Giving conference is happening, and we have just finished the first sessions. I attended a session offered by RuthAnn Prange who was floating the idea of convening a conference of facilitators who work for the common good.. The idea came out of her work with the Listening to the City project in New York in 2002.
Basically Ruthann’s idea is top convene a conference of facilitators who work for the common good, whether that is within business organizations, communities or elsewhere. It seems as if there is a community evolving of facilitators who do this and a gathering of some kind, perhaps evolving into a network would be a way of sharing skills, experiences, tools and honing purpose.
One metaphor we were talking about was one that came to me from astronomy. When looking through small scopes at a faint nebula, tapping the scope slightly will often resolve the structure of the body. There were a number of great conributions that went into a tentative inivtation which RuthAnn will share out with us at some point, leading towards a conference. If that interests you, or you have any ideas for her, leave a comment here or on the conference wiki page.
Chicago on the Skeena, photoshopped by GlobalChicagoAgitPropEnterprises Ltd.
Light blogging ahead. Over the mountains and off to Chicago for the Giving Conference to join folks like Michael Herman, Ashley Cooper, Jon Husband, The Happy Tutor, AKMA, Tom Munnecke, Lenore Ealy and others for three days of very interesting conversation.
If you aren’t joining us live (and why not? eh? eh?) then follow all the action on the conference wiki, or through Phil Cubeta’s postings at the GiftHub blog.
See you out there!
Michale Valpy of the Globe and Mail ran a series about a 23 year old Saskatchewan voter called Chandler. Turns out that he felt like I did on June 28.:
“Having voted, Chandler felt no satisfaction with what he’d done.
He still saw no real connection between his vote and how Canada is run. Democracy, as he said repeatedly, has different dynamics: consensus building among citizens around a specific issue; informed and well-researched submissions to civil servants and cabinet ministers; influence from lobbyists.
‘I am not drawn to electoral politics,’ he said simply.
And if you don’t vote, you can’t complain? ‘I am not impressed by that argument,’ he replied.
Knowing he’s a practising Roman Catholic (I’d driven him to mass with his grandparents), I said: ‘Look, voting is like taking part in the Eucharist; it’s a symbolic and representative act. It’s not an end in itself, because to be a Christian you’ve got to be more fully engaged in your faith, and to be a citizen you’ve got to be more fully engaged in your civic society. But the sym- bolism of the vote is important.'”
Advice from Leonardo Da Vinci, elucidating one of the reasons I keep this blog as a learning tool to support my professional practice:
OF THE MISTAKES MADE BY THOSE WHO PRACTISE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE.
Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whether he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this Perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing.”
A declaration of interdependance from Future Positive:
“Stop reading! Take a few moment to examine the contents of your pockets or purse ……
Can you find any item there, that you obtained without the help of someone else? Look around you. What do you see? Did you make the clothes you wear? Did you grow the food you eat or the tools you use. Look around your home or workplace. Can you find anything that you made. Do you know the names of those who did make all these things? Do you ever know upon whom you depend. Can you find anything in your environment that was obtained without the help of someone else?
I am not talking about ownership here. I will grant that you own your possessions. But would you have them if they had not been for sale. I would argue that nearly everything modern humans possess was obtained with the help of others.
As I examine my world I discover that I depend on others to to grow and produce my food. I depend on others to design and build my home. I depend on others to generate my electricity. I depend on others to supply my water. I depend on others to deliver my mail. I depend on others to educate my children. I depend on others to entertain my family. I depend on others to manufacture my automobile. I depend on others to refine the gasoline for my car. I depend on others to care for my family when we are sick. I depend on others to protect us from crime and war. I depend on others to………. I depend on others, I depend.”