What soccer can teach us about freedom

The Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano's poetic treatise on the relationship between diplomacy, cultural idiosyncrasy and the world’s game. Among my favorite explorations of the romanticism and cross-border appeal of futbol, pulling no punches as to the local stakes of a global phenomenon.

My recent entry to the TED Fellows blog describes how teaching my son to drive isn't just about physical mechanics, but social ones as well. His license to drive also signals his semi-permanent entry into a new classification of identity: the suspect. The two pathways of work represented in the talk and in this blog are deeply related to me ... How do we make freedom possible for youth of color? We do so through sport, through art, through political engagement, through intentional learning, through deep understanding of the circumstances of the hunted. Both these pathways represent unorthodox but logical and creative ways to access joy in the midst of struggle.

Though Octavia Butler’s first novel was published in the late 1970's and is largely set in the early 19th century, it narratively sets the tone for our contemporary understanding of the Afro-Future. I’ve been inspired by Kindred's primary protagonist, who prepares for the trauma of time travel with both physical and political survival in mind. How does an Afro-Future actually materialize without some intentional framing by creative citizens from around the diaspora? Though the piece is a work of fiction, it’s definitely informed my thinking about intention community design.