Monday, January 01, 2007

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.
For New Years Eve, we took in some sights and senses of Pittsburgh. Among the treats were Macy's (Kaufmann's) window displays. Now, these weren't like the little 30" windows at the downtown Washington Macy's. No indeed. These were full display window visual feasts . The storytelling craft is at its best in these true works of love. Every detail of the rooms and people are considered.

As I stood before these gifts, downtown Pittsburgh slowly filling with families and friends ready to enjoy First Night activities, with the surrounding shops in better shape, the streets and sidewalks cleaner, and the mood lighter than the city has been in my traveling lifetime; it occurred that we had somehow, finally, found our way back to 1959, or '61, or '65. Before Woodstock changed the culture. Before suburbanization shewed civilization from our city cores. Before the "Great Society" unevened the playing field. Somehow, our cities are livable again.

They're better, of course, as the sky above and the areas up and down Pittsburgh's rivers attest loudly.
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Early last year, we promised to dig in to the emerging Web 2.0 technologies. This year, we want to focus much more on the art of storytelling. I don't yet know how we're going to do that. Pretty sure we need to find a storyteller who wants to talk about their art. Hmmm, I feel a road-trip coming on...

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