Tyler’s Toolbox

On 12.18.06 (Monday) I was visiting the local tavern near my work with a colleague. We saunter into the Napper Tandy (24th and S. Van Ness - quite a dive bar, but you can often find my colleagues and I enjoying a beverage or some corned beef and cabbage). We talked about many different topics. We touched on marriage (we both had experienced the almost leep into marriage only to not go for different reasons), philosophy (both Phil majors in college), travel, business, etc.

Wes and I finally got into a debate about the origin of the idea that virtue lies in the middle of two extremes. I was sure it was Aristotle, my buddy was confident it was either Socrates or Plato. We argued in good spirits for a few minutes before I tried to make the point that whoever it was, that it has a parallel in the idea that great things come from the intersection of two seperate areas. So the academic my friend Wes is, he suggests the best example of this I’ve heard in ages. Of course I’m speaking of Chunky Monkey - the delicious mixture of Fudge and Banana, brought to us by the lovable Ben and Jerry. Now we had clearly devolved from philosophy into the realm of silly, he suggested it was Aristotle who first came up with Chunky Monkey. I agreed, we both had quite a laugh and migrated to the pool table for random daubauchry with another co-worker. Later that evening, I was approached by another patron saying how impressed he was that he could still hear a debate about greek philosophers in a bar and that I had shown him hope for my generation. I was glad to be of service. The man went on to ask if Aristotle had really invented Chunky Monkey Ice Cream.

Oh old drunk man at the bar - how you disappoint my hopes for your generation. Wes on the other hand, you are an entertaining fellow and write a helluva blog.

I got some good advice in one of my lectures today from the co-founder of my film school (Stephen Kopels gets the nod on this clever colloquilism). The worst thing you can do is preface a presentation with an apology. That works with everything in life. The key is to do your best and then present it confidently as being your best. If your presenting something (be it powerpoint, painting, film, code, project, or absolutely anything) do you want the audience to walk in with a negative mood or a positive mood? The example Stephen used was cooking someone dinner. If you goto someone’s house for dinner and the cook starts the meal with apologizing for overcooking the chicken, you are going to look for flaws in the food instead of enjoy the dinner. So don’t apologize for your chicken, whatever your chicken may be.

I was riding in a car with my dad on the last leg of a father/son roadtrip today and we both noticed a magnificent Hawk flying nearby. It reminded me a something I’d once heard about Hawks being a great metaphor for good businesspeople (especially in the emerging ‘portfolio career’ model I see coming - I’ll blog that later).

The ability to manuever from the big picture to the details and back with finesse, grace and limitless skill is quite handy. That’s exactly what the Hawk can do. Flying several thousand feet high (exact number?), swooping down to pick up a moving animal the size of a human hand (field mouse) and then back up. Talk about seriously cool.

So If I call you a Hawk, It’s a good thing. If your not out there being a hawk, go be a hawk!

This 10 minute car ride conversation and subsequent Blog Post inspired some Wiki-walking. From Wikipedia’s entry on Hawks:

“In February 2005 the Canadian scientist Dr Louis Lefebvre announced a method of measuring avian IQ in terms of their innovation in feeding habits. Hawks were named among the most intelligent birds based on this scale.

Hawks are believed to have vision as good as 20/2, about eight times more acute than humans with good eyesight. This is because of many photoreceptors in the retina (Up to 1,000,000 per square mm, against 200,000 for humans), a very high number of nerves connecting the receptors to the brain, a second set of eye muscles not found in other animals, and an indented fovea which magnifies the central part of the visual field.”

Those are some pretty sweet birds.

Ben Casnocha recently had a post that made me break out the thinking cap. I traveled through western europe for a long trip as part of a gap year. Due to Katrina I ended up cutting the trip short to go help and then for personal reasons I decided to end my gap year early and resume studies at a local college. However my time traveling gave me some unique perspectives on who I am. I picked up habits that in America seem odd. From terms of speech to eating habits I shamelessly stole the elements I liked of other cultures I was exposed to. My core values didn’t change, but some superficial elements did. Since coming back I’ve been asked probably a dozen times if I was another Nationality. This did not happen before I left, so clearly my behavior now sets me outside the norm and makes me seem less American to an observer. So the idea I formed after reading Ben’s Post (it’s a must read; eloquent, succint, and a bit humorous) asked me if it’s possible that I’m less American. By integrating other cultures into yourself, do you lose your own culture?

This goes into the “Americanism” meme that I’ve been following since the q1 Junto (here, here, and here)

There are two angles here. I think America is more tolerant of differences in it’s population, therefore I think it’s easier to enjoy other cultures and maintain your American identity. For example first generation immigrants often still retain a significant amount of their parents original culture, yet they are considered American (at least to me). Therefore I think residing in America gives you more room to play with.

What if you lived in China? India? France? Russia? Brazil? Kenya? The Netherlands? Those cultures may not play as well with others as America does. I’m not Chinese, Indian, French, Brazilian, Kenyan, or Dutch so I can’t pretend to know. My theory is that these cultures have less internal differences and are therefore less likely to appreciate diversity of actions. My guess is the degree of freedom to integrate other cultures into your own while remaining yourself has much to do with the average internal differences (more difference, more tolerance of changing actions/habits to mirror another group) and also the society’s openness to accepting immigrants and new culture (for example I think France would have a harder time then The Netherlands).

The problem with the above two paragraphs is that it’s looking for approval from other citizens, there is an argument to be made for the idea that you are whatever you claim to be. I’m not going to make that argument right now, but it is a valid counter-point.

Ben made a statement in his article that he felt both more American AND more worldly. I think traveling opens up your perception or humanity, because you can percieve how different you are from the people around you you feel more American and long for home. Your also able to enjoy new foods, sights and sounds - which the vast majority of your peers will not experience and as such you feel more worldly then those who have yet to do it.

However while I do think you keep your main cultural identity while you travel, I don’t think you come home the same. The experience changes you, and it does so in a tangible way. When a person lives somewhere abroad for an extended period of time (I don’t know how long this takes, 10 years, 20, 30?) you begin to really integrate the two cultures completely and you begin to lose your identity as a American and instead become a mix between the two.

I would love to have comments from those born and or living in other countries. Please comment, or fwd this on to people who may enjoy it.

I’ve been quoted in the cover story of this week’s Gambit.

Here are the excerpts.

“One of the few non-architects in the room, Tyler Willis, 19, was surfing in Portugal when Katrina struck. Thoughts about how he could help would not leave his head, Willis recalls, and he was prompted to action after being challenged via email by an ex-girlfriend, who asked him, “If you have all these ideas, why don’t you go there and do something with them?”

A friend forwarded to Willis an email invitation explaining Rethinking New Orleans. “I didn’t know what to expect, I was worried it wasn’t even going to be worth the bike ride,” he says a week after the meeting. “But I was impressed by the knowledge everyone brought. It wasn’t just a bunch of people bitching and getting drunk.”

Willis was most impressed, he says, with the ideas for preserving the city’s distinct neighborhoods and the culture of each. A native of California, Willis is enjoying his transition to life in post-Katrina New Orleans. “The atmosphere seems a lot different from what I hear it used to be, with lots of negativity and [an] almost fatalistic approach to things,” he says. “But I’ve experienced none of that. The energy I feel here now is positive.”
…

Despite concerns about a lack of cohesion among the far-flung grassroots groups and their varied approaches to rebuilding New Orleans, activists are making inroads, holding meetings, generating new ideas and sustaining the passion that propelled them to action in the first place.

Tyler Willis created a Web site, www.projectneworleans.info, that includes information on an online math tutoring program, hotmath.com, that he says has great results in helping students. Citing education as critical to rebuilding what Willis labels the “New City of Hope,” he has started lobbying local school officials on behalf of the program. He says he has gotten good responses, especially from the proposed charter schools.”
here’s a few corrections

1 - It was a phone call from an ex-girlfriend, who was significantly more supportive then that sounds. Quite frankly I wouldn’t have done it without a kick in the pants from her, and she allowed me to bounce ideas off her and moan about how much some of the work sucked. Less of a “Challenge” and more of an influence.
2 - Blake invited me through IM… I wish I could say I didn’t say “bitching and getting drunk” but that sounds suspiciously like me. I guess I should work on my cynacism a bit. Sorry everyone involved, especially Blake. PS - the wine was Fantastic.
3 - I’m not a Native of California, I was born in Missouri and spent most of my life in Ohio. I do like California quite a bit, but I wouldn’t wanna ignore my roots.
Aside from that, I’m still very excited. I hope this will give me a bit more traffic and visability - At this point donations are going to be what makes or breaks what I can do here.
Check out my website (www.projectneworleans.info)