Deciding on an excursion and Wednesday Rat School

Tuesday September 4 we’ll be at Second Cup in Kensington / Sunnyside, and Wednesday September 5 at Vendome. The dialogues start at 6 PM.

On Tuesday we’ll decide on an excursion that we’ll take in September, using the menu of options we developed last Tuesday. Your menu is appended below.

Wednesday we’ll do rat school: Pick a topic and give us a five-minute presentation.

A good question we could discuss either Tuesday or Wednesday is this: What distinguishes the person who is highly respected by those who know her (or him) from the person who has lost all respect because of his (or her) behaviour? What should we pay attention to in ourselves, if we want to earn the respect of others?

My book share for Tuesday will be Respect in a World of Inequality by Richard Sennett. The author provides insights we can use every day.

Last Tuesday we created the menu of options for September. Then we separated into two smaller breakout groups for additional generative dialogue. We reconvened toward the end and heard Arthur’s new short story “A Game of Solitaire.” Then on Wednesday there was that wonderful session on Gaelic and English and other folklore.

Arthur

Here is the menu of options for our excursion in September:

· Attend an indigenous ceremony (Examples: September 28 to 30 there’s a National Indigenous Cultural Expo Competition in Edmonton; on September 18 from noon to 2 PM there’s a Cree Grandmother’s Tea Ceremony; and on September 19 from 3:30 to 7 there’s a Gathering of Sage and Women’s Circle).

· Participate in a yoga and meditation session (for example Sheep Creek Yoga September 21, 22, 23, with Richard Leong facilitating)

· (Humainologie will have a global health art show at the opening of its new gallery, but this may not be until October or November.)

· Harvest hemp with Elena Harder

· Do a nature walk on Nose Hill, with Don Harris and his wife leading

· Do a night of star gazing with the tutelage of a knowledgeable person

· Do a potluck in which each of us brings a dish representative of the cuisine from our ancestral culture (and there’s a kitchen available through Calgary Co-op for such things)

· Learn about tiny houses (as a possible solution to homelessness and for many other uses)

· Attend a meeting of Calgary City Council especially on two dates in September that will address how Calgary should respond to the challenges of climate change.