Michael is a great friend and colleague and one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from him over the years is this notion of living life as a practice of invitation. Today he posts a really nice example of how he might respond to a request to help create an invitation. I quoted this post today in a conversation with Dave Pollard who is crafting an invitation for his current initiative, AHA! It’s great advice, elegantly offered.
From a post on the OSLIST, a poem from Neruda: Keeping Quiet Now we will count to twelve And we will all keep still. For once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language; let’s stop for one second, and not move our arms so much. It would be a delicious moment without hurry, without locomotives; all of us would be together in a sudden uneasiness. The fishermen in the cold sea would do no harm to the whales and the peasant gathering salt would look at his torn hands. Those who prepare green wars, wars …
This is the logo for the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler winter Olympics. It was unveiled on Saturday in Vancouver. Now I’ve nothing against inukshuks, and I have plenty of Inuit friends and colleagues, but this is just plain wrong. These Olympics are being held in the territories of the Squamish and Lil’wat peoples, of whom there are many excellent artists. This is a huge opportunity to show the world an image from the rich tradition of west coast art, and instead the Olympic committee chose a figure from a culture that lives thousands of miles away. Using an Inukshuk to signify winter …
Prince Rupert, BC Here is a powerful idea from Australian Aboriginal playwright Jack Davis about how to reconnect kids with nature: It’s quite simple…give us love of country whether white or black. Give every kid at school something to protect of our flora and fauna. “OK,you look after the beetles…the quokka, the ladybugs…that’s your totem.” Imagine doing this. A kid has responsibility for a fern species, a tree, an insect, a bird. You identify closely with this thing and do everything you can to steward it’s survival. In an interconnected world, giving someone responsibility for a small part will quickly …
Prince Rupert, BC My friend Crystal Sutherland, my partner in doing a whole bunch of work with Aboriginal youth, has legally changed her name. She is now using two hereditary names from her Ahousaht ancestors: Pawaskwachitl Haiyupis. We just call her Pawa for short! These are Nuu-Chah-Nulth names. Pawaskwachitl was a name of one of her grandmothers, and it has a powerful translation “she gives in the feast like bees coming out a hive.” That’s an outstanding description of the kind of leader she is becoming. When I was in New Zealand last year, I was amazed and awed at …