civics

Creativity And Freedom

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Creativity cannot be separated from Freedom; it is the source of it and the result of it.  Share it, encourage it, understand it.

Creativity allows people to think in new ways that both liberates and maintains liberty. The creative can dream around problems, finding new solutions when none were apparent.  The creative are harder to constrain by despots, as they have the tools to out-think oppressors.  The hopeful tyrants cannot face down dreams they know nothing about.

The despot worries in his throne room, heart racing.  Someone is out there who can find solutions, communicate in new ways, invent new treasons.  The despot fears you and doesn’t even know your name.

Creativity strengthens the people that treasure it.  Society is stronger for the news ideas the creative people bring.  The imaginative see dead ideas and infuse them with new life, resurrecting the lost things of value. Creative people can see the foundations of society and connect them to their innovations, joining past and present, the new and the renewed.

A single shining inspiration in your mind and old ideas come alive, history is connected, and you can see how ancient thoughts and new dreams come together.  Centuries and aeons link together in new strengths and old wisdom.

Creativity strengthens relations among people allowing them to support each other.  The creative are open to new relations among people because they can dream.  The creative find new connections among people, building alliances that resist tyranny.  The creative discover new ways to understand others and cooperate in ways unforeseen.  A web of connections and associations and alliances makes people all the more resilient.

Those that create are your allies, and a single conversation can create a year’s worth of dreams.  A moment’s pause lets you see everyone new.  You reach out to make new friends easy.  What tyrant doesn’t fear a web of collaborators who can out-dream them?

Creativity should be encouraged and shared among people.  To arm people with creativity is to give them tools to find meaning and protect themselves and others.  To share with other people builds connections and camaraderie, creating alliances that maintain the society. The sharing and encouragement of creativity is a measure of the strength of society.

Once someone lifted you up and said you could create.  Now you can reach out to others, teach them to use their creativity.  Each person so encouraged is an ally and a beacon.  Connection spreads from the outstretched hand.

Creativity is the result of freedom.  Because new thoughts can come to mind, the unthinkable becomes possible.  As old ideas can be seen anew, the foundations of society are renewed.  Because new ideas are encouraged, society can change and evolve.  As people encourage creativity, alliances are built.

– Steve

Civic Diary 1/7/2016

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

A bit under the weather, but here’s the latest Civic Diary.  For my new readers who aren’t familiar with this, I document my attempts to be a better citizen about twice a month or so.  It was once a week but things got busy – and twice a month seems more effective.  So what have I learned and tried.

Political Groups And Activist Groups

This last week I went to another meetup of a group I’m joining – and found I’d scheduled it right during a vital planning/org meeting.  A good bit of advice here is that, when trying to join a group, keep their schedule in mind.  They’re operating on one separate from you – theirs.

It looks like I’m going to get involved in group communications so stay tuned on that.  I’d have more to update on that but the person I’m talking to has been sick.

This also brings up something important – in the past I was frustrated when interesting groups were hard to get ahold of. But considering how people have active lives, holidays interrupt, etc. I think I was being unfair.  Give your various activist groups a chance.

Also post-election I am seeing a lot of people get more involved in politics and community – and bring their business skills.  So what are you bringing?

Bringing Friends A Long

To help my friends out I’ve keeping them informed of who I’m calling and what I’m doing, and trying to get one involved in communications.  We may not want to talk Big Things with friends or politics, but the truth is social connection is what makes society a society.  Involve them.

Staying Informed And The News

I’ve purchased an actual subscription to an excellent local newspaper as my way of supporting good news.  A bit unsure of who else to support as there’s some amazing things to subscribe to.  If you pay for news, after all, you’re helping fund it, and it may be somewhat more objective.

Most news organizations have been erratic about quality the last few years.  I’ve wondered if I should add more writing of letters and calling to express concerns to my schedule, still thinking of how.

Documentation

Now for something odd, but interesting.  I’m documenting my experiences more.

First, I’m building a Civic Involvement outline.  This helps me but also is a way to help friends and others get involved.  At some point I’ll probably put it on CivicGeek.com or something.

Secondly, I’v taken to documenting my political and civic views.  I want to codify them more, think them over.  It’s been pretty enlightening already.  Imagine writing a book, over time, consisting of your various jotting on politics – and thinking of how they cohere.  It helps you understand yourself.

 

That’s what I’m up to.  What about you?

 

– Steve

Civic Diary: 12/19/2016

by

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Been awhile since I did these, huh?  Well back at it as always.

So let’s get this out of the way – very little was going to change no matter who won the election. As I’ve noted I think Trump is basically going to be an awful president in a historically bad way, so I may be moving a bit faster, but a lot of what I’m doing was already in the plan.  There’s a reason for that.

Really simply, I’ve realized over the last few months we’re really not that good at civic engagement in America. I’d been assembling a plan of what to do and how to get better at it for myself, some of it driven by the realization that “man, we could do this better.” In fact I could have done a whole lot better as a citizen in my life and didn’t.

How bad? Take the worry over President Trump – or anyone who’s President. The President is (or should) be one person in the system, but we too often ignore the rest of the system.  How many people vote only for President? Or never higher than Congress? How many think of the entire social-political system and if it’s working anyway? Do they look at local issues?

So here’s what I’ve been up to:

Staying Informed

Seriously, keep following news. I’ve got a news feed reader set up and my Twitter. I also mail/forward myself news I want to follow up on – if say I want to read more, call a representative, etc.

I also created a “Debunking” Twitter feed to follow up on debunking news from various sources, considering the amount of B.S. out there.

Regular Donations

I picked ten groups whos mission I support and set up either monthly donations or subscriptions/memberships. I reccomend you do the same – make it automatic. This depends on what you can afford, but hey, its something.

Auditioning Groups And Getting Involved

My goal is to get involved in two political groups/orgs, so I’m going to events and finding where I can get involved.  It certainly makes you think – maybe you help out with a local campaign but when that person is in congress you can have more influence. Range (and indeed “local”) aren’t always clear.  I’ve got an idea of one group I’ll probably join for a specific position, and I’m looking at others – with the possibility of actually doing some direct work with local government.

Let’s be blunt – if you want to make a difference, become involved and do something.

Working The Phones And Mails

Something I did once a week I’ve come to realize works better once a day give or take:

  • Call/write your congresspeople, governor, state reps, or even mayor if there’s anything you want them to address.  Try calling in-state offices and ask for specific actions. Do it daily if you have to.
  • Also call any of your representatives or others who have done things you agree with to thank them.
  • Call media companies or write them on their coverage of important issues.

So what’s next?

A few more things I want to do next

  • Subscribe to some news sources, including local. Keeping up on local issues is often forgotten so I want to stay informed. I’m also looking at subscriptions as gifts if I want to support a given news company.
  • Read up more on politics to better think about issues (I assume that happens with time, but the latest crazy makes me realize there’s a lot of subtletlties).

Hope these give you ideas!

– Steve