Last Sunday and next Sunday at 11:00 in the morning I dedicate to procuring groceries. My young friend is so busy with school and parttime work that he can help me then. But today was mine. In bare feet and calico dress I sat at the computer and read the usual morning newsletters I subscribe to. With no intention of turning on MTP with Rove, or any other MSM talk shows, I wondered if I could find something “different.” Gone were the days of watching that punditry to gain a little insight into current events as I prepared food to make next week’s meals after work. Gone were the years of piloting little souls and their teachers at Sunday School. I would check the mail to see everyone was safe and think about hurricanes in Jamaica, lost Chinese miners, a flood in Minnesota, and the innumerable questions of what the pols were doing. They, by their own design, were undoubtedly pressing the flesh for maximum coverage in tomorrow’s MSM coverage.
Bare feet probably lit the spark. I’m a schoolgirl with an afternoon to spend between morning and evening chores on the farm. So I head for the old schoolhouse on Sundays to see what I could read. There was a flyspecked globe and a set of World Books. All other books I had long since read. I thought of how arbitrary it was to color nations in pastel with sharp blacks dividing them. At the least, why couldn’t China be yellow, for that is what I’d been told about its people. Encyclopedias never quite answered my real questions of just what it was like to live in another part of the world and be like someone other than me. These days I think of that experience as tons of literature pours in about globalization.
One weekly newsletter I read comes from politicalcortex.com. Perhaps IntrepidLiberal had something to say which would lead me to a journey of mind and spirit. This is an easy address to get there, although I did not catch his interview with David Korten. I sidewound into a bio of Korten and found it interesting. Decided to make a piece of toast for pills and eat later. The link slipped, for the podcast, but I was careful to see that Rob Kall’s blog got it before they went to press today. Sure enough, that turned out well, and here is the link.
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=40511
Replacing the Empire Culture: A Podcast Interview With Author David Korten
In the meantime, I was anxious to see what Korten had to say, so I found a YouTube site provided by peakmoment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n7prGOvyGU
A half-hour interview there was very interesting. Always aware of the need to place tags in my mind, I thought I was looking for “empirical analysis of imperialism” and I guess that’ll do. I ended believing I learned the right lessons as a girl. When the time came, I realized that it takes nations to make empires, of which I may have written here before. And I remember one of my African-American computer students (peanut butter colored) who was one of several Black Muslim men in my classes. Great student! He told me that nations are obsolete. Well, maybe a little too surgical, but food for thought. I’d go for a definition of people-oriented as opposed to commerce-oriented globalization. Korten has travelled that journey. Check out a bio: http://www.davidkorten.org/bio.htm When I saw how his experiences took him to new insights, I realized there are others who have caught the gleam of the future far clearer than I. For my part, I believe I was most influenced by Lester Thurow’s “Future of Capitalism” which he considered uncertain in this 1995 book. Maybe there is a bridge to somewhere.