A Moveable Feast

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. – Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s good to remind ourselves from time to time of the historical significance our dialogues might have. My own way of expressing it has been to say that we are consciously creating a “moveable feast” here in Calgary. This was what Hemingway had called Paris of the 1920s: If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Moveable_Feast I think of the dialogues as part of the "why" for which I live - my larger purpose in life. If we keep moving as we have been, Calgary will become a moveable feast for our time, beyond what even Paris of the 1920s could accomplish. Whatever else happens in human history after this, we can say that together we did it. Together we can do so much.

Robert has circulated the link to the Zoom dialogue for tomorrow, along with a structured list of topics. I’ve appended that below and beyond that in this email I’ve provided a brief progress report on several of the “moveable feast” projects I’ve been working on. I am keenly aware that each of you is working on your own brilliant projects.

Anyone Can Sing, Tools for a Better World, Discussion, and Stories

On Wednesday May 20, 2020 at 6:30 pm mountain time, join us on Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3830471170?pwd=U3lXMnlnR29RWThJYzFXT2c1c1lYZz09 Meeting ID: 383 047 1170 Password: 727036

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger – something better, pushing right back.” - Albert Camus

1. Anyone Can Sing - Presentation by Leila Keith - Be ready to sing a song with us.

2. Stretching and relaxation with Brian

3. Guided questions - Facilitator Nicolas

· Last week we highlighted that we would like to see a post pandemic world with:

o Richer relationships

o Less consumerism

o Less carbon print and more support for our local business,

o More support for the low-income people,

o More democratic participation in the governmental process

o More gender equity

o More renewable energy

o Less inequality, and better access to education.

· What baby step in any of those directions did you take during the past weeks?

· Which one of those goals appears most important to you? Explain why?

· What are some concrete, measurable steps that you can take in a near future to move toward one of those goals?

4. Arthur’s Writing Project

· Written stories or poems to share?

Food for thoughts: How will Coronavirus change the world?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/how-will-the-world-emerge-from-the-coronavirus-crisis

May you experience kindness and well-being.

· My contributions to our writing partner project began wonderfully with Odile as writing partner. I'm pleased to report that (after initially having trouble finding ideas for the actual writing of my next story, with Gatwech as writing partner and working title "A Song for Mother's Day") the first draft of my second story in this project is beginning to roll. Gatwech and I have also come up with the idea that we might do a book based on the stories that arise from the dialogue writing partner project in Calgary.

· The Calgary Social Capital Society (registered under the Societies Act in Alberta, this is the organizational framework of the dialogues) has young leaders (Adi and Zoe) stepping into my shoes, and already I can sense the increased momentum.

· The Calgary Centre for Global Community, under the brilliant leadership of Salima Stanley-Bhanji (whose Humainologie Gallery and Store is familiar to you) will soon open another space for inspiring experiences, even further outside the box than the Gallery and Store. I'll ask Salima to tell you about that when she thinks the time is right.

· Folk Tree Lodge is becoming ever more important as a connecting point for personal rejuvenation. Yesterday, for example, I went there in the afternoon to participate in celebration of Sasona's tenth birthday. The weather was variably overcast, yet everyone was in the usual buoyant spirits. They had just completed a beautiful "scavenger hunt" that Spencer and Lucas had designed for Sasona and Deevum. Using a series of notes and drawings that provided clues, leading the hunters from station to station along the path at Folk Tree, to the conclusion in the forest, the entire group worked together along the way – an experience which would surely have enhanced the children's awareness that people can work together to reach an envisioned outcome. Imagine how different the history of the late 1920s and the Great Depression that followed might have been if American culture had been based on such an awareness!

1929 and the Great Depression Part I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCEJ65H_1XE

Part II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO42ZfCN9ug