Street comedy

This last week has been a real eye-opener; at Bay to Breakers, I was surrounded by thousands of people who'd really made an effort to dress up and were having a brilliant time. It just demonstrated how much putting on stupid costumes can add to an event. Bestival, is one of the best festivals in the UK, and I think the fancy dress element has a lot to do with that (it's also usually got a wicked line-up and great weather). So I've been thinking about how important fun and play are as part of our everyday lives. 

Stanford's a pretty serious place; a lot of the students here are so concerned with getting on the corporate ladder that anything but work just seems like a pointless distraction. The whole university is geared up to provide you with the best education for business or engineering, and you're expected to work bloody hard to prove your worth. 

So fun is distinctly secondary. But there are two notable exceptions; the design school and the drama department. They embrace fun, and encourage it as part of the creative process. I think that's why they're my favourite places on campus. I've loved improv this quarter, and learning design thinking has really changed my approach to problems. We've got accept fun as a positive element. It's OK to be childish and silly. In fact it's necessary.

I've posted some some pics below that have made me laugh recently, and totally demonstrate what I'm talking about. They aren't trying to make cash or any particular point. They're just having a laugh. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry summed it up in his dedication to Léon Werth in The Little Prince: "All grown ups were once children - although few of them remember it." Let's have some fun.