Mystic, CT - Signs of the Times

I really liked the old sign identifying Mystic that you see in this blog.  I assume that the first sign one sees coming off of I-95 that has been taken down will be replaced by the style of the new sign at the train station.  I have no objection to the new sign.  I also do not think that the citizens of Mystic need to hold an election to express our opinions and decide the way the sign should look.  That would be a fine New England custom.  However, the power of graphic representations is widely acknowledged.  What does our town and the institutions in it symbolize to ourselves as well as to outsiders?  At the same time I asked this question I have wondered how the change in population since 1990 might affect our answer to the question.  1990 - 2,618; 2000 - 4,001; and 2010 - 4,205  Population change is only one of the factors that causes shifts in our perceptions of ourselves as well as the way people perceive us.

Light and Darkness - Holy Week

. The image on the right demonstrates how contrast and comparison exceed what can be accomplished by placing light and darkness side by side.  Just showing light or just showing darkness is less evocative.  Placing them together exceeds what either light or darkness by themselves can effectively communicate.  So it is with metaphor.  The words, "Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness" (Ecclesiastes 2:13) demonstrates how the metaphor of light and darkness along side wisdom and folly provides the reader with an "excess."  For many Christians this Holy Week is a time when the movement from light (Palm Sunday) to darkness (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) to the brilliant light of Easter creates an excess of meaning. 

Bagels

Given the local discussion of bagels especially around the superb bagels at Wide World of Bagels http://www.wideworldofbagels.com/ I thought people might be interested in the article in ConsumerReports May 2012 pp 8-9 that gives a rating of national brand's of bagels.  Therefore our own WWB is not included.  It would be interesting to see if people agree with the definition of a "proper bagel."  Of course taste is a relative matter.  I will stick with WWB.  Bring on the bagels. 

(Note: I wonder if ConsumerReports realized that they could not be objective since the second letter in their name as depicted on the magazine and online is a bagel.  Just a little fun for Monday morning.)

Religious Holidays

 

Jews and Christians prepare for important religious celebrations.  Is it possible to fully celebrate these individual remembrances as well as recollecting what holds all humanity together?  We sometimes pit our own religious perspectives against the common good without realizing that much of the time these differences can contribute to the common good.  Our other complication is that we sometimes see that our religious perspectives are the only one's that foster the common good.  I would like to commit myself to identifying ways to work with people of all faiths, and even those who find faith commitments to be an impediment, to build a more just just society.    

Share your ideas and actions about ways we can both build stronger personal commitments while vigorously working with all peoples. 

Community Values

Has the Mystic community identified the values that drive our interests?  I am sure there must be some core values that have resided in the hearts and minds of residents.  Have they changed or evolved? 

Every time a budget, corporate or individual, is set one expresses their core values.  In the recent discussions about libraries, ambulances, and public education funding we are expressing our values. 

Have we fostered discussions with individuals and groups about how their core values match or challenge some of the longstanding core values?  Let's enter an online discussion among Mystic residents, our neighboring citizens, and for that matter any community that is discussing community values.

The Journeys of Our Lives - Presentation and Discussion

YOU ARE INVITED

Simplicity and Law 8 on Trust

John Maeda in The Laws of Simplicity (The MIT Press, 2006) tells about learning to swim as an adult. Swimming was not easy until he learned one simple experience. He relates the way his unorthodox swimming instructor taught.  He says the instructor spent most of his time telling him to "lean back" and trust the water.

I kept waiting to learn how to swim, but in the meantime became more comfotable just leaning back or bending forward in the water.  A formative moment occurred when he (the instructor) told us to go ahead and flap our arms and feet, and suddenly I was swimming!  I realized I could always swim--I just didn't trust the water.

He thought of this experience when he visited Bang and Olufsen, the high styled designer of electronic equipment.  They did not focus on the quality of sound but the "quality of leaning back."  Bang and Olufson needs to know about sound but the sound also needs to know about the listener.  

Trust is simple or is it complex?