A funny thing happens when you spend all day studying. Your "normal" becomes this sedentary state which consists of sitting in silence and reading. All day. At first I thought I'd become overly inspired once I was done. Like any piece of art or design would excite me and I'd be overflowing with creative energy. Unfortunately its had an opposite effect. I find myself almost content with white pages full of black words. It takes a lot to shake me from my focused, studied, state. I realized yesterday that I needed a cure- Lowercase Industry came just in time. This underground shop is located in the UK and I'm loving the t-shirt graphics and featured paintings. Best of all, the site and its contents are built with a true love for art and design. Just the kind of thing to shake me from the doldrums of studying.
So another reason I've been less vocal lately is because many of the issues that have been bothering me have been political. Because this is a fashion-based site, I've refrained from introducing those questions and thoughts here, because really this is a place to escape (for both of us, yes?)
At the same time, there is a lot of . . . "stuff" going on right now that needs to be addressed. The frustrating part about the whole thing is that politicians seem to side step the big issues in lieu of addressing their own absurd self-interests. Anyway, one interesting site trying to create a solution to this is "dropping knowledge." Basically the site seeks to turn apathy to activity:
[D]ropping knowledge is an intercultural platform for social change, open to every citizen of the world. Sustained by a global network of individuals, institutions, corporations and NGOs, dropping knowledge is committed to heightening social awareness, encouraging multiple perspectives, fostering a global dialogue and inspiring real-world initiatives. With offices in Berlin, New York and San Francisco, dropping knowledge operates as an international non-governmental organization with 100 percent stakeholder perspective. A public resource, it cannot be owned and is freely accessible to all, for all time.
Asking questions is fundamental to the practice of dropping knowledge. There is no better way to initiate a dialogue than with a question, no better way to challenge conventional thinking, discover new viewpoints and stimulate fresh ideas. To promote the practice of questioning, dropping knowledge has launched an international Internet, print and TV-based “What’s Your Question?” outreach campaign, encouraging individuals, communities and organizations around the globe to submit the questions that matter to them to our website. Every day one question is visualized on the front page of our site as a ‘daily question ad’ to be downloaded, linked to other sites and emailed across the globe.
The creators of dropping knowledge urge you to get involved. In fact they want you to donate. Not time, not money, but your question. Visit the site, click around, get inspired and join the global community trying ot make a difference!
