I think of it as ‘coffee and copy’. For over forty years I have started my day with a newspaper or news magazine and a coffee. A black Americano, if you are asking.
I am, probably, addicted to both.
Most days there are news stories relevant to Barnes2050. Occasionally something else jumps off the page. Yesterday it was a quote.
Welcome to Barnes2050, a place-based futures project asking: how do we help Barnes - the place and its people - thrive and be climate-ready by 2050? If this is your first visit, you might want to start here.
I started the inevitable online search. Did Jules Verne say this? When? What was the context?
That was when I stumbled on Elif Shafak’s National Humanities Lecture from February 2026. She said of this quote,
I like this phrase.
I like how it combines two separate components.
On the one hand, it opens up space for imagination, creativity.
On the other hand, for awareness, knowledge, research, observation, critical thinking.
So as to be able to live our lives to the fullest, we need both.
Only the humanities and the arts are capable of blending these two.
Only with their help can we continue to dream with our eyes open.
(Word) Perfect.
I realised that is how I see Barnes SW13 now.
I walk and bike the streets of Barnes everyday. Since I started this project I am more aware, more sensitive of what is around me. Every change of sign. The builders starting afresh at another home or shop.
Then something happens.
The synapses crackle. My lived experiences and values kick-in. What I see collides with what I carry.
I am still a liberal arts student. A lifetime drenched in history. The journalist’s instinct to ask another question. The R&D habit of wondering what happens next and whether we might try something different. Curiosity. Lots of it.
The Manifesto chapters are my (admittedly clumsy) attempt to codify some of what I carry. To make the values behind the instinct visible.
But instinct isn’t enough
Then comes the test. Is the thing real? Is there evidence? Has somewhere else solved it differently? What am I missing?
Sometimes the original thought survives. Sometimes it changes completely. Sometimes it deserves to die.
Shafak and before her, Verne provide a more arresting description.
I have been dreaming with my eyes open.