Mark Twain

I've been doing some research on Mark Twain's visit to the Azores. He stopped in Horta on his way to Palestine-a series of correspondences that would become his book,  Innocents Abroad.

Most of what he wrote about the Azores in that book was not kind, he was trying to create jokes-and also created a cynical sense of the superiority of the American traveler. He made himself the joke of an ugly American-especially viewed from the perspective of today.

In the Book about the Dabneys, there is evidence that he was in their house. Below is a quote from one of the female residents.

“At 10 the parlor was quite full….One young man had his note-book out all the time and remarked as I gave him some verbena,’I am taking notes as I am a correspondent of a paper’. 

‘Horrors;, writes CPD, “how we may appear in print,’

A future cultural experience!

Having spent Thanksgiving in Provincetown, with all its associated Portuguese heritage, I noticed that there is an Annual Blessing of the Fleet and weekend-long Festival at the end of June (6/25-28/2020) More information can be found here:
https://provincetownportuguesefestival.com/

It's never to early to plan your time in this seaside town, especially bc it fills up so quickly in the summertime. See you then!!

UX and Agile Software Development

Whatever you call your job in UX-User Experience Designer/Researcher/Architect/Visionary, you are trying to understand and focus in on one main opportunity.  Or, as is more common, the SERIES of opportunities that will lead you into a successful Experience for whomever is using your system.

Mostly, this gets applied in the area of software. And frankly, depending on the style of software development-it breaks.  Take Agile, for example. No longer are you looking to make the experience about your user-you make it about breaking up the research you can do into manageable chunks for the Development Team.  Your focus is no longer on the person who will be using the end-product, but rather the person on the team who will feel as if the process is getting enough of the proper inputs.

It's a way to make the process of software development seem scale-able, and so now you can apply Design Thinking into the sprint and everyone is happy.

You can't do big picture stuff 2 weeks at a time, and Design Thinking is not about insights that can be cleverly packaged.

Sometimes you will uncover insights that will break the larger product. And because the rest of the team is already following the train tracks laid out for the project-the train has left the station-heading to a place where it will run out of track. Sometimes pivoting is required, based on UX work.

Good luck with bringing back that kind of news to your team. Not only do we have to pivot on the product, but we also need to change our way of working. Even if it is just a matter of a week to have sessions about re-envisioning the product-the mechanics are already greased to follow the old process. It's possible. But just be aware of how much harder it will be.

Visiting an Artist Studio-in LaGuardia??

I was walking to my flight at the Jetblue Terminal and saw a tiny art studio in the lobby area.

Stopping, I chatted a bit with the woman who was running the space, Anna, but was rushing to my flight and I couldn't linger.  What a funny place for a popup art location, I thought.

And then I came through again, and my plane was delayed. Finally I had the proper time.

This time I stayed for a good while, and spoke to Davi Leventhal, an enchanting man who told me about being raised Brazilian in NYC, something I related to, being raised Azorean in Boston. Anna was there as well.

His art was based on fuxicos-simple circles of fabric, which when combined, make a giant tapestry of color and energy.  Visitors are invited to make one and leave one. I made 3, but one fell apart.  He gifted me one-which I will attach to a blanket my Vovo made me.

His assembly method reminded me of my Mousetrap Project, creating small pieces of beauty which are seen as a strong presence when mounted together. And because there was the interactive element, of getting to sit and sew (especially in what is normally a stressful environment), the was a performance piece that I was happy to have experienced.

==

For more info:

https://www.davileventhal.com/about.html

https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/buildings-maintenance/press-release/21076449/the-port-authority-of-new-york-new-jersey-local-artist-residency-program-returns-to-laguardia-airports-marine-air-terminal-for-second-year

https://www.queenscouncilarts.org/2019-artport-artists

Lean UX Seminar

Took a Lean UX=Scrum seminar, great to see others struggling with it as well.

Grateful that (most) of my teams will be going through it-easier to make change if everyone's on the same page.

Thoreau/Twain in Concord, MA

And now for something completely different.  I wrote a play....


I'm happy to report that the performance of Thoreau/Twain: Brothers in the River for the Thoreau Society was a tremendous success.

Brent Rinalli, Tammy Rose and Joel Hersh

The main performers were Brent Rinalli, who has been in and around Concord giving lectures and historical interpreting as Thoreau for the past few years and Joel Hersh, a local actor known for his varied musical ability-played Twain.

The main conceit of the show is that an Academic is trying to summon the spirits of the authors, to have them discuss a major, and underexplored parallel of their lives.  Both of them had a deep relationship with a brother on the river of their childhood, and both of them lost that brother to a sudden event. This happened before either of them began to write-but both found inspiration in their brothers and documented the influences strongly in their writings.

The authors -who had never met in real life- get deep into conversation, about their lives, commonalities they share-and especially their brothers. Most of the text of the play is taken directly from journals, letters and the formal published writings of the authors-and their contemporaries. They argue with each other using their own words and get a chance to recount a major emotional moment in their lives. (No pop-psychology or therapy here-the drama comes directly from their own words and existing texts).

Thanks to the Thoreau Society and to all the amazing and attentive attendees!  Especially those who took pictures and gave me feedback on new areas to explore between the two!

And extra special thanks to my fellow Tourguides who make all the research and the entire experience of Concord SO MUCH FUN!!!

New Play: Thoreau/Twain Brothers on the River

Thoreau/Twain: Brothers on the River

Masonic Hall, 

58 Monument Sq, 

Concord, MA

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

7pm

(immediately after the performance of "HDT's Heroic Journey")

https://www.thoreausociety.org/annual-gathering#Wed

"Be thou my Muse, my Brother--,"

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Both Henry David Thoreau and Samuel Clemens were by the deathbeds of their beloved brothers.  What happens when one brother is left on the river, and the other has to complete the rest of the journey in life alone?

Come see Henry David Thoreau and Mark Twain meet under new and unusual circumstances; a meeting that never happened in history. Finally, both have a chance to recognize and reconcile their parallel journeys. 

Primary texts of the play are taken directly from primary sources including A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers & Life on the Mississippi, as well as from journals & letters from the authors themselves.

Written by

Tammy Rose

and Henry David Thoreau

and Samuel Clemens

One

Vulnerabilty

----------------

Maybe Writing is Being a Goldilocks

There is a high barrier to entry for being a successful artist/writer/creative in this world.  Time, talent, patience, persistence, the ability to make mistakes. And the ability and space (and money) to start again-or to keep exploring while you are waiting for your seeds to bloom. The UX of a writing career is generally not well designed.

Imagine a writer, thinking herself into insanity. Trying one thing after another-too hot, too cold. Waiting until she can find the thing that is Just Right:

"Okay, so at one point after college, I realized I was a Writer-I had always identified myself as one, always did research and readings, kept a journal, etc-but I realized I hadn't WRITTEN.

So I literally began at my beginning.

I started doing Blogs. And Plays. And Short Stories. TV Pilots, Novels. And lately, I've also started doing Satire.  Short pieces which focus on humor, on a good idea that gets developed-and also gets workshopped among you and your closest writing partners.

New York has hosted several of my pieces, and I've been proud to help others bring theirs forward (helping to produce is helping to pay it forward in your own "work")

Everything feels natural to each of the medium (media), but it's about persistence.  And if something is not working, not breaking through, I'm willing to try the NEXT GENRE-the next pattern of storytelling.  Because it IS all the same urge, just coming out in different frames and formats."

UX Profiles

Derek Walker has spent Black History Month researching and publishing short bios and histories of famous POC in the Advertising industry.

Check out his work here:

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/02/17/we-all-know-their-work-history-black-professionals-iconic-advertising


I would love to begin to do the same for the UX industry.  But I believe it would be more helpful in the documentation of how to navigate (and how people have successfully navigated) this area of Tech. 

I am honored to be a part of SUCH an amazing and diverse group of people from a wide variety of personal backgrounds as well as career backgrounds.

I'd like to break it down according to: Undergrad major & College, what they wanted to do, what made them think that UX was what they wanted to do.  A Challenge they faced. A success.  And what kind of advice they'd give to their younger self.  Maybe a bit more.

UX Event in Waltham

There was a terrific event, Jared Spool talking about how to treat hiring as a UX/Design problem and to solve it as such.

Sponsored by ACM, it was held at Vistaprint in Waltham, the real and original Silicon Alley-along Rte 128-THE place to be if you want to get involved with Tech!