I have noticed over the years that much public discourse is informed but what we see on television.   Whether it is the cross-examination of the courtroom drama, or the witty one liners of sitcoms, or the over extended drama of soap operas, the way we talk to each other is heavily influenced by what is screened around us.

This clip is interesting: interviews with screenwriters who point out the function of dialogue in a television show.   One of the high points of writing dialogue, it turns out, is that it will never be effective if people are actually seen talking to each other.   So it’s no surprise that bringing these forms of conversation into the real world creates all sorts of dysfunctional social situations.

The only character you should be in real life is you.

With no future there is no worry.   If we are truly present in this moment, the story we hold about the future drops away and with it goes worry.

My friend Thomas Arthur is ensconed on San Juan Island and has decided to charter a personal ritual of hope.   From Solstice to Obama’s inauguration, he is making a short video a day and posting them when he can at his Vimeo page.

What are YOU doing to ring in the changes and see that they take root?

This week in the feed:

• Rob Paterson concludes his harvest of the Boyd Conference on a pessimistic yet exhuberant note.
• Staffordshire Oat Cakes and Easy No Knead Bread
• Brad Ovenell-Carter’s medieval teaching methods.
• Michael Herman distills work he and I did for a few years into a poem and an offering.
• Steve Moore tweets a great story of mutual aid