More reflections from Greece

To wrap up the revolution-themed month of January, Sarah Whiteley of Axladitsa shares two very personal in-the-moment accounts of the citizens movement that took place in Greece’s Syntagma Square last year. Her reflections highlight the non-linear nature of building a movement that is deeply aligned with its values and how to approach it with patience and reverence.

Token presence or true participation

During the Organization Unbound workshop in Delhi, I was honestly struggling to distinguish form and experience, until Warren gave what was a really helpful example I have felt and seen many times. When we talk about participation and equality in an organization or a meeting, many go to the easiest form of making it happen [...]

Bringing minutes to life

“At this point there was a terrible cow manure smell that came across the lake.”

I came across this sentence as I was reading through the minutes of an annual general meeting that I attended some time back. It appears as its own paragraph, in the middle of the document, in italics.

Conscious technology

Just thought I’d preface this post with a note about my general relationship with technology. In short, I don’t like to be around it. I find computer monitors mind numbing. Keyboards send sharp pains up my right arm. I spent many years resisting pressures to buy a cell phone. True, I did organize my entire [...]

The unConference

They are scattered about the steps and lawns. A knot of people puzzling over the relationship between education and politics. Sari-clad women practicing Brazilian martial arts. A group of home-schooled 10-year-olds selling handmade paperweights. A young man recounting with artistic precision his transformative experience on the front lines of the Egyptian revolution. There are workshops [...]

The people in the room

Gregory Branch is a doctor and public health official who also happens to direct an unusual gospel choir in Baltimore. We knew Gregg a number of years ago when we lived in Maryland, and for a little while we even sang in the choir. Gregg is a fiercely kind man with a large spirit and [...]

“That’s how the light gets in”

One of the things we’ve gotten used to in meetings at Kufunda is ants. Also millipedes. Also sitting on rocks. Dogs. Five-year olds. The occasional bat. Weird little crabbish things that dash about randomly in a panic. Straw. Wind. A careening traffic of odors – of bodies, blossoms, life. Tana’s last post was about reclaiming [...]

A different kind of meeting

As a facilitator, I’ve spent a lot of time over the years experimenting with how to create organizational gatherings that feel especially vibrant and meaningful. Although I love this work, it has been feeling a bit stale to me lately, and I’ve had a hard time understanding why. This morning, I had something of an [...]