For The Pioneers of Post-Pandie 2020
*The 10% That Have A Hunch. . .
Pioneers are the “10%” having a compelling hunch that there might be some surprising, practical, “options unnoticed” just below the surface of convention.
“Compelling” here is meant in the sense that they’re actually compelled to look into things, and maybe even do something different. To start something — at least a shift in perspective and paradigms if not actual action, which can be hard and require longer planning.
Some people might sense a dissonance here as we launch this series of serious explorations of conventions, options, and the still-fairly-fresh and complex idea of human flourishing as a lens for re-evaluating things. A dissonance would maybe come from the type of story we’re starting: The Story of Stu (the Bug).
And who says “Post-Pandie” right in the middle of a pandemic? Stuard the Bug does (aka Bug Stu). He’s been around for a very long time. He’s seen a few pandemics. He knows humans, and he’s on our side. He knows how our minds work better than we do. He’s never been inside one, but he “knows a guy.” He also reads a lot.
So here we are, on this special birthday of Earth Day — the fiftieth, and so appropriate for taking a different perspective on what we might ought to consider for ourselves each other, and “our heirs and theirs.” A look beneath and beyond the Left/Right punches and counter-punches and categories.
We come to you from the Middle of Nowhere, Indiana -now a state to love and hate, but less adulterated, and a literary leader, a century ago. We play the cards we’re dealt. We like the complexity of our terrain and history, and even the broad spectrum represented by our most well-known current figures: Mike Pence and Pete Buttigieg.
We like that last year was the 50th anniversary of Slaughterhouse 5, from the late Kurt Vonnegut of Indianapolis (like David Letterman!). We’re home to beauty, the sublime, the banal, exploitation, and excellence, like the rest of you. Smart people, dumb people, nice people, mean people, dumb asses, and smart asses.
And here’s a story about a smart beetle — also pretty nice. He’s 99% snark-free and for a free-ranging audience that doesn’t mind an occasional rhyme or made-up word (he can’t help it).
He doesn’t have a specific prognosis or prescription for us, but he likes to take walks in the brain forest and notice useful, interesting things. He’s also the only one that’s been found. We’re working on a solution. Stay-tuned.
And So Begins “The Story of Stu (the Bug)”
It’s mostly Tim’s story, but Emily’s helping AND doing the doodles and drawings 😄. The illustrations here are Em’s initial concept sketches. We started The Pie here at Medium in January 2020. The very beginning of this all here at Medium was over two years ago, with me (and Stu) writing “100,000 words on a different look at our plights and our fights — mixed with gobbledygook.” About two years ago my post was titled “Good News: You Don’t Have a Brain”. Hmm.
Em’s here to help minimize the gobbledygookery, the made up words 😐, and occasional “over-inspired” rabbit hole expeditions. Don’t worry, she’s shown herself to be capable of nerding-up at the appropriate times. It’s a great mix.
Can we begin with a short poem to set the scene? (Caution: Rhyming Poem)
“I remember when people got over having to rhyme in poetry. I fully expect to see them getting over having to not rhyme.” -Bug Stu
Who Cares
So…
Looking down from the sky
was an alien eye
attached to a body behind.
Not a monster, deep sigh,
but a cute little spy,
with her scope and our country aligned.
She was checking to see
if as stewards, we,
would fulfill the role of our kind.
Yes stewards, with big brains
to take entropy’s strains,
and despite them, find a way -as designed.
Who else would it be?
The pig? Chimpanzee?
Only we can Help The Place Flourish.
We’re wired for just this,
and we’d better not miss,
for our own kind, too, we must nourish.
And…
We count on the rest,
so the system works best
if they thrive and make more of each other.
We watch over them,
not too fat, not too slim
like a farm, and a father and mother.
So…
It’s one big round ball,
a great place for us all,
if we know and pass down how to run it.
If our kids then theirs,
then theirs, then their heirs
are happy, she’ll say, we have done it : ).
And to keep the place whole,
tiny towns play a role;
Some forgot, so they’re tearing them down.
That eye in the sky
knew tiny towns’ Why,
so that prompted a worry and frown.
It’s Stu’s friend in the sky,
She’s for later, this spy;
we’ll start here, on the ground, in a town.
It’s in the Midwest,
and like most of the rest,
it’s real small with a wonderful past.
And we’ll take this Slow,
because we all know…
we see more when we don’t move so fast.
Someone asked me what target age group this is for. My inner Stu instinctively thought “What age group is a forest for?” That makes some sense, but really, we figure it‘ll appeal mostly to Millennials and younger, only because it’s mostly the under-40 crowd that’s interested in questioning conventions (not to overgeneralize).
Then again, post-Pandie and post-climate-changing, maybe more of us in the older crowd will be thinking about our thinking and the “options unnoticed” in a lot of realms, regardless of political and philosophical alignments.
This is not really about environmental, social, or political causes. We’re going over, under, and through again, like Grover showed us, because the Pioneering 10% needs to understand “how things actually work in order to make them work better.” That’s been Stu’s obsession (and favorite saying) for longer than either of us know. Over, under, and through, and repeat.
We think this is gonna be an expansive era in many ways after the pandemic is over. We hope you’ll join in and follow us here as we try to get Bug Stu off the endangered list, and maybe even save the galaxy. More on that next time.
Thanks for reading.
Tim, Em, and Stu
We’re all just staying in this wonderful hostel called Medium for now. Even when we get our own place, we’ll probably be here regularly. There’s a lot of great stuff here at Medium, so a membership is worth it for the reading and for the feeling of knowing you’re supporting the promising new cultural conversations here.
