The other memory I have is spending time with my mother and watching this strange television show about some guy in a gold shirt with a pointed-eared other guys with a really bad haircut. But I used to love watching this show because I was so enthralled with the visuals, the stories and the adventure that these men (and the black woman) took. I saw something incredible on the television and was astonished by the idea of a future traveling the stars and transporting here and there – and talking to the computer – and everything.

Tonight, I came home and found Star Trek III – The Search for Spock on the UniversalHD channel (and yes, that is John Larroquette as the second-in-command of the Klingon ship). Watching it, I remembered the sense of awe I used to have – when I would go to the Star Trek Conventions when I was a kid, collecting the books that were always a friendly story to appreciate and enjoy. I remember meeting James Doohan and DeForest Kelley and talking to them both – discussing the concepts that they were part of – and remembering how they had little idea of the tech, but were awed by the inspiration that had generated in all of us.

I worked at a movie theater when this film came out – I still have the original poster that Mr. Nimoy signed when he came for the showing (or was it George Takei?). It was a grand experience watching this film on the big screen, and the theatrics of the movie were awe-inspiring.

Does it Translate to the 21st Century?

After going through many years of graduate school and teaching, I was suddenly taken by the simplicity of the story and the “tech” that was being shown this evening. The idea that a “transwarp” drive could be taken out by the removal of “transwarp circuits” (that looked suspiciously like fuses from the mid-20th century) or automatics of a ship the size of the Enterprise could be “overtaxed” by a single battle maneuver made me wonder if their technology advanced as quickly as ours is. Recently, I posted on another site the speed at which computing power will progress by 2013 (concept of a computer that can make as many calculations as the human brain). The fragility of the technology and the seeming limits that exist within the Star Trek Universe seems so limited now – especially when one looks at what technology is doing for us today.

When I was in high school, I fell in love with Tom Clancy’s novels – not because they were about spies, but because of the depth of knowledge and the thoroughness of his research for all issues discussed. Down to the discussion of the seven shakes of a nuclear fissile bomb – these were details that were almost legendary in its minutiae and engagement. This was always something Star Trek could never achieve. Star Trek was more of a religion – one which spoke of an idyllic future without explaining how we got there. Oh yes, there were discussions of the Eugenic Wars, the brink we almost came to in the end of the 20th Century – but the discussion of the 300 years from when we were watching to the future we were envisioning, that was where the lines were not drawn.

Watching STIII:TSFS and STIV:TJH, I found myself beginning to lose faith in the future these stories portrayed – because I was expecting more complexity, more dimensionality, more in the way of “explanation”. I mean, watching James Doohan playing his fingers across the keyboard of a Macintosh and suddenly coming up with the formula for “transparent aluminum” (which was funny since he was using a CAD application to generate animations) was a bit of a stretch of the imagination. While it was a wonderful fantasy, the holes were definitely showing through.

Hope for the future of the franchise, and for us

I write about this because I have spent time learning about many things – and combined my hopes and dreams into a single paradigm that I try to live on a regular basis. The world is complex, and all of us are also as complex as the processes that make up the engines of our bodies and the creation of the universe. I only hope that the complexity of our world is reflected in the next version of Star Trek and supported via the other media that exist for us to learn from.

J.J. Abrams is known for his complexity and reality he brings to his films/productions – and it is my hope that he thinks about utilizing the entire realm of communication of his story and the universe that surrounds it. He did a great job with Cloverfield (I still love the reverse audio at the end of the credits, the multiple websites throughout the lead up to the movie launch and the final “happy” clip toward the end of the movie), so I hope he is as prolific with Star Trek as well.

I look forward to the community involvement – and the crowdsourcing he can generate with this. I wonder how the Obama Adminstration can benefit from this (psst….NASA)?

Too funny. Thanks Andrew.

Specifically, one person made an outrageous comment asking “Did Tony steal your idea?” when he was fronting cooperBricolage and New Work City.

Simply, no. Tony and I formed a friendship and a partnership with regard to New York Coworking – where, as in Ori Brafman’s “The Starfish and the Spider”, I am the catalyst and he is the evangelist. We each bring our strengths to the table and have brought about this amazing thing. I am doing what I have been doing for many, many years – helping create an idea and a person grow into what he/she can become – being there and providing support and guidance when needed, and (sometimes) being the bad “cop” so that he/she can be the person they want to be.

I always wanted something like NWC to happen. Ever since I started spending time in New York City, I searched high and low for what I had become used to in London – a shared workspace where freelancers and other creatives got together and could work with wifi, deskspace and collaboration with others.

Yes, there was Jelly every month, but for my purposes, it was not what I was looking for. It represented a model, but not one I wanted to create. I was fortunate enough to meet Alex from A & N Design, and used the space for a while. But the space was dark and limited, and did not satisfy what I was searching for.

Over time, I noted the various retail spaces that were lying fallow (go along any major street in NYC and you can see all sorts of storefronts with no one inside) and I thought how easy it would be to set up a “mobile incubator” for this kind of need. Simply purchase some IKEA desks, set up some wifi routers, buy some chairs and lay out some power strips – and you’d have a mobile workspace that could pickup and leave on a moments notice.

I had a personal desire to create this for my own needs (heck, I wanted to be around smart, energized people) – and thought, “I can make this happen.” People told me it was stupid, it would fail, and so on – but I chose to try anyway. After spending time with a restaurateur who had a space that was closed during the day, I was able to convince him to open up his space for the daytime, install wifi with some solid DSL service and create cooperBricolage with the help of a number of great people including Tony B, Mike L. and others as shown in the photo here.

With CooBric in place, an incredible team appeared – all interested in making coworking happening. Our first cooperBricolage Committee or “cooBric Comm” was simply a group of regular people that came together to change the way people in NY works:

• Tony Bacigalupo, www.tonybacigalupo.com
• Jennifer Hall, www.jennifershall.com
• Alex Linsker, www.alexlinsker.com
• Nate Westheimer, www.cafebricolage.com
• Kara Masi, www.karamasi.com
• Jeffrey Warren, www.vestaldesign.com
• Dan Laurie

Seeds of New Work City

cooperBricolage had problems – cracks in our model included trying to generate interest, having people pay to sit in a restaurant and deal with the challenges of bringing their stuff into the space, and that at 5:30pm every day, our community was shuffled out to make ready for the restaurant’s normal customers.

At that time, Tony and I began discussing getting a space of our own and the challenge of the name of cooperBricolage (even Allen Stern did not like the name) and we kept the process running after the restaurant caused us to move to GramStand, where the community still thrives. In one of the CooBric Comm meetings, Kara Masi came up with the name New Work City and Alex was the enthusiast that pushed the idea forward.

One of the things that mattered to me was that I was not going to be running this space, it was always about creating the space and finding others who would make it happen. I had always been enthusiastic to create the idea, offering funding and expertise, but running a physical space is not my goal. Tony, on the other hand, was enthralled with the idea – flying to SXSW to meet complete strangers to chat about Coworking and taking up the thread on the coworking google group – and creating a Coworking Meetup Group in NY.

Finding a Coworking Space

Tony and I spent about a year searching for places – and working on the finances for it. We drafted an Executive Summary and a Financial Plan and began to search. Tony did most, if not all of the heavy lifting; scheduling all of the meetings and getting all of us together. I would bring various people or expertise to the table and then we would work on making things happen. We had a line on a couple of spaces and fell in love with one that was a Duplex – which would have been the perfect space. But someone snatched it before we could, and we found ourselves having to start over after so many months of trying.

Jeevan and element^n always had the space on 200 Varick and were interested, but we were sold on the beauty of the Duplex and the excitement we could generate within it. When the deal fell through and the business issues of investment, debt and other concerns happened, we visited the idea anew and were pleased to discover element^n was still interested in partnering.

Tony spent the greater part of September and October making things happen – and the honor and credit go to him for his hard-work. I had been extremely busy these past few months, and as I said, New Work City was a dream that Tony made come true.

Why I love being a teacher/mentor

Last night, I met Tony’s Mom, Dad and sister and saw the pride in their eyes for what Tony had accomplished. Toward the end of the evening, his father thanked me for all that I had done in working with Tony. I had to thank him for giving Tony the chance to be all he could be – and taking a chance like this.

For me, this is just what I do, have done for many years. I love create new opportunities, new businesses, new direction for others to further their dreams. As an undergrad/grad student/teacher/professor/whatever, I have always enjoyed helping others become what they could be. I can tell a number of these little stories from over the years, from Purdue to Stanford, from the Kerry Campaign to Cooper Union, from California to London to New York, from whatever to wherever – and I am nothing but happy to be part of people’s lives.

When I help, I always ask a simple thing – for them to pay it forward. Not trying to be cheesy – just a remembrance of what it meant to help someone else get a leg up, or advice from someone that could help them move forward. If that is all I do in this world, it would be enough.

It is one of my personal drives – to honor over my father’s dream, which seemed to be captured in a poem he always quoted when he would talk to others about how proud he was of his two sons (and daughter, after she was born). That poem is “To Have Succeeded”:

To Have Succeeded

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a little better place than when we found it, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know everyone’s life breathed easier because you lived.

This is to have succeeded.

Tony and the New Work City team are incredible people – and I am proud to be a part of helping them make the world a little better place than when we found it.

Been spending the past week or so working on a number of product specs and websites and found myself listening to TV in the background. In particular, Friday, October Sky was showing on Universal HD where Homer Hickam was discovering the magic of rocketry and dedication to family and the future. And, as the sap I can often be, I watched with emotion and awe in the inspiration the story brings to many.

Teaching – a Great Role Model

When I was growing up, I found myself often misunderstood – as in, I was at times smarter than expected, socially awkward, incredibly curious and insanely enthusiastic about solving problems. When I was in Elementary School, the teachers were always generous, but were often overworked and had to handle 30+ students during their insanely busy days.

And I remember those days with Ms. Bebon, Ms. Herndon and Ms. Handcock – my elementary school principal. But my life changed for the better in the Fourth Grade when my teacher came to class the beginning of that year to tell us she was pregnant and was going to leave in the first week.

Over the course of the next four weeks, we had substitute, upon substitiute, upon substitute – each trying to establish control and an environment where we could learn – and we were a bunch of wild Injuns running free in the quandrant we called the Fourth Grade. During this time, one of my classmates, David Hecker, got his mom to lobby Mrs. Handcock to get him switched into another class since he was not getting a good education with a bunch of substitutes. Right afterward, I convinced my Dad to speak to Mrs. Handcock as well – since I wanted a good teacher as well.

Mrs. Handcock, whom I had met before in times of good and bad (yes, we did have corporal punishment then), met with my Dad and I and listened carefully to what we said. She turned to us and told us about a new teacher she had just hired – a woman who had just moved from New York who was an exceptional teacher. Would we consider waiting to see how she worked out? If it did not work within a month, she would be happy to switch me into Mrs. Brown’s class.

My Dad and I agreed and I waited for the new teacher to arrive. Miss Fazzio showed up and within thirty minutes, you knew that she was in charge of the class and had some incredible ideas on how to improve the education we were getting. She had been in NY’s P.S. System and had taught in some innovative courses over the years she had been there. When she got to our school, our class was her first – and she decided to make some changes in our curriculum – driving us further than what the curriculum dictated and allowed us to stretch ourselves in ways, even our most aspiring parents had no sense of.

She allowed the students that were capable of to go through the Fourth Grade math and spelling books – they were able to just take the chapter tests and demonstrate prowess in getting an 80% or better and then advance to the Fifth Grade materials, devil be damned the required curriculum. At the time, I was not seen as smart (got into trouble often) – but I got up the courage and asked Miss Fazzio if I could take the tests as well. I remember that day like it was yesterday, where she looked at me with mild surprise and said “Yes, if you can pass like the other kids.” I have no idea if she knew what she did there, but it was the ignition to my rocket to demonstrate to the world that I could achieve like all the other kids.

Over the course of that year, Miss Fazzio introduced all sorts of things to our program – gaming tactics to inspire even the toughest of students who were recalcitrant (Sam Magnapera, I wonder where youa re today) and even gave us goals to strive for – including weekly prizes which, at the time, consisted of simple time with the teacher for lunch in our classroom – when everyone else had to eat in the cafeteria. I used to strive so hard to win those prizes so I could get that 45 minutes with Miss Fazzio and listen to her tell stories or me to tell her some of my dreams.

When the time came at the end of the Fourth Grade year, Miss Fazzio did something special for me – she made sure I got the “best” teacher I could in the Fifth Grade section – Miss Knoblock – who kept me on an incredibly inspiring path to where I ended up graduating high school and going off to grad school. Miss Fazzio was the person who came into my life and inspired me to be more than I could have imagined myself to be.

Why Teaching and Parents?

Aside from the mention of my Dad, why would I entitle this post about parents and teaching? Because, one of the most amazing things in my life was the fact that Miss Fazzio, after I had graduated Sheridan Hills, started dating my father during the summer between Sixth and Seventh Grade. The January of my Seventh Grade year, my Dad and Miss Fazzio married and she became my mom.

Oh – it took time to migrate from Miss Fazzio, to Lynne, to Mom – but today, she is as much my Mom as my natural Mom is – someone who impacted me more than I will ever appreciate or know.

Over the years, I watch the movies about teaching and growth through adversity - Teachers,Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds - but the one that always has had my heart is Mr. Holland’s Opus - where a jazz artist takes on a teaching job and impacts the lives of 30 years of students at a little high school. He did not know what impact he would make – he was able to see the impact of his work in the final scene of the movie. But rarely do teachers get a chance to see what the impact of their lives have had on others.

I teach (when I can) because I want to give back to the world – because of the gift that was given to me by a woman who happened to take a job in a small town in Hollywood, Florida – and changed my life for the better.

Teaching does not pay in the same way as my other jobs, but the time I spend with students – giving them the feedom to be their own people; to believe in them when they themselves might not – that is my honor and my gift to the people I come in contact with over the years. I have taught, off and on, since I was 14 (the year after my parents married) and in every case, the joy has been to go beyond the shackles of the regimen and to inspire learning beyond.

There are a couple of poems/sayings that I have collected, and one inspires me in this regard more than any – which is why I continue to believe that it is all of our responsibilities to help others shine…in everything we do. Teaching is not just in a classroom – it is everywhere where we give people the chance to shine:

Our Deepest Fear

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson