And thrive
Emergence of glowing rainbow
Cast as bridge
In front of Coliseum lights
Yala
Where lakes
Skip slotted machines
With noxious acoustics
To befriend
God's minions
Underneath the quiet and solemn
Pleasures of
One's
Higher
Belonging.
BY: IRIS P. CONCEPCION
8/22/2011, Yala, Thailand
Harvard professor and the author of “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?”
I would lead a campaign against the skyboxification of American life. Not long ago, the ballpark was a place where C.E.O.’s and mailroom clerks sat side by side, and everyone got wet when it rained. Today, most stadiums have corporate skyboxes, which cosset the privileged in air-conditioned suites, far removed from the crowd below. Something similar has happened throughout our society. The affluent retreat from public schools, the military, and other public institutions, leaving fewer and fewer class-mixing places. Rich and poor increasingly live separate lives.
I would invest in an infrastructure for civic renewal — not just roads and bridges, but schools, transit, playgrounds, parks, community centers, health clinics, libraries and national service. This would put people to work. And it would draw us out of our skyboxes and into the common spaces of democratic citizenship.