Without a cloud in sight and a temperature of 70F, it was a day to drive with the windows down and the radio turned up.  The sweet smells of a budding spring mixed with a song by Schubert playing on the radio; it was a moment of vivacious joy in the few minutes I had to myself between dropping my work and picking up the kids.

That is, it was until I came to the stoplight.  The car next to me held a young woman with similar plans but very different tastes in sound, rhythm and volume.  My options were limited – roll up the windows and proclaim my own sonic territory or crank up Schubert really loud.  Since I’m constant weary of standing out as the oddest duck in the pond, you can guess what I did.  Schubert remained mine, and mine alone, as I wished everyone was willing to do.

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Imagine that you’re in an elevator when the power goes out.  The systems that made it possible for you to easily travel between floors without even being aware of them are suddenly very obvious by their absence.  You’re trapped – all by things you never even bothered to notice were all around you all the time.  All you can hope is that these systems are re-started before you starve to death.  Sound familiar?  It’s how James Burke opened up his landmark BBC series Connections in 1978.  This series challenged us all to look at the way our world was constructed a bit differently, a bit less at the contributions of one person and more at the connections that made it all possible.

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