Category: Edited

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Center for Engaging Community

John Kesler is my patner in work with the Center for Engaging Community. He is a man of great vision. He attracts incredible people around him. He is very humble. And a great catalyzer of efforts. Together we co-direct the Center.

Last week, John and I were checking-in. Projects. Imaginations. Plans. A central point of our efforts is an initiative called Culture of Connection. We launched this effort in many ways with a large community event last spring. Today it lives in many people, committees, and community relations.

I wanted to name this initiative because last week John and I had one of those moments where we revisited purpose and a few agreements. We weren’t trying to per se; but it became clear that in our phone conversation, that is what was happening. These all spoke to me…

  • Bring capacity of conversation
  • When we find competence and passion, help to catalyze the self-organizationt that manifests flourishing community.
  • We can look through multiple lenses.
  • Be a trusted neutral convenor, not an advocate.
  • Grassroots community engagement.

This also spoke to me, three anchors. We support flourishing community by…

  1. Convening, training, connecting, practicing in conversation.
  2. Supporting technology that connects, both in content and social community (this a project that we are just starting to imagine)
  3. Grounding our work in specific domains — currently feeling the biggest need in a bipartisan legislative dialogue project, and, and exploration into supporting and integrating immigrant and refugee communities in the Salt Lake Valley.
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Mud Cookies — Systems Thinking Story

I read an article in the Salt Lake Tribune recently. It was a tender story of a 16 year-old mother in Haiti that had no food. She was eating mud cookies.
The story was a systems thinking story. It began with increase oil prices. At this point I feel the core question — what does increased oil prices have to do with a 16 year-old mother in Haiti eating mud cakes and mud cookies?
Oil prices go up. Among other things, this increases the cost of food production — machinery. Increased cost of production increases the cost of the food, including staples such as rice. This mother can’t afford the increased price of such a staple. She eats cookies made of mud with some salt and shortening. And what might be the impact of this? Disease. Malnourished babies. A pattern of physical suffering.
What does rising oil prices have to do with a poor mother in Haiti? Lots from the systems view.
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The Tao of Open Space

I first read this in Chris Corrigan’s book, The Tao of of Holding Space. Read all of this book many times. I immediately used it to help invite people into an Open Space session. It comes from the Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu — the edition I have is translated by John C. H. Wu.

And as I think of it now, and a design proposal I am working on with some university faculty, staff, and an advisory committee, I think I might use this again to invite the opening to conversation with each other. The release of the managed presentation agenda.

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub;
It is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges.

We make a vessel from a lump of clay;
It is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful.

We make doors and windows for a room;
But it is these empty spaces that make the room livable.

Thus, while the tangible has advantages,
It is the intangible that makes it useful.

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Appreciative Inquiry Story with Family

Zoe, my daughter, now 12, enjoying her first bra, email, cell phone, text messages in abundance, and a bunch of other things that just challenge me as dad, has really turned to her friends. Yes, they are all 12-13. I was looking for an in with Zoe – “When do you find yourself most happy?” She responded quickly – “when I’m shopping.” I hid my interior groan and frown. “Tell me about one of your favorite shopping times.” We proceeded. I just listened. Despite wishing that “shopping” was not the central feature of bliss for her – ever heard of a walk! – I was really happy to see her light up. And, it wasn’t too hard to notice that in her story, she was saying she liked the freedom, to which I could very easily agree that I like it too.

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Gifts of Circle - Question Cardsasd
Gifts of Circle is 30 short essays divided into 4 sections: 1) Circle's Bigger Purpose, 2) Circle's Practice, 3) Circle's First Requirements, and 4) Circle's Possibility for Men. From the Introduction: "Circle is what I turn to in the most comprehensive stories I know -- the stories of human beings trying to be kind and aware together, trying to make a difference in varied causes for which we need to go well together. Circle is also what I turn to in the most immediate needs that live right in front of me and in front of most of us -- sharing dreams and difficulties, exploring conflicts and coherences. Circle is what I turn to. Circle is what turns us to each other."

Question Cards is an accompanying tool to Gifts of Circle. Each card (34) offers a quote from the corresponding chapter in the book, followed by sample questions to grow your Circle hosting skills and to create connection, courage, and compassionate action among groups you host in Circle.

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In My Nature is a collection of 10 poems. From A Note of Beginning: "This collection of poems arises from the many conversations I've been having about nature. Nature as guide. Nature as wild. Nature as organized. I remain a human being that so appreciates a curious nature in people. That so appreciates questions that pick fruit from inner being, that gather insights and intuitions to a basket, and then brings the to table to be enjoyed and shared over the next week."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in In My Nature. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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Most Mornings is a collection of 37 poems. I loved writing them. From the introduction: "This collection of poems comes from some of my sense-making that so often happens in the morning, nurtured by overnight sleep. The poems sample practices. They sample learnings. They sample insights and discoveries. They sample dilemmas and concerns."

This set of Note Cards (8 cards + envelopes)  quotes a few favorite passages from poems in Most Mornings. I offer them as inspiration. And leave room for you to write personal notes.

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