On The Fly

In this episode, Echoes of Giants: A Dream Panel at Converge 2035 The year is 2035, and the world has changed. I didn't attend AGS/GIA Converge in Carlsbad, at least not in the way we once did. Instead, I sat in my living room, surrounded by the shimmering holograms of friends' posts. In a dream, lectures floated before me in glowing 3D, memories made tangible—yet behind the futuristic spectacle, something old stirred inside me. It was a pull back to the years I spent at GIA from 1987 to 2014, a time of tactile learning, not holographic projections. Two familiar faces appeared first: Dr. Jim Shigley, whose quiet generosity I'd relied on countless times, and John Koivula, whose incredible microphotography once graced our alumni newsletter, Facts on the Fly . Their holographic presence felt so real it nudged me into a dream—one where time dissolved, and I found myself in a ballroom where past and future coexisted. A panel was about to begin, not just of peers, but of giants. ...