Matthew Amsden

A hide-out is real estate for mental health

"Our lives are made up of habitual patterns that are convenient for marriage and making a living, but are less suited to keeping our sanity. Hideouts, and the plural is important here, are places where you can shed the usual accoutrements of your attitudes and personality, where you can rid yourself of the banality of your day-to-day perceptions."Jim Harrison in this months issue of Men's Journal. His new novel, True North comes out later this month.

Absolutely the truth. A man needs his cabin in the woods. As much as a city dweller I amm, there's nothing like really getting away from it all, entirely in the middle of nowhere, alone to explore the scenery and ponder the deeper thoughts of life. Montana, Maine, Ireland, South Pacific, Australian outback, a Greek Isle, a kenyan coffee ranch ...

I Saw it Again

A full moon on the water. Twice I have seen, the last not a month ago. This time it was windy, the water was rougher - but the moon was bigger. Big enough to clearly see the cartography on the surface.

If I have any alternative spirituality it is brought on by the pure beauty of a full moon reflecting on the ocean. This scene has always signified a real change in my life - always for the better. I have a feeling that one is coming. One that is bigger, more meaningful, and ultimately more rewarding However, I expect the change will be longer, rougher than those in the past, just as the water was rougher.

Both the beauty, and impending change sent repeated chills up my spine as I ran along the waters edge. Airliners took off from the Logan Airport moving people to and from destinations , responsibilities and opportunities my mind can hardly imagine.

It is as if I've been struck by a wave of alternative spirituality. On a shopping outing this weekend, it seemed inventory control systems in several stores went off without cause. Normally I wouldn't notice the alarm ringing over the store music. However, the shear number of times they went off ... stores large, stores small, discount, surplus, upscale, exclusive, boutique, chain independent, drugstore. It's as if a ghost was purposefully setting them off in my vicinity - not to falsley accuse me, but to catch my attention.

Is there a change coming that requires a choice? One choice is low risk, but low reward. The other choice is high risk, there is a significant chance of failure - failure that will be noticed by many and be terribly embarrassing and perhaps damaging. But if that risk is taken and performed successfully, the rewards could be extraordinary.

My sense is the choice is not the difference between right and wrong. My sense is there is danger in this choice, and the still water of several weeks ago a mirage. I fully believe the the full moon is a harbinger of major things to come. The complexity and size of this full moon, reflecting on the stirred up water, reflects the potential of a tumultuous process. One in which danger and very public failure are possible ...

Regardless of how rough, regardless of how dangerous. Regardless of how tough the choices. I am ready.

The Bible Slavery and Gay Marriage

I've become very interested lately in what exactly the Bible says to support or refute gay marriage. David Booth, associate professor of religion and director of the Center for Integrative Studies at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota draws a comparison between the use of the bible in the slavery debate before the civil war and the controversy now.

The bible actually endorses slavery. "But to reject slavery, and still regard the Bible as divine revelation, believers had to subordinate the Bible's unambiguous and explicit statements about slavery to less specific and more universal biblical principles, like neighbor love.
There is nothing unusual about interpreting the Bible this way: Whenever modern readers apply ancient scripture to moral problems, some passages and some principles show us how to regard other passages."

Dr. Booth goes on to suggest that Genesis 19, the story of Sodom, is not actually a condemnation of homosexuality, but a condemnation of rape, sexual violence, and violence that targets the vulnerable. "It has little bearing on modern issues of gay rights."

David Booth: We can learn from debate over slavery

Twelve Months for $4

My mother sometimes worried as I was growing up that I didn't read books, I read magazines. Didn't matter what the magazine was - Business Week, Men's Health, Architectural Digest, Cooking Light ... as my life and hobbies have changed over time, my subscriptions have easily followed.

I still love magazines. They are perfect reading material for a subway commute. Quick, engaging, and disposable, well recyclable.

Magazines, regardless of their subject are about an image, a lifestyle, an aesthetic like few other mass medium are. Magazines like Details, Gourmet, and Architectural Digest, can at times approach fine literature or art while remaining a piece of popular culture - and even be useful.

Magazines provide the latest, the current by definition. I can't even guess how many news items in magazines have affected my decisions - how many stocks have I bought on a tip from Smart Money or Worth?

They can take you to different worlds with both words and photos like few other mediums can. With television, I just don't daydream like I do with a magazine. Who hasn't dreamed of a Conde Nast vacation or an Outdoor adventure..

They provide useful information that can be used on a day to day basis. How many new exercises from Men's Fitness have saved me from complete boredom in the gym? How many recipes in Cooking Light have introduced me to entirely new ingredients at the grocery store?

I don't know a lot about the industry, but I understand the sector is not doing all that well these days. Ad revenue is down considerably since 2000. To boost ad revenue, magazines need subscribers.

I found a website today, Magazine Price Search. It lists unbelievably low prices for some really great magazines - $2.99 for a year of Details. $5.06 for Gourmet ... At these prices I'll be boosting a lot of publishers subscription numbers.

Motown

I got a craving for Motown music this weekend. It started on a fun Saturday with innocent classics like Marvin Gayes' "I Heard it Through the Grape Vice," and the Shirelles' "Please Mr. Postman." The mood progressed through the sixties into the seventies, as I read the World and National section of the Sunday Times with Edwin Starr's, "War, What is it Good For," and "What's Going On," again from Marvin Gaye.

The sounds of the Tempatations, early Stevie Wonder, and Ready Earth are playing over and over again in my apartment. The music is taking be back through my high school history books and inspiring a road trip across the country in a classic convertable. The craving for Motown expands to other music of the general period. Beach Boys, Mama's and the Papas, Smoky Robinson ... Shaft Theme, My Girl, Get Ready, Blowing in the Wind, Let it Be, Surfin USA, Mrs. Robinson ...

Old Photos

After a very busy week, I stayed in the office and scanned nearly every picture I took before owning a digital camera last night. I got my first SLR camera in 6th grade. I scanned every decent photo since then. It brought back some great memories, and reminded me of a time when I really felt creative and inspired.

"The Farm" in Maine has been in the family for generations. Now actually a collection of farms owned by cousins, aunts and uncles, the property is full of abandoned barns and antique treasures. The farm has provided the subject of some of my very favorite photographs.

For a long time I did not completely empathize with the struggle for Palestine between Arabs and Jews. I had lunch with a Islamic Law professor at Harvard University who explained to me that the struggle was about 'what was home.' He explained how even the most uneducated Palestinians are very familiar with America's trail or Tears, when the US government banished all Native Americans to Oklahoma. They see US support of Israel as a repeat of this unfortunate moment in our history.

Despite my traditional American mobility, this place in Maine is home. It is really part of me. Even though i don't live there now, if someone were to suggest it really wasn't my home, i'd be crushed. Apparently both the Jews and Palestinians feel similarly about Palestine. While I do not condone the actions of either the Israelis or Palestinians, I can see how they might feel when imagining something similar happening to this place I consider home.

I took this photo for a high school photography class. While it isn't a technically perfect photograph, it captures a moment where I found one of those common antique treasures that remain in remote and abandoned barns.

Fear of Dying - I mean Flying

I am ridiculously nervous about flying. Especially since I travel nearly once a week. I really like to travel too. However, the nervous energy I expend is taking years off my life.

The plane is changing altitude now, and I might as well on a roller coaster making a free-fall drop.

Things have evened out a bit - no wait another change - my palms are sweaty, I am tense, and my mouth has the slight taste of bile.

During take-off, I shift in my seat every time the plane bumps - as it is again at 30,000 feet. I try to play it cool, I don't come across as ready for a nervous breakdown - but I am sure people notice that I'm not entirely comfortable. Hopefully no one is paying attention.

Things are starting to settle down now.

I have iTunes playing my favorite relaxing music. My hands are drying off, I've gotten up to use the bathroom, a coping mechanism - I rarely actually need to go. However, if I can walk down the isle and aim appropriately, I figure the plane is probably in pretty stable air.

The plane just sped up and turned.

The engine noise changed.

I have read a number of books about the science behind flying for people who were aerophobic. I particularly dislike turbulence. One book suggested thinking about the air and the airplane like a boat and water. The air has ripples, and the plane skips across them as the boat does water. Sometimes the ripples are actually waves - and thus we have turbulence.

Okay, feeling better about the turbulence - although there isn't very much on this flight. But still, take-off freaks me out. It just isn't natural that this big thing just gets up off the ground and floats.

Another book described the airplane as a hollow aluminum tube. Despite its size it is actually very light. While it looks massively heavy from the outside, in reality for its size, it is remarkably light. I needed to say that twice just convince myself.

I am sometimes relieved when a plane crashes and I am not on it. It means the yearly air disaster has passed, and I can be fairly confident lightening won't strike twice so soon. There hasn't been a disaster recently.

More turbulence - heaviest of the flight so far. And it isn't going away. I am handling it okay. Plane changes altitude, most noticeable and unexpected change so far. The plane levels out and the turbulence leaves. I still look cool and confident even though I am thinking about the free fall that could potentially follow.

I can't wait for approach and landing. I don't mind that so much - it means things are almost over and I can get back on the ground. Another hour or so. I know this probably shatters any image that readers may have that I'm level headed and have got things together.

We have a dedicated travel agent at work. She's been known to put me on certain flights where other coworkers will be on board as well. "Airline Buddies" she calls them. I rarely sit next to them, still somehow knowing someone on board is comforting.

Even without an expressed airline buddy, I often know people on the same flight - if not by name. Over time, I've come to recognize some of the flight attendants - one actually by name.

Noticeable loss of altitude.

I worked at an airport as an international gate agent while I was in college. I got to see the inside of the airline business - that some flight attendants are actually nervous about turbulence, that planes are built to withstand so many different abuses and random occurrences.

Much like truck drives give their rigs a name, i imagine the plane has a personality. It seems to give me comfort. I imagine her as Rosie the Riveter - a strong, positive, go anywhere, do anything woman, no frills, has a loud and quick laugh - but still has a strong motherly instinct. Absolutely blue collar American at its best. Basically the kind of woman who has been around the block a couple of times, but still manages to call you honey. The kind of woman you immediately put your confidence in. The kind who has been in a number of tight spots in the past and will be again - but seems to manage somehow.

The plane experiences light turbulence again. I imagine Rosie (I actually don't name the planes), handles it - hardly even noticing - like the rest of the passengers on the airplane. Rosie is enjoying the view, Thinking ahead to meeting up at a no frills tavern with a couple of other airplanes later in the evening.

Now I really need to go the the bathroom, and I only have ten minutes. For the last thirty minutes of any flight into Reagan National you can't get up.

The nose dips, we slow a bit. Still above the cloud line, but the aircraft turns a bit - orienting itself I assume for the runway. The person in the window seat glances out the window as if he could tell where we were.

A significant change in engine noise, the nose is dipping and we are beginning to loose altitude. The man next to me opens the shade and glances out the window again.

Engine speeds up. It slows down, we dip, we turn. He leaves the shades open. Is he playing it cool just like me?

Ironically I am listening to a song - another musical theater number - Let it Go, from Full Monte the musical. Is iTunes trying to tell me something.

The flight attendant asks everyone to put away all electronic personal appliances. Welcome to Washington.

Wait maybe i shouldn't assume that - it might be bad luck.

Pretty is What they Eye (and Ear) Arranges

I understand that Monday, tomorrow, is Stephen Sondheim's birthday. I've gone in and out of phases where I've really like musical theater, particularly when I was in high school and early college. While I collected just about every "Original Broadway Cast" recording I could find back in the early 90s, I've kept only a couple - and listen to those rarely.

There is one musical theater CD that I bring out regularly. Sunday in the Park with George is one of those pieces of art that every time you experience it, you are amazed by something new, something you didn't notice before.

I can't even venture to guess how many times I've listed to tracks on the album. Several songs are on my top 25 iTunes list. Even though it has been in my collection for over ten years, over which time I've gone through a large number of different musical taste changes, it remains one of my favorite albums.

This afternoon, the track Beautiful came up on a random iTunes playlist. The main character explains to an older woman, lamenting that the old view is being replaced by factories, and urban sprawl explains:

"Pretty isn't beautiful. Pretty is what the eye arranges."

The significance of this point is at once obvious and completely eye opening. The mind creates beauty and aesthetic pleasure. it isn't just there for consumption. An artist can lead the mind towards appreciate, but an artist does not create the beauty - every individual human does that for themselves.

Internet Thinking in Gen X/Y

In explaining some of the significant generation gaps in political political positions between young and old in the United States, particularly surrounding gay marrige, Ann Fishman, President of Generational Targetted Marketing in New Orleans suggest Internet Thinking. She says, "One often doesn't know who is at the other end of a chat-room conversation or an interactive exchange. Only the quality of the idea is worthwhile. So young or old, gay or straight, black or white, it is the thought that counts."

Information on the internet is highly decentralized. One peice of information may filter through hundreds of people before actually being consumed. The impact of internet thinking, and information decentralization will kill organizations and positions that require centralized communication and control.

To survive in this environment, brands must provide a framework, image, and experience - and a message only to start the viral distribution. Traditional brand control in information industries will become increasingly difficult - and in fact may alienate. With distributed and internet thinking, anyone from a PhD to sixth grader are equally credible if the argument is right. Smart organizations will provide anyone with an interest the tools to create a message and release control.

I thought it was big, but it's really small

I don't know why this is all suddenly just hitting me. On Monday I was amazed by the fact I called associates in San Francisco, LA, Montreal, Santa Fe, New York, Atlanta and Dublin - completing all seven calls within 30 minutes.

While speaking with Dublin, I made two reservations to Washington for the coming week. Despite making the trip hundreds of times, it hadn't occurred to me that it only takes an hour longer for me to get to the DC office than my local office here in Boston. That office is 5 miles from my apartment, the Washington office - 532 miles.

While on the phone with my research assistant in Montreal, I remembered a bakery, the name I've long since forgotten. I used to visit the place regularly for Tarte Sucre. She's worked from Montreal several times in the past. This was the first time I logged on to Yahoo.ca, entered the cross streets and searched for bakery. Within minutes, I suggested she Au Pain Dore just down the street to taste a Tarte Sucre for herself.

We all take for granted the instant access to information from around the world. I have only recently developed an awareness of my actual interaction with information being sifted around the world.

The real eye-opener came this morning. Having a little trouble setting up my accounts in Quicken for Mac, I called my brokerage firm. I have great luck with nearly any technical or financial question at the branch office in Post Office Square, not a fifteen minute walk from my front door. However the branch is closed today. I called the New York office. I was connected with a male voice with a very heavy Indian accent. He was very pleasant, but the ID he gave me didn't work.

I called again, another Indian accent. I had misunderstood one of the numbers in the ID code. Tried the code, wrong again. Called a third time, another male voice in heavily accented Indian English. Despite calling a 212 number, my calls were being routed to Bangalore. It then donned on me - the recent calls I'd made to my credit card to reset my password - also Indian accents - also in India.

I have no problem with service outsourcing. In fact for a project several years ago, I seriously considered it myself. I am not naive enough to think that an American would have offered me any better service. In fact all three Indian gentleman were incredibly polite. The accents? I've spoken to customer service agents in Akron, Charleston, and Omaha that I had a harder time understanding.

From a political, operational, quality and cost perspective I see no reason to be protectionist. Still, the fact even the most every day errands now are completed with an interaction literally on the other side of the world is difficult to actually process. I can't quite grip the fact what I used to consider a business trip over 500 miles away is pretty close to most peoples every day commute time. I'm not quite grasping that I'm interacting with people in such drastically different and geographically separated local environments within minutes of each other - maybe on the same conference call.

I've always considered the world small in terms of information that didn't really have much every day impact on me - news, politics, the media ... Now I do my every day errands in a city that is so different from my own that I used to call it a different world. I can't call it a different world anymore. It's an everyday part of my world now.