Civic Meme Miscellany: Grieving dads play footy, recycling or re-using?, & not your average train ride

There is so much communication of human vitality, community, social creativity that comes our way of a day, shared through short clips and memes over smart phones and devices…

It’s good to dip the cup in, and examine for a moment exactly what is captured here (before moving on). The undercurrent of digital culture that should be celebrated (and all too rarely is).

For dads grieving over their lost child, a football team helps the process

Amazing, moving story (feature article here). We are abidingly interested in the local football team as an incubator and guarantor of the kind of community cohesion and spirit that will drive a new politics. (See this paper on “communitarianism, sport and social capital”, and this article by Philosophy Football’s Mark Perryman)

To recycle or re-use?

That is the question… raised by each of these videos - the first covering Rotterdam’s Recycled Park - islands of plastic turned into gardens and leisure spaces on the rivers banks. And the second from Buzzfeed, challenging use to “re-use” over “re-cycling”. It’s also an interesting comparison of meme strategy - interesting to hear what approach you think works best.

This is not your average train ride: Kid the Whiz

We love to see urban and suburban space joyously redefined and reclaimed, by song or dance or adventure. Here’s a viral by Kid the Wiz, who achieved a little fame on 2013’s America’s Got Talent, but now is taking his extraordinary dance talents into everyday spaces. As the recommender of this video wrote to us, “This energy and subtlety.. how can we learn better from it?” In our Plymouth collaboratory a few months ago, we were delighted to have Toby from Street Factory create a human chain-reaction in the room. Somewhat less virtuosity… but same good feeling in the room, and a great mood-state to encourage further civic discussion.