Crowdsourcing and telecommuting are conspiring to reinvent the traditional notion of a job. No longer is the one-employer model the only game in town. Some companies have found that work done by freelancers may be of better quality than what they were used to getting from their in-house employees.

In a society far away and long ago, people mostly farmed and ran storefront businesses where they lived. Then came the migration to the cities, where a new generation of workers stuffed into bulging urban-based factory jobs. Many spent their entire adult lives working for The Man in an upstairs office.

Then more social changes and transportation advancements happened. Those improvements let workers move to a suburban home and travel to city jobs in buses and trains and autos. Sitting in traffic enduring the twice-a-day commute was very bad. But loyalty to The Man and hours commuting to his office building provided workers with long-term benefits that sustained their families. And that was very very good. Or so it seemed.

Linux News: Collaboration: How the Virtual Workforce Is Changing Everything.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

Editor’s note: Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will lead “A Celebration of America” with the Rockefeller Foundation on Monday evening at the Kennedy Center featuring Angela Bassett, Dave Brubeck, and others.

Wynton Marsalis says we should use the rich heritage of our culture as a roadmap for the future.

(CNN) — On the dawn of the most historic inauguration of our time, we nervously await “change we can believe in.”

Politicians and pundits analyze every pre-presidential utterance and come to quick conclusions about what will happen under the new administration.

A “wait and see” attitude dampens our euphoria. Will we come together or will even harder times drive us apart?

In the din of expert voices on everything imaginable, what we don’t hear is informed conversation on how central culture is to our national well-being.

Our culture provides all the proof we need that we are together, that we have always been and, in spite of difficulties, will continue to be.

It’s time for us to build a new mythology based on our many cultural triumphs instead of fixating on our never-ending missteps and conflicts.

Commentary: Let’s treasure the old along with the new – CNN.com.

by Suzan-Lori Parks

NPR.org, January 16, 2009 ·

U Being U

U Being U
Mr. President-Elect
Makes me wanna get MY stuff
correct

I feel like starting with something RADICAL
Like,
Love my Neighbor
Like share what I’ve got
Like think for myself
Like ask the hard questions
Like lean toward the good and help keep the peace

U being U
Makes me wanna do something new
Like Go Green, or at least try to.

You being you, Mr. President-Elect
Makes me want to look on others with respect
Makes me wanna
practice Radical Inclusion, you know,
Open my heart wide, especially in the presence of folks who
Are not like me, you know,
work to see my Brother
In the Other
You make me want to entertain all my far-out ideas
Make me wanna represent the race, as in the human race,
And know that, like You, I too am Prized.

And to those who say yr a Magic Negro,
I love them just the same
And my love helps us weave a United States.

Mr. President,
Heaven sent
Since heaven is just a place where possibility
becomes possible
And where hostility
holsters
its hostile,
I feel like picking up the trash in the park or on the beach
I think I’ll teach, and learn, from all I meet
I think I’ll apologize in person for all our faults
and try to make amends for our shortcomings
And also, I think,
I’ll brag,
Just a little bit,
About how cool We The People are

Oh, I just had to sing you a little something
Because you,
Mr. President,
You are embarking with Us on an awesome and beautiful
And potentially perilous journey
And so I am giving you
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
All the Love
Mr. President
That I’ve got
Because I believe
In the dream
And I am ready
To wake up
And live it.

Suzan-Lori Parks is a novelist and playwright. She is the winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in drama for the play Topdog/Underdog.

All The Love For The President-Elect : NPR.