#john cary

Having walked around what was left of his estate, he told his wife, "My dear, I have taken stock of our assets. You pride yourself on your apple pies. We have an apple tree, and a cow. I will gather the apples and milk the cow, and you will make the pies and I will go around and sell them."

Colonel John Cary, a staff officer during the war and before it principal of the prestigious Hampton Military Academy, returned home to find the school burnt and his family destitute.

For too long, design has been seen as a luxury, the province of the rich, not the poor, who often need it most. That can no longer be acceptable to those of us in the design field, nor to those affected by the field’s too often anemic moral imagination, which is to say, absolutely everybody.

Almost nothing influences the quality of our lives more than the design of our homes, our schools, our workplaces, and our public spaces.

Dignity is a kid in rural China learning in a colorful classroom that makes him feel valued and piques his curiosity. Dignity is a public space in Atlanta where young and old, rich and poor alike mingle, celebrate, and play. Dignity is a cancer patient in a light-filled hospital ward in rural Rwanda with lots of natural airflow to support her healing.

I’ve been fascinated to witness how music, not monsters, has the capacity to scare our toddler. It organizes her experience on some deep, subconscious level — triggering her fight-or-flight response or filling her with a joyful impulse to dance.

The Ray Bradbury Challenge: Day 534