TIMES out

I just can't maintain without the steady and forceful commentors on the NYtimes opinion pages. I read them for the steady and consistant

intellectual challenge- Mathews, Stewart, Hayes and Madow

After watching Stewart last night and Hayes tonight it has become apparent that the arguments have been one sided for one depressingly simple reason and one reason that has more to do with theater than substance.

The latter first. I have long been frustrated by the lack of unscripted give and take, the lack of argument in a sharp, on the spot, lawyer like manner on shows that are supposed to be providing us with an honest counter to the ideology of the current radical conservatives. These programs have seemed the result of a eight hours of script writing, listing the questions in advance, with no regard for repartee. So each side gets to make the predetermined points with no real debate or rebuttal. Mathews comes to mind as particularly frustrating. Bright and from the inside, but sucked into the theater of tv not the substance of the arguments. We get nowhere.

Then I wonder if the intellectual laziness of contemporary conservatives is simply being met with an equal laziness in making any counter argument. It is just too hard!

Well, last night I watched a true debate- Kruathammer and Stewart, and it was encouraging. It is so clear that the arguments against lazy thoughts require great effort, but Stewart was up to it.

Tonight, Hayes would not allow the reactionary argument (Stockman) go unchallenged. And it took a clear mind with facts and on the spot repartee, not a script. I have to admit it is exhausting. To counter myth, fear, racism and bias requires full mental engagement. We cannot be lazy.

Therein lies the great irony of countering ideology.  It can't be done with ideology...

Debris Snag

Just back from a two-day down state visit. I knew the weather upstate was stormy, producing a lot of rain. But I came back to surprisingly serious flooding locally and within the adjoining villages. The deluge left a significant number of suburban Utica residents living near streams under water. Even the higher surrounding elevations- like the very land that produces the run-off feeding the Ravine- experienced local flooding of cellars and roads.

What are our local leaders saying? There are those boasting about the good work being done in the Ravine. To be fair, the work there did lessen the impact on the residents to the south of us. Debris has been snagged; the water from the Ravine has mostly gone under ground as needed. But above the dam, the Ravine is being destroyed as a result of the work done. This, ironically, is increasing debris and marring the beautiful stream it was.  The ravine redo design was never going to be a solution. And the leaders knew it, or should have. It was the look of a solution, not a solution to the problem. There is just too much water being channeled into Nail Creek (and other creeks in the area!). We are building on and paving over the higher elevations and the wetlands surrounding the Ravine that would be the natural sponge for all this rain. This under-supervised and/or ill-planned development of the higher surrounding elevations is creating enormous run-off. That is the issue.

And, again, the problem is not just in Halleck's Ravine. It is problematic with all the streams in our area.

Our leaders are failing us in their ignorance, their lack of oversight and lack of communication. They are not problem solvers...

There is in our political system a hierarchy, a structure much like a pyramid that is designed to bring local issues to a higher forum that is charged with the greater oversight and understanding of the larger- socially and geographically- picture. And they bear greater responsibility.

The leaders within the local (city) and the higher (county) bodies have failed in their duty. If the city has issues that are caused by the suburbs, then the greater political body, the county and its leaders, is the forum for these issues to be discussed and resolved. And so on up the pyramid. But the buck passing is rampant and the turf protection paramount. Happy talk gives us no relief.

Yet, we continue to re-elect these so-called leaders. Many members of the electorate cry about too much government, but then turn to FEMA for help. This is happening this very day, as I write. Or the injured sue the government for harm. The government reacts by doing something, anything- right or wrong. The result is chaotic and in the long term does more harm!

You can't have it both ways. Stop electing the happy talkers; realize that government is important to our collective well being; expect the leaders to work together for the common good, not just when one's individual welfare is in jeopardy.

The surrounding higher elevations are being developed without proper management of water run-off.  Half a million dollars (roughly the amount spent on the Halleck's Ravine project) in the construction of a culvert, debris snags and the pointing of a dam will not change the increasing volume of water being channeled into what will soon be an inadequate tunnel under the city.

So whose water and debris are we talking about, anyway? In the end it is ours, collectively.

Math (and Art)

Just read part of a piece on the "war" in math curriculums between the old line and the progressives; the use of algorithms versus the more "creative" approaches favored and promoted by progressives in teaching math. The great irony is in the many references to creativity, beauty, and efficiency in the article and in the comments.

We have continually de-emphasized and now decimated the art curriculum in our schools, the very part of the curriculum where the creative aspects of math (of thinking in general) could be utilized. Algorithms have withstood the test of time. They provide foundational constructs in the same way that we employ design elements in art. The time to be creative is after the foundation is laid, not as a substitute for the foundation. Ask any architect.

There is a time and a place for creative thought. The time is after at least some of the basic tools are mastered and the initial place is in the art curriculum. And the need for some experience in the subject matter is needed for all but the prodigies. Algorithms provide this well.

For heaven's sake, again we are up against provincial academic minds, progressive or not, lead by the specialists who seem to have no interest in other areas of thought or modes of learning...

I guess we are seeing the same charge to mediocrity in math that has plagued the art world in modern times, which has similar champions of the "new," favoring those who break with the foundational underpinnings to please the market, not educate the masses...

Leaders, 3

I just read an article on a former government leader. Great insights or words of wisdom were not to be found in the quotation marks. A simpleton to be sure. The perfect example of ideas without logistics. You can find it often. If you can't see the nuts and bolts, you don't have a idea, just a tool looking for a reason.

Leaders, Chapter 2

I'll say it again, it seems to me that the least equipped people (emotionally, not intellectually), too often "rise" to leadership positions. Hubris and insecurity, commonly linked character traits in those who seek power,  being the product of many subtle developmental influences (not ready to bring genes into this), finds expression in most if not all of our institutions, large and small. Add ignorance (benign or aggressive, but often accompanying ego) and you have the recipe for failure and/or corruption.

In politics, we almost expect these poor qualifications. We certainly vote for candidates who are lacking in broad experience other than being a candidate back into office time and again. They are defended without question. In essence we vote for the local tribe, or our favored rep of the tribe; but for our tribe.

In business, including the non profit art institution "business," the combination of the above in its leaders, is crippling. I know. I have lived it for 28 years. Ironic that you can lead an institution of creative thinkers but not have the humility or wisdom to listen.

Artists are not the first group we think of as leaders. Yet they are trained to see the whole, the relationship of things, plastic and ephemeral, the things you may not connect. We are problem solvers- not always efficient, but process oriented, disciplined, knowledge seeking, goal oriented, working toward some semblance of structure, of order.

We value history, not ever looking to (intentionally) repeat it. We choose to make it! We look to learn, build and create new ways to look at life, comprehend it. Culture is the core of life. We are culture. We may not be lawyers or doctors but we nurture a body of knowledge very broad and deep. And somehow inspite of this, we tend to sell ourselves short. We allow the public to see us as irrational, and shallow. It is not true, of course, but the historically romantic perception of us adheres and to see us otherwise does not find its way to the hills and valleys. So, just as teaching art is a constant struggle to reset or refute "street aesthetic," getting the lay "leader" to see the artist as more than an irrational infant, is a constant task. Too bad. They miss the point.

Our leaders miss it also. We are lead by too many lawyers, business tycoons large and small, the failed but connected, and those in need of the big.  Emotionally, they are not fully equipped. No one profession is the magic path to leadership. So whatever the background, they might stop and listen; they might hear an answer or a direction. They might hear the voice of humility gained from and contributing to  experience. They might...

Ravine Redo

Work has begun on the "fixing"the Ravine. The company doing the work has shown more respect for the property owners than the city. We will see what the work does to improve the run off. I am skeptical, but who knows. I hate the sound of chain saws and watching trees being removed is disheartening. Very local thinking to a global problem.