Tis the Season, or, You're of no use where you're not.

It's 6:25. I'm still in my office. It's dark out, so I had to actually turn on my fluorescent lights. I detest fluorescent lighting. I have this theory that it sucks out your soul, creativity and will to live. And people say I'm overdramatic.

So, if the fluorescent lighting doesn't make things saucy enough, my iTunes just got to "lonely Goatherd" from the sound of music. Seriously. Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo.

Just when the song seems to have gone on forever, the iTunes transition magic occurs, seamlessly, and I'm now at Gwen Stafani's "Wind It Up," which, as it were, samples "Lonely Goatherd." This is not intentional placement - it was a random occurrence that led to a seamless transition. This is one of life's wonderful moments. Truly.

It has been well over a month since I've posted, and I'm going to own that. I have several drafts of blogs in the queue, but never got around to publishing them. These things happen.

Time, though a social construct, guides our lives. I was thinking 'bout the concepts of time and money the other day. I changed my checking account to some other version of a checking account that gains interest and has no ATM fees. I have no idea what it was, but the no ATM fee excited me, so the transition occurred. It occurred to me that my money was not sitting in a vault somewhere. There was a computer that controls my money with a string of 0s and 1s. This disturbs me - since physical money or the system on which it is based has no reality. It's all a social construct.

Time is the same way. We move about our days in strings of meetings, agendas, to do lists, and deadlines. This is much more an American philosophy - at least it wasn't present when I lived and worked in England. The only time construct that existed there was tea at 3 (which never included tea, but rather beer from the White Horse Pub outside the VEI building where I worked) and family. Holiday from June - August. Weekends on the mainland. Time was a way of living life.

Here, time takes away life, if we allow it. By the way, right now, "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is playing. How very eclectic.

I want to get into why things are so busy. In addition to the typical MSP stuff. There are some exciting, upcoming things which you will be among the first to be privy.

First, on a CulturePulse note. CulturePulse has been in conversations with the ND Council on the Arts to expand statewide. A state-wide culturepulse would be an amazing advancement for the state's arts and culture presenters as well as artists. I will get into the specifics at another time, but know this is a very exciting future.

Also, there are three arts organizations who are looking to move to the next level, and are planning a "merger" of sorts. I can't disclose the three arts organizations yet, but this concept would create the 2nd largest arts organization in the community, both in terms of staffing and budget. I believe they would be the largest presenting organization in the state, in terms of programming. This is one of my personal projects, and I'm uber excited about it. I'll provide details here as the happen - but this will really put a fire under these organizations.

Lastly, and this is far too early to give any details, but the concept of a community collaborative arts center has taken leaps forward, and look for more on that to come in 2007.

These three projects dominate all of my nonwork spare time, and leave room for little else.

I went back to Iowa last weekend for an alumni board meeting at my alma mater Waldorf. In a very exciting turn of events, somehow managed to end up president of the board. I now have the honor of speaking at graduation commencement, so it's a good thing I kept my cap, gown and hood. While driving back, I decided to stop in Iowa and visit my friend Chase, who I just recently met at Waldorf Homecoming. I was very glad I did. Though I was with someone I barely knew, It was amazing alone time for me. It was reflection time. It was a time to discuss anything, or nothing.

It was one of those amazing, awe inspiring moments that seemed like a half hour, but was really 5. Seriously. We met for coffee at 5:30, and finally got out of the coffee shop at 10:30. After that, I was able to sleep again.

Note: prior to that, I'd had this annoying insomnia for almost a month - going on only 2-3 hours of sleep a night. Hated it.

One of the most amazing things to come out of the conversation was very much a "grass is greener" situation. Since both of us have traveled abroad extensively in our college days, we were bantering about what it meant for us to be in Grand Forks and Sioux Falls, respectively. We were talking about lives of service. We were talking about making a difference. The question came up, well, couldn't we make a difference no matter where we are?

Chase, gave response in the form of a quote. "You are of no use where you're not."

Think about that. Ponder it. See if it causes a transformation.

Then get out there and make a difference.