Frank in China and Utica College panel discussion

The Regional Read is now officially over but the conversation and the personal impact of globalization continue-case in point: my son Frank is returning today from his second trip to China in 2 months. Evan, who also has his first engineering position also traveled to China this past month for the first time. They have each been in their jobs less than six months. Local goes global. There is something astounding to me as the mother of both of these young men, (and perhaps because of my perspective of things as they relate to my age) that both grew up in the tiny rural communities of Bouckville and Hamilton in central New York, both went on to become nationally ranked amateur snowboarders (even by doing their early riding at Toggenberg), finished college and now, as engineers in their first jobs are traveling to a country that, when I was growing up was mysterious and forbidden.

We are by no means well-off-just plain middle class people and Frank and Evan are now world travelers and working in a mult-cultural environment and economic sphere that was beyond our wildest imaginings when I put them on the schoolbus the very first time in our teeny little house in Bouckville.

We talk so much about the negative impacts of globalization in the Mohawk Valley and yet there are so many opportunities for young people. Technology and globalization with its many conflicting issues as raised in Friedman's and McKibben's work provide many of these.

I saw Will Richardson speak at the stimulating Leatherstocking conference for area school librarian teachers today. His call for the need for changes in education and the learning process as well as those of Thomas Friedman and John Sealy Brown at his keynote speech at the Colgate University Library dedication last month must be heeded...and soon...if we are to survive as a culture and economy in the United States. Check out Will's wikis related to education and learning.

http://weblogged.wikispaces.com/

http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com/

There is so much good that the United States stands for: primarily the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It seems that recent erosion of the vision of true democracy and freedom and the unbelievably rapid changes that technology has wrought are placing huge roadblocks in the progress we are making in the education of our young people.

I think our Regional Read here in central New York on Keeping our Balance in a Flat World opened the gates to discussion about the topics of globalization in our community. Our panel discussion was a great success thanks to the amazing efforts and commitment to our neighbors, Utica College. Here is a picture of our jointly sponsored panel discussion. Once the video is edited we'll stream it from a number of sites.

I don't believe that success and progress need take the form of rampant consumerism, but can rather be thoughtful and mindful and benefit each individual with regard to their health, living conditions, purpose, talents and human rights.

Regional Read is here!

The Regional Read is here! Much has been happening of course. Our EVENT will be held on October 11, 2007 at Utica College and will feature a panel discussion with people from the community giving their perspective on the "flattening" of the world. Among these include Tim Reed from ECR, Utica Boilers; Ben Sitler, Fiber Instrument Sales; Abby Youngblood from Old Path Farm (a local CSA); Dr. Andrew Faber; and John Furman of Citizens in Action. We are also hoping for a couple of additional speakers. The event is to be held at the Utica College Frank E. Gannett Library Concourse from 7:00 to 8:30 pm and will be moderated by Utica College Economics Professor Rick Fenner. It should be a very dynamic discussion. All are welcome to attend! In addition, David Habbel, Professor of Communications at Utica College has been very busy with his thought-provoking posts and questions on the Connections Topic Blog for the Regional Read. Please post your comments there at http://rr2007myconnections.blogspot.com
You can also get to the other blogs and information about the Regional Read at
http://www.midyork.org/regionalread.

We are also pleased that Sherwood Boehlert, our esteemed Congressman who retired recently and is still involved with many of his passions during his illustrious tenure as one of our nations leaders and author, Bill McKibben have agreed to be guest bloggers.

On a personal level, my sons, Frank and Evan both returned last week from their first trips as engineers to China for their respective employers. Their perspectives have been very interesting to listen to and it is hoped they will each share some of their insights during the Regional Read.

I sometimes think that "globalization" as a concept is something that only older Americans feel in a profound way. I wonder if people from my son's generation see it as something that happened over time historically but not in their own lifetime. Afterall, for most of their formative and young adult lives they have had access to the internet and have known what it is to correspond and communicate with people from other countries and travel. They also have never lived in a United States where everything was manufactured here and Walmart prided itself on most of its stock being manufactured in the United States. I vividly remember that "Made in the USA" was a huge part of Walmart's advertising campaign in the 80s and that promotion which banked on loyalty to US manufacturing is in large part what accounted for their meteoric rise to consumer power. Now we are hard pressed to find anything made in the United States in Walmart.

I asked some students this very question at the Bill McKibben lecture at Colgate University last week and some of them agreed that for them the concept of globalization is more of a historical concept that they study, much as the Depression is a historical concept to those of us in our 40s and 50s.

The changes though that are taking place are mind-boggling, though, even for my sons. My one son was astonished to find that for lunch every day in Shanghai he and his colleagues were taken to KFC. In the evening they would eat traditional Chinese meals. My other son experienced difficulty in finding food as he was vegetarian and every single meal he was served had meat in it. He actually asked one of the cooks at a restaurant to grill tofu so that he could have a hot meal. They had never heard of such a thing and every cook in the restaurant came and watched the main cook accomodate this unique request. So it seems that the cultures and expectation of other cultures often meet head on. My one son said that most of the cars used for taxis were Volkwagens in one Chinese city!

When I was growing up, China was a vast mystery to me.

The Regional Read begins Saturday

The year plus wait is now finally over and we are about to begin the journey of our second Regional Read. This feels much differently than last time and I believe it is due to the changes brought about by Web 2.0 technologies which we are using in this incarnation. Globalization is becoming more and more evident in our everyday lives and many aspects of the rise of China as an economic force are beginning to make their way (for better and worse) into the collective conscious of the United States (at least as reported by the national media). Safety and health concerns of products produced there have filled the headlines in the last month which resulted the execution by hanging of a Chinese government official and apparent suicide of a business leader as a result of recalls and contamination of Chinese products sold in the United States.

Wrestling with Blogline Share into Blogger

I have been trying to get my Bloglines feed into this Blog and the Bloglines script doesn't go into Blogger very elegantly. Would like to be able to do this for the RSS workshop on Tuesday and have struggled for a while. The flattening of the world sometimes needs a heavy duty steam/dry iron.

Thomas Friedman Commencement Speech at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

My son, Evan, graduated with a degree in engineering yesterday from RPI. Even though it rained incessantly throughout the ceremony, once spot of sunshine came, not from the weather, but from the speech by Thomas l. Friedman. His address tied together the many facets of The World is Flat in a way that made it relevant to the graduating students.

His speech took a three-faceted approach in how students' lives would be changed from this day forward: the brutal facts, the inspiration and the sentimental. All three were filled with humor, insight and warning. He told the students that the world needs them as graduates, with degrees in science and engineering and mathematics. These fields are what brings innovation to the world. He admonished that their brilliance would require them to create and invent ways to do more with less.

He also stated the importance of the liberal arts, coupled with math and science to the creative process. All great inventors and thinkers and innovators were versant in two or more seemingly disparate fields. He gave as examples: Steve Job (founder of Apple Computer whose idea for the first graphic computer was a result of his study of calligrapher) and the obvious-Leonardo DaVinci.

He also good-naturedly urged the students to look to their own backyards (and dirty closets) before seeking to clean up the rest of the environment. The brutal fact was they were on their own now.

Mr Friedman also talked of the unprecedented changes that the internet and web have brought to the world and that it has been the single most important factor in the flattening of the world. He cautioned the graduates that they should be vigilant and mindful of the footprint that they leave there. Resumes are no longer the way that employers find out about potential employees as they were in Mr. Friedman's day. Now the entire world can see what one's life is about through such social networking sites as MySpace and FaceBook.

Finally, and this appealed to all of the parents in the audience, Mr. Friedman encouraged the students, as they go out into the world to remember the people who helped them to get to the place are now. His exhortation "Call your Mother" brought smiles and tears from the parents in the audience and heartfelt cheers from the students.

Sure, we were soaked as the heavens opened for most of the ceremony, but it seemed no one noticed the rain during Mr. Friedman's speech.

Here is a link to the Albany Times Union report on the speech:
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=590979&category=FRONTPG&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=5/20/2007

Notes from the NYLA School Library Media Specialist conference

One of the most beneficial aspects of globalization is the increase in opportunities (and tools) to collaborate with other individuals and organizations. I attended the School Library Media Section of the New York Library Association annual conference last week and had the opportunity to attend a workshop by Chris Harris, who writes about the use of Web 2.0 technology in schools and school libraries extensively for School Library Journal. Chris' perspective and vision on the use of these technologies in schools and as opportunities for collaboration were inspiring. Here is a link to his blog:
http://schoolof.info/infomancy/

Bill McKibben Interview on Worldchanging.com site

Bill McKibben, who has written "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future" was interviewed by the folks at the worldchanging.com site. Here is a link to the interview:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/006451.html

Here also is a link to Bill McKibben's home page:
http://www.billmckibben.com/

Of particular interest to me in the interview is the discussion about the changes taking place in China and whether China will follow a European or American model regarding energy consumption.

My friend, Rudy DiGilio, is just back from China and he has said he will be happy to participate in the RR when the time comes: either virtually or in person. His perspective will be one that will be very interesting as he has travelled extensively in various parts of China and I think that he will be able to address perhaps some differences even within the country. I think we tend to think of China as "one place" perhaps the way we view a city or a state, but saying that all of China is alike is like saying that Miami, Florida, USA is the same as Juneau, Alaska, USA.