Check my big new idea out here.
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A Project to Change the World, or at least Education
December 2, 2008 – 12:15 am
Last week I ran my new idea for a business by a few people. David Fisher, Maui’s SBA guy, thinks it’s “hot” and thought that it might be useful for his business courses. Kawika Kekaula, the new director for the Hawaiian program at the Neighborhood Center of Wailuku, jumped on it as a basis for his program. (Kawika did an amazing series on Hawaiian values on Radiopio this year!) Patricia Inman, founder of Home School Learning Network, wants to be the system architect. Les Vogel outlined all of the functions for the development of the system and told me that none of it would require any substantial new tech development. My husband and closest friends ask all the difficult questions and make me think.
Here it is, so far: I’m envisioning a “merit badge” system for achievements on a wiki-type website. It might be called Ohana Pono and, if so, people would earn Pono Awards. (Laura Civitello, queen bee and muse of Radiopio, thinks that this name sucks on a bunch of levels. I’m thinking that because people can pronounce “obama” they can now pronounce “ohana.” She’s concerned about deeper issues).
Anyone can design (using a template), edit, teach, earn, tag, rate, or link a Pono Award. Awards can be for raising a puppy, mastering multiplication facts, or organizing a fundraiser. Each Pono includes vocabulary, concepts, skills/activities, and an application of that skill/knowledge in the community.
The first Pono Awards will be each of eight or nine Hawaiian/universal values. Also the first Awards will be for writing/designing the Pono Awards and using the Ohana Pono system. A Pono Award may be consciously earned or can be awarded by a colleague, teacher, fellow volunteer, etc. for recognition of achievement.
Ohana Pono involvement will be recorded on facebook type/social networking pages. Your page shows what you’ve earned, taught, designed, and/or edited. Your qualifications as a teacher/grantor of a Pono Award will be on the page. You can link to your projects, maybe on youtube or flickr, and people can see how you earned a particular Pono Award.
Ponos can be tagged/categorized as “basics for citizenship” or “qualifications for firemen.” They can be linked to references, to how others achieved this Pono, and to other similar Ponos.
The system will spread using the Obama campaign system: Paid field organizers meet 1:1 with community people and arrange house meetings where videos are shown and stories told. Field organizers sign people up to try the system and help them use it. They locate sponsors, collect data, make/meet goals, and suggest ways to improve the whole system.
The system is self-supporting. Individuals and local businesses could sponsor Ponos. Verification and/or certification services could form up. It could be a resource for employers for those who opt in.
The idea is BIG. It may be something else in a week. It’s moving from my mind, to my friends and family, and now here. Soon it will have its own site and blog. Keep in touch.
Labor, Birth, a New Nation, a New Idea
November 21, 2008 – 10:42 am
We Obama people have been pregnant, enduring an enormously long gestation, and then a painful labor, until, finally, Joy! we gave birth to a wonderful new being.
We’re not sure yet exactly what to do with it. We crazy about this new being but it’s a lot of responsibility and demands a whole different focus and set of priorities, and we’re not sure what those are yet.
My conception started with Barack Obama’s speech at the DNC in 2004. I read his books, followed him on tv, and voted for him in the primaries. The day after watching Sarah Palin accept the vice presidential nomination, I called the national Obama campaign office and told them that I could do anything and go anywhere. They sent me to Ohio.
I spent 6 weeks in Ashland, Ohio campaigning for Obama. I became part of the community-organizing, data-collecting, goal-setting, goal-making, heart-wrenching, focused, dedicated network that was a movement. My husband joined me for 2 weeks and went door to door, called, and even entered data.
I came home a couple of weeks early, feeling the need to get back to Maui for the final event. We made calls to Nevada from our house and then watched the fabulous (!) win (!) on Election Day with our neighbors.
The morning after the election, after months of living by my instincts and my gut feelings, of not knowing what I wanted to focus on, of letting my book, coaching practice, my life at home go, I woke up with a new idea.
I woke with a vision of how to completely evolve education as we know it. A way to reschool school. Community-based, data-driven, networked, self-organizing and scalable. But most of all, like the Obama campaign, respectful, inclusive, and inspiring.
I think, Oh, Lynn, are you sure you want to write this? It’s weird. It sounds egotistical and manic. It’s too big. And then I think, No. It’s not me. It’s the idea. It will work. Everything I know points to it.
I’m going to start small, with people who get it, and work my ass off. There is absolutely nothing more important.
Yes, it’s possible. Yes, we can.
Why I’m voting for Obama
September 10, 2008 – 1:54 pm
The ethical and strategic leader of the Obama campaign is Barack Obama. His message of hope and honesty is clear.
The ethical and strategic leaders of the McCain campaign are Karl Rove’s people. They write negative and fear-based speeches. They selected his vice president. They perpetuate same kind of lies that got us into the war in Iraq and that support corporate shenanigans in every part of our economy.
How cynical and desperate of John McCain to so profoundly compromise himself by hiring the very people he condemned a year ago and beat him in the last campaign.
We can not let these people prevail again.
Why the presidential campaign is heartbreaking
September 9, 2008 – 7:13 pm
The country is polarized, neighbors are polarized, and entire families are polarized.
My friend spoke to her father in southern Indiana. He said that he’s undecided but he can’t talk with anyone about politics because it causes trouble. She wrote a letter to her father about why she is voting for Obama. Her sister wrote a long, furious letter back supporting McCain/Palin and attacking my friend.
Last week my mother told me that she’s voting for McCain because of Sarah Palin. She also added that Obama doesn’t know anything.
I lost it. How could my own mother be so ignorant? Even if you disagree with him on the issues, you have to acknowledge Obama’s intelligence and knowledge!
But then I settled down. My mom can’t relate to the Harvard Law Review or how community organizing plays out as a national movement or an African American man’s life in Hawaii, Chicago, and Washington. As a white, small town mother of five, my mother understands Sarah Palin.
I understand Barack Obama. I have been a community organizer. I live in Hawaii where people of mixed race feel at home, where white people like me are in the minority.
I feel a little sad. The most important topic of the time is off limits between my family members and me. Although it’s heartbreaking to see such division, fear, and anger, it’s part of a process.
America’s growing pains.
Anger doesn’t help. Understanding does.
Vote for My Manifesto!
May 26, 2008 – 10:14 pm
OMG, it’s been five months since my last post. I have finished a short story and an essay, and I’m working on my new book. I’ll post the story and essay soon. Meanwhile. . .
I need your vote! Check it out here at changethis.com.
I submitted a proposal for a manifesto for change called “How to be Married.” People vote for their favorites. If selected, the full manifesto goes up on the website.
Here’s my proposal:
Traditional roles and rules for marriage have evaporated. According to the $40 billion wedding industry, marriage is still the dream and the ideal, but half end in divorce. The advice out there isn’t working. Too many of us are winging it. This is a call for a new kind of marriage. Don’t commit to an institution. Commit to creating a great life together. Commit to marriage as a design space and as a learning space. Don’t work at it. Play with possibility. Forget compromise. Identify what’s important to you both and get creative. Expect chaos. The creative process always involves chaos. This kind of marriage is not for sissies. It will challenge you and grow you. Gandhi said that he learned the principles of nonviolence in his marriage. Change your marriage. Change the world. This manifesto lays out the ground rules.
So far, it has 27 votes and it’s #6. I haven’t even told any of my friends. The deadline’s June 2.
Please send this on!
Happy New Year!
January 21, 2008 – 6:21 pm
It’s January 21 already! How did that happen? Here’s a wrap-up of last year and the latest news for this year.
2007 was very exciting. Men Are Easy was published and released in March and this is what happened:
- National distribution with Borders and Barnes & Noble, stocked and discounted by Amazon.
- Nine Borders book signings in Hawaii and California.
- 25 television appearances throughout the U.S.
- Featured in the five Honolulu International Airport bookstores in August
- Interviewed on American Airlines’ Sky Radio for December.
A friend spotted it in the Navy Pearl Harbor PX in December and another spotted it featured in the front shelf of a Borders in Los Angeles. It sold well in Palo Alto and Cambridge, MA. You can find it in libraries across the U.S.
My geek side was also fulfilled. I attended and presented papers at two outstanding conferences: the Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in Tokyo and the International Conference on Complex Systems in Boston.
For the third year, I took part in Len Troncale’s systems science course. A group of seven to ten engineers, social scientists, computer scientists, and biologists from China to London met weekly by powwownow.com’s phone conferencing to discuss the features and functions of natural processes and how they apply in our various fields.
This year is looking even brighter.
Just last week I was interviewed live by Maryanne Comaroto whose radio program receives over 1 million listeners throughout the world. You can listen to the January 8 interview here.
Also last week I was notified that a Turkish publisher wants to by the rights to publish Men Are Easy in Turkey! Who would’ve thought?! More rights deals are in the works. I’ll keep you posted.
My blog, The Easy Weekly, is no longer weekly or easy. My writing is now going into a new book rather than into weekly tips. Maybe I’ll save the tips for a little ebook. We’ll see. . .
But the best news? Almost every day I hear how Men Are Easy has changed someone’s life.
From now on, when I read a good book, I’m emailing the author!
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