People say that travel opens your eyes to see more clearly where you come from. People say that we need to teach our children global competency. People say that the internet is changing everything and the First Global generation is poised to produce new kinds of leaders.
When my daughter lost Marge, her beloved doll, at age three, she told us the doll had gone on a trip to India for a while. Marge did not remember to take a camera, so we have no images of her adventures.
Both my kids, not yet school-age, have stamps in their passports. I am a well-traveled 40-year-old, but I didn't get my first passport until I was six. The kids are beating me already at one of my most-valued life pursuits.
We just spent a week at a resort south of Cancun, so nothing particularly exotic. There are better ways to raise a culturally conscious kid. However, since returning, I cannot stop thinking about the world, and how to experience more of it. So for the past week I've been surfing the web for inspiration from around the globe.
With just a few clicks, I'm connected to both the amazing (and atrocious) stories of what is happening on this planet. We can all, so easily, follow along, help fund, and learn lessons from these innovative projects.
Can bring these ideas, like souvenirs, home to Madison?
In Santiago, Chile, a dull plaza was transformed by a Shanghai-based group called 100architects. They say "You used to play in the street: Try it." Who paid for this, got the permits, invited this to happen? I don't know. But I think the idea is easy to copy and know of several 'dull plazas' in my landscape that could use some jazz hands.
In the Netherlands, it is common for people to have benches in front of their homes. They are on the sidewalk but are privately owned. It is accepted that anyone can use the bench and that no special permission is needed from the city to put the bench there. And, of course, there are no concerns about lawsuits or homeless campers. Ah, the Netherlands, land of loveliness, right? BenchesCollective riffs off the Restaurant Week model: For one day, folks offer something to the public using the benches for the setting.
Here in Madison, we have porches...
Markets are universal. The world over, you can count on the fact that people have to sell and buy food. When traveling, markets are the best places to visit. Our Farmers Markets are wonderful, but I'm so hopeful that soon, we'll (once again) also have covered public markets.
If you haven't yet heard, East-Sider Meghan Blake-Horst is attending the International Public Markets Conference in Barcelona, Spain. She is the power-house visionary behind MadCity Bazaar, which will be popping-up on the corner of E. Wash and 1st Ave two weekends a month from May through September.
I'm so excited that it is her style, and sensibility, that will help shape the Madison market scene of the future.
What are your global inspirations? How would they look, and work, here?
No comments:
Post a Comment