Creativity

"I'm on the plane listening to the college dropout. It brings back so many memories. When we made it I had all 6 parents, 4 grandparents and my mom and dad. Now I have my dad and my grandfather.

Music is so nostalgic. Every song I listen to brings me back to when I first played them for my mom, when I first played from for Dame, when I first played them Jay, when I first played them for Kweli, when I first played them for my niggas back in Chi, when the album first came out, when I first called Ebro from Hot 97 and begged him to play through the wire, when DJ Pharris blew me up in the Chi.

We used to be the niggas rocking polo shirts, Louie back packs, paper denim jeans, and exclusive Adidas from Sporty LA. We were the underdogs. I never feel like I'm not the underdog. I never felt completely comfortable. I'm tormented by the need to create. With the loss of McQueen I feel like we lost one of those faces of modern creativity's Mount Rushmore.

There were times that the only thing that kept me on this earth was the need and responsibility to create. Maybe McQueen felt his job was done because his last collection was the greatest of the decade. We are all so hurt. I know we're selfish because he brought us so much joy and inspiration.

I know how it feels when the night demons come. We can't let them control our hands and feet. Sometimes when it hurts so bad we have to just lay in the bed. Just lay in bed and don't move please, I know how it feels. I wish McQueen could have just been still. Don't let the psychiatrists give you their drugs because it slows down your wings. Society and public opinion can beat the wings off of angels. When god sees they can't take it anymore he brings them back home.

During this new album process sometimes I turn the music up and drink and cry. When something sounds so amazing and ground breaking I'm reminded of why I live. I drink the pain of now 2 generations and breathe our melodies and messages. The music keeps us alive.

I was blessed with the opportunity to bring my and others dreams to life. It's like performing magic or something. It's surreal. We bring the unrealistic to reality. “Go hard, go hard, go hard” echoes in my dreams. When I wake up and brush my teeth and look in the mirror it's like I see Michael and my mom and Malcolm. Who's that African in the background mom? Oh he created the original layouts for the pyramids but was written out the history books and his MTV award was given to “aliens”.

There's no such thing as fact anymore, only opinion. The closest thing we have to fact is “common opinion”. Everything is an opinion. The way you dress is an expression of your opinion. Your religious beliefs are your opinion. The music you turn up loud is your opinion. For most people it's easier to just agree. For me the hardest thing is to 'just' agree and that is what sparks creativity, the feeling that something can be better, the feeling that something's missing. The feeling that something's needed."

- Excerpt by Kanye from kanyewest.com

This essay by Kanye really resonated with me this morning.

The society we live in today teaches and conditions us to consume.  In school, we consume facts and information only to spit them back out during midterms.  The media, through video and audio, tells us to consume their works.  We consume the news, current events and the ideas of "great thinkers."

But why shouldn't we create as well?  Why should the status quo prevent us from producing creative content of our own?  It begins within ourselves.  We need to change our mindset from consumerism towards creativity on an gradual basis.  It won't be easy, and it's not a comfortable process, but by adopting an attitude similar to Kanye's "I never felt completely comfortable. I'm tormented by the need to create." attitude, we can more effectively place ourselves on a path toward leadership and success.

Kanye's final statement of "There's no such thing as fact anymore, only opinion. The closest thing we have to fact is “common opinion”. Everything is an opinion." is a bold one as well.  To me, this means to question everything, and accept nothing.  Formulate your own conclusions, but respect the conclusions of others.  But respecting the opinions of others doesn't necessarily mean to agree, but simply to understand their logic and reasoning.

Regardless of your personal opinion on Kanye, there's no denying the impact and influence he has made on society as we know it today.  We'd be wise to respect and learn from their thoughts and opinion.

Broadband

I originally wrote this piece for an internship application.  Since it uses a similar voice to the other posts I've uploaded, I figured I'd share this as well:

In many regards, the United States is recognized as a global leader which other nations envy.  We blaze the trail and set the example for our peers to follow.  In one area, however, the United States is playing catch up and, if the status quo is maintained, we will soon find that we will have fallen too far behind to have any hope of catching up.  If we continue to leave the adaption rate of cutting-edge broadband penetration to the private sector, the United States may find itself in the backseat during this process of global digitalization and interconnectivity.

The rise of the internet over the past few years has affected the lives of people in a rate and fashion never before witnessed in the history of humanity.  It's never been easier to complete transactions, remain connected and obtain information.  No matter your perspective, it's undeniable that the internet has fundamentally changed the history of humanity, and has set us on a course to innovation previously deemed impossible.

Other nations are aware of the significance of the internet as well, and are quickly adapting to this technology.  The U.K. is promising broadband in every home by 2012[1], France and Germany are laying optical fiber cables, Finland is making broadband access a legal right[2] and South Korea bundles broadband into their rent and utilities fees[3].  The internet has leveled the playing field and is transforming the educational process, as information on nearly every subject can be found in a couple clicks - allowing other counties and their citizens to quickly gain knowledge on topics previously inaccessible.

Here at home, we've done a less-than-stellar job maintaining our technological advantage.  Less than half of the lower income families have broadband access[4].  We currently rank 15th globally in internet speed[5] and our broadband speed is actually on the decline[6].  Despite this, internet service providers have had the audacity to request to lower the standards of defining broadband[7] and have squandered the financial incentives given by the government to develop universal, high-speed broadband[8].  This has to end.

The only way to close this technology gap is to increase regulation on broadband providers and to increase government involvement.  As a natural monopoly of sorts, it's imperative that the public be given oversight in this manner.  Broadband should be treated the same way water, electricity, sewage, garbage disposal, telephone lines and all other utilities - under the influence and assistance of the government.

While the Recovery Act[9] and the creation of the Chief Information/Technology Officer positions are steps in the right direction in deploying next-generation broadband, it's time for the government to take ownership of this initiative.  We've built and maintained the railways and roads of previous generations, and through the transparency and accountability of the public, it's time for the United States to prioritize and produce the information superhighway of the next generation.

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[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7858498.stm

[2] http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2009/10/1mb_broadband_access_becomes_legal_right_1080940.html

[3] http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/korea_pr.html

[4] http://www.focus.com/fyi/information-technology/state-internet/

[5] http://i36.tinypic.com/293wmrb.jpg

[6] http://mashable.com/2010/01/16/united-states-internet-speed/

[7] http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5806LY20090902

[8] http://www.newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm

[9] http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/technology/

iPad

The tablet is finally here and it was quickly followed by the normal reaction to new Apple product releases: disappointment and disapproval by the public - despite the fact that they haven't seen the product in person or tried it for themselves.

Think back to the days before the iPhone. People carried around Motorola Razr's or Nokia 3390's and never gave a second thought to the technological possibilities. Then the iPhone was announced for the low price of $600 for 4GB and the public laughed their collective heads off. "No buttons? Touch screen? Take it home to activate? $30 a month just for the data plan? No picture messaging? No user-replaceable battery?" The complaints rolled on and on, and the product was seen as a failure before it was even seen in public. Fast forward only a couple years, and we see the best phone company in the world as Apple, and all other companies are struggling to catch up to the level Apple was three years ago!

Go back a half-dozen years now. Music was primarily consumed via CD players. While the MP3 format was just beginning to take off, the primary way of getting those file to-go was burning it to a CD which could only fit 80 minutes or 20 tracks worth of music. There were MP3 players, but they were expensive, clumsy and difficult to manage music with. Then a little thing called the iPod came out. Again, the complaints rolled out: "No CD support? Only works with iTunes? Doesn't use AA batteries? I have to plug into my computer every time I want to change my music?" Of course, we all know the ending on this one. Apple owns over 95% of the MP3 player market and has made larger, richer companies like Sony, Microsoft and Samsung look like a bunch of fools who don't know anything about technology and the needs of the consumer.

The iPad is the third product that Apple has released since its resurgence that we can safely define as revolutionary. And the haters can hate by saying things like "It's just a big iPod touch, what's special? No USB ports? No webcam? No multitasking?" But the truth is the iPad can't fail, it's too good of a product to not succeed.

This is the first computer every produced that's over 9 inches that doesn't have a keyboard. That's huge! Everything the MacBook Air wanted to be, the iPad is. It's less that 2 pounds and is thinner than a spiral notebook, it's the first computer we can truly define as portable. It runs the same software as the iPhone, but is much better for media consumption. The screen is finally big enough for users to read articles and material without having to constantly zoom in and out or horizontally scroll. You can finally watch movies on a screen which doesn't need you to squint to see - and it's also the first movie watching platform without an annoying hardware attachment like a keyboard or playback controls, everything is virtual which saves enormous space and prevents hardware failure.

We've all watched Minority Report or Avatar and have seen the tablet computer featured prominently in Hollywood. This is a step towards that direction. The keyboard and mice are going the way of the VCR and CD. The more hardware we eliminate, the more space we have for precious screen real estate and the lower we can drive costs - since there's less to manufacture.

The very people complaining about the iPad probably own an iPod, iPhone and MacBook of some sort. They will also be the ones heading to a local Apple Store to pick an iPad up a couple years down the road from now. Tablet computing is the future, computers are no longer about programs, running applications and hoarding massive hard drive space. It's now about online programming, running things through your web browser and consuming media/content through the new medium - the internet; after all, people these days have more tabs open at one time than they have programs open, a trend which came about only a couple years ago.

Yes, there's nothing the iPad can do that your laptop can't. But there are key features that the iPad can do better than any laptop on the market today can. Surfing the web, replying to emails, watching movies, reading books and other activities will be executed in a fashion and level never before accomplished on the iPad.

The iPad and the copycat tablets which will undoubtedly follow it are the future of computing. It's a matter of when, not if, the general public embraces this trend as they have with the iPhone and iPod.

And please, before complaining about the product, please at least try it. Because if history is any indication, Apple is pretty darn good at getting things right and making the critics look foolish.

Tuition

There is a major issue sweeping public universities across the nation, and it's hitting the safe, tucked away campus of Washington State University particularly hard. Due to a $2.5 billion dollar gap in the state budget (as reported in the Daily Evergreen on the 19th), WSU has been targeted to lose millions of dollars in the coming years. It goes without saying that tuition is in a position to increase, financial aid will be unequivocally decreased and departments/jobs will be cut/lost. In other words: tuition will rise while financial aid and services will decrease. Students and faculty have responded predictably, initiating movements which will protest WSU budget cuts of any sort and ask that other programs and projects across the state hit the cutting board instead. But perhaps the issue isn't the decrease in state funding towards higher education, but is instead that higher education has lost its focus and vision. Maybe it's time we realize that universities have become a reflection of the flaws residing in our nation as a whole - it's an inefficient, overly expensive luxury that has overstepped its original boundaries.

Like all other institutions of higher learning, Washington State University should be focusing on educating its inhabitants and developing the leaders of tomorrow in an intellectually stimulating environment. And yet, many universities today feel less and less like an educational establishment, but more and more like private, exclusive wealthy communities designed to pamper and cater to the needs of its residents.

Take a look at the Student Recreation Center. It's a marvelous facility, and it (along with the respective programs affiliated with the center) does a number of great things for the community. They employ students, prioritize fitness for its customers and provide a great entertainment outlet for Cougars. But to say it's an effective use of resources would be an exaggeration of the truth, to say the least. Surveys consistently show that less than 10% of the student body uses the Rec Center weekly, and less than half go more than a couple times a semester. So why is every student charged a couple hundred dollars every semester in addition to the piece of the pie they take from the university budget by paying staff and administrative expenses. What if a "Rec Pass" was available for individual purchase, similar to the optional sports pass available for optionally every semester? There are three independent, third-party fitness center businesses here in Pullman, it would be refreshing to see students given a financial choice on where they'd like to work out - and spend their own money appropriately.

I'm sure we can each think of other non-academic, arguably non-essential spending around campus, such as paying our lower level student government representatives (ASWSU senators - I'm looking at you) for a job which already benefits with experience and resume impression, having multiple radio stations despite low audience rates and perpetuating inefficient use of resources.

At the heart and core of the issue contains the changing mindset of universities today. Colleges are no longer a pure, wholesome sanctuary of intellectual growth and development. They are now a bureaucratic, public supported business which prioritizes revenue over genuine, individual education. In fact, a public university is the perfect industry to work in, since society insists a college degree equates to a broad level of success - it's quite possibly most secure trade in the world today. Outside of a house or small business (levels some people never reach), a college degree is the most expensive investment one will make in the world we live in today - all for a piece of paper that continuously, exponentially outpaces inflation in its cost. In order to constantly attract the best "customers" and increase prestige, colleges fund programs completely unrelated to academics and research - such as athletics, campus beautification, recruiting and advertising. This causes the university to feel like a luxury resort - with a couple hours of homework thrown in here and there. Predictably, current and past students in addition to tax payers are forced to foot the bill on these non-academic endeavors.

Instead of complaining that tax payers can no longer afford to foot the $700 million dollar budget of the university, maybe it's time for the universities to reconsider their priorities and intentions. Why does the public hear more about athletic achievements and administrative/faculty turmoil and gossip instead of research results and grant funding? Why do coaches and non-academic positions routinely earn up to ten or twenty times more than the professors/instructors - individuals "customers" (students) interact with on a daily basis? Universities should realign their perspectives to their original purpose - to educate and prepare the leaders of tomorrow for success, rather than allowing this never ending spiral of increasing cost to continue.