Curated by Larry Thacker

There was day where this point of dirt meeting pavement was beginning and end of the world as I knew it. There is a difference of pace that begins once you step off the paved road onto the gravel lane to the house. You begin to notice the open blue skies and green fields that surround you. You slow down to say hello to the garden and see the fresh calf crop – a sign that the land has helped produce another generation of life and the longevity of the farm will continue one more season.

The temperature is beginning to thaw the long hard winter of this past year. The wear of the winter shows in the faces of those who live to work this land.

It is nice to be home and help with the work load – even if just for a short visit. After this past winter, some of the best time spent is in the den sharing pictures, talking and sharing a meal at the kitchen table. The rest of the time in-between fills in with small projects as another gesture to say thank you.

Everyone is glad to see signs that spring is here. Time to play ball and plant crops — this is the season to adjust your thinking from lessons learned last year and start planting new ideas for the year ahead. This is the season of opportunity to prosper.

There was a time when you could talk to this country with a traditional campaign of print, tv & radio. Consumers loved the content and didn’t mind the interruption that built the advertising industry. And for the most part a depression and two world wars would make you grateful to sit at home ready to consume all these new things we were making.

Here we are two/three generations later again in a depression (that according to this same trusted box of content isn’t a depression) – monetarily we are broke, our unemployment should stay around 10% for a while, culturally — art funding is always the first cut to help balance the budget, and next is the inflation.
The model is overloaded and broken – yet to pay the bills we are forced to squeeze another year out of this gas and oil guzzling engine.

Regardless of the 30 minutes we spend to watch the world news and pharmaceutical ads — technology has shifted the consumer culture… Actually technology has replaced the middle class. Consumers – who were once just americans – are starting to rethink value. They are also finding their content in other places. DVRing shows they love to spend time working, famlying, or whatever they want until that show is in proper priority.

This shift in priority actually puts greater emphasis on content. With the right technologies our workforce and our culture have taken a step back to nomadic tribes. Funny how we fight so hard to come back to what we knew 1000 years ago. Agriculture – organics, local farmers markets, gardens, & the slow food movement. Workforce – shifting from the factory model back to homes, cars, panera’s & starbucks. The music industry is now being driven by singles not albums – which was how the industry first thrived in the early 1900′s. There is a growing culture of DIY entrepreneurs that are at the fringe of the old machine and leading a new movement. Sure facebook is great… but local is back. smaller markets, less fuel, homegrown, regionally driven by generations of culture that needed to be updated.

These local spots – remind me of the watering holes of africa. These watering holes are where change can be made. These watering holes have the passion needed to build aquaducts to others who need a fresh sip of water. The movement of water and cross pollination of ideas is being built right now and we as designers, creatives, brand enthusiast can help build these new sources of water for our economy to grow on. This should be our focus – helping identify these watering holes and building a new america with our industry knowledge.

that’s all i have for now.