From: Seth Godin

Reimagining cities in a few simple questions

 

What would happen if public transportation were free?

What if it were paid for by congestion pricing, digitally implemented?

What if public toilets were safe, beautiful, well-appointed and consistently maintained?

What if there were a tax on empty storefronts, payable after three months of vacancy?

Shortly after the invention of the car, society made many decisions about how cities should work. These choices led to parking lots, suburbs and a definition of what a normal city was supposed to be like. Robert Moses and others pushed for a specific sort of urban environment.

It’s surprising how quickly and inexpensively that could begin to change.

Doing the same thing since the dawn of the expressway, year after year, without seeing the pattern, is a little Groundhog’s Dayish.

It helps to see it and then to talk about it.

From: Seth Godin

Begrudgingly

Social niceties are easy to do half-heartedly.

But they’re not for us, they’re for the other person.

When you show up begrudgingly, it’s not half-hearted, it’s cold hearted.

A handshake, a greeting, the way we sit in a meeting or wear a mask–it’s a chance to connect and to make a difference for the person we’re with.

All in, or not at all.

Seth Godin…Invent a new holiday.

      FROM:  GODIN

Invent a new holiday

It doesn’t have to last all day–it could be for an hour or even a month.

How would you celebrate it? Who else needs to be part of it?

It’s a symbol, a marker, a chance for conversation. It can amplify culture, give you a chance to have a conversation and allow you and the people around you to focus on something for a short while.

And it might catch on. This is the way just about every widespread holiday came to be.

***

I can think of several:

NATIONAL CELEBRATE CATS MONTH  (I know we do this everyday, but still, it would be nice to make it official.

NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, CHILDREN OR ANIMALS WEEK  (I would like it to be longer, but I have to be realistic and I don’t think most could even make it that long)

WOMEN OUT OF THE WORKPLACE WITH FULL PAY WEEK (so they can see how things go without women at work)

CLEAN UP THE OCEAN/ENVIRONMENT MONTH  (shutting down companies that pollute.  Can’t open until they fix and replace what needs to be fixed and replaced, in order to clean up their mess.  And they are not allowed to PAY A FINE for 40 years, so they don’t have to do anything.)

A YEAR OF DIVERSITY (where everyone is treated equally, no matter who they are)

NO MORE HUNGER  (companies have to donate a certain amount of money to feed the hungry UNTIL, hunger no longer exists because of…

EQUALITY FOREVER  

A COMMITTEE WHO WILL WATCH GOVERNMENT SPENDING, MADE UP BY CITIZENS, ON A ROTATING BASIS YEAR

TAKE A DAY OFF TO READ A BOOK DAY

Well I could this forever, so list your holidays and eat cookies while you type.