Happy Holidays

Two gifts from Shel Silverstein (and me) to you:

Weird Bird
Birds are flyin' south for winter.
Here's the Weird-Bird headin' north,
Wings a-flappin', beak a-chatterin',
Cold head bobbin' back 'n' forth.
He says, "It's not that I like ice
Or freezin' winds and snowy ground.
It's just sometimes it's kind of nice
To be the only bird in town."


The Giving Tree

Seeing Differently

SeeShell Snorkel Mask on Longboat Key

I attended Foundations and Frontiers in Appreciative Inquiry in Longboat Key, Florida last week.

David Cooperrider said that "All change begins in the imagination of the mind" and that inquiry and change occur simultaneously. A change in the questions will result in a change of the answering results. Therefore, our collective image of the future will be what creates the future.

How do you cultivate wonder and a renewed vision? Cooperrider cited Fred Polak's 3 parts to a re-birth of vision:

1. Influence optimisim-the belief that humans can indeed effect the future

2. Artists, poets and spiritual leaders to demonstrate how to vision and appreciate

3. Societies that work in the public space--real civic dialogue.

I need to reflect more upon the workshop, but have some initial ideas on how to implement some of what I have learned in my work.

Its the "Crooked River" stupid

I am dumbfounded that people are seriously considering straightening the Cuyahoga River to accommodate a parking lot. The word Cuyahoga literally means CROOKED in the Iroquois language. We should be investing in infrastructure that supports a walkable, bike-able urban core that relegates cars to the periphery. Not a plan that esteems a parking facility more than the beautiful, iconic oxbow of the Cuyahoga River.



In other awful news, Senator Voinovich's solution to Governor Elect John Kasich's plan to nix the 3C rail is to reallocate the funding to roads and bridges. Really? I'd rather see the money go to a rail project in another state if our leaders refuse to use it here for non automotive infrastructure.

So, Ohio will move a river and refuse millions in federal funding because we can't see beyond our steering wheels. Great. Guess it's time to write some letters.