Edge Message #8 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM
To NZEDGE.COM Community
Today a new speech, simply called “Inspiration”, given by Kevin to the Compaq 2000 Education Conference in Auckland. It’s a broad sweep: new economy and “new new things”; the importance of heroes; the Turn Your Life Around (TYLA) Trust in West Auckland; peak performance; New Zealanders’ attitudes to success and profit; being connected; the role for teachers as “Chief Inspirers”; and naturally, The New Zealand Edge. Plus we’ve added some pictures to the text.
Today’s Hero is Bruce McLaren, F1 King: ace driver, engineer, inventor, designer, constructor, tester. Growing up in rural New Zealand in the 60s, I thought Bruce McLaren was about the best it could get (and still do). I remember his death as a shattering experience. I was twelve years old.
Bruce’s story concludes our current focus on a Kiwi obsession with going faster and further than anyone before (there are many other “Speedster” stories to tell in time, from Richard Pearse to William Hamilton, Edmund Hillary and John Britten).
We’re mulling who to present next: we have almost completed a story on the “read-it-to-believe-it” Tex Morton; we have a story on Frances Alda, our first international diva; we have stories about extraordinary New Zealand linguists; and with ANZAC Day coming we thought we would start a “Warriors” section. I’m content, for the moment, on concentrating on the inspirational players of the last 100 years rather than the present. Legends take a decade or so to ferment.
Regards
BRIAN SWEENEY
Executive Editor
brian@nzedge.com
Thumbnail:Cenotaph, Wellington
