I may have been generous with the dolling out of the title "genius" to my friends a time or two. You know, like when you’re starving and they hand you a slice of pizza… genius. "Let’s break a bunch of random stuff and record it as percussion for this folk album” - genius. "Let’s call off work and go to the beach” again, clearly an act of genius!
One of my favorite talks we’ve ever hosted was a conversation about “genius" with Mano Singam, a theoretical nuclear physicist who had recently retired from Case Western. Now, this might sound a little heavy for a talk series about creativity, and maybe I’m more of a nerd than I thought, but it was an incredible and joyous morning I will never forget.
From the Cleveland Public Library reading garden, Mano showed us some pictures of people you might consider geniuses - some famously known, some not. We looked at these images together and I could tell he meant it when he said in frustration that he did not like the word or the concept in discussion… He loved intellectual discovery, but not as a function of separating any person into a class of superior or more capable than another. He celebrated the value of discovery with his students: "Your IQ score means nothing to what you’re able to learn or accomplish." Each of us possesses a unique trove of the universe inside ourselves with beautiful things meant to be found, greeted with cheers and applause.
This Friday we’re featuring John B Johnson on Greyt Big Talk. He and I met after he relocated to Cleveland from Seattle. He’s a native of northeast Ohio but, for a time, moved out west where he built a successful design studio servicing the technology industry - You can check out his studio page to learn more about the designers and their work - but John wanted me to share that he’ll be talking about identity. One of the new AI software can generate a logo for you… but the trouble is, you don’t need a logo… you never did. The real challenge is building and understanding identity. Genius, John.
If you have to work on Friday morning and there’s no way out of it, well that’s terrible for you. We’ll have some tasty treats and coffee for breakfast inside Coco’s Selfie Space - I can’t wait - You MAY remember that we’ve been to Coco’s before, but it is new, reinvented through the creation of over 70 selfie sets for personal identity photography… the largest set collection of its kind in the country.
Upcoming events are below, details announced when we announce them.
GREYT BIG TALK - IDENTITY
DATE: Oct 20th VENUE: TBA FEATURING: John B Johnson, Loconti PITCHING: Scott Colisimo,
GREYT BIG TALK - HARVEST
DATE: Nov 17th VENUE: LAND Moto FEATURING: TBA PITCHING: Dennis Energy Price Choice, Karen Vetirna,
GREYT BIG TALK DATE: Dec 15th VENUE: TBA FEATURING: TBA PITCHING: TBA
T.Fox GREYT CULTURE // Greyt Letters Archive // About the Letter: This monthly(ish) email goes to GREYT event participants, partners, and others I would like to be aware of the contents of upcoming programs. Event details listed here are subject to change based on input from recipients. Confirmed event details will always be listed through event listings on ThatsGreyt.com - recipients are added and removed periodically at my discretion. If you would like to be a permanent recipient or removed from GREYT emails, reply and I will comply with kindness. Thanks for reading.