It’s November now, the snow is finally calling the mountains. The salmon are back on Bowen. And the Northern Super League is drawing its inaugural year of professional Canadian women’s soccer to a close. Our local team, the Vancouver Rise today secured a spot in the playoff final with a penalty shootout win after the two leg semi-final against Ottawa Rapid went to extra time. Holly Ward, a bright young forward who has seemed snakebitten for much of the season scored the equalizer in the 84th minute and penalities decided it.
I’m pleased for our former Rovers supporters’ player of the year, Kirstin Tynen, who is the backup keeper for the Rise. She’s only played once this year, but got a point in a wild 3-3 draw. On the losing side, Desiree Scott, a Canadian national team LEGEND played her last game today and former Rover Stella Downing sees her scintillating rookie season come to an end.
Toronto and Montreal are battling it out tomorrow for the second spot in the final. Whatever happens, a former TSS Rover will lift the cup next weekend. Watching these women finally get their chance to play pro at home is what this league is all about.
I learned of Bill Torbert’s death today through a nice collection of links and tributes at Benjamin Taylor’s blog. I met Bill several times at the Shambhala Institute on Authentic Leadership where we were both on faculty in the late ‘aughts. Being on the faculty at that Institute was a mixed blessing. While one got to hang out with some true lions in the field, and make some unique memories, we never got to take each other’s sessions. Bill taught with Mary Stacey at those sessions and I was constantly intruiged by their module. He was also a friend and loving champion of Peter Frost’s, Caitlin’s father. After Peter died in 2004 and we made that connection he shared some very sweet memories of their times together at Academy of Management conferences over the years. Most of Bill’s research is freely available at ResearchGate.
Bill had an erring eye for the kinds of intangible resources that built capacity, like reflection, inquiry and relationality. In that vein thinking about systems change from the perspective of weaving relations and resilience inside a system is important. Here are some resources about the work of the Collective Change Lab who focus on just that work.
I was out at a play Friday night, a terrific local production of Tom Stoppard’s clever and funny Rough Crossing, and so I didn’t see the final score in the first game of the World Series. I knew the game was tied 2-2 for a while, but when the break came in the play I was told that the Jays had won 11-4. Later, watching the highlights, it was amazing to see the atmosphere in Toronto. Sport culture is such an abiding interest, and there is nothing more elevating as a communal experience than witnessing your underdog team beat the Champions in the most important game of the past 32 years.
Last night I was performing in a coffee house fundraiser on our island while the Blue Jays suffered a loss in Game 2. The chemistry and camaraderie and feedback loops across time and space are plainly visible with this team. They aren’t as talented as the Dodgers but they are exhibiting the power of those intangibles.
Auroras seen last month above the Hecate Strait from Tllaal, Haida Gwaii.
There is so much going on in the darkening northern night sky these days. The chances to see auroras in unusual places are still very high as we come off the peak of the sun’s 11 year cycle of activity. And there are all kinds of other phenomena above and around us including comets, and SARs. This is when having the Spaceweather App is so great, and why a regular check of the Spaceweather.com website will do you good.
Also up there are the feverish dreams of the hyper inflated egos of tech and finance bros who care only about implementing their one big idea and damn the consequences. Reflecting sunlight back to earth at night to power solar panels without any consideration for how life on earth depends on darkness is just one more example of why this might might be the darkest of ages wrapped in a naive, pollyanish techno optimism aimed at just making money.
So let’s slow down and take Tochi Onyebuchi’s advice: move slow and make things. Enjoy the darkness. Create beautiful things using time and effort. Disconnect from the tools that substitute for mentorship and genuine support. Enjoy everything space offers.
Different types of conflict responses from Dan Oestreich. He charts the dysfunctional behaviours of Withdrawl, Passive Resistance, Passive Aggression and Open Combat and counters these with the better Third Party Tactics and Human Contact. Go for Human Contact whenever you can. The relational approaches are the strongest peacemaking you can do.
Ensconced in the little settlement of Shearwater in the Central Coast of BC, also known as The Great Bear Rainforest. Tomorrow we head out for a nine day supported kayak tour of these waters.