Quick Reflections on a 13-Year-Old Blog

Last Friday my calendar reminded me that this, my second attempt at blogging, has been in the works for 13 years. I went solo in 1997. Time does fly. YAY!

I asked on Twitter yesterday what I should blog about in response and here were the suggestions:

  1. Eugene Eric Kim:  Write a sentence noting the occasion followed by, “Yay!” Treat yourself! Your blog is already full of deep thoughts!
  2. Jason Toal : Sketching as a practice of change
  3. Peter Bury: Towards a knowledge sharing society #KSS #K4DP
  4. @TrustedSharing suggested “Any ideas on events that get people to facilitate using #liberatingstructures? I have a group that wants to learn. (See more on the tag)
  5. Steve Crandall: Anything you want!

So, first, of course, YAY! Thanks, Eugene!

Second, a sketch! Well, Jason, it isn’t really a sketch. It is a visual decision tool!

That offered, there is SO MUCH to say about visuals as a tool for change. Recently a small group of #liberatingstructures practitioners pooled our LS visuals in a photo album and my mind went crazy with possibilities. Take a peek. https://goo.gl/photos/HhfmWEsihK35SpoT7 .

For me, one of the essential qualities of visuals, particularly the hand drawn visuals we make during the process of our interactions and meaning making, is that they are imperfect, beg questions and open conversations, rather than “definitively” nail something with certainty. In complex contexts, certainty is often a false friend.

Third, well, Peter, it was a beautiful and rare sunny weekend in Seattle and I really don’t understand this #KSS and #K4DP stuff — I don’t even know what that last hashtag represents, so I’ll have to disappoint you. Sorry! So I allowed the garden to lure me instead of trying to figure it out. I guess age has it’s priveledge!

For my friends at Trusted Sharing (an amazing platform, by the way), there was a post I had been meaning to write so I used your prompt to get it done. You can find it here. (I’m having some tech problems, so for the moment the visuals are missing. Grrr..) It certainly is not an exhaustive answer to your question, but maybe a few things to start with.

Finally, Steve, for you… what I’m thinking about these days is not just want I want to write about, but what I want to do going forward. It is transition time, of some sort – always a wonderful and challenging moment in time!

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