Web of Change

Maybe you know Ruckus Society, maybe you don't. But for those of us who didn't know Adrienne Maree Brown before today's session, we won't be forgetting her any time soon. For starters, she made us sing. I was fine with that but, not being a singer (in fact, being almost tone deaf) I didn't know this meant standing up. One gets lazy once one has parked one's ass on the floor.

So, we all sang a note (which one, I couldn't say) and it reminded me of church. I've not been in a long time, but still, the music (when not in Catholic mass - unless midnite mass on xmas eve) is typically uplifting. And in fact, it set the tone for Adrienne's talk, which ended with her calling our geek work divne, and the geeks among us holy! Holy @%!*; that's a nice compliment.

Less than three weeks to go until Web of Change, and I am really looking forward to meeting everyone and re-connecting with returning folk. This will be my fourth time at WoC and Hollyhock in as many years.

One aphorism keeps coming up when I think of how WoC re-energizes me each fall. "When you are knee deep in alligators, it's hard to remember that the goal was to drain the swamp." Not the eco-friendliest of metaphors, but work with me.

Spending a few days with dozens of inspiring people doing similar work to mine forces me to step back and re-evaluate what I am doing and why. It also gives me an opportunity to see how other people are draining their swamps - what works, what doesn't and what to try next.