Last night we held RISD’s first “Jogging with John” event at 9PM with a course designed by Officer Abraham Lugo and executed along with his colleagues in Public Safety as led by Chief Bilodeau. We were fifteen RISDoids strong, including one RISD alum, for this momentous run around RISD campus as led by Public Safety patrol cars (uh, yes I realize it was a bit overkill for the neighborhood but it was our first time and we all really got into it). Also in our running pack we had a celebrity that chose to tag along — Bill Van Siclen from the Providence Journal. Who knows what celebrity will turn up next at a future “Jogging with John”?

And in the interest of full disclosure, it turns out we would have been twenty strong if I didn’t mix up meeting in front of “The Met” with what I should have said as “meeting in front of the Quad.” And thus through the time honored tradition of making errors as the best way to learn, I am now that little bit more an educated person. Thank you RISD.

I have a personal passion for supporting diversity initiatives in a university/college setting because learning how to survive in an increasingly multicultural world is the future of how we will all live. A while back I wrote about my own experiences in this area of thought on an MLK day in 2005 … I’m glad that RISD cares about diversity, and has found four exceptional leaders this year within its community to celebrate.

This week I heard a RISD alum Doug Campbell (ID ‘02) speak about his unique trek across Europe and Asia wearing nothing but a tuxedo as documented on the Web. I was struck by the exuberance of his mission, and the strength of his wonderfully humanistic approach to asking questions about the world with extreme creativity and action. I am learning that RISD students don’t just think — they make and do with unbridled verve.

RISD painting alum Cesare De Credico ‘05 provided this important bit of wisdom to me:

Let the artist give a great example. He worships his work; the joy of doing it right is a divine reward. Nowadays the workers are unfortunately being told that they ought to hate their work and do it shoddily. Mankind will not be happy until all men have the souls of artists, that is, until every man’s work gives him pleasure. And art sets a superb example of honesty.

The true artist always expresses what he thinks, at the risk of flying in the face of all ingrained prejudice. This is how he teaches others courage and condor. Now, just imagine what a miraculous step forward we would suddenly take if absolute truthfulness prevailed among men! O how rapidly society would liberate itself from ingrained error and ugliness, and how quickly our earth would become a paradise.

-Auguste Rodin

Thank you Cesare!

In New York last week Google announced its set of artists themes by projecting the imagery on buildings in the Gansevoort area of NYC. Of the 68 or so themes I was happy to see representation of RISD by alums Dale Chihuly and Shepard Fairey. Including myself, that’s 4.4% of RISD-ness in the global iGoogle mix. RISD grows.

This week I was in Washington DC attending a summit hosted by the US government with at least a couple hundred university/college presidents from all over the world in attendance. I think I was the only representative from an art/design school, and eerily also was the only male not wearing a necktie. This upcoming job may require some new clothing shopping (I do plan to resist).

After the introductory panel’s remarks, the floor was opened for questions. A few people got up to ask questions about policy, and were accorded with terse but informative responses. I then got up and asked a simple question, “What role does the esteemed panel think that art and design play in economic development?” What followed was quite amazing. Each of the panelists — the Secretary of Education, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the US Agency for International Development, and so forth — wanted to get in an answer. It was unbelievable. I felt that the arts/design are such an undiscussed topic at that level of government — I sensed an opportunity for the future.

At the end of the day, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice addressed the assembly. She told us two stories, both were about her grandfather. Her grandfather was the son of sharecroppers and had set in his sights to go to college. He grew a crop of cotton and sold it to pay for his first year. At the end of the year, the administrator said that he wouldn’t be able to continue as he had no money to pay for the rest of college. Her grandfather pointed to other kids and asked how they were going to school. The administrator said, “Those boys are all going to become Presbyterian ministers and thus go for free.” To which her grandfather said to the administrator, “You know I was just thinking that I wanted to become a Presbyterian minister …”

Rice’s second story was about her grandfather and how during the Great Depression he had acquired a set of leather-bound books that were the literary classics at the time. His mother asked how much they cost and he said, “Sixty dollars.” Which at the time was a fortune but he desperately wanted to have those books as they meant a great deal to him. When Rice graduated with her PhD, her father gave her as a gift the seven remaining leather-bound books from her grandfather. My heart stopped.

The summit was certainly interesting, but Rice’s final remarks were simply inspiring. In life the goal is to be inspired, I believe. I hope you have an inspirational moment happen to you today.