FOLLY with Elizabeth Colton
Chair, International Museum of Women
July 2007 issue
When my daughter Ashley was about four years old (early 90s), I wanted to take her to a place where
she could experience her heritage as a female. I wanted her to be surrounded by images of women who
are making contributions and changes. I did not want Ashley and her generation growing up like every
other generation of young women thinking that women before them had never done anything important.
Later I have come to understand that it is equally important for my son – and all our sons – to also learn
the value of women. When I looked around for a place to take her, I found none -- there was no place
that recognized global women’s history both in the past, nor paid attention to the history we are creating
today.
What I did find, however, was one small group, just south of San Francisco, in Palo Alto, California, that
was called the Women’s Heritage Museum. It was a grassroots organization created in 1985. Its mission
was to make women’s history known for the exact reasons I just stated… because we were not teaching
our children about the valuable contributions of women. I joined the Women’s Heritage Museum and for
many years we worked on the ground, hosting annual book fairs, creating exhibits that traveled,
recreating historic events. We moved the base to San Francisco and built community support, but in the
end we knew we were not really making a big impact and we were not growing. Teachers told us they
needed a place to get materials and bring their students. So it was then, in 1997 that we made a very
bold decision to become an international force.
FOLLY with Steve Stockdale
Executive Director, Institute of General Semantics
June 2007 Issue
First, I’d say that there is little, if any, benefit to be gained by just ‘knowing’ something about general
semantics. The benefits come from maintaining an awareness of the principles and attitudes that are
derived from GS and applying them as they are needed. You can sort of compare general semantics to
yoga in that respect … knowing about yoga is okay, but to benefit from yoga you have to ‘do’ yoga. The
same is true with general semantics. While there may be some satisfaction in learning and
understanding the methods and principles, the real test is in the ‘doing.’ Some of the typical problems
that may be eliminated, or at least diminished, through GS would be things like not treating an inference
or opinion as if it were a fact; not jumping to inappropriate conclusions; avoiding gross generalizations
and stereotypes; enjoying the individuality and uniqueness of every person and situation; delaying your
reactions and not making knee-jerk, emotional reactions, and recognizing that while words have certain
accepted definitions, the ‘meanings’ or significance of those words varies with the individual speaker,
listener, and context.
FOLLY with Kavita Ramdas
CEO, Global Fund for Women
May 2007 Issue
Being their daughter shaped me a lot and informed my understanding and appreciation of working inside
& outside the system. My father’s role within the military, and his access to influence, gave me a view of
what it means to work within the system. And my mother exhibited such courage with her refusal to
accept the status quo. She was always willing to take on the system from the outside and to challenge it
and to hold it accountable. They taught me that it’s always important to understand that people's
contributions to social change can be made from different places, based on their skills and vantage
point. As a result, I am someone who appreciates both those who take to the streets and protest to
make change, and those who work within organizations and systems, whether those are corporations or
government entities. The key issue for me is seeking to maintain one's integrity in the process - there
do come points at which it is no longer possible to work from within a system because it is so
compromised - what matters then is having the courage to step away.
FOLLY with Rene DeGuzman
Director of Visual Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
April 2007 Issue
My greatest challenge is to educate the public on the value of contemporary art. As you know, art is not
being taught in the public schools and there is zero coverage of it in the mainstream press. It then falls
on curators and other professionals to work against the tide of neglect to demonstrate the importance of
the public finding ways to express themselves to others. I mean if there were no contemporary art being
made, appreciated and supported then what would generations and generations after us have as
representative objects and forms to understand our times.
FOLLY with Leonard Shlain
Writer, Surgeon
March 2007 Issue
The reason I felt qualified to write Art and Physics, is that I believe a surgeon must be artist and scientist.
I am dismayed by compartmentalization in fields. We have become so specialized that we don’t and can’
t appreciate the interdependence and influence of varied fields. It is one of my goals to bring together
disciplines.
Culturally, as with the hemispheres of the brain, there are two very distinct sets of related attributes and
characteristics. East is right, West is left. I see a coming together of right and left brain, East and West
cultures—a globally “mellowing out” of dominant and non-dominant brain activity and culture. When the
New England Journal of Medicine publishes an article on meditation, which it did 15 years ago, you can
believe that we are headed toward that shift.
FOLLY with Mark Kozelek
Musician
February 2007 Issue
My dad wrote me a letter recently that said I had a lot of "gumption." A funny word, but he’s right. He was
referring to some setbacks I had, one recently that would send most musicians back to their day jobs
permanently. To be in this business for 10 years plus, it takes a lot more than writing nice songs, having
an interesting voice and hopping on a plane. Making good music that people take an interest in is
essential to it all, getting those pats on the back, but there are ups and downs—unpleasantness and
discouragement. Labels come and go, band members, management problems, you get stiffed, and your
personal life suffers if you let people pull the strings for you.
Artists I know who have been making a living over the years are not only talented, they are tough
mentally, focused. They don’t cower out when the first roadblock appears. But most musicians I know did
a record or two, did a few tours, were dropped, and have day jobs now. It’s an easier way of living for
them. Everyone has been dropped at some point. But they retreated when the first thing went wrong and
can’t deal with the struggle that comes with the territory. But all the artists riding a nice wave at the
moment, whoever they are – they will arrive on conflict, and that’s when you figure out if you want to
hang in there.
FOLLY with Catherine di Napoli
Writer, Filmmaker
September 2006 Issue
From making these two films we learned quite a bit about what to do and what not to do. I think the
most important thing we learned is to try to make the film we set out to make. We can’t continually worry
about whether or not our material will appeal to art house audiences or to main stream audiences. You
have to make the type of films that you want to make, that interest you.. The greatest challenge
creatively is making the movie you set out to make, not the film you think an imaginary audience would
want to see—constantly looking to improve the script every day until the film has been shot. We are
currently working on a comedy about minimalist, contemporary art.
FOLLY with George Lawson
Artist
August 2006 Issue
I'm not sure what might be considered a strictly technical aspect of painting, where to draw the line, but in
an elemental way, creating just means to make something that wasn't there before. To me, developing
and creating are not as hard as paying attention, staying with something that is happening in the studio
and not turning away from it when it starts to present a new and strange face. I am following a
progression of impulses. Although I didn't set out in a planned way to do what I've ended up doing, I
have taken a leap over the last two years and the results are still unfamiliar to me. The paintings have
gone from very open images to ones with more specific associations. There are things you can recognize
in the paintings now, shapes and pictures, and yet they still explore, continue to develop the arena I've
been working in all along. As before, they deal with the role physicality plays in an image and what it
takes to promote a primarily current experience in front of a painting. I guess it's an exercise in
grounding to try and create an image that unfolds in the same time and space the viewer occupies while
looking at the painting.
Chair, International Museum of Women
July 2007 issue
When my daughter Ashley was about four years old (early 90s), I wanted to take her to a place where
she could experience her heritage as a female. I wanted her to be surrounded by images of women who
are making contributions and changes. I did not want Ashley and her generation growing up like every
other generation of young women thinking that women before them had never done anything important.
Later I have come to understand that it is equally important for my son – and all our sons – to also learn
the value of women. When I looked around for a place to take her, I found none -- there was no place
that recognized global women’s history both in the past, nor paid attention to the history we are creating
today.
What I did find, however, was one small group, just south of San Francisco, in Palo Alto, California, that
was called the Women’s Heritage Museum. It was a grassroots organization created in 1985. Its mission
was to make women’s history known for the exact reasons I just stated… because we were not teaching
our children about the valuable contributions of women. I joined the Women’s Heritage Museum and for
many years we worked on the ground, hosting annual book fairs, creating exhibits that traveled,
recreating historic events. We moved the base to San Francisco and built community support, but in the
end we knew we were not really making a big impact and we were not growing. Teachers told us they
needed a place to get materials and bring their students. So it was then, in 1997 that we made a very
bold decision to become an international force.
FOLLY with Steve Stockdale
Executive Director, Institute of General Semantics
June 2007 Issue
First, I’d say that there is little, if any, benefit to be gained by just ‘knowing’ something about general
semantics. The benefits come from maintaining an awareness of the principles and attitudes that are
derived from GS and applying them as they are needed. You can sort of compare general semantics to
yoga in that respect … knowing about yoga is okay, but to benefit from yoga you have to ‘do’ yoga. The
same is true with general semantics. While there may be some satisfaction in learning and
understanding the methods and principles, the real test is in the ‘doing.’ Some of the typical problems
that may be eliminated, or at least diminished, through GS would be things like not treating an inference
or opinion as if it were a fact; not jumping to inappropriate conclusions; avoiding gross generalizations
and stereotypes; enjoying the individuality and uniqueness of every person and situation; delaying your
reactions and not making knee-jerk, emotional reactions, and recognizing that while words have certain
accepted definitions, the ‘meanings’ or significance of those words varies with the individual speaker,
listener, and context.
FOLLY with Kavita Ramdas
CEO, Global Fund for Women
May 2007 Issue
Being their daughter shaped me a lot and informed my understanding and appreciation of working inside
& outside the system. My father’s role within the military, and his access to influence, gave me a view of
what it means to work within the system. And my mother exhibited such courage with her refusal to
accept the status quo. She was always willing to take on the system from the outside and to challenge it
and to hold it accountable. They taught me that it’s always important to understand that people's
contributions to social change can be made from different places, based on their skills and vantage
point. As a result, I am someone who appreciates both those who take to the streets and protest to
make change, and those who work within organizations and systems, whether those are corporations or
government entities. The key issue for me is seeking to maintain one's integrity in the process - there
do come points at which it is no longer possible to work from within a system because it is so
compromised - what matters then is having the courage to step away.
FOLLY with Rene DeGuzman
Director of Visual Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
April 2007 Issue
My greatest challenge is to educate the public on the value of contemporary art. As you know, art is not
being taught in the public schools and there is zero coverage of it in the mainstream press. It then falls
on curators and other professionals to work against the tide of neglect to demonstrate the importance of
the public finding ways to express themselves to others. I mean if there were no contemporary art being
made, appreciated and supported then what would generations and generations after us have as
representative objects and forms to understand our times.
FOLLY with Leonard Shlain
Writer, Surgeon
March 2007 Issue
The reason I felt qualified to write Art and Physics, is that I believe a surgeon must be artist and scientist.
I am dismayed by compartmentalization in fields. We have become so specialized that we don’t and can’
t appreciate the interdependence and influence of varied fields. It is one of my goals to bring together
disciplines.
Culturally, as with the hemispheres of the brain, there are two very distinct sets of related attributes and
characteristics. East is right, West is left. I see a coming together of right and left brain, East and West
cultures—a globally “mellowing out” of dominant and non-dominant brain activity and culture. When the
New England Journal of Medicine publishes an article on meditation, which it did 15 years ago, you can
believe that we are headed toward that shift.
FOLLY with Mark Kozelek
Musician
February 2007 Issue
My dad wrote me a letter recently that said I had a lot of "gumption." A funny word, but he’s right. He was
referring to some setbacks I had, one recently that would send most musicians back to their day jobs
permanently. To be in this business for 10 years plus, it takes a lot more than writing nice songs, having
an interesting voice and hopping on a plane. Making good music that people take an interest in is
essential to it all, getting those pats on the back, but there are ups and downs—unpleasantness and
discouragement. Labels come and go, band members, management problems, you get stiffed, and your
personal life suffers if you let people pull the strings for you.
Artists I know who have been making a living over the years are not only talented, they are tough
mentally, focused. They don’t cower out when the first roadblock appears. But most musicians I know did
a record or two, did a few tours, were dropped, and have day jobs now. It’s an easier way of living for
them. Everyone has been dropped at some point. But they retreated when the first thing went wrong and
can’t deal with the struggle that comes with the territory. But all the artists riding a nice wave at the
moment, whoever they are – they will arrive on conflict, and that’s when you figure out if you want to
hang in there.
FOLLY with Catherine di Napoli
Writer, Filmmaker
September 2006 Issue
From making these two films we learned quite a bit about what to do and what not to do. I think the
most important thing we learned is to try to make the film we set out to make. We can’t continually worry
about whether or not our material will appeal to art house audiences or to main stream audiences. You
have to make the type of films that you want to make, that interest you.. The greatest challenge
creatively is making the movie you set out to make, not the film you think an imaginary audience would
want to see—constantly looking to improve the script every day until the film has been shot. We are
currently working on a comedy about minimalist, contemporary art.
FOLLY with George Lawson
Artist
August 2006 Issue
I'm not sure what might be considered a strictly technical aspect of painting, where to draw the line, but in
an elemental way, creating just means to make something that wasn't there before. To me, developing
and creating are not as hard as paying attention, staying with something that is happening in the studio
and not turning away from it when it starts to present a new and strange face. I am following a
progression of impulses. Although I didn't set out in a planned way to do what I've ended up doing, I
have taken a leap over the last two years and the results are still unfamiliar to me. The paintings have
gone from very open images to ones with more specific associations. There are things you can recognize
in the paintings now, shapes and pictures, and yet they still explore, continue to develop the arena I've
been working in all along. As before, they deal with the role physicality plays in an image and what it
takes to promote a primarily current experience in front of a painting. I guess it's an exercise in
grounding to try and create an image that unfolds in the same time and space the viewer occupies while
looking at the painting.
FOLLY
David Paymer, Crispin Glover in Bartleby
Mark Kozelek
Leonard Shlain
Rene DeGuzman
George Lawson
Kavita Ramdas
Steve Stockdale
Elizabeth Colton
FOLLY with Harlan Mandel
Deputy Managing Director, Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
June 2008 issue
How can social venture funds like MDLF access the private capital markets? We see that as a very
important question that we need to figure out because it represents a much larger potential resource for
the sector than traditional philanthropy. There are a number of other social venture intermediaries out
there -- like our partners at responsAbility and the Calvert Foundation, and also Good Capital -- trying to
figure this out as well.
Most of our clients are not in a position to be accessing private capital markets directly, but we think that
through MDLF we can get them that access. The security that was issued by Vontobel was called Voncert
responsAbility Media Development, which is listed on the Zurich stock exchange. Voncert responsAbility
Media Development was a new idea for how social ventures can approach the capital market. For us, it
was an important milestone in a number of ways. Just successfully going through the due diligence
process that an institution like Vontobel would require was a milestone for us and, in a sense, gave us a
very different kind of seal of approval. Also, the experience gave us a better understanding of what it
means to try to access that marketplace and how very different it is from traditional fundraising.
responsAbility is a great outfit, and they did an excellent job taking us through that process. We’re now
looking for new ways to do something similar again.
Deputy Managing Director, Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF)
June 2008 issue
How can social venture funds like MDLF access the private capital markets? We see that as a very
important question that we need to figure out because it represents a much larger potential resource for
the sector than traditional philanthropy. There are a number of other social venture intermediaries out
there -- like our partners at responsAbility and the Calvert Foundation, and also Good Capital -- trying to
figure this out as well.
Most of our clients are not in a position to be accessing private capital markets directly, but we think that
through MDLF we can get them that access. The security that was issued by Vontobel was called Voncert
responsAbility Media Development, which is listed on the Zurich stock exchange. Voncert responsAbility
Media Development was a new idea for how social ventures can approach the capital market. For us, it
was an important milestone in a number of ways. Just successfully going through the due diligence
process that an institution like Vontobel would require was a milestone for us and, in a sense, gave us a
very different kind of seal of approval. Also, the experience gave us a better understanding of what it
means to try to access that marketplace and how very different it is from traditional fundraising.
responsAbility is a great outfit, and they did an excellent job taking us through that process. We’re now
looking for new ways to do something similar again.
Harlan Mandel
Photo (c) 2008 MDLF
Photo (c) 2008 MDLF
FOLLY with Marcus Shelby
Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra
July 2008 issue
My earliest musical influences came out of the black Baptist church that I attended as a child. I played
bass for the men’s choir. Every song was a blues in G. This is where I first experienced the effect of the
blues on the human soul. The power of this music in all of its guttural earthy-ness and syncopated
rhythms -- seemingly arranged simultaneously in each rendition remains the musical aesthetic I have
carried with me throughout my entire life. When I was introduced to jazz music in high school I was
immediately drawn to the music of Charles Mingus, partly because he played bass and I liked the idea
of a bass player leading a group, but mostly because his music contained the spirit of the church music
that I had experienced growing up. His music also had a “sound” that inspired me to compose my own
music.
We as listeners are generally first attracted to the “sound” of a musician whether that musician is John
Coltrane and the sound he gets out of his saxophone or Duke Ellington and the unique and exotic
sound he gets out of orchestra, this is what we identify with initially. I wanted to know how Mingus got
his sound, what instruments he used and how he orchestrated them to create such wonderful colors
against his provocative and diffuse melodies. This set me on my path to composing and later
discovering the work of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, of whom Mingus is a musical descedent.
Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra
July 2008 issue
My earliest musical influences came out of the black Baptist church that I attended as a child. I played
bass for the men’s choir. Every song was a blues in G. This is where I first experienced the effect of the
blues on the human soul. The power of this music in all of its guttural earthy-ness and syncopated
rhythms -- seemingly arranged simultaneously in each rendition remains the musical aesthetic I have
carried with me throughout my entire life. When I was introduced to jazz music in high school I was
immediately drawn to the music of Charles Mingus, partly because he played bass and I liked the idea
of a bass player leading a group, but mostly because his music contained the spirit of the church music
that I had experienced growing up. His music also had a “sound” that inspired me to compose my own
music.
We as listeners are generally first attracted to the “sound” of a musician whether that musician is John
Coltrane and the sound he gets out of his saxophone or Duke Ellington and the unique and exotic
sound he gets out of orchestra, this is what we identify with initially. I wanted to know how Mingus got
his sound, what instruments he used and how he orchestrated them to create such wonderful colors
against his provocative and diffuse melodies. This set me on my path to composing and later
discovering the work of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, of whom Mingus is a musical descedent.
Marcus Shelby. Photograph courtesy of MSJO. Printed with
permission.. © baytaper.com 2008
permission.. © baytaper.com 2008
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