Under the Blacklight

Everyone’s Going Green — But Where is Green Going?

As American sales of green technology edge to nearly $104 billion this year and global leaders like Samsung and Toshiba receive accolades from GreenPeace for their environmental efforts, everyone is finding out that there is a lot of green to be made off being eco-friendly. But how can we ensure that the environmental movement has a lasting and positive impact?

Changing the social mindset has to be foremost priority — and it can’t be a fad. Recent CEA research has actually shown a drastic increase in recyclingover the past few years, and interestingly enough, not because people want recognition for doing the right thing. Habits are actually changing, and this gives the movement staying power.

Unfortunately, we’re progressing so fast that we often don’t know how to deal with mass leftovers of our innovation. This year’s Greener Gadgetsconference illustrated the scale of the electronics industry’s footprint, pointing out more than 426,000 cell phones are ‘retired’ in the U.S. every day. There are so many options to recycle what’s known as electronic or e-waste, but the enormity is still daunting.

The green movement is changing the way Americans look at consumption, and not just where their electronics are concerned. As we see current (and environmentally harmful) forms of energy becoming a limited commodity, people are rethinking their living spaces. Small changes, like lighting and energy management controls, are already becoming commonplace. But as cities become crowded, we will look to new technologies to help us rework the infrastructure of urban life as we know it.

Some of the technology is already there. My alma mater just built a LEED certified dormitory, and plenty of schools and businesses across the U.S. following suit. With growing interest in renewable energy, it’s no surprise that Intel and IBM are highly invested in solar power development.

Architects like Michelle Kaufmannare striving to answer the call for more innovative minimalist living by designing ‘zero energy’ housing, or, even better, houses that put energy back on the grid. Even the agriculture industry is starting to think about inevitable urbanization and the prospect of vertical farming, which would allow city dwellers to produce and eat locally, without need for preservatives and other processing that goes into transporting our food across the country.

We don’t know for certain how quickly our resources will run out – or how soon we can develop alternatives to replace them. The 20th century seemed to measure success by space and materials we owned and occupied (just watch MTV Cribs). And whether or not you believe the doom-and-gloomers, this century has already shown the lessons of reaching our planet’s saturation point. We have a choice to either fight over our limited resources in hopes of maintaining our current lifestyles, or working as an innovative community to coexist through reasonable consumption, and, most importantly, restoration. If not, who knows? We may end up living on lily pads.

Originally posted on CEA Digital Dialogue

Your Daily Energy Allowance

At the Greener Gadgets Conference last week, the keynoter, Saul Griffith, opened by calling us out as being planet #@%*ers, himself included. It was less of an accusation and more an acknowledgement, as if to say,

“Now that it’s on the table, let’s get on with the real problems.”

Instead of dwelling on “my gosh, we’re ruining the world,” we now have a real responsibility to review the “litany of horrors” we might inflict on the earth and decide what level of devastation we’re actually okay with exacting.

So let’s be okay with a two degree celsius increase (which may sound arbitrary and discountable, but will still indicate massive species loss and probably 100 million climate refugees).

Working backwards from an increase of two degrees, we can find just how much power we all can use (or not use) over the next 25 years to make our goal. Griffith measured out his entire life in watts, from the stuff that he owns, to his personal travel, and even his participation in government. It was like adding a recommended daily value (nutrition facts, if you will) to everything in his life – no longer just a label on food, but one that applied to your car, your furniture and even Saul’s catamaran.

The average American uses 11,000 watts. Saul is more extreme, weighing in at a surprisingly high level of 18,000 watts (all of which includes global travel to keynote similar events). The goal, to level off at 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide and not exceed two degrees of climate change, means we all need to pare down to about 2,200 watts – another reason why we might need a daily measurement system.  

Many under the flag of environmentalism would start parading around about the need for green energy at this point. Griffith is definitely behind that, but also paints a realistic picture of not only how quickly, but also how much space – basically a continent’s worth of land – it would take to maintain our power consumption levels.

Those rising to the challenge should employ Saul’s formula for successStart building:

· 100 square meters of solar cells every second for the next 25 years

· One 100 meter diameter wind turbine every five minutes for the next 25 years
One three-reactor nuclear power plant every week for the next 25 years (America only has eight slated for approval in the next ten years)

· Three 100-megawatt steam turbines every day for next 25 years

· One Olympic swimming pool of genetically engineered algae for biofuel every second

Don’t be exhausted already. Griffith is quick to point out that previous to 1939, America was making less than 1,000 aircraft per year. But during WWII, refrigerator companies were converted and over 300,000 aircraft were built. It is possible, and as we find newer efficiencies, allowing us to harness more power (say more than 15 percent from photovoltaic cells), more solutions will arise. What’s Detroit doing right now?

He also stressed the need to create an “heirloom culture,” where products last for lifetimes and are upgradeable within themselves, instead of disposable and obsolete within months. Globally we know that there’s no “away” to throw things anymore. We are very aware of where everything goes.

The conference wasn’t a total harbinger of devastation. Companies like Dell professed to saving $3 million last year by going carbon neutral. Project H, Freeplay, and SunNight Solar are all using humanitarian work in countries completely off the grid to employ innovative new self-powering technologies.

The whole day seemed to underscore the importance of open sourcing idea development, and, more importantly, asking with every decision,

“Are we doing this because we can or because we ought to?”

Originally posted on CEA Digital Dialogue

Dear Target Team Members,

I am writing to assure you that the security systems on your products are, in fact, highly effective.

This past weekend I purchased a shiny Dyson vacuum for my new residence. While your team failed to remove the security alarm around the vacuum, or to stop me upon exiting the store as the door lit up in flashing red lights and sirens, apparently you knew not to bother, because the security system would, in fact, retaliate later on its own.

Yes, sometime in the middle of the day, whilst my nasal passages were clogged with dirt and dust from opening new furniture, kitchen supplies, and more material items than I ever knew I needed, said vacuum decided it would tempt me to unbox and actually use it. I took my scissors to the security cord, and lo and behold, no ink was spilt, no explosions occurred, no, just a piercing, fire alarm reminiscent sound that could not be deafened even underneath a towel.

After unscrewing the security system, attempting to remove the batteries, and wondering all the while if I would seriously lose my hearing, I resorted to the next best option.

I ran over it with my car.

I ran over it with my car four times. Meanwhile, I learned that not only are my new neighbors the type to gawk and stare, but your crafty little machine will someday outlive even roaches, because after rolling over it, I could still hear it taunting me from inside my vehicle.

Next, I will try throwing it under our covered pool. If it does not cease its noise, it will remain there until May when someone fishes it out because it’s far too cold for me to go in after it. I’m hoping this works and you should hold up hope, too. If I can still hear it four floors up, I am going to be sleeping in the Bed & Bath section for the next three months.
Looking forward to your hospitality,

J.P.

Designing Downgrades — In Temperature, Materials and Energy

Earlier this year, we took a temperature check on climate-changing social mindsets, giving you a brief glimpse at where the green technology industry is growing.

Well, let’s just say we’re now dealing with some overgrowth, and we have no intention of cutting things back anytime soon (unless of course it’s cutting down on energy, materials, and anything else it takes to power our new green lifestyles).

CEA recently gave the green light for young designers to pitch the next eco-friendly, super-sustainable tech product. We’ve seen an outpouring of designs responding to the need to live in smaller, more sustainable spaces; to solve social issues around the world; and to simply make how we live, work and play more efficient.

Thanks to these designs, it won’t be long before you can decrease the energy footprint of your home or even compost your cell phone. Take a look at the dream eco-kitchens of the future, where you might find nutrition facts on more than your food. There’s even a few designs that might get under your skin.

We were so pleased with the first Greener Gadgets Design Competition, we’re turning up the heat again for a second round of challengers. You can still enter your product designs until January 15, giving you plenty of time to take a sneak peek at the Greener Gadgets Techzone at CES for inspiration.

If we’ve learned anything over the past several months, it’s that we don’t know for sure what is on our new green horizon, but we’ll be taking along our photovoltaic parasol to be prepared for anything.

Originally posted on CEA Digital Dialogue

“Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere”

Earlier this week, I mentioned being unsettled by this article stating that gay marriage is the “wrong issue.” What I should have said is that I take massive issue with it. The author seems to insinuate that not only should gays have better things to do with their time than stick up for their own rights, but we are also all of the same political beliefs and voting party, which must be so narrowly focused on one issue that it can’t possibly muster the resources to multitask.

I will not feel guilty for wanting equal rights.

If you are gay and don’t want to get married, fine. But there are plenty of us who would, and I will not sit idly as you create a greedy kid in the candy store allusion or a smokescreen to hide that this fight has implications on all of our rights — gay and straight, and well beyond marriage.

Plenty of homosexuals are disenfranchised by our government, and it may not incapacitate everyone, but there are certainly those whom it hurts greatly. It may be financially or it may sever families and relationships altogether. How often do we hear stories about people not allowed to see or receive information about their dying spouses, fighting over estates with families, not able to have families in the first place, or, especially at the holidays, not having the person they love accepted into the rest of their family?

Legal marriage means more than a ring on a finger and the next step to kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. It means tax benefits, better access to family health plans, co-parenting privileges, automatic preference for guardianship and medical decision-making authority, as well as protection under divorce and separation laws.

But let’s go back to that picket fence. Why does marriage itself matter to me? I don’t plan on having partners go in and out of my life. I want to have that dedication. I want to grow old with someone. I want my children to know I’m dedicated to that person. I want them to have a family unit they can count on, and I want that unit protected under the law.

There are many things I plan to do in my life from which I’ll derive happiness; environmental work, certainly more activism — at least as much as I’m allowed. But one thing I know I will do one day is have children. What amazes me is that in a world that is this interconnected, we often have to stretch to find role models. If the family unit is the foundation of Christianity, why can’t we allow committed gay couples and their children to live equally with the same sense of family and to see other families out there like their own?

When I raise my children, who will most likely be straight themselves, I want them to have a sense of family. I want them to look to their parents as people who are lovingly dedicated to one another. And I want them to see role models for what a relationship should be like. I want them to see the power of what two people can build together and I don’t want them to ever have to wonder if their dads’ commitment means less than those of their classmates’ parents. Or why their government insinuates that it means something less. I don’t want any wiggle room for anyone to say that we aren’t equal.

My kids will know better because I will raise them to recognize that there are many kinds of love, but I also want them to know that our country is better for accepting the commitment of everyone who loves someone else. That is how I hope to cherish someone someday, and that is why these rights are important to me. And no, the government certainly doesn’t validate my feelings for another person or my commitment to them, but it does protect it. It is the importance of valuing all families under the law, regardless of title.

Wanting all of this is not an effort to be like straight married couples. It’s an effort to say that my commitment is equivalent and deserving of equal treatment to that of a straight couple in the eyes of the law. How many years were gays painted as promiscuous or pedophiles? To continually accuse us of deleterious alternative lifestyles without an equal opportunity for commitment under the law is ridiculous.

Now, why do marriage rights matter? Because there are real repercussions when the government states that it’s okay to not look at me or any other gay person as an equal. It’s serving up a legal slap across the face that says I’m more disposable or not a real person.

Again, it’s about role models. It’s time for our country’s leaders to take a stand and say “it’s okay to be gay.” Not just for the kid in middle America thinking about killing himself because he’s just figured out who he is — and who he is also happens to be a kid living in an unaccepting conservative community. Certainly that’s reason enough. But our country prides itself on being a world leader, and for too long we’ve fallen to ridiculous, Puritanical fear of anything outside of an institution that frankly hasn’t existed that long. We preach civil rights across the globe; we can’t forget that gays are killed regularly by governments that believe how they were born is a sin.

And let’s talk about here in our country. Hate crimes in the U.S. are up this year from 1,265 in 2007 – and those are just the acts that make the reports and get classified as hate crimes. If that doesn’t make you angry or hit home, please watch this video again. And maybe apathy is part of it, because if we the modern gays aren’t being beaten to death (or can ignore those who are) in our cushy cities, we don’t notice we’re still playing out their archetypes of second class citizenry. We forget there are still so many people afraid to come out at work, afraid to share their partner with the people they spend 8-10 hours along side of every day.

Have you people not had someone scream “faggot” at you or follow you down the street? Do you want to continue to have to think twice before holding hands with your partner? Don’t forget how that feels; it’s what a society that draws lines between our rights and theirs condones. And if we don’t stay on top of these hate campaigns, which is what Prop 8 is, we’re going to continue suffering this state by state “death by a thousand cuts,” where we allow people to vote on a minority issue that should not be allowed to reach a vote in the first place. This is not just someone saying “no, you don’t have the right to marry.” This is society saying it’s okay to be a bigot. And if you don’t think it holds that weight, you’re kidding yourself.

So what rights are we talking about here? We are dealing with a legal patchwork that doesn’t even remotely work in our favor when examined from afar. Domestic partnership laws vary and can offer very little for a gay couple. There is more than a semantic difference between a civil union and a marriage. We’re not talking about a few rights, we’re talking about 1049 federal and state benefits, and ones that you don’t want to be negotiating when there’s an emergency. From taxation — being able to transfer assets and wealth to your partner without tax penalties; to health insurance, which might be guaranteed in a state where you have a civil union but might count for nothing if you’re on vacation somewhere else; to social security survivor benefits — same sex couples are eligible only for earnings of the survivor, not the couple; to emergency decisions — partners in civil unions can only make medical decisions for their partner in the registered state; to child/spousal support — same sex couples receive no benefits of financial obligation if the union dissolves. Nevermind the hassle of filing state returns jointly and federal returns as single.

You don’t enter a relationship (much less a marriage) for yourself. You’re in it for the other person and all that you bring to each other’s lives. It’s a commitment to that person to share whatever is yours as theirs. And this is why we must work for federal protection and lay the groundwork to overturn the DOMA.

I cannot say it better than Christie Keith, who wrote a phenomenal testimony which I encourage all of you to read (I know, I’m asking you to do a lot of clicking and reading today). She finishes the article with these words and I’ll leave you the same way:

So stop. Just stop telling us not to be angry or hurt or so emotional. This happened to us. It damages us. It reminds us of our pain, which many of us put behind us at great personal cost. I have lost dozens of friends to suicide, alcoholism, and depression. I’ve lost friends to gay bashing, and to a disease that ran unchecked and ignored because it “only” killed fags.  I live in San Francisco, and there are huge parts of this city I wouldn’t feel safe holding my girlfriend’s hand. Do you not understand what it’s like to live like that?

If you can’t stand with us, at least have the grace to stop giving us advice, advocating our silence, lecturing us about our behavior, or telling us who and what we are. What we do as a movement now is in our hands, and those of our allies. If you’re not one of them, shut up and get out of the way.

The i-stage is Set

They’ve arrived. The 14 finalists in CEA’s inaugural i-stage competition took the stage for the first time Sunday to plug in, amp up and rehearse their make-or-break pitch for the next generation of social media and retail platforms, gaming and 3D video, and otherwise all-around cool tech creations.

Nine hail from North America, four crossed the pond from the UK and Ireland, and one is fresh out of Thailand. None have been seen by the judges, and all are meeting for the first time at the Four Seasons Las Vegas.

What’s on the line? One giant check in the amount of $50,000 and a booth at the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology, the International CES — another highly competitive stage they’re clamoring to be on. He who debuts the sleekest product, hottest service, or most killer app will return to Vegas in January for the annual big bang of electronic creation.

But that doesn’t mean it’s down to tooth and claw between the competitors. This week they’ve been sharing last minute tips together on LinkedIn, and while some may be nervous, many have happily noted the diversity in the group.

It really comes down to presentation. Are they ready? For most, this is the first time they’ve appeared in such a public forum. But hey, round one separated them from hundreds of competitors. How hard can it be to win over a room of esteemed judges and industry greats?

Originally posted on CEA Digital Dialogue

Why It Can’t Be McCain

If old age has afforded John McCain anything, it’s acute myopia. The debate last night was littered with “forest for the trees” arguments, and it was staggering to see John harp on one element of a bill or campaign, but never express the full picture or ramifications of the bill or (sometimes global) action in its entirety. But that is politics; McCain doesn’t just espouse half-truths/lies, he promotes policy useful to the few as if it was an opiate for the masses, criticizing wasteful spending but voting for legislation having no timetable for results.

If McCain proved anything last night, it’s that Barack does have the experience to vote down plans that aren’t well thought out. We went into the Iraq war with no exit strategy and that can’t happen again, whether it’s part of our renewed commitment to diplomatic foreign policy, or our latest solutions to throw a life preserver to the economy.

If you thought McCain won last night, you are sorely mistaken. It was at best a tie if he fooled you into believing (please read the fact checks this morning) many of the things he tried to legitimize in his own campaign, pin on Obama, or claim he was and has been against. For example, Barack would raise taxes for people making over $250,000/year, not $42,000/year as John claimed. John never once mentioned the middle class, though he claims to embrace change for all Americans. Instead, he tried to claim that Obama simply doesn’t understand what America needs.

Since John is so well versed at fear-mongering, let’s look at a few of the things America can expect from a McCain presidency:

John has been very adamant about overturning Roe v. Wade. He will put into place the judges necessary to do this. His running-mate has be a proponent of abstinence-only programs that have proven time and time again, even in her own family, unable to alleviate the problem of unwanted pregnancy. Why is it okay that McCain backs health insurance covering Viagra, but not birth control? What type of picture will all of this paint? More American families having unwanted children, unable to deal with the economic stress of a baby that may have been a result of rape or incest, undergoing either increased financial burdens in an already floundering economy, or, worse, seeking out illegal, unsafe abortions in desperation. And what happens to the kids who grow up in families who can’t support them? I’m not a doomsdayer who will say they will grow up to commit crimes and overflow our state prisons, but not giving women a choice, which is their choice to make based on their personal situation, does promise hardship where it’s possible to avoid it. And when women are already underpaid for doing equal work as their male counterparts (which John does not see as a problem), it’s hard to see American freedom behind that.

Meanwhile, while we’re discussing private rights, John supports wire-tapping policies outside of FISA. While he claims to be an advocate for reduced government, it doesn’t seem like this violation of privacy rights (though he still believes in free speech) is really going to save the government money or increase our homeland security. This is money that could be better spent.

If McCain is so well versed on foreign policy (his strongest issue out of all of those he and Obama will debate over the next few weeks), and so well traveled, why does he still make the mistake of claiming Iraq borders Pakistan? Maybe on his map of the future, Iran and Afghanistan won’t exist. And if he is so prepared to be commander in chief, how did he manage to lose five aircraft during his military career? Or for that matter, obtain a career after ranking at the bottom of his class (894 out of 899 graduates), while the “unqualified” Obama graduated at the top of his class at Harvard and was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review?

John slammed Obama for not attending any committee hearings on Afghanistan. How many hearings has John attended? Zero. Walk the walk, John.

Under a McCain presidency, we will proceed with multi-front wars we aren’t able to fund or maintain, and begin new ones with the likes of Russia, North Korea and Iran. This in turn will mean another five years (minimum) of devoting our budget to dealing with international disputes that had nothing to do with 9/11, only to be surprised when issues turn bad at home. We will continue a cold war and cut funding to any country we believe “doesn’t like us very much” instead of negotiating and reaffirming our allies and global stature. And we will continue to owe an enormous debt to China, which most likely will also fall into the category of nations that don’t look very fondly on us, but are still happy to control our money.

Lastly, what happens when the wars are over (potentially after 100 years)? Though he says he loves his fellow veterans, John doesn’t support the GI bill allowing them full scholarships upon returning from war.

But really, there are plenty of problems back at home. One that hits directly at home for me of course is gay rights. Let’s not even talk about marriage or civil unions. Under a McCain presidency, there’s no assurance to me that if my partner is hospitalized I would even be able to visit him or act on his behalf in that time of need. Further, McCain is in love with the patriotism of Americans, but will not allow some Americans express that patriotism based on who they love. He still believes “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is working, when it doesn’t allow gays to show the same support and fight for the country he wants us all to value. Where is his support for the value in our acceptance of diversity? Maybe his running-mate Sarah Palin can pray away the gay first, and then we can let them risk their lives for the rest of us.

Meanwhile, on the streets at home, what will we have? More guns. With larger magazines. John McCain has opposed restrictions on the guns we can carry, and for someone who supposedly doesn’t believe in big government, it’s funny that he also sponsored the policy overturning the local ban on guns in D.C.

And let’s not forget that pistol-packing Sarah Palin will at some point be up for president of the United States, whether it is at a timely or untimely end to John’s term. After her recent interviews and the reaction from the global stage, risking this means risking any remaining international credibility, for which she has shown little knowledge, curiosity or respect.

Under John McCain, we will have a president who has admitted to knowing nothing about computers, technology or the economy, and yet calls himself a maverick. We will be ruled by someone who didn’t think the economy had fundamental failures until this week. Who claims he warned of an impending financial crisis, but in a recent interview also said that no one, not even himself, could have seen this coming. So the economy will continue to tank. The majority of Americans will see an increase in taxes to support more Wall Street bailouts and no tax breaks will come to the middle class.

This doesn’t apply to McCain himself, of course; not only does he not know how many houses he owns, but he neglected to pay property taxes for four years.

Our social security systems, health care systems, and other fail safes for retirement and hard times will be privatized and thrown to the market to “increase competition”, where, if not given enough “big government” regulation, they could suffer the same fate as the rest of the economy that John knows so little about. Not to mention he plans to increase the retirement age. And raise social security taxes. And tax your company for health care benefits, offering appeasement credits that would quickly be surpassed by rising health care costs in his “competitive” system.

He is politics as usual. He is not change we can believe in. He has sided with George Bush 90% of the time. He has been in the Senate for years, but suddenly thinks he can accomplish change presiding over what will be a liberal Congress.

He opposes stem cell research, which might actually save his life and the rest of us from a Sarah Palin presidency.

He will build 45 new nuclear power plants, then transport and bury the waste in repositories like Yucca Mountain, where we’ve been warned for years of dangers regarding nuclear trickle down into the water table. The League of Conservation voters gave him a big score of zero when it comes to pro-environmental votes. Meanwhile he’s accepted $2 million from big oil and gave them additional tax breaks when they are gouging us everyday at the pump and seeing exponential profits. Will this ever trickle down to the American people? From the oil companies??? Maybe John wasn’t being naïve when he said he’s worried about the greed of the world. It’s apparent in his own daily dealings.

His other energy plans even off-shore drilling, which will not ease the gas burden, and won’t produce a drop of oil for five to seven years. Further, his running-mate has shown that she will irresponsibly pursue drilling without consideration for the environment or endangered species.

So if you are okay with that, by all means, please vote McCain-Palin in November.

The Freedom of Expression

While a heated campaign is being waged for the future of the country, your friends at Digital Freedom have been tearing up the trails, campaigning for the future of music. Across state and party lines, our coalition of artists, innovators and fans have joined hands in support of new technologies that allow instant connections between the creator and the consumer, free of a middle man.

Digital Freedom rocked the house during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, TX. Well, more accurately, we rocked the parking lot. Seven bands from Washington, DC drove in and rolled out a massive musical extravaganza to promote the benefits of fair use rights at the annual indie music festival. See the photos on Flickr and sample tunes from DF artists.

So what does digital freedom mean to artists? Just ask one of our favorite songwriters, digital rights spitfire Samantha Murphy, who has been busy weighing in on the advent of the digital indie artist:

“Whether you like it or not (and I happen to love it), the Internet and technology are front and center in today’s world. As artists, there’s nowhere we can’t reach and, for the first time, no one is standing in the way of our fans.”

You can read more from Samantha or watch her road show from SXSW, featuring producer Terry McBride (Nettwerk Records, Lilith Fair) and fellow Digital Freedom artists Jonathan Coulton and Middle Distance Runner.

Want to hear more about how artists are making their way in the digital age? Check out Gilli Moon’s new series on the artist entrepreneur.

Originally posted on CEA Digital Dialogue

Personal Branding

What movies do you like? What’s your favorite band?

If you’re about to say “I don’t know, I like so many,” or worse yet, “I like everything,” let me stop you right there.

When did our generation become so afraid of tethering something we like, anything at all really, to our own personalities? When did we begin to subscribe to the idea that the more we define ourselves, the more reason we give other people not to like us — or the more room for error we create on our all-too-short life journey.

The more chances we take and the more leaps made out of faith really do define us. But they also make us more genuine and infinitely more interesting.

Some decisions are easier than others. A political opinion may take longer to develop than finding the words to best convey what about Track 3 on your favorite album — you do have one, right? — made you want to cry. Recently I was invited to speak to a group of students who had been accepted to college, but were still undecided about their destinations, majors, and pretty much anything their parents hadn’t instructed them to do.

All of them had the same fear: picking a career was an irreversible decision that would lead them to a path they would be on forever, or at least long enough to careen off the road and curse themselves for not knowing at 18 years old what they should do over two more of their own lifetimes.

Well, when you look at it that way, yeah, it’s scary. But how many decisions are there in life that you can’t remotely take back? Just because you like something today, doesn’t mean you have to like it tomorrow. I changed my major multiple times, and I’m still developing what I want to do down the road.

I said to them, “Do you think I just go to work and then come home and go to bed?”

“No. I have hobbies. Just because you’re good at everything doesn’t mean you can capitalize on everything. I love photography, but don’t plan to earn a living on it. And I think my love for it would change if I did.”

I’ll admit, I’m a planner. I keep a list of things that make me happy and a list of long and short term goals. I also have some fine print on those lists knowing that at any time I could alter them completely, by my own doing or by the fact that I meet amazing people every day who bring brand new things into my life.

Being so hell-bent on creating a map for yourself just means that years from now, when you reach your mid-life crisis, you’ll have a paint by numbers checklist to feel guilty about because you never accomplished them. Not when you wanted, and not to the extend you wanted. And if you’re aiming that far out, how much of your goal-setting is going to be based on things that you should do, versus things you are ready to do? How many people from your high school already have husbands and babies and more babies on the way? Didn’t anyone ever hear of adoption or freezing their eggs or, for christsakes, condoms?

You’ve got all the time you need. What you don’t need are the omnipresent benchmarks you see on Facebook or on the summer wedding circuit. How many people are taking on mortgages just because that’s what they should do, or more grad school because they have no idea what they want to do?

Live in the now. Do what you like doing right now. And follow through with it whole-heartedly, no matter how ridiculous. If you’re passionate about something, it will keep you driven to go every morning instead of questioning “Why am I doing this? Why can’t I just be that guy?” That guy has nothing on you. So don’t just be yourself. Show yourself. And most importantly, learn to love yourself. Even in isolation. When everything else goes quiet, you’d be surprised what you learn you have to contribute.

Fischerspooner @ Webster Hall 5/8

With apologies to Ms. Spears, Casey Spooner is the true ringmaster — all eyes on him. Whether he truly is an egomaniac or just accesses this persona on stage matters little; even a casual observer would crown him a performance art powerhouse.

Casey’s crew consisted of five porcelain doll dancers conducting an avant-garde ballet, decked in torn leotards, bondage gear and whatever shiny things were left on the rack at American Apparel. Their movements were modern and frenetic, embellishing on the electrobeats with incoherent chatter and sadistic smiles to “The Best Revenge” and “A Kick in the Teeth” At times they were robotic and silent, others they darted around mirrors with motorcycle helmets, orbiting Casey in deliberate motions that forced the crowd to notice a lyric, bass line, or (of course) Casey himself. They attended to him with feathered capes, and in return, he played footage of their rehearsals and how they beat out hordes of dancers who never made the cut.

It was an eye-popping spectacle to say the least, and as Casey humbly noted before leaving the stage, “that is what they call a show.”

Originally posted on SHIFTdc.net.

Lily Allen @ 9:30 Club 4/17

Why we love Lily: she’s bawdy, doesn’t take herself too seriously, and she’s better than Katy Perry.

Yes, the bratty Brit came to the 9:30 Club Friday evening, supported by one of SHIFT’s favorite Seattle bands with the good sense to take their name from V for Vendetta.

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head and their lead tune Me + Yr Daughter weren’t familiar to the crowd of often teenaged Lilyputans, but the band relentlessly rocked through their set, resembling former energetic tourmates CSS. They may have arrived strangers, but they somehow proved DC can still dance.

Then out comes Lily. Our five foot faux-cockney girl was glammed up in a cut-off Betsey Johnson dress and glitter heels. To her credit, Miss Allen is an on-point performer, and sang most of her new record frolicking through a rollicking crowd, pacing solid tune after tune, and telling enough intimate and sardonic stories between each number to get through a pack of Marlboros.

She dedicated songs to her mum, dad and men who couldn’t seem to sex her right, and kept the crowd singing along to forty-five second versions of tracks from her first record, including LDN and Smile.

And as if there wasn’t a better town for it, she led us in a sea of bird flipping to F**k You, a one time kiss-off to George W. Bush.

The crowd was with her up until the last second, even through surprises like the Kaiser Chiefs’ Oh My God and her closing number, originally attempted by Britney Spears. Allen had recorded a slowed-down version of Womanizer, but neither that incarnation or the one she did with Ellen in the bathroom came out. Instead, she pulled a ferocious, full-on eat-me-Perez-Hilton curtain closer that left the crowd smiling in a sweat.

Rating: Everything’s just wonderful.

Originally posted on SHIFTdc.net.

When You Meet Her

She has a presence you must witness to understand. The kind that silences a room. That electrifies it. The kind that gives you shivers because you know you are in the presence of someone who has and will change the world. She is intelligent, funny, sincere and endearing. 

There is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s time as senator of New York and first lady of our country has given her the skills she needs to become our first female commander in chief. The woman is real. She acknowledges that she could give her audience the “rhetorical flourishes” her opponents have been known for, but instead she uses her time with us to get down to the specifics. Every plan is punctuated with who, what, when, why and how — and she demands that you hold her accountable. 

Simply, she offers solutions in place of words, solid ideas instead of promises.  

She has been to 82 countries and has the world written on the back of her hand. She asserts that when she is president, she will announce to the world that America is once again open for business. Her control over diplomatic issues is astounding, and she spoke in detail, continent by continent, from Iran to Darfur, explaining what needed to be done to heal our relations, regain our allies, work with our enemies, and take care of our veterans. She addressed the failures and need to reorganize FEMA, which has been dwarfed by the Department of Homeland Security, and the ways in which she will bring our troops home safely. 

Her illustrative anecdotes about a woman’s right to choose again called upon examples like Romania where women were commanded to carry five children regardless of their economic capabilities to a country like China, which forces abortion for fetuses exceeding its one child policy. Abortion, she said, should be legal, safe, and rare. Being pro-choice means encouraging other choices like adoption; she noted that her awareness campaigns in the mid-nineties reduced teen pregnancies by one third.  

She spoke of the economic promise in the development of alternative energy, focusing on solar and wind power, and calling for a post-Kyoto environmental policy that would address global warming globally, inviting our estranged allies to work with us again and address the economics behind our environmental dilemmas. Further, she made John Edwards proud by talking at length about poverty, the shortcomings of the economic stimulus package, and how foreclosures must be addressed for the housing market and America to bounce back.  

On college education, she told the story of student loan interest rising as high as 29%, calling for a return to a government controlled system that would not allow exorbitant, privatized fees.  

On some of her strongest platforms, healthcare and education, she stressed that Americans must hold themselves accountable, too, by taking good care of ourselves, our children, our personal fitness; helping kids by reading to them and working with them on their studies; by being energy conscious and more.  

Finally she talked about her own electability against Senator McCain, who will no doubt run on a platform involving the war and homeland security. She stated she looked forward to addressing the security of our nation, and felt prepared to take on her friend, showing how different they are on these issues.  

It was an emotional day. The crowds flowed over for four hours trying to enter the gymnasium to see her. For me, to hear someone speak with that much passion was emotional, bringing me near to tears several times. She has a kind voice, a wise one.  

For those of you who have yet to vote, please think about these things. We have had an eight year detour from where we should have been headed. We need someone who knows the pathway back. I believe Mrs. Clinton has the practical answers our country needs so that we can have a visionary like Mr. Obama someday. But first there is a lot of fixing to do.