Posted by giveawayboy on April 24, 2002 at 23:33:39:
In Reply to: Re: John, did you see Curitiba post above? posted by jnvn on April 24, 2002 at 20:58:07:
: bill i have been meaning to respond to the curitiba thing as well. i have to say, i've been thinking about it ever since in a sort of somewhat-irresponsible daydreaming kind of way about moving there. i went and checked out the links you put up about curitiba. man that is freaking COOL. i had thought that you just had some pen pals there you wanted to visit, i didn't realize the depth of what you were about, the things you had found there.
: i have to admit i was thinking that if i could keep my job and work long distance and live in an awesome city and save 80% of my salary (hehehe) all i'd have to do would be to learn portugese. even with all the neat stuff they are doing there i'd still be worried about political risk though, kidnappings and whatnot of americans are pretty common down there from what i hear. well there are a lot of reasons why it wouldn't be practical of course, but anyway its interesting enough to start me daydreaming. what if i started a company down there? sheesh, the possibilities are endless. i could work half the year (assuming i could contract with americans long distance) and spend the other half writing or working on programming projects i want to pursue. yeah, its a time-money equation. i'm a bohemian! i'm a capitalist! i'm a greedy american death sucker!
Wow! Thanks for a great response to my post Jnvn. I guess I was inspired by reading about the successes of Curitiba. It is not so much about going there myself anymore (still would like to visit) but I want to see if I can bring the same attitude (one that believes change is possible, and one that doesn't feel that politics is entirely sinister) into my local world of Tampa, Florida. This is why I really like people like Març's friends who work for a better community. If I can learn from the example of a community who fought off a thoroguhfare through town w nothing but children and crayons, then I apply that lesson to specific situations in my community. This is how I viewed my time studying Lakota and other native American cultures, especially the Hopi, with their teachings about blending with creation. If I can learn a principle from their wisdom, or if I can embrace meanings from their myths, then I have something I can apply locally, in a local way. Also, the more I think about a city, and a spiritual environment, the more I see them as the same thing. Perhaps I'm looking at the 'city of god', but desiring it to incarnate here in Tampa. This is the right way to think I believe. I think that John might agree with some of this. I'm not trying to 'be Brasilian' or 'be indian' or 'be a Hopi', but I'm trying to learn how to apply those things that I learn in those contexts to the space where I live. I think we can all do this. We need to realize that if we love a city we can make her great!
Bill
P.S. For some reason right now I am recalling something about Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, but I'm not sure what it has to do with applying these lessons. I think it might be like some kind of library encrusted on the back of our minds that we rarely visit or maybe never discover. Some sort of communication thing. That's it! We are throwing powerful symbols!