How to move forward? I used to be one of those who felt that life was moving too fast. It was why when graduating from High School in 1980, I moved to Maine, lived on a boat and apprenticed under a cabinetmaker who didn't use power tools. By 1990, I'd moved from Maine to NYC to SF. I'd learned to embrace change and even had a hand in creating it; Manuscripts written in rooms on the WELL, first digitally-delivered multi-colored manuscript to numerous NY Pub houses, set standards for electronic text rights, long conversations with EFF/WELL/WiReD folks, fought Disney for Theme Park rights and so on. By the mid-90's, it was getting harder to see the future as it had become so vast a horizon. In fact it had gone global; like the British and Dutch Empires with navies, now the internet lead with Captains of Industry: The sun never set on the internet.
In the early 90's, I tried to sell a manuscript with a Forward by the former CIA Director, William Casey, regarding domestic terrorism. It stated that terrorism was increasing internationally, and would be continuing to escalate domestically ~ World Trade Towers hadn't been truck bombed yet (1993), and McVeigh hadn't committed the OK bombing (1995) when I was shopping this text. After them no one wanted to "sell that kind of fear"~ and no publisher would touch it, even though it was written by two renowned journalists (one had opened Eastern Block offices for Newsweek after the wall came down). You who know me well are sick of my phrase "what sells is fear and advise (or fear and desire)". Under Clinton the country sold desire. Most of us bought it, Internet Bubble and all. We kept inventing and innovating. We set our own hours and started "casual Fridays". I pitched books with a Harper's Index of stats to illustrate the future market audience.
Yet I still had the manuscript in mind when 9/11 happened and Bush decided to invade Iraq. Those same two journalists had the same reaction I did, " it's not Saddam, it's Bin Laden". History would prove us right and the powers that be wrong. We'd already moved from the 24 hours news cycle of the 90's to the 3 hours news cycle of the new Century. At that speed, if you repeated something often enough the truth could be buried or misdirected easily. We didn't notice that truth was disappearing, too. We just did more research with our new search engines (Card Catalog to Microfiche, Alta-vista to Google--I've done them all). We were the generation of Watergate, so we followed the money and questioned authority. Men stopped wearing ties, unless they worked in finance. Women wore tailored clothes that suited them, not men's suits for women. Being an agent required more editing skills as the independent publishing houses were being bought up by International Conglomerates, and when the music stopped there were far fewer editor's chairs under each roof. Electronic books began to gain traction. So did other established editorial content move to the web.
The Republicans ruled for 8 years. In that time the language of our nation became riddled with fear and rigid thinking. The Patriot Act, War on Terror, and Axis of Evil ruled the headlines. We weren't scared of Bush, but rather his policies home and abroad that spent down our budget, ruined our reputation with Allies and left many disenfranchised. Cell phones became everyone's pocket computer. News cycles sped up to hourly events; if they could happen near a East Coast meal time, good, but no longer necessary. Fact checking was getting looser, online and in print. System disruption was starting to be the new terror source. Terror of this kind was become many headed and globally run in cells as small as two people. Many editors started becoming agents and writers. Others, with the advent of Print on Demand, started to be packagers and publishers of sorts.
In 2002, I left city life, with my kids and husband, moved to the suburbs and started teaching. Once again trying to reflect, slow down, make a family nest, and do meaningful work. Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention and I was riveted. I read his books, along with Bill and Hilary's, and found him the better writer. I pounded on doors in NH and voted from him in both election cycles. During the last 8 years words like "mindfulness" and "authentic" became the touchstones of movements, and industries, focused on paying attention to the self in relation to others and the planet. We were back to selling desire in the name of Hope. Overseas terror bombings started to happen with more frequency. Cell phones became our pocket computers; for good and evil. More people on the planet had cell phones than computers or TVs. News cycles sped up to the speed of light; social media made Barack's campaigns like none before. It could also make communication hard to trace. Raw data spilled over everything. If you could make sense of it, you'd win, if not lose or disrupt (which may have been the true intention all along).
May 2011 Bid Laden, the real 9/11 mastermind, was caught and killed in a theater of war staged by Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Also the Arab Spring started to flow in 2011. Again it was social media and cell phones that allowed this to happen. It went around and under governmental systems of tyranny. At home hackers were getting bolder attacking financial and governmental systems. Identity theft was on the rise. People had to be careful of keeping track of and changing their numerous passwords. The news cycles were just open 24/7. It came to your phone. Network/Cable news started to fall. Cable entertainment was at an all time high. Data mining began to be a valuable commodity; as numbers strained through x's and o's became king.
The last 4 years Obama has moved Forward despite constant stonewalling and obstruction from the House and Senate. Internationally he has fared much better than Bush; travelling more and vacationing less. Domestically we've been schizophrenic, or a body of opposites. Hate crimes are up and Same Sex Marriage is legal. Black Friday is being rivaled by Shop Local Saturday. Makers are making and Materialists are buying online at record rates. Tiny Houses are up and Clear Cutting is still tearing our forests down. Technology and the life of the mind are in sync with Moore's Law; we are all having to integrate our circuits twice as fast each year.
And now? Trump. All Data was wrong. A silent, none-majority won this election. The words now are "normalizing" and "truth" or worse yet, emojis. Driving through 5 states in 5 hours in October; I saw the signs ~ Trump/Pence. Plain as day. Where I teach, same thing. 48% Clinton, 48% Trump, 4% Johnson. They liked that he "spoke his mind", not "being politically correct". He Tweets! Small speed of light missives that can be corrected, but never apologized for, within heartbeats or headaches. He says he wants to "Make America Great Again". Hilary says America is Great and wants to "keep it that way going Forward". She doing what one does with a Japanese Businessman. She is saying "Yes, but..." which is the only way to say "No" and save face in negotiations. There is no going back (Hiraeth---remember the top of the page). There never has been a way back. We are a country of people who want opportunities and to create the impossible, not go back in time.
America said No to Hilary. They believe that Trump is a Choice for Change (my campaign slogan when I ran and won a spot as a College Senator). I believe we are all American. I believe that we are all dancing as fast as we can and trying to stay in the eye of a global hurricane. I believe we all want work, respect, knowledge, health and a future for our planet. I'm a rural and suburban child of the 60's, who went to High School in the 70's, worked in NYC in the 80's & SF in the 90's, and now have teenage children while I also teach teenage children. It's in my DNA to look Forward (did I mention my family on both sides have been entrepreneurs and inventors for generations?)! Yet at this time I'm not sure where to set my sights other than saying There is no there there. There is only this moment in which we can carefully monitor each move and not react to the policies and politician that are put in place, but ACT. Once everyone is done mourning or being excited (yes I have a few Trump voting friends) ~ lets get back to the American values believing in a Future that is better than the Present. We must be kind, smart and vigilant.
We will probably have to not Want More, but may be happier with Less as a Goal, too. The planet and our population depend on that. That is a real futurist change ~ Less is More. Those who have never had Too Much, that will be hard pill to swallow. Those, who have just come up and into their powers, will not want to let go. But let me tell you, as a person more than half a century old: the first half of your life is about acquiring skills, relationships and stuff. The second half of your life is about acquiring more skills, maintaining your relationships and getting rid of stuff. Look up George Carlin's act on Stuff. He's says it better than I can. The American Dream, like the notion that we could ever go "home" again, is a myth. Let's write a new myth where even moving at the speed of light, we recognize, respect and resolve to help each other to move Forward and not slip back into the false myth of the past being better than the Now! No one is superior to anyone else! We're all in this together ~ w/love & respect ~ KN
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