More great and inspiring news from the Aboriginal youth world. On April 17-18 on the Musqueam First Nation right beside Vancouver, the First Nations Youth At Risk organization will be sponsoring a best practices conference. There is a lot I like about this group, staring with the fact that it is entirely supported by private sector grants, and that the President is Harvey McCue, Waubegeshig, the man who started the Native Studies program at Trent University, of which I am a graduate. And most importantly, these folks are doing some amazing work. For example, here is the description of a …
Reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow and soul and I came across this great quote which speaks to all this philanthropy I’ve been running across lately: When you look at the pre-Christian version of “soul,” you see that what they meant wasn’t so much a soul that was a different substance infused or injected into the body. It referred to a quality in a person who was able to use surplus energy for the benefit of others, not needing to get it all for himself. I came to the conclusion that “soul” is really our way of thinking about not devoting …
This is too good not to quote extensively. From an artcle in The Tyee on eating contests: How the Coast Salish squared off Coast Salish eating contests were as personal as the ones Jacobs entered. The difference is that only one person or one team ate, and it was always the guests. The object was, literally, to eat the host out of house and home. Drop by my house at the right time, and this could take less than 15 minutes – which was of course, the point. The eater�s boast: �My power can consume everything you own.� The host�s …
Eeleven pieces of assorted linkage for you today. This stuff is good. Papers by Vivian Hutchinson on philanthropy, community governance and social entrepreneurs. Lessons from the Land: A cultural journey through the Northwest Territories via wood s lot A Case Study in the Construction of Place: Boundary Management as Theme and Strategy in Canadian Art and Life also via wood s lot A Time for Letting Go – on organizational consulting via Jon Husband at Wirearchy Good article on the launch of Maori TV and the preservation of Maori language in New Zealand The Machine in our Heads by Glenn …
Mikk Sarv I wonder what it would be like to live in Estonia? From Mikk Sarv, an Open Space facilitator living there, comes this interesting tidbit of news posted in response to Harrison’s invitation to describe more ways of opening space: Next week we are celibrating this day, 14th of April as Outdoor Learning Day. The day is opened by our Minister of Education and Minister of Environment. For the period from 14th of April till 14th of October all schools, kindergardens and universities try to run as much as possible of the curriculum outdoors. All buds, sprouting seeds, bird …