Writing the Next Chapter
I’ve written hundreds of unique creative pieces at this point in my life (blogs, essays, scripts, articles, op-eds, reflections, chapters, proposals, and poems) across a range of public and private platforms, channels, networks, and nodes — and for what? Why am I compelled to write the next chapter?
The Human Becoming
I’ve come to realize that writing is much more than just reflective and therapeutic, although it can certainly be that as well. For me, writing represents much more—it’s a metaphoric landscape of possibilities; a reliably comforting and generative practice full of new opportunities for self-actualization. Within this simple act of bringing thoughts and ideas, hopes and dreams, and imaginings and curiosities into uniquely sequenced words and sentences, one can discover and exert the power necessary to literally manifest new realities. I’m compelled to write because I’m human, and as humans, we create; we achieve; we evolve. It’s never simply about the human being, it’s about the human becoming.
Patterns in Prose
So in looking back on all of my writing (some worthy, some forgettable, and some honestly regretful), one is likely to notice some very distinct patterns in prose; unmistakable themes constantly resurfacing, morphing, and ultimately ossifying through time. Over the past two decades (roughly) on my endless quest to write new realities into existence, it’s both peculiar and telling that I’ve really only ever explored four broad topics:
- Philosophy/Epistemology
- Education/Learning
- Futurism/Emerging Tech
- Networks/Community
This being the case (and if you buy the idea that we author our own reality), it should be no surprise to find that these topics have also been shaping me in return. For nearly two decades, I have been writing my own future onto pages, but also directly into the permanent code of my own biology. Writing (i.e. creative expression) isn’t simply a random act of reflective therapy, it‘s a tool for recursive self-discovery and personal progression. As I look back and map my path through various jobs and professional identities, I see an adjacent stream of generative creative consciousness unfolding in parallel; influencing actions and course-correcting towards personal fulfillment. For me, the simple act of writing the next chapter represents the most reliable professional compass I can imagine. No life-coach, therapist, e-book, or social network can/will ever compare.
From Writing to the Reveal
So…I offer all of this as framing for the turning of a new page. As of March 2020, I’ll be starting a new position as Chief Program Officer with Learning Economy. Joining this non-profit (and steward of the Internet of Education) represents an exciting culmination of years of internal and external struggles. Of the four major themes (listed above) I’ve been writing about for much of my life, I’ve only ever worked in roles where two, or on rare occasion three, of those themes were fully in focus day-to-day. While I can say that I’ve truly enjoyed the vast majority of my professional work (The Library of Congress, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and most recently, the U.S. Department of Education and Chamber of Commerce Foundation), there has always been at least one critical pillar missing; a small void which drove me to continue writing new chapters — to continue the generative act of (re)defining my future reality.
So it’s from this truth and realization that my excitement stems. In this new opportunity with Leaning Economy, I can say without hesitation that I’m finally approaching what I might perceive as my life’s work — and I have two decades of documentation to prove it. So, while I certainly still have a lot to learn about the constituent people and processes of this new family and philosophy, it has already become vividly clear that those involved share an ethos and vision more aligned to my unique skills and interests than anything I’ve encountered prior (and it’s not even close). For me, this opportunity is a renewed discovery of truth in action; an authentic realization of life and the potential for legacy.
Surface Scratching
Unfortunately, for those who know me best and still lack a clear picture of what I’ve actually done in my professional life, that trend is likely to continue (at least for the near future) — not because I don’t care to share, but because it’s taken me three years of fairly intensive networking and research to even begin to scratch the surface of what a project like Learning Economy is working to achieve. At a high level, the vision is to actualize a new global economic infrastructure within which learning and knowledge itself is the premier asset of value as opposed to the current model which perpetuates societal stratification and inequity by centering focus on unsustainable $ymbol$ of wealth.
The Learning Economy Position Paper, by cofounders (and now colleagues) Chris Purifoy and Jacksón Smith (along with this piece, also by Jacksón), offers a useful macro lens through which to peer into the problems I/we plan to address in the coming years via projects like the C-Lab. Those resources, along with a host of evolving technologies (distributed networks, self-sovereign identity protocols, etc.) represent the landscape we intend to leverage (and also help to build) in order to realize a new human value network at the scale of the Internet; something yet to be fully imagined, but a future we believe to be possible.
Onward…Upward!
The first draft in any story is nothing more than an illumination of the liminal landscape of personal possibility. So while I’m excited to write the next chapter, I also know that the story has only just begun. A big thanks to my wife Allison for her endless support, to my friends and family, to Learning Economy (Chris, Jacksón, Ana, Duncan et. al.) and perhaps most importantly, thanks to all those who continue to support the dreamers, doers, and local artists, activists, and vandals. If we imagine it to be so, the future truly can be otherwise!
Taylor Kendal | Chief Program Officer | Learning Economy / C-Lab
