Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

society

  • It comes down to trust.  Our current behavior demonstrates that we don’t trust the system, we simply rely on it and expect it to function.  Then when it doesn’t, we condemn it.  Sometimes we even argue that the system can’t do it.  And even then we still don’t hold the community responsible for cleaning up the mess. Perhaps this…

  • I’ve gotten hooked on the CW’s Ringer, a ridiculous show about twins, changing identity, and the attempt to change one’s life.  As TV, it is pure pulp, threads the line, not between plausible and implausible, but between implausible and ludicrous.  However, as study of human chaos and redemption, there is nothing like it on broadcast…

  • I do think that sometimes 1+1=5.  That doesn’t make me crazy.  It means that we ought to account for our own blind spots.  To help me explain, I’ve recruited my own daughter. As you can see, she has written an interesting equation on the white board.  She is so proud of it, she wrote it…

  • playing cards

    As I climbed into the car, my daughter told me that she and her Nana were “playing cards” in the backseat.  After a minute, I realized it was a modified version of “Go Fish”. “Do you have some 2’s?” she asks her Nana as I pull out of the parking lot. “Sophia, do you have…

  • Power to the People “Turn it up!  Turn it up!  Power to the people, y’all!” –Public Enemy, Power to the People By now you have heard of the class-action suit against Wal-Mart and this week’s decision by the Supreme Court to throw out the case.  The case made news in two very important ways.  First,…

  • In 2008, we were # 1. In 2009, we became #2. In 2010, we dropped to #3 in the world. In just two years, we went from playing world leader to catch up with China and Germany in the alternative energy market.  As Gov. Jennifer Granholm highlights in this piece for the Huffington Post.  Personally,…