A day in November

getting kids ready for school - breastfeeding - the gym - lunch made from leftovers - taking the wrong bus - making an interview while rocking baby - picking up kids - hugging husband - off to see dad in hospital - breastfeeding - calling loved ones - cleaning kitchen - singing lullaby - writing mail - watching darkness - constantly sleepy

Thinking about the Penn family

A few days have past since we learned about the passing away of legendary photographer Irving Penn. Our thoughts are with his beautiful family who carry his heritage of kindness, elegance and perfection.

Traveling with kids

Flying overseas with kids means:
-Toasting the vacation with mineral water in plastic cups at the airport.
-Carrying a unicorn, a seal, a purple back pack and a pink school bag besides from my own hand luggage.
-Finding the best smoothie at Heathrow.
-Pouting when the entertainment system omboard needs to be restarted.
-Laughing out loud when the plane takes off.
-Trying to peak in news papers while making a rime on cow.
-Explaining why everything has to be x-rayed and therefore explaining terrorism.
-Holding sweet, warm hands.

And while in New York:
-Looking for "broken" buildings - because it´s exciting.
-Having pasta picnic-dinner at the hotel room.
-Waking up jet legged at 4 AM to the sound of cartoons.
-Spending hours at FAO Schwarz.
-Watching sea lions at the zoo in Central Park.
-Teaching sweet girls how to shop :)
-At one point holding hands with your husband.

On the hunt for Obama and Clinton

Long time not blogging - again. But now I decided to jump right back into it, since I´m doing an exciting journey, covering some of the US primary elections for TT.
After three days and very many texts from South Carolina I´m about to fly up to New York. But first a few reflections:
-Barack Obama is an extremely inspiring speaker. I thought the roof would fly off when he gave his victory speach last night here in Columbia. While going to the convention center I heard calls from all over the city going "Fired up, ready to go". I got goose bumps, because in Sweden I seldom see people so excited over politics. The night before I was trying to get into Obamas rally, but it was full. However in the long line people were singing, chanting and expressing such entusiasm that it touched me. Likewise was I toughed when I read Caroline Kennedys colum in the New York Times today, endorsing Obama. It´s true that the US more than anything now needs an inspiring, ethical leader that can unite.
-The night before the election I heard Hillary Clinto speak at the democratic stump meeting. She was also very impressing. She swept onto the stage with a grounded, positive Madeleine Albright-alike radiance. I got a sincere impression, she really, really wants to make this country better.
When it comes to the issues all the democrats have good agendas. Therefore this election is more about character and individual qualities. That makes it even more interesting.

Long time no blogging

So I haven´t really been in the blogosphere for a long time. I guess moving across the globe, adopting to jetleg, writing a zillion stories (on paper) that I was behind with, arranging a party on my beloved brothers 50th birthday, jetting off to Paris, getting the kids back in school, seeing all wonderful friends and family and adapting to reading Swedish news took its energy.
It's rather fun getting back to my rather schizofren "normal" worklife - where an ordinary week spans from writing on the upcoming election in the US to suicide statistics in Sweden to biomimics to design-solutions for souvenirs. I notice, however, that I have a different perspective after my stay in the US. I keep my innovation glasses on and I also look at work (and life) somewhat different. I'm less stressed, I think more before I say yes to a project. I also notice that everyone I talk to in the media-world in Stockholm is trying to figure out the future media landscape - its tools, products and content. From that perspective my knowledge from the US is really valuable... I look forward to using it in life here.

Circles of News

Now, as I'm about to wrap up my fellowship at PodTech (thank you all great members of the PodTech Family!!), I've had some time to think about the circles of news. It's interesting to see how the principle of nearness still is of great importance - in this world of online video, webb 2.0 and wireless globalisation. In Silicon Valley, tech-news make the biggest headlines and attracts a great number of bloggers. Why? Because they're close to the tech-companies and labs. They can have lunch together with the people/companies they cover, hang out - meet in natural circumstances and have common references to traffic, the weather and a cool new restaurant.
It's also natural that The New York Times has a good take on international politics. They're only a few blocks away from the UN and several great universities.
I find it interesting to see how easy it is to get absorbed by one circle - when you thought that you belonged to another. In the morning I find myself fighting over the biz & tech-section of San Jose Mercury News (I know I'm old-fashioned but I like to read on paper...) just because I recognize the companies and have another relationship to them after some time here.
Personal relations will always play an important role - both to producers and consumers of media. And for me personally, I'll keep looking out for news from Silicon Valley while back in Stockholm...

Make it Green

I keep doing stories on Green Design. It's a great subject from many perspectives - politics, technology, sustainability, economy - plus its funky, fun and (often) beautiful.
Reflecting over sustainability is important on so many levels. Over the weekend, while pausing from our act of playing tourists, we watched Arctic Tale with the children. It's a beautiful and scary documentary-based film on what global warming and melting ice does to the life of polar bears among others.
Before the film a trailer for Leonardo diCaprio's environmental documentary The 11th Hour was shown. It's opening here in the US on August 17th. I was thrilled to see that a big part of the trailer actually focused on green design - check it out yourself.
My latest PodTech-piece is on Y2E2, a new green building that is in the making at Stanford university.