This is how a critic identifies the "creative class" lionized by Richard Florida in his bestseller "The Rise of the Creative Class":From the Boston Globe:
"an anti-Florida tsunami is gaining momentum. A growing number of urban-policy commentators question his advice that mayors concentrate on luring
"singles, young people, homosexuals, sophistos, and trendoids," as Joel Kotkin, a journalist and professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, put it in the magazine American Enterprise last summer."
Full story:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/02/29/the_road_to_riches/
It makes sense that creative people create jobs, which creates prosperity.
Der Quibblemeister thinks the journalist who used
tsunami" that way is all wet. A tsunami does not grow
gradually or incrementally.
From the Internet:
Most tsunamis are generated by shallow earthquakes in subduction zones, since those are the commonest earthquakes which distort the seafloor. The only subduction zones around the Atlantic are the Puerto Rico Trench and the Antilles subduction zone around the eastern Caribbean and the South Sandwich Trench south of South America. These subduction zones are both smaller and much less active the subduction zones that circle the Pacific, so the Atlantic has many fewer tsunamis. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have any! Tsunamis have hit Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands half-a-dozen times in recorded history (most recently in 1918, when 32 people died). But by far the most famous Atlantic tsunami was generated by an earthquake nowhere near a subduction zone.
Many years ago, I read part of a delightful book called "The Great American Forest" (out of print) by Rutherford Platt, as I remember. Why I never got through it would be a long tangent. Platt, if it was Platt, wrote that the forest is preceded by azaleas and rhodedendron, as well as some others, probably, that I can't remember. These prepare the way, the soil, mostly, for the forest that comes later. I suppose they also provide a cross over habitat, temporally something like equitones we touched on recently. I've always thought of the arts communities, here in New York and elsewhere, as analogous to the azalean predecessors of the forest. The fact is, that these communities have largely been displaced, in Manhattan, at least. Soho, for example, is a thriving retail community, but hardly a lively arts venue. Some of the earlier artists remain -- and some among them have become landlords with considerable clout. Very little art is still made there, though. It seems to me, "creatives" do much toward urban renewal, in some areas, but, for better or worse, are then displaced.
"Don't eat the flowers, what is balm to the eye is bane to the tongue."
-- unknown
I've always thought of the arts communities ... as analogous to the azalean predecessors of the forest. The fact is, that these communities have largely been displaced.
The arts will flower where minds grow free, but wither wherever no flower grows free.
Every kid should have a flower to smell on the way to school. And every school should have a garden.
And every garden should have a teacher who knows how to tend the garden in every kid.
As long as we are speaking of definitions and not political choices...
(from the linked article)Creative-class members want not just decent jobs and good schools but "authentic" neighborhoods, Thai food, a happening arts scene, and -- most importantly -- proximity to other "creatives."
This defines *yuppies on the lower rungs of the ladder, not the creative side of the 'arts scene' (other than "proximity")(IMHO), and certainly not people that are creative (IMNSHO). This describes consumers. Creatives aren't defined by what they consume.
Quite a transparent attempt to niche(sic) into a profitable definition... or at least make a definition that a large number of the *public can/want to accept.
what often happens in potential creative communities is the "creatives" are left on their own to promote their art. and that is a skill that many, if not most, creatives lack. what makes a community thrive is someone who can market the art to a wider audience. to "cultivate" the broader consumer. strong support of arts organizations by local and state governments are critical to the development and sustenance of these gardens, so important to a healthy community.
many really creative types are often problems for society-- their new idea's/creations often cause more problems then they solve. they are not trend setters, or entrepenours.
Early adaptors are something else. there is a difference between early adapters
early adaptors are people who addapt to new technology, or lifestyles, or foods, or anything, readily) Early addaptors are the ones who create new markets. they are the ones who bought video cameras when they weights 'only 7 lbs', and started to make home made video's... and created the idea/market place for video cameras, (which became cheaper, and light, and easier to use with time.)
Early adapters (a personality trait!) can more easily find and buy new ideas/tecknology in cities, and single (or childless) people tend to have more disposable income to spend on new technologies, (but--but being young and single and upwardly mobile is not a requirement!)
Were you the first family on you block/nieghborhood to have a computer?cell phone? blackberry? digital camera?
did you buy a Pashima 5 years ago? or last year? early adaptors find/buy new technology and use it in ways that the manufactor never thought of--and as the uses for the technology grows, so do the sales, (and the price comes down, and features go up!) --text messaging is a 'feature' of phones that was 90% 'developed' by early cell phone/beeper users!
I think there is a difference between being creative, and being an early adapter (but the two types often overlap!)
and yeah, early adaptors are useful to marketplace driven economies.
blackberryPashimawhat do these mean?
great concept, early adapters. will cogitate on this awhile... thanks, Helen.
a black berry (brand name) is a hand held computer, with a built in modem. it can 'function' like a palm or like a cell phone or a beeper ...
its slightly larger than a palm, (it has a small but usable keyboard too)
most commonly used to get email remotely (and at this point, really 'old technology'..)
pashima's are silk/cashmire shawls that were the rage 5 years ago in metro areas. now selling for under $100 (they used to cost $300 and up) See the last page few pages of NY Times Magazine section for ads... they used to be hard to find, now, they are mass marketed... like the von dutch caps, or other 'trends'.
i remember a funny cartoon from the NewYorker-- a times square store (remnents of the old X rated Video sign in evidence) is being renovated (at that time, into a "homemade cookie store") and passers by comment on the change in the neighborhood, (not entirely sure another homemade cookie store is an improvement!)
cookie stores came and went, and so did the home made pretzel stores, and (some) coffee (fancy ones) shops.
Knitting is hot now in NY (and in US in general) 5 years from now, half of the 'trendy' new stores will be gone, and replaced with...? (you could be rich if you know the answer!)
what is balm to the eye is bane to the tongue
And what is heaven to the scent is heaven sent.
Creatives aren't defined by what they consume
So true, Musick. More likely they are consumed by what they create ... which often leaves them without enough to consume, particularly at their favorite eateries.
Those with the means to acquire tastes are not likely to acquire them by any other means.