I’ve been a cultural activist all my life, so where I stand on the question of culture is clear: with Augustin Girard when he wrote more than 30 years ago that “Culture concerns everyone and it is the most essential thing of all, as it is culture that gives us reason for living, and sometimes …
My desire to believe there is progress in human history is strong. Clearly, there is change: more people, more stuff, more (or at least different) dangers, more (or at least different) pleasures. But can anything be said with certainty, anything more than “Things change”? Yes, amidst all of the terrible suffering and soaring hopes of …
This is the text of a message I was invited to send to a conference to be held February 24th through March 1st at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. Dear Friends: I am so sorry I am not able to join you at Ahmadu Bello University, to take part in your conference “3 Decades+ of …
The absentee ballots have arrived at my house, and I’m voting for Barack Obama. Please stick with me for a few minutes while I take a little detour to tell you why. A friend sent me a link recently to an extremely interesting piece in Wired. Clive Thompson writes about an Australian philosopher who has …
Ever since the New York Times ran a piece on the ancient (and disappearing) profession of scribe in India, I’ve been coping with a case of nostalgia. You see, I love writing letters for other people. There’s something about slipping into another person’s identity, applying my imagination to the best way to say that person’s …
Let me stipulate it upfront: as a form of political action, the full-page ad is not my favorite. Often, such ads are clarion calls to condemnation. Many seem predicated on the hope that the perpetrators of destructive acts will be shamed by such attention. But really, I think they just turn the page and get …
Enormous props to the people at One Laptop Per Child, who so perfectly express the growing phenomenon of social entrepreneurship (do good, do well). They’ve worked for years to perfect the XO laptop, which can be manufactured at a price that actually makes computer technology accessible to children in the developing world. In each era, …
A few days ago, I received one of those telemarketing calls from the Democratic Party. Usually, as soon as I learn that someone is trying to sell me something over the phone—stocks, carpet cleaning or a cause—I break the connection with a request to be deleted from that group’s list. But this time, the hallucinatory …
I have a well-established habit of greeting passers-by. When I take my walk by the Bay, I like to smile or say hi to everyone I pass. I feel good when people cooperate. I sense a local lightening of the atmosphere, an infinitesimal exchange of positive energy. When people stare straight ahead or keep their …
The trip to London from which I’ve just returned was the first time I had visited that country since 1987, twenty years. I’d seen some of my English friends at international meetings or on visits to the U.S., but until this month, we hadn’t sat together for long, convivial chats, taking stock. I learned a …