Reframing the Wicked Child: Questions for the seder table

Since I was young, I’ve never liked the story of the Four Children. Why does the wicked child get the villain edit for asking an honest question, while the try-hard wise child gets praised for uncritically upholding the status quo?

My real gripe is that instead of encouraging dialogue, the responses to the Four Children’s questions effectively end the conversation. How might we rewrite the script to keep the conversation flowing?

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April 4, 2023 Questions Passover

How does the Future Exist?

We can’t directly experience the future – we can’t observe it and there is no physical evidence to study. Yet we use the future everyday when we brush our teeth to prevent cavities, invest for our retirement, campaign for a cause, or develop a new service or product for the marketplace.

How do we understand this tool that we all use, but none of us can see?

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March 15, 2023 Time 1% Foresight

That Will Never Work

“Denette has never built a boat and never sailed one, but one day, he decided to put his life savings into scratch-building a 38’ wooden sailboat and sailing it around the world. He’s not even sure he’ll like sailing, but he’s anxious to find out.”

This story reminds me of one of my first jobs in the arts where it was a joke to say “that will never work” about doing anything different than how it was done before. Surprising, because ostensibly we were working to challenge the status quo.

Five young dancers wearing blue and red pennies and vibrant tights are falling to the floor DaNCEBUMS in our first performance. Photo: Farrington Llywen

DaNCEBUMS’ 7 Commandments for Collaboration

Earlier this week I was looking through my digital memory box. My heart was warmed when I found these seven commandments for collaboration DaNCEBUMS wrote when were were just starting our journey in 2013.

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May 10, 2022 DaNCEBUMS Collaboration

Group of dancers and media workers in rehearsal for IN THE RIVER Dancers and media workers in rehearsal for IN THE RIVER. Photo: Eben Kowler

From Prophecy to Foresight, Reflections on IN THE RIVER

Last month, I wrapped production on a show I was working on called IN THE RIVER. This was a unique project that dealt with themes related to foresight. How do we understand the past? How do we to interpret the present? How do we create pockets of a a desired future in the present?

Kaleidoscopic view of people riding an escalator and exiting into a concrete plaza. Photo: Chris Barbalis, Unsplash

Why Foresight?

Foresight, also called futures research, is a unique field that brings together omnivorous research, systems thinking, analysis, and creativity in order to create plausible images of the future. But to what end? What are the strategic benefits of futures research?

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December 20, 2021 Foresight Process