Brock { Abroad }

“Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird, has a great chapter called Shitty First Drafts that’s all about getting over those internal voices that tell writers that what we’re writing sucks. The essay is all about accepting those voices, realizing that they’re going to be there for as long as you’re doing something creative, and then doing the only thing you can do: press on.”                                                                                      -http://thewriterscoin.com

On that note, here is a “shitty first draft” from a recent trip I took to Rome. More to come on the venue the Short Theatre Festival was at. Called the New Economy, it was quite an inspiring location. Check out the photography from the location here. Until then, however, here are my initial impressions:

Like sardines packed in a tin can, our Easyjet landing provides me with a view of land on one side and sea on the other. Sun seeps through the window as some turbulence creates a stir in the cabin full of Romans returning home. This will also be my home- at least for the next 48 hours. The first set of boisterous laughs and raucous remarks from the cabin mark the beginning of an entirely different atmosphere. Leaving behind an already rainy and cool autumn in Amsterdam, shrub-like trees scattered along a dry landscape remind me of a Van Gogh print in my living room.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from living in northern Europe compared to southern Europe, it’s a certain “keep it short, simple, and close to your self” attitude. Pondering this, my first burning question of the trip has entered my brain. Thinking about the old adage,”when in Rome, do as the Romans do,”  I wonder: what is the difference between the Mediterranean lifestyle I am entering compared to the Dutch culture I have grown so fond of? My first quest? Find the Romans.

Upon leaving the hectic center of ancient Rome, I was able to explore not just what the Romans themselves actually do, but how they really do it. It was my hypothesis that they weren’t so different from their northern counterparts (minus the climate) after all. Following my intuition, I found myself wandering back to where my bed&breakfast was located in Trastavere. Upon finding said locals, I surveyed a variety asking them to describe their city in three words.

I drifted back to the previous afternoon, just minutes after disembarking the plane and getting picked up by a gregarious gentleman chatting on his cell phone holding a sign with our names on it. Smiling and waving to the distracted fellow, we passed him to avoid holding up the flow from behind us. Catching up with us, we were soon swept out of an air-conditioned airport into humid still-summer air.

Loading luggage and all piling in, our theatre troupe was heading into terrible traffic with a man I assumed was a Roman himself. Soon, after sharing scraps of conversation between the five of us and him, he quickly corrected my mistaken assumption when I asked him to be the first of many to describe his city to me.

Although a non-native, I got my answer in one sentence. It’s chaotic, fascinating and… he was interrupted by a tiny smart car almost sacrificing it’s life for our beast of a machine loaded with theatre production artillery. Shouting a loud swear word I hadn’t heard since my great-grandmother who hailed from Verona, I asked him about the third word. Shouting, he said, as we sped past the tiny bug of an automobile giving one last call in typical Roman style.

When I actually asked him if those would be the three words he would to use to describe this city, he gave a long drawn out speech, unable to keep it as simple as it was when the answer just came naturally.

Simplicity in expression, such as a short gesture that speaks sentences, isn’t the only thing the Romans come by naturally. Simplicity in their food is an act of heavy patriotism. However, not observing the siesta isn’t a complete act of treason as it used to be. Although a seemingly extravant eating culture is actually wound together by a simple web of fresh, local, and all natural ingredients that keep the Roman’s dishes not just close to their spices, but also close to their hearts. {edit}

That’s not to say all things in Rome are that simple. The word I heard most when asking the Romans to describe their city in three words was… chaotic. Although the girl who spent her whole cigarette with us after only asking for a light seemed calm, cool, and collected, she was quick to admit that she hailed from chaos.

The next morning leaving the laid-back residental neighborhood in the outskirts of Trastevere, the chaos suddenly became clear. The fountain di Trevi wasn’t as beautiful as I remembered it to be. As a matter of fact, it was downright claustrophobic.

Trastevere, however, brings the chaotic feel of Rome without the pantheon or Fountain di Trevi from clogging it’s clustred but elegant piazza. Patched along a neighborhood where the urban vibe of eclectic street art and graffiti meets gold-sheathed domes of ancient Roman churches, Trastevera is the real Rome. Eating a slice of pizza while washing it down with a cup of gelato, I listen to the soothing water of the fountain in the center of Piazza di Santa Maria. The bell of the tower strikes twelve as a flock of pigeons fly overhead.  Punk youth camped out with their dogs along the walls of the piazza frame passing tourists walking toward the attractive church, a gyspy woman awaiting them, rattling change in a cup. An Italian family next to me shares a box of pizza.

My friend’s guidebook mentioned this neighborhood as having received the biggest surge of expatriate residents in all of Rome during recent years. Perhaps this also adds to the diverse style found not only in it’s transient inhabitants, but also on it’s labyrinths lined with tattoo parlors, pizzerias, postcard shops, and even a punjabi sweet shop.

Still recovering from Roman excess as I write this my first evening back, I am reminded where it all started to go wrong. After a heavy lunch, I pass a frenetic pizza and pasta take-away shop full of screaming locals at lunch hour. I can’t help but have a taste of food that seems to be leaving the pans faster than the four scrambling men behind the counter can weigh and collect on it. Although I get the awkward stare from a man next to me as I fumble over Spanish disguised in Italian accent, I fake my way through to order a fried ball of creamy risotto. Biting through the crunchy exterior into the core, I am treated to steamy chunks of spinach scattered around the al dente pasta.

Later that evening at Cafe del Moro, a bar blaring MTV music videos from the 80′s, I enjoy free aperitivos. Enjoying Italy’s answer to tapas, I admire the place. It has a sort of nostalgic feel with only two or three tables outside lining a particularly disordered four-way curve of pedestrian-only traffic. Grabbing one of the few spots any good people-watcher would envy made us feel exclusive and the huge glasses of house red they served alongside free mini-sandwiches, chicken nuggets, olives, and other international finger foods made Trestevere seem all the quirkier for the typical Roman holiday.

After a great run at the festival, we celebrated over a bottle of bio Belgian honey beer. It was there while chatting up the locals and attempting to break a bounty of language barriers that I heard the best answer for my Rome in three words question: Love, hate, live. Hell, we may have been a little drunk, but at that moment it couldn’t have been a more logical answer to such an illogical city.

I’m fascinated with the field of social innovation. I am full of questions regarding what can often be a fuzzy, in-the-clouds concept. What is social innovation? What is happening in our world that has created such a movement behind this term? When and why do you call something “social” or something “innovative?” Who can we look to as exemplary social innovators? How does this term get put into action and what are some examples of social innovation happening in the field? How can you come to your own conclusions regarding these questions and find your place within it all? I suggest you take a look at this travel guide from the Kaos Pilot team 13:

This is from one of the most amazing days of my life. Taken in Stockholm, it says: “Ideas to change the world:”

You may recognize one contribution…

Another great day at Knowmads, hosting a World Cafe for idea generation on our Picnic proposal in the morning:

and, in the afternoon, dreaming up…

I think both are very much connected to the photo from above as well as the theme for this year’s Picnic event:

“The world around us is changing fast, and not all the changes are positive. We’re facing the biggest natural, social and economic challenges our world has ever seen. We’ve addressed some of these issues in the past, but the days of just talking are over. It’s time to take action.

We’re focusing on Life, Cities, Media and Design — areas that provide real opportunities to make a difference. PICNIC ’10 brings you a platform to create new solutions for a better world.

For more information on the event, click on the picture above, or check out the blog of Marcel Kampman of happykamping. Both creative director of the festival as well as ambassador of Knowmads, his website is definitely worth a peek. Thanks again to all the great guests Knowmads was able to welcome home on this exciting day!

Chris Guillebeau’s homepage instantly draws you in. Branding himself as “challenging authority since 1978”, Chris is a writer, traveler, and the biggest role model I’ve never met. Fighting the status quo is an art. Chris’ writing and way of life demonstrates that the art of non-conformity is not just writing about settling for less, but actually doing it!

Case in point; Chris has traveled to over 100 countries and has determined to travel to all the countries in the world by 35. When applying to Knowmads, I stumbled upon his site and it literally changed my life.

He’s written two incredible manifestos: A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success.

He’s a creative, resourceful entrepreneur who knows how to market his knowledge products that include: 25,000 Miles Guaranteed (become a frequent flyer master), Art + Money (yes, it’s possible!), Freelancers! (less stress. more pay.), Hail, Caesar! (build an empire), Create Your Own Freedom (break out of 9-5)

When Chris isn’t building his empire while traveling the world, writing a book (coming out next month!), or meeting other “world-changers,” he is usually running marathons and must be drinking incredible amounts of coffee! Some of his other popular articles include:

A Short Collection of Unconventional Ideas
How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review
Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World

Could Chris be any more inspiring? I’m sure he’s trying and I’m happy to dedicate this post to a man who doesn’t even know my name but has dramatically changed my life. Perhaps, this man will inspire some change in you. Thanks, Chris! Happy travels!

Perhaps the best way to describe this city is like Amsterdam’s bitchier sister who is just as hot, but more in the ‘I can kick your ass’ kind of way. Rotterdam has chewed me up and spit me out, yet I still keep coming back for more. With gusts of salty wind, huge skyscrapers, and an impossible grind of cars, trams, and bicycles, she doesn’t give you the time to think. People aren’t strolling canals in circles, but crossing bridges with a direct destination in mind. Here, you work hard and you play hard. Any questions? If so, catch the nearest train back to Amsterdam; maybe someone up there will give you the time of day.

During the first morning of the Kennisland Social Innovation Safari, Kwela Sabine Hermanns, a personal role model of mine and also an ambassador for Knowmads, asked us all a very valuable question. She asked us:
What does social innovation mean for you?

It was an incredibly valid question. Every day in my very sheltered environment, although a school for the world, words like social innovation, sustainability, co-creation, presencing, and many others fly out of our mouths that would make most people outside the program, or at least outside social change circles, say… “what in the world…?”
Christina Jordan, another personal hero, is collaborating with many others to solve that very question. What (in the world) does social innovation mean? Co-organizer of the Cosi10, Christina is working to connect socially innovative initiatives around the world over a three month time span. In a “simple face-to-face unconference event,” they hope to create a networking and learning process that allows people to collaborate and share impact strategies, skill development resources, and even develop revenue models to build thrivable social innovations.

Still, the question remains. What constitutes a social innovation? From my extensive research on the subject, I like this answer best. Taken from the guys over at Social Velocity, they state that social innovation is…
“…a whole group of big, ambitious, new ideas and models for solving social problems. Social innovation is about changing institutions, organizations, approaches, systems in fundamental ways so that we can fix the many problems facing us. It includes things like:

• Creating new financial vehicles where nonprofit and for profit organizations that are working to solve social problems can have ready access to all kinds of funding (seed funding, growth capital, debt, etc.)
• Removing the hurdles placed in front of organizations working to solve social problems (accounting standards, IRS regulations, etc.)
• Restructuring philanthropy to be more effective at supporting real change
• Revamping government so that it can support, rather than thwart, change leaders
• Reforming nonprofit organizations to break out of the starvation cycle and become more effective at creating social impact

And that’s just the beginning.
Social innovation is big. It’s bold. It is a movement of people and organizations from all three sectors (public, private, nonprofit) who are taking a completely different approach, who are turning the status quo on its head, who are building new systems, who are asking hard questions, who are creating a new way forward.”

Finally, attempting to answer the question I first addressed, in one word, social innovation means for me connecting. It means a better connection to self and in turn a better connection to the world around you. It entails understanding that everything is connected to everything else and searching for the required passion to connect work to play.

The Knowmadic Learning Lab, in collaboration with the Hub Summer School initiative on the Knowmads platform, is my attempt to strengthen the power of connection, to be part of the social innovation movement, and to connect to you, wherever you are. We hope to see you on at the end of this month for a great day of playing with our passions at the Knowmadic Learning Lab!

The Social Innovation Safari in Amsterdam was an absolute hit. As a follow up to a week of imaginative innovations that came out of five local project-based assignments, I’m creating a blog post harvesting all the great things that came out of the Safari. Taken from the Kennisland website, here are the cases:

• Jeugdzorg Amsterdam (Office for Juvenile Care) is a looking for ways to innovate in their complex organisation. What is going wrong? Interview the people involved and design simple intervention for a complex problem.
• IJburg is one of the youngest neighbourhood in Amsterdam and already facing serious challenges: small enterpreneurs are having a hard time surviving, different social groups don’t mix. A group of active residents of IJburg want to make their neighbourhood more livable and need your help!
• Filmmuseum Amsterdam will be moving to a new location (Amsterdam Noord) and wants to involve the neighbourhood. What ways can be found to make this cultural institution part of the neighbourhood and how can the people living there profit from this and add their value?
• Mixacademy: An alternative art academy in the center of Amsterdam. What can they do to stimulate creative entrepreneurschip and offer chances to talented people without focusing on prior education?
• Weekend School: A one-day extra-curricular educational program that is looking for a way to better connect their alumni to each other and also to the school’s network.

I’m especially focusing on the project I took on with the Mix Academy.

The Mix Academy, in simple terms, is an incredibly open alternative school for the arts located in the heart of the city. Recognizing that artists need to be entrepreneurs in order to reach their public, it trains students from all walks of life to discover their true self through their creativity. Whether it is through free painting, graphic design, 3D work, illustration, or photography, Mix Academy allows the individual to build a network around them that can launch them into the world. Combining high and low art through a very mixed curriculum, the Mix academy is a concept I greatly believe in.

Which is why it was so easy to take on this assignment that combined my interest in innovative education with art. Ralph de Lange, the initiator of the Mix, is a lovable character who was an absolute joy to work with. Strongly believing in his message that he wants to spread to the world, my team of six spent three days (and nights) working in parks, cafes, and even my apartment one very long evening. Here is the presentation full of innovative ideas that we gave to a full room of guests, including the local media, on the final evening:

For the full list of presentations that came out of the week-long program, see here.

Here are some other resources I’ve harvested on the final outcomes from the Safari:

An article written by Pieter Hilhorst of De Volkskrant, an Amsterdam newspaper. (Dutch, but can be translated)

The beginning of a great blog series on the Safari by Tage Skotvold, a participant and new friend.

An article by Hannah Aukes

Photos: KL Safari First Days

KL Safari Mix Academy

KL Safari BBQ

KL Safari Closing Event

A blog on the Safari by Patrick Veenhoff

Have I missed any other good sources? If so, let me know!

“The Glimpse Correspondents Program is for talented writers and photographers with a passion for storytelling and a knack for finding truly unique stories. The program is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 36 who will be working, volunteering, or studying outside of their home country for at least 10 weeks.”

Here is a artistic statement written from the prompt:
“Why you are interested in being a Glimpse Correspondent? We also want to know what issues you hope to explore and/or what kinds of cultural adventures you hope to embark on.”

On Pilgrimage:

The ability to craft stories that create a meaningful connection between author, reader, and the snapshot moments spent with people on the path makes up my life. When it comes to using my talents in a passionate way and making a positive impact on the world, storytelling is more than my medium. Storytelling is my passion. There is a Zen belief affirming that upon leaping, a net will appear. This seems a fitting statement for the story. My extremely brief life has been a journey of leaps that led me to Amsterdam. After a long and bitter cold winter squatting with circus performers in Montreal, I became a Knowmad. As a nomadic knowledge worker at The New Business School for the World, my other passion for travel is used on a daily basis.

Joining an international team of young social entrepreneurs working and learning from each other has challenged me to “combine, passion, business, and playful learning,” as our motto states. Studying process design, social innovation and sustainability, new business design, personal leadership, and international project design, Knowmads aims to “educate change-makers.”

I continue exploring my learning journey that has brought me on pilgrimage with purpose. From Santiago to Varanasi, Palestine to Paris, I view life as pilgrimage. I’ve realized now on this journey that the destination never seems to arrive. Taking this approach to heart, I find myself constantly exploring this theme in my writing while listening to the life philosophies and stories of people from all over the world.

When it comes to travel, it’s often the people that make the place. As we continue flowing into an increasingly chaotic world, there’s a certain silence in the stories of people, all over the world. I believe this creates a story in the telling that no other medium can quite replicate. In story, a voice is given to the voiceless. In telling, a much louder sound emerges. This is a sound that holds more power than any army could possibly provide. As a storyteller, I am seeking autonomy from a society that has mastered the art of fear in the unknown through mass-management and hysteria in media and politics.

As I explore myself further through my craft, I also want to explore the broader implications travel has on socio-cultural interactions and innovations. Through bringing people together, there lies a necessity for an authentic cultural understanding. Through story, I attempt to break down the barriers and stigma modern culture and society has been spoon-fed by mainstream media. Through their telling, I hope to close the border between places and their people. I believe this responsibility is the natural step that can break down not just borders within myself, but also the borders within this world.

“Kennisland (Knowledgeland) contributes to a smarter Dutch society. We believe that the best guarantee for future prosperity and welfare, now and in the future, is to strengthen our knowledge society. We help to realise this national goal by developing and delivering key interventions.

Kennisland is an independent think tank. We continuously search for ways to spark the social innovations needed to improve the knowledge society. We start by defining challenges for the Dutch knowledge society and creatively finding possible answers to them. We put these issues on policymakers’ agendas. We need that leverage: broad challenges require a broad approach. But that is not all: we also develop and deliver projects, programmes and platforms to help others fix the issues at hand. We also assist in scaling and transferring success results and knowledge about the ins-and-outs of social innovation, to help others forward.”

This above excerpt was taken from the website of Kennisland, which is hosting a Social Innovation Safari beginning just hours before the World Cup championship tomorrow. Working in small teams prototyping and developing interventions and innovations for four different organizations, 28 very diverse pioneers are coming together from all over the world. See the link above to check out all the participants and the cases we will be working on. Below is the promotional video, in case you’re a more visual type. That’s all for now, I’m off to prepare my five minute Tedx talk, safari-style!