One + October 2010 - (Page 42)

> > H I G H -T EC H H U M A N I T Y LIVE IN PERSON BY DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF << JUST LAST MONTH, WHEN I WAS IN THE MIDST OF A SLEW OF SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS, MY MOTHER FINALLY LOST HER FIVEYEAR BATTLE WITH LEUKEMIA. It was not an easy time, especially since she refused traditional medical care in favor of herbs and healers. While her life span with cancer beat the statistics, the actual dying process was without formal medical supervision or hospice. This left me in the bizarre position of not only attending her death as the sole decision maker, but also of defending the circumstances of her death to investigators. It also left me dashing out emails to half-a-dozen conferences in the U.S. and Europe at which I had promised to appear; I canceled my travel plans for a couple of weeks and took care of my real world at home. Most of my contacts were completely understanding, even going so far as to send ﬂowers and donations in my mom’s name. They wouldn’t even answer my questions about how to reimburse them for plane tickets—not until “all this has passed.” Honestly, some of their e-mails brought me to tears—so genuine was the outpouring of good will and condolence. These humans cared more about another human (me) than the events we were supposed to be doing together. A few, however, cut straight to the chase: we expect a full refund, please arrange for a substitute, are you sure you can’t come straight from the funeral? Stuff like that. And while I completely understand where they were coming from, it doesn’t quite sit right. Of course, the people who 42 one+ 10.10

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + October 2010

One + October 2010
Contents
Energy of Many
Impressions
Design Thinking
Agenda
Thoughts+Leaders
SPIN Zone
Overheard
SoundOff
Signs of the Times
Focus
Top Spots
Connections
Irrelevant
Kill Your Résumé
Exceed Expectations
Live in Person
Snack Attack
Skin Deep
Playing God?
Gooooooal!
Untangling the Value of Social Media
Local Favor
Personality Order
Datascape Architect
Thriving Exhibits
Your Community
Making a Difference
Until We Meet Again

One + October 2010