A refusal to raise the debt ceiling for 'ideological reasons' ignores America's connection to economies throughout the world, and assumes we somehow control unforeseen events. We don't. 

In the same way a streak of bad luck can ruin an individual — losing a job, then falling ill, then losing a home — the same thing can happen to a country. Even if creditors could somehow be paid without raising the debt ceiling, our country is now so financially strapped that all it would take is an unforeseen natural disaster to unleash a chaotic, downward spiral. According to Munich Re, a German reinsurance company, Hurricane Katrina cost $125 billion in economic damage, Japan's mega-disaster cost $210 billion by the end of June.

The damage from our economic crisis is too enormous to suddenly wish it away and self-righteously declare we can't have more debt. Blinders off: It's way too late for that. 

It's also time to realize the economic crisis is so enormous only fools could expect it to be neatly solved by the next president-elect after George W. Bush. This baby may end up burning through two or three Presidencies before it's tamed.

I've been surrounded by creative types for years, so I pretty much forgot how differently we process information from our 'left brain' counterparts. (Left brain traits: logic, fact & detail oriented, linear thinking. Right brain traits: feeling, 'big picture' oriented, conceptual thinking).

Some negative comments with similar themes exposed areas of disconnect with my 3-Way Street video. Here's a few examples:

From a factual perspective, the video must be presented as time lapse over a measured period to accurately count numbers of infractions and by whom. This would be the ideal, except it makes for boring video given a 3-minute opportunity to make a connection.

This is New York, and you are wimp, so go back to where you came from. Yes, crazy traffic can be expected in big cities, but I believe the NYC  'bikelash' is due to people clinging to old habits. To move forward we have to make adjustments to what worked until now.

The facts show that fatality rates are low in NYC. Only 4 people are killed or injured a day in a city of 8.5 million, so what's the problem? I don't think the facts tell the whole story and they mask a quality of life problem. I also don't believe collateral damage is okay, here or abroad.

We are not automatons. I agree and don't want a police state, either. The solution is a mind-set change. People need to believe it is not socially acceptable to impede others, just so they can go first. This applies to pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists. Right now a large segment of the population thinks it's cool to just plow ahead, regardless of impact on the street grid. 

The comments made me think about politics and political parties and the different ways we perceive the same situations. It's no wonder the country is polarized: our brains are actually wired to process information, and propose solutions, differently. It's time we realized this, and let others express opinions without attacking them. I was insulted for being a 'visual artist' (quotes added by the hater), as if a 'visual artist' is someone unworthy of respect, a right-brainer not worthy of an opinion in a left-brain-dominated world.

We have a national inability to communicate without screaming. Where did this come from? I don't think from our parents. I suspect it comes from our politicians who gain power by beating down competitors to feed a base increasingly trained to think only in black and white. 

But our problems are shades of gray, and our brains work differently. That's okay. Problem solving involves collaboration, different viewpoints, and conversations that do not devolve into venom.

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Update: See 3-Way Street Part of New Approach to Driver's Ed 11/19/2011

That said, the video was designed to work within the context of a campaign that begins on the street level with a poster series, and leads to a website containing the video and education tied to the behaviors seen in the video.

Here are a few points to be stressed:

The video is not an attempt to say NYC streets are the most dangerous in the world. They are not. It is an attempt to clearly illustrate very specific behaviors — that if adjusted — would make a huge difference in our streets and our quality of life.

The video is not trying to be statistically relevant in terms of numbers of infractions per day or percentages. Existing statistic-based studies are great for research, but very boring to the general public who are the most important end-users of this information, and already largely ignore existing studies and corporate-feeling ad agency campaigns. The video is a carefully edited collection of clips shot during Summer/Fall 2010, intentionally chosen to graphically illustrate points of tension within NYC intersections, where 74% of all accidents in NYC occur. Does this make the piece subjective? Yes. Garbage? No. It is an artistic approach to a subject (street awareness and education) that up to this point has been treated very formulaically and without impressive results. 

The video is not about NYC bike lanes. The mention of bike lanes is relevant only to give a context to the large increase in cycling in NYC. The video focus is on a single intersection because that is where most confrontation happens between pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists — not mid-block on a bike lane.

The video does try to offer a solution (not only point out problems) by working in tandem with a street-level campaign with a clear focus on interconnection (NYC Goes Three Ways). The video is intended to live on a website that clearly discusses the bad habits that were highlighted in the video. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists each have a section that points out long-standing bad habits, and how to help break them. The bad habits addressed on the website are marked with text on the left hand side of the video.

To those who think the accident stats in NYC are not bad, and the street system 'regulates' itself, I disagree. The problem with a barely-functioning system is that it becomes very difficult or impossible to introduce change. And the same people who are obsessed with statistics and percentages are also obsessed with accident stats. But this is the wrong approach. Quality of life is the ideal and is not necessarily reflected in 'low' fatality stats. The conflicts highlighted in the video may be nothing more than invasions of personal space (or not) — but repeated block by block, day by day — they amount to an important quality of life issue, whether or not someone ends up dead or 'only' with a broken hip.

We are fortunate to live in a city trying to modernize and evolve. It is not good enough to be satisfied with old (selfish) thinking, behaviors, and street systems.

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Update: See A Left-Brain, Right-Brain Disconnect 6/15/11

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Update: See 3-Way Street Part of New Approach to Driver's Ed 11/19/2011

My master's thesis project at SVA focused on one intersection as a case study. The video aims to show our interconnected role in improving the safety and usability of our streets. The campaign is named '3-Way Street' and is made up of a poster series, a video and website. 

The website is still under construction while a possible partner is found.

Music: "Peter Gunn" by Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy, won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental of 1986. Available on iTunes.

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Update: See 3-Way Street Follow-Up 6/10/11

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Update: See A Left-Brain, Right-Brain Disconnect 6/15/11

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Update: See 3-Way Street Part of New Approach to Driver's Ed 11/19/2011

The link below takes you to interviews and promo videos for "Ideopolis", an exhibition of the Thesis projects of the SVA MFA Design class of 2011.

I never hear it anymore. 

During the growth phase of a nation, the experiment works fine because money pours in with the building of cities, businesses, infrastructure. Look at China.

But what happens after 200+ years and maturity sets in? 

The easy money is gone, and democracy — based on majority rule — becomes disfunctional. Majority doesn't necessarily mean smart, informed, correct or fair. It just means more.

Perhaps in the end the experiment doesn't work because spin and control become more important than solving difficult problems. 

It is not easy to fix a culture of quantity over quality. Pursuit of short-term gains worked for a few decades, but now we face the long-term ramifications: a broken economy, fast food as national cuisine, poor educational rankings and intense global competition we never saw coming.

Can a majority be relied upon to solve large, uncomfortable problems? 

I guess we'll find out between commercials, the latest playoff games and American Idol.

I'll be showing my portfolio for the first time in years. But how to do so when a print book no longer tells the story? Do interviewers still slog through tear sheets or work printed on photo paper?

I decided to create an iPad app of my work. It seems the best way to present recent work (including video), and to organize past work. It feels more of-the-moment than the moleskin print book I used prior to grad school. It's portable and satisfying, and shows a bit of tech savvy to pull it together.

Still, I'll have my old book hidden in my bag as a back up plan. If the iPad presentation goes over well, next time I'll try without the security blanket.