When I saw this post on the great Bad Banana Blog- a site who’s fantastically witty Twitter profile beguiles the design and art oriented site and makes one wonder if they are even connected – I was struck by a thought:

Give me the means to build my dream and I will

Looking at these images, there is not much practical value to the design of the Hergé Museme. I mean that in the truest definition of practicality, a crooked staircase is not the easiest to climb. Although, even given my green interest in design and architecture, I appreciate the art involved. There is something to Christian de Portzamparc who designed Hergé. Someone, maybe many people, gave de Portzamparc enough latitude, trust, money and faith to build his vision (and honor Hergé).

What would you do with enough latitude, trust, money and faith to build your vision? Do you have a dream that you could articulate and bring to fruition?

In the traditional sense most of us, and the same was probably true for Christian de Portzamparc, will need to prove ourselves over a series of small, incremental steps. To propose a radical idea, no matter how committed you are to it, is a risky thing. I love imagining both the confident creative “ah-ha” that de Portzamparc must have experienced juxtaposed against the frightful, risk that came with presenting this design.

I’m inspired by this building, its impracticality and its existence. It is someone’s vision and to bring a vision this unique to reality deserves applause in itself. What great ideas go unfulfilled because someone doesn’t present them, or worse, someone else is unreceptive? How many great things are built as the result of taking a chance on something seemingly risky?

See the rest on Bad Banana

I am not a huge fan of the “personal brand” sentiments. Something about pushing yourself on people rubs me the wrong way.
That said, I do really like the idea of controlling your own identity online. After all, if you don’t own it, someone else will!

In the past I have used iWeb and .Mac to compile a list of all of my internet profiles. The challenge was remembering them all and keeping up with the static page. Google has recently introduced Profiles ( Google.com/profiles) where you can claim your identity across the net. It appears that the more your tell it, the smarter it gets. Start with creating a profile and linking to your homepage or twitter account. Pretty soon google starts finding other sites on the net that appear to belong to you – facebook, flickr, vimeo, etc. Additionally, when someone searches for your name, your google profile will appear at the bottom of the search results. That means the likelyhood of someone finding the real you is much higher.

Not only is Google Profiles a great way to control your presence online, it is a powerful aggrigrator of our online selves. Take a look at mine – www.google.com/profiles/nickpdawson and you’ll see what I mean. Things get even more fun when you use a vanity domain and point it to your profle. In my case, I have used NickDawson.ME which redirects to google profile. A profile and a .ME domain is an easy way to share your online contacts with anyone. Imagine creating a business card with nothing but your .ME address. “Want to reach me, here is a one stop shop”.

As young girls Zhanna and her sister Frina were separated from their Ukrainian Jewish parents during WWII. At the end of the war the two talented musicians who were discovered by a US government official, my grandfather, himself a devoted music lover. Larry Dawson helped arrange for them to travel to the United States. They were proceeded by only a letter to my grandmother. There was a lot of speculation about the trauma the two hand endured but few detailed had survived the years.

After living for a period with my Grandmother and her young children, both girls went on to attend the prestigious Julliard school of music in New York. Zhanna eventually married Larry’s brother.

Now the full heartfelt and moving story is being told;  how the girls were able to survive and how music played such an important role in their survival. Greg Dawson has published Hiding In The Spotlight. As a family we could not be more proud of this story and wish Greg much success.

Greg will be in Richmond Virginia, speaking at the Library of Virginia on Friday June 18th from 6:00pm – 7:00pm to speak about his book and the increadable story of Zhanna and Frina. Details can be found on Greg’s site here.

I have been refining those thoughts, as well as correcting some typos and am excited to say that Social Pulse is nearing version 1.0 status. To make it easier to find, there there is now a dedicated page on this site that will always link to the latest version. You’ll find it at www.nickdawson.net/socialpulse