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Jan 21
2010
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Shoot for the StarsPosted by Annie Crawley in Untagged |
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"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny."
- Carl Schurz 1829-1906, Politician
The high school I attended in Chicago was named after this great man and when I read this quote, it touched me for many times I have felt like a wayfarer following the stars in my life, and now I believe I have embraced my destiny. One week ago I was on a plane heading from Santa Barbara to North Carolina to speak to students in the University of North Carolina Journalism department as part of ScienceOnline2010 outreach thanks to a connection with Bora Zivkovic and Stephanie Willen Brown. We posted our first podcast of the speech and although I do not have a regular show scheduled, we are going to start recording more and continue posting inspirational messages and speeches. There is so much that has happened over the course of the past week, I do not even know where to begin. I squeezed in a field trip to the Duke University Virtual Reality Lab in conjunction with #scio10 to Dive Into Alcohol. There was something about the title that appealed to me. I wanted to attend this field trip for two reasons, to see how technology is being used to teach and also to see what happens on the molecular level of alcohol.
It has been apparent to me that our entire educational system needs to integrate web 2.0 and I was exposed to leaders in both the scientific fields and those disseminating information as we embrace the hybridization of traditional media with blogging and social media. When it was my turn to enter the virtual reality tour, I was blown away by how much I enjoyed the experience of being taken to another world. Total Recall was one of my favorite movies in 1990, 20 years ago! They say that if you want to know our future, all you have to do is read science fiction for everything predicted eventually happens. Many times I am taken to another world, whether it be within my own meditative states, my imagination or the actual physical submersion and life below the surface.
I never understood the buzz of Twitter, but now I love tweeting and am dedicated to embracing this and all 2.0 mediums. During the entire ScienceOnline2010 conference we could follow the sessions by using the code #scio10 on twitter. I encourage all of you to google the conference because there was also Ustream videos and Flip Cameras handed out for people to post their experiences. Attending this technologically rich conference partnering science and outreach was extraordinary. I still have not been able to sort through all of my videos, contacts and ideas but slowly as it all unfolds, I will be sharing.
The keynote speaker who kicked off the event was the author of Denialism, Michael Specter. His insights were contagious and he clearly believes we are denying progress with our own fears. After he spoke, I was able to spend some quiet time looking at the stars and contemplating the fact that the light we see every night is more than 4 million years away and that some of the stars no longer even exist, but the light traveling still does. And once again I find myself in awe of the Universe and find myself completely dedicated to the experience of life for life is a miracle. What stars are you using as your guides? Sometimes if we are able to shift our vision and focus, new galaxies can open up to us.
- Carl Schurz 1829-1906, Politician
The high school I attended in Chicago was named after this great man and when I read this quote, it touched me for many times I have felt like a wayfarer following the stars in my life, and now I believe I have embraced my destiny. One week ago I was on a plane heading from Santa Barbara to North Carolina to speak to students in the University of North Carolina Journalism department as part of ScienceOnline2010 outreach thanks to a connection with Bora Zivkovic and Stephanie Willen Brown. We posted our first podcast of the speech and although I do not have a regular show scheduled, we are going to start recording more and continue posting inspirational messages and speeches. There is so much that has happened over the course of the past week, I do not even know where to begin. I squeezed in a field trip to the Duke University Virtual Reality Lab in conjunction with #scio10 to Dive Into Alcohol. There was something about the title that appealed to me. I wanted to attend this field trip for two reasons, to see how technology is being used to teach and also to see what happens on the molecular level of alcohol. It has been apparent to me that our entire educational system needs to integrate web 2.0 and I was exposed to leaders in both the scientific fields and those disseminating information as we embrace the hybridization of traditional media with blogging and social media. When it was my turn to enter the virtual reality tour, I was blown away by how much I enjoyed the experience of being taken to another world. Total Recall was one of my favorite movies in 1990, 20 years ago! They say that if you want to know our future, all you have to do is read science fiction for everything predicted eventually happens. Many times I am taken to another world, whether it be within my own meditative states, my imagination or the actual physical submersion and life below the surface.I never understood the buzz of Twitter, but now I love tweeting and am dedicated to embracing this and all 2.0 mediums. During the entire ScienceOnline2010 conference we could follow the sessions by using the code #scio10 on twitter. I encourage all of you to google the conference because there was also Ustream videos and Flip Cameras handed out for people to post their experiences. Attending this technologically rich conference partnering science and outreach was extraordinary. I still have not been able to sort through all of my videos, contacts and ideas but slowly as it all unfolds, I will be sharing.
The keynote speaker who kicked off the event was the author of Denialism, Michael Specter. His insights were contagious and he clearly believes we are denying progress with our own fears. After he spoke, I was able to spend some quiet time looking at the stars and contemplating the fact that the light we see every night is more than 4 million years away and that some of the stars no longer even exist, but the light traveling still does. And once again I find myself in awe of the Universe and find myself completely dedicated to the experience of life for life is a miracle. What stars are you using as your guides? Sometimes if we are able to shift our vision and focus, new galaxies can open up to us. 
