Sunday, July 29, 2007
A story without love...
...is not worth telling. How true.
Hope my last imaginary tale didn't scare you too much...but, as we plunged into darkness and cold second night in a row, it really does drive home the awareness of how fragile life is, how reliant we are on stuff and how far away we are from love.
The Great Lover
I have been so great a lover: filled my days
So proudly with the splendour of Love's praise,
The pain, the calm, and the astonishment,
Desire illimitable, and still content,
And all dear names men use, to cheat despair,
For the perplexed and viewless streams that bear
Our hearts at random down the dark of life.
Now, ere the unthinking silence on that strife
Steals down, I would cheat drowsy Death so far,
My night shall be remembered for a star
That outshone all the suns of all men's days.
Shall I not crown them with immortal praise
Whom I have loved, who have given me, dared with me
High secrets, and in darkness knelt to see
The inenarrable godhead of delight?
Love is a flame; -- we have beaconed the world's night.
A city: -- and we have built it, these and I.
An emperor: -- we have taught the world to die.
So, for their sakes I loved, ere I go hence,
And the high cause of Love's magnificence,
And to keep loyalties young, I'll write those names
Golden for ever, eagles, crying flames,
And set them as a banner, that men may know,
To dare the generations, burn, and blow
Out on the wind of Time, shining and streaming. . . .
These I have loved
White plates and cups, clean-gleaming,
Ringed with blue lines; and feathery, faery dust;
Wet roofs, beneath the lamp-light; the strong crust
Of friendly bread; and many-tasting food;
Rainbows; and the blue bitter smoke of wood;
And radiant raindrops couching in cool flowers;
And flowers themselves, that sway through sunny hours,
Dreaming of moths that drink them under the moon;
Then, the cool kindliness of sheets, that soon
Smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss
Of blankets; grainy wood; live hair that is
Shining and free; blue-massing clouds; the keen
Unpassioned beauty of a great machine;
The benison of hot water; furs to touch;
The good smell of old clothes; and other such --
The comfortable smell of friendly fingers,
Hair's fragrance, and the musty reek that lingers
About dead leaves and last year's ferns. . . .
Dear names,And thousand other throng to me! Royal flames;
Sweet water's dimpling laugh from tap or spring;
Holes in the ground; and voices that do sing;
Voices in laughter, too; and body's pain,
Soon turned to peace; and the deep-panting train;
Firm sands; the little dulling edge of foam
That browns and dwindles as the wave goes home;
And washen stones, gay for an hour; the cold
Graveness of iron; moist black earthen mould;
Sleep; and high places; footprints in the dew;
And oaks; and brown horse-chestnuts, glossy-new;
And new-peeled sticks; and shining pools on grass; --
All these have been my loves.
And these shall pass,
Whatever passes not, in the great hour,
Nor all my passion, all my prayers, have power
To hold them with me through the gate of Death.
They'll play deserter, turn with the traitor breath,
Break the high bond we made, and sell Love's trust
And sacramented covenant to the dust.
Oh, never a doubt but, somewhere, I shall wake,
And give what's left of love again, and make
New friends, now strangers. . . .
But the best I've known,
Stays here, and changes, breaks, grows old, is blown
About the winds of the world, and fades from brains
Of living men, and dies.
Nothing remains.
O dear my loves, O faithless, once again
This one last gift I give: that after men
Shall know, and later lovers, far-removed,
Praise you, "All these were lovely"; say, "He loved."
Rupert Brooke, Mataiea, 1914
Labels:
imagination,
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Mataiea,
Rupert Brooke,
stuff
An inconvenient apocalypse - NOW
We have maybe 90 minutes before it all ends...and, feeling strangely vindicated that I have invested in a wireless internet connnection and a laptop with some battery life left, I decided instead of panicking, I'll invest my last moments to connect with the world by internet- to reach out in a typical human need, for connection with other humans-whilst others more fortunate, share these last intimate moments by candlelight with loved ones! (I have already checked through the window of my high-rise apartment-yes, that's what they are up to!)
It happened about 30 minutes ago...a massive explosion that rocked the world, a blinding light and then thick black eerie silence. I fumbled around in the dark for 10 minutes to find the emergency pack of matches to light my beautiful candles that otherwise serve as decor accents only! So, forgive typos....I can barely see the keyboard. (As a perfectionist, its very hard NOT to go back and fix errors but in this instance, perfection is hardly the point!) In 90 minutes or so, all connectivity will end, so what have I to say or share that could possibly matter?
Well, let's see....today I saw a quote in a 2nd hand bookshop that referenced Socrates- not that he was my hero (I am much more a Sartre babe, or I used to be....when I still had a future), but it said something about the examined life is worth living....or words to that effect. I also browsed Oracle, my local bookshop, and skimmed through the Deepak Chopra book on the life of Buddha...very easily accessible...and ended up buying Future Perfect, by Robin Williams (see, ever the optimist- and a fat lot of good that is now!), and The Beginners's Guide to winning the Nobel Prize by Australian winner Peter Doherty for medical research into Immunity!
These books I bought not only because they fascinate me, but also by way of inspiration for the kids, cause let's face it, its going to take a miracle to have me win it in the next 90 minutes! Cub 1 has a chance, she is far away in country New South Wales at Boarding School and for the moment, not impacted by the Apocalypse. Cub 2, whom I have assured its just a temporary power blackout, is reading her pony novel by the emergency light on the stairwell. We were all going to visit the Nobel Prize Hall of fame in Stockholm at the end of the year- now hopefully, at least one- the sole carrier of our genes into this crazy world, may still get there!
So, what else to say when there is so much? That love matters more than anything else? That money can't buy us out of here? That its pretty cool to go down sipping a glass of very fine Pommery like those Titanic passengers, chatting to you by candlelight, watching the moon rising and lighting up Balmoral Bay like a Tahitian black pearl, just as its been doing for millenia and may be doing again tomorrow and the day after as if nothing's happened?
In searching Google for an image, I found this weird website called K-punk
where some really deep and meaningful stuff was written about this world and others...I didn't have time to read it, have my own shit to get in order here....but if you survive this, by all means check it out-I did glimpse enough to recall what I read about in Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse", on the relationship between greed and civilizations.
And so, here we are...finally, we've raped Mother Earth, sucked her dry for cheap energy, its run out and our greed has turned us to war with one another, Australia invading Iraq for no bloody reason whatsoever other than piggy-backing our greed on the US, and tonight, it's payback time and Sydney has been hit by a surprise (hardly!) act of terror ahead of it hosting the APEC summit of world fools in September. And its all about to end.
I am an innocent, I proclaim_ I didnt support that war so why should I die for John Howard's folly?
Ah....but am I? Have I not been driving a luxury car fuelled by cheap energy? Have I not been turning on heaters and electric blankets and using a tumble dryer when the sun or a lover could have done the job? Have I not been dining out in fine restaurants, wearing fine feathers made in power hungry factories? Have I not been voting Liberal because it was good for the economy and my backpocket even though Rome was already burning and the writing on the wall?
Tonight, Sydney's Collapse is also my collapse...and 4 million others....but how much MORE warning did we need? Why did we not heed? Why not act? Thank goodness I spent time with the cubs teaching them a little through documentaries such as "An Inconvenient truth" and "A Crude Awakening"- movies and debates I also organised at work, along with the brilliant Jane McGonigal's alternate reality game, "World without Oil" but alas, too little, too late.
So, my dear friends, there won't be a funeral...there will be too many dead and rotting bodies everywhere...its best to just bulldoze the place....but, if the Servers in Google Land and their back-ups get off scotfree this time and this post makes it to you...take heed. Act now. Greed is NOT good, and complacency that others will do the right thing to protect us...fairytales!
And then...love a little more...no, A LOT MORE. Live a lot more too, but...in a way that preserves life, not rob it.
This is the Leopard Lady and her little cub signing off and MEWTU, the cat, who is blissfully unaware life as we know it is about to be snuffed out.
So, adieu...until we meet again, and cheers (raising my champagne flute and draining the last drop) xxx
It happened about 30 minutes ago...a massive explosion that rocked the world, a blinding light and then thick black eerie silence. I fumbled around in the dark for 10 minutes to find the emergency pack of matches to light my beautiful candles that otherwise serve as decor accents only! So, forgive typos....I can barely see the keyboard. (As a perfectionist, its very hard NOT to go back and fix errors but in this instance, perfection is hardly the point!) In 90 minutes or so, all connectivity will end, so what have I to say or share that could possibly matter?
Well, let's see....today I saw a quote in a 2nd hand bookshop that referenced Socrates- not that he was my hero (I am much more a Sartre babe, or I used to be....when I still had a future), but it said something about the examined life is worth living....or words to that effect. I also browsed Oracle, my local bookshop, and skimmed through the Deepak Chopra book on the life of Buddha...very easily accessible...and ended up buying Future Perfect, by Robin Williams (see, ever the optimist- and a fat lot of good that is now!), and The Beginners's Guide to winning the Nobel Prize by Australian winner Peter Doherty for medical research into Immunity!
These books I bought not only because they fascinate me, but also by way of inspiration for the kids, cause let's face it, its going to take a miracle to have me win it in the next 90 minutes! Cub 1 has a chance, she is far away in country New South Wales at Boarding School and for the moment, not impacted by the Apocalypse. Cub 2, whom I have assured its just a temporary power blackout, is reading her pony novel by the emergency light on the stairwell. We were all going to visit the Nobel Prize Hall of fame in Stockholm at the end of the year- now hopefully, at least one- the sole carrier of our genes into this crazy world, may still get there!
So, what else to say when there is so much? That love matters more than anything else? That money can't buy us out of here? That its pretty cool to go down sipping a glass of very fine Pommery like those Titanic passengers, chatting to you by candlelight, watching the moon rising and lighting up Balmoral Bay like a Tahitian black pearl, just as its been doing for millenia and may be doing again tomorrow and the day after as if nothing's happened?
In searching Google for an image, I found this weird website called K-punk
where some really deep and meaningful stuff was written about this world and others...I didn't have time to read it, have my own shit to get in order here....but if you survive this, by all means check it out-I did glimpse enough to recall what I read about in Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse", on the relationship between greed and civilizations.
And so, here we are...finally, we've raped Mother Earth, sucked her dry for cheap energy, its run out and our greed has turned us to war with one another, Australia invading Iraq for no bloody reason whatsoever other than piggy-backing our greed on the US, and tonight, it's payback time and Sydney has been hit by a surprise (hardly!) act of terror ahead of it hosting the APEC summit of world fools in September. And its all about to end.
I am an innocent, I proclaim_ I didnt support that war so why should I die for John Howard's folly?
Ah....but am I? Have I not been driving a luxury car fuelled by cheap energy? Have I not been turning on heaters and electric blankets and using a tumble dryer when the sun or a lover could have done the job? Have I not been dining out in fine restaurants, wearing fine feathers made in power hungry factories? Have I not been voting Liberal because it was good for the economy and my backpocket even though Rome was already burning and the writing on the wall?
Tonight, Sydney's Collapse is also my collapse...and 4 million others....but how much MORE warning did we need? Why did we not heed? Why not act? Thank goodness I spent time with the cubs teaching them a little through documentaries such as "An Inconvenient truth" and "A Crude Awakening"- movies and debates I also organised at work, along with the brilliant Jane McGonigal's alternate reality game, "World without Oil" but alas, too little, too late.
So, my dear friends, there won't be a funeral...there will be too many dead and rotting bodies everywhere...its best to just bulldoze the place....but, if the Servers in Google Land and their back-ups get off scotfree this time and this post makes it to you...take heed. Act now. Greed is NOT good, and complacency that others will do the right thing to protect us...fairytales!
And then...love a little more...no, A LOT MORE. Live a lot more too, but...in a way that preserves life, not rob it.
This is the Leopard Lady and her little cub signing off and MEWTU, the cat, who is blissfully unaware life as we know it is about to be snuffed out.
So, adieu...until we meet again, and cheers (raising my champagne flute and draining the last drop) xxx
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Creating intelligence
No...this is NOT an essay on religion, but more a reflection on evolution and the Renaissance that we are all in the middle of. Like the printing press was a catalyst for Renaissance 1.0, the internet is most certainly that for Remaissance 2.0 - enabling the spread of knowledge and collaboration across geopgraphies and time as if they don't exist. And indeed, they are no longer barriers.
Collective intelligence is the capacity of human communities to evolve towards higher order complexity and harmony, through such innovation mechanisms as differentiation and integration, competition and collaboration.
This week brought another great example of how our connectedness with others through social networking rapidly builds intelligence and progress when I was contacted by LA-based social media entrepreneur, Richard McKinnon,as a follow-on to my blog and Linked-In profile, which was in turn connected to Des Walsh, a business blogging expert who delivered 2 workshops at our Innovation Festival in June. Des was in turn recommended to me via another blogger in the US, whom I contacted via another Knowledge blog, IT Toolbox, in November last year. In turn, we all have some mutual business acquaintances in common, eg Ross Dawson, author of Trends in the Living Networks and producer of the Future of Media Summits, and to my surprise, Rolf von Behrens, an expert in Sustainability, both of whom I met when I created the first Ryze offline social group in Australia going some 5 years now. (What I find so interesting is how these social networks go through "swarming phases"....Ryze was certainly my first....YEARS before the Web 2.0 phrase was coined, that was followed by LinkedIn, then MySpace - which I gave a miss, then Facebook, which I have again joined- mostly because its less limiting than LinkedIn but alas, at age 45, most of my school contemporaries are obviously in the dark ages and cannot be found in FaceBook!)
Suffice to say- it refocussed my attention to return to more regular blogging-although in my case, I blog for artistic and creative pleasure and philosophical reflection more than being a subject matter expert. (I was also reading some musings on Ross' blog yesterday about the relatively low percentage of Aussies that blog compared to the rest of the English speaking world. I have my own theory about that...its called LIFESTYLE! We have such great weather that I guess, like me, most people would rather be out there and enjoying it than couped up and slumped over the computer_ I have tried multi-tasking by blogging at the beach but the glare makes it a hopeless exercise!)
But, blogging eats up quite a lot of time....I am not talking about simple snippets that merely link to other people's stuff, but considered reflection and synthesis. At the recent Future of Media Summit, I heard a great definition of Influence through Blogs...the first is people who are merely "connectors", the second, and more influential, are those who change the debate.
I think my best value is in doing and showing rather than the academic perspective (I get bored with writing things up, though I know its important) but therein the benefit of the network; others do the commentary and writing if you involve them, which leaves me free to do more of the doing!
And so, together with strangers, all of whom share a common interest and passion, we rapidly knit a tapestry of wisdom, insight and experience together in a way no single individual could.
Collective intelligence is the capacity of human communities to evolve towards higher order complexity and harmony, through such innovation mechanisms as differentiation and integration, competition and collaboration.
This week brought another great example of how our connectedness with others through social networking rapidly builds intelligence and progress when I was contacted by LA-based social media entrepreneur, Richard McKinnon,as a follow-on to my blog and Linked-In profile, which was in turn connected to Des Walsh, a business blogging expert who delivered 2 workshops at our Innovation Festival in June. Des was in turn recommended to me via another blogger in the US, whom I contacted via another Knowledge blog, IT Toolbox, in November last year. In turn, we all have some mutual business acquaintances in common, eg Ross Dawson, author of Trends in the Living Networks and producer of the Future of Media Summits, and to my surprise, Rolf von Behrens, an expert in Sustainability, both of whom I met when I created the first Ryze offline social group in Australia going some 5 years now. (What I find so interesting is how these social networks go through "swarming phases"....Ryze was certainly my first....YEARS before the Web 2.0 phrase was coined, that was followed by LinkedIn, then MySpace - which I gave a miss, then Facebook, which I have again joined- mostly because its less limiting than LinkedIn but alas, at age 45, most of my school contemporaries are obviously in the dark ages and cannot be found in FaceBook!)
Suffice to say- it refocussed my attention to return to more regular blogging-although in my case, I blog for artistic and creative pleasure and philosophical reflection more than being a subject matter expert. (I was also reading some musings on Ross' blog yesterday about the relatively low percentage of Aussies that blog compared to the rest of the English speaking world. I have my own theory about that...its called LIFESTYLE! We have such great weather that I guess, like me, most people would rather be out there and enjoying it than couped up and slumped over the computer_ I have tried multi-tasking by blogging at the beach but the glare makes it a hopeless exercise!)
But, blogging eats up quite a lot of time....I am not talking about simple snippets that merely link to other people's stuff, but considered reflection and synthesis. At the recent Future of Media Summit, I heard a great definition of Influence through Blogs...the first is people who are merely "connectors", the second, and more influential, are those who change the debate.
I think my best value is in doing and showing rather than the academic perspective (I get bored with writing things up, though I know its important) but therein the benefit of the network; others do the commentary and writing if you involve them, which leaves me free to do more of the doing!
And so, together with strangers, all of whom share a common interest and passion, we rapidly knit a tapestry of wisdom, insight and experience together in a way no single individual could.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Relish
...such a great word, relish - rich, juicy, plump, luxurious....and, so it should be. As the dictionary describes it..."pleasurable appreciation of something"...and that is what I am doing. After 8 years in Australia, and 7 years in my company, starting practically from the bottom again, I feel like I have finally made it back to where I was career-wise when I left Billiton and South Africa end of 1998.
Yes, my recent project, the Innovation & Thought Leadership Festival that I have been arranging for the past 9 months, took place between 25-29 June, and it exceeded even my own wildest expectations. And so, forgive me for taking a moment to relish that...and, the acknowledgement I received from my colleagues, peers, Board members, CEO and my boss.
I received over 60 e-mails and about 300 sms messages...here are just a few snippets to keep in my virtual album...
Sent: 30/06/2007 08:14 AM ZE10
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Special person
Every now and then I think things are bad and life is flat... Then I think
about the people in my life and how wonderful the world really - despite
its challenges. You are one of those very special people...
Congratulations on what YOU have achieved this week, congratulations in
believing anything can be achieved despite the barriers and proving women
can lead the world...
This from our Strategic Alliances Director who is in the above photo with me, name withheld for privacy reasons
Sent: 29/06/2007 05:50 PM ZE10
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Congratulations
Hi Annalie
I just wanted to congratulate you on an amazing week topped off by the most
amazing expo. I had been searching for inspiration and the expo has given
me the push and motivation I needed to get through the next few weeks.
Thank you!
Congratulations and I hope the Hub launch is as successful as this week has
been for you. I am very proud to be part of your team.
A member of my team, name suppressed to protect privacy
Sent: 26/06/2007 11:24 AM ZE10
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Fw: Innovation Festival
A success I think!!
Annalie .....................YOU REALLY PULLED THIS ONE OFF!!!
Congratulations..............and thank you from all of us!!
Name suppressed to protect privacy, but this was from my boss!
Note from CEO to Board Member who attended
Early on day 2, it's clear this has been an inspirational initiative that will shape strategic thinking in (The company) very
significantly.
Thanks for your active participation and support,
(CEO name suppressed to protect privacy)
Note from Board member who attended to my boss
I just wanted to congratulate you on the festival and thank you for the
chance to take part. The work involved in organising something like this
must be phenomenal but what you have done is to offer to the (name of my company)community a world class conference with great speakers and, at least judging by today, thoroughly stimulating content which would be terrific just from a personal
development point of view, let alone the potential to do great things for
the business.
It's sensational! and we are all in debt to you and your team,
(Name suppressed to protect privacy)
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Congratulations on a breathtaking initiative!
Annalie
The Innovation and Thought Leadership Festival was a huge success and I
know that ddn't happen without a huge effort from yourself in particular.
Congratulations - I'd like to catch up next month when i return from
holiday
Kind regards
(name suppressed for privacy)
General Manager HR & Strategy
Sent Jun 30, 2007 03:58
Subject: Wow.
Wow. You done well kiddo! Stunning event. Off home now couldn't find you to
say bye. Thanks for the recognition. Love your work. You are the star
today enjoy every minute of it. xx
From our HR Director and a colleague
Sent: 29/06/2007 04:59 PM ZE10
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Re: Innovation and thought leadership festival - question re
location/entry
Annalie
I hope you are sitting down to a well earned champagne. Even though I only
saw a tiny slither of what you have put on this week I was totally blown
away. I wandered around the exhibition for quite a while - it was
fantastic. I can't wait to sit down and chat with you about your role,
aspirations and how we might share stories and ideas. To this end I would
like to invite you to lunch - how does 17 or 19 July work?
I hope you have a restful weekend and do let me know if either of those
dates works for you.
Kind regards
Director (name suppressed for privacy reason)
PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia
Sent: 28/06/2007 11:21 AM ZE10
To: Annalie Killian
Subject: Fw: Thank you
and guess what...........for your sins you get to do a Board presentation
on the 24th July say 20mins talking and 20mins discussion - we need to pull
together a packc next week...............we can work on it together!!
Congratulations again!!!
My boss...again
28/06/2007
11:15 AM
Note from Chairman of the Board to my boss
Thank you indeed for including me in the dinner on Tuesday night. There
has been a great buzz around the company this week and the dinner was a reflection
of it. I thought the whole presentation, the atmosphere and conviviality
said a huge amount about the quality of your team and the inspirational
thinking which is underway.
Annalie is a gem.
Regards
(name suppressed for privacy reasons)
and so on....relish, relish, relish! Success is sweet but fleeting...there is always a new mountain to climb...so, I am already beginning to work on the next Everest!
Thanks to all of you...my friends and family, for your interest and support!
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Blackberry salad
Finally, the Blackberry is silent....eerily so. The Festival ended somewhere on Friday night after a week that went by in a blurrrr...and I ended up a bit blurry after a few celebratory margaritas were forced down my sore throat at the after-after party! Oi, didnt know those things left a dent in your brain! Had to really "think", as I stumbled in the door to two bemused cubs, how to keep a straight and sober pose...was not about to throw my reputation as an impeccable role model down the drain, even if I had much reason to celebrate!
Driving home next day in the car (we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel on Friday night), Cub 1 says to me: "So Mum, other than having a heap of fun at work, what do you ACTUALLY do?" (Kids don't understand that being an executive, making decisions, delighting customers and shareholders, managing people, assets and crises, and attending too many meetings, IS ACTUALLY WORK!)
"Well," I tried to explain..."my job is to lead people, set challenging goals, to help them grow, find their talent, realize their potential, have fulfilment in their work. It's called Leadership"
So...next thing, cub 2, sitting in the rear, pipes up: "Geez Mom, you sound like Jesus!
Well...I nearly drove off the harbour bridge!
From the mouths of babes...come priceless wit!
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