers. In one way, it makes sense: since they’ve done it (whatever it may …
Note to readers: This is the first in a series of blogs I am delighted to be writing for Harmony: The WomenArts Partnership Project. They will appear biweekly on the WomenArts site, and I will also reproduce each one here. Welcome to the first installment of The Harmony Project blog! Harmony: The WomenArts Partnership Project …