My husband and I have a great “how we met” story. Maybe I’ll tell the whole story another time. One of the details of that story is that, during our first unofficial date, I noticed on his Chevy Blazer (cool) that he had an Apple logo sticker on the back window (more cool). It was one more sign that he was the guy for me. No, we weren’t ‘hipsters’ before there even was such a word — we are the lost demographic. Those of us who share more in common with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than with Barbara Walters or dare I say it, Oprah? We are the children born at the end of the “Baby Boom” but he and I both feel we have nothing to do with that wave of post-war babies. Our parents didn’t fight in any of the wars of the 20th century; they were in school, having their own babies, being the last of their generation’s middle class and American Dream seekers. But my husband and I share what those of us in our 40s share: even though we straddle between the boomers and the gen-x’ers, we move mountains, too. We are the creative class. The artists, designers, and innovators who seek sublime beauty in code and interface; who seek to change the world with the good of technology, and instill those ethics in our children. I promise you, I am not overstating this.
We sat in darkened theatres as adolescents and had our own heroes and heroines, we were the digital pioneers who sought form and function. We pressed ‘send’ on the first e-mails and published the first blogs. The Mark Zuckerbergs of the world sadly have their own focus: world domination via distracting, mindless games and mean-spirited interchanges. Granted, it’s not all bad. And my and my husband’s hero, Steve Jobs, certainly had his share of human foibles. All innovators do. I would just challenge those young billionaires to be the masters of the universe, and not the robber barons; to be the voices and catalysts for change and good, share the power, wealth, and narratives.
You will be missed, Steve.
(My husband created that image in homage. Oh, and by the way, my husband is a creative, innovative Renaissance man himself. No doubt. He attributes his successes to Job’s providing him with the creative tools to build his career and avocations.)
http://blog.ted.com/2011/10/05/remembering-steve-jobs/
This is a brilliant image mash up. Thanks for sharing.
“We are the creative class. The artists, designers, and innovators who seek sublime beauty in code and interface; who seek to change the world with the good of technology, and instill those ethics in our children. I promise you, I am not overstating this.”
This resounded deeply in me. I’m not sure how creative I am, but I believe in the potential that the merged code, interface, ethic, and passion have to do tremendous good. Thank you for inspiration this morning.