Vine Deloria, Jr. 26 March 1933 – 13 November 2005 �Instead of fighting over the idea of beginnings, the focus should be a better understanding of earth history. Then we can talk about how we think things originated.� On November 13, Vine Deloria Jr. passed away. Joy Harjo has a nice remembrance in Indian Country.
Something soft to go with the rain that is falling today on the west coast of Canada. I know little about this piece other than it appears on a compilation called “Below Code” from Japanese label Comatones Records of 10 years of mix tapes. Comatones describes itself as “dedicated to the production and dissemination of non-categorical contemporary electronic music.” The whole album is a fascinating listen. mp3: Takashi Kojima – Texts was subscribed (TT’s edit)
Robyn Stratton-Berkessel posts about a great training she was a part of last week, while we were doing our OST practice workshop on Vancouver Island. And what is really cool is that she posted this diagram of the appreciative inquiry process, which is a lovely frame for doing anything really. Naturally, this process maps nicely onto the map we use of the Open Space practices. Discovery requires Opening, Dreaming requires Inviting, Designing requires Holding and Destiny requires Grounding. And even within the positive topic choice, all of these practices come into play, as the design process that leads to an …
I’ve known about the work of John McKnight for a long time. He is perhaps best known for Asset Based Community Development. When I was studying community development at Trent University, we were treated to his series on CBC Ideas called Community and its Counterfeits, later published as a book. McKnight was a young apprentice to Saul Alinsky, the famous Chicago-based community organizer. Over the years his work has garnered accolades from folks all over the political spectrum and has spawned community mapping, asset inventories and other now standard practices of community and economic development. A few years ago another …
I was working with a client this weekend, the board of a quasi-professional association, and we were discussing ways to build better support for decisions. I introduced them to the consensus decision making model I use, something which is adopted from the work of Sam Kaner. They liked it and I agreed to write it into the report I was doing for them. Thought I’d share it with you readers as well… Voting certainly has its place, but if you are looking for sustainable decisions, where unity and long term support for a decision are important, a consensus decision making …