I attended the AGM of the VII Foundation's Board last week, held in part in Harvard's prestigious Porcellian Club. I have joined the Board's Mission, Education, and Projects sub-committees.
I had the pleasure to meet, among others, Kiku Adatto, Ted Nelson, and Shahidul Alam.
I hosted Shahidul, an eminent Bangladeshi photographer, at my home for the weekend, and have introduced him to George Mathew of Music Life International, for whom I am a Strategic Advisor. I hope for Shahidul and George to collaborate on an effort to bring attention to the Rohingya situation through both a photo-documentary exhibition and benefit concert at Carnegie Hall.
Ted is an expert in branding strategy who is interested in helping us develop language for The Trebuchet. His admonition to VII was not to try to "juggle a hundred ping pong balls" - better to catch just one. My vision for The Trebuchet is admittedly the opposite, but can certainly benefit greatly from Ted's disciplining and hard-nosed insights.
Kiku is a sociologist and Scholar in Residence at Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center, and the wife of Michael Sandel. We have begun a warm friendship, and she has invited me into the Mahindra Center’s evening dialogues that she convenes with Michael.