racoon in spring I know… How would you like to go to a city that you love, and have a whole load of resources at your disposal to work with a bunch of extraordinary young people on the very edge of society, utterly failed by the system for the summer… You’d get to be their friends, and devise any creative means you can to draw out anything that really matters to them, but you can write a research paper since you’re there, that might actually affect something (maybe). In fact, why don’t we even pay you for the privilege, and throw in a house, and an incredible (slightly batty) research community into the mix? And while we’re at it, we’ll even fly you off for free to meet some mental professors around the country to give you some more ideas, and clear lots of space in both the institutions you’re working in for you to basically do whatever you like (within reason) to inspire these young people about the extraordinariness of their lives and their own stories. But we would tentatively suggest that you try out this new idea which links in with some ideas a number of others are chewing on… which involves building a kind of learning treasure map (or ‘archaeology’ of learning) by starting with an object which fascinates the individual, and helping them to spin out stories and maps of themes and questions into which to learn… because it’s actually quite good. And it might actually even work. While you’re there you can even meet a squillion other incredible individuals carrying ideas of massive potential for change (of course they can be found in these marginal places. where else?), make some new friends, learn some more about Bristol and even have some proper space for solitude. And here, by the way are some new threads to follow about exclusion, ‘delinquency,’ learning, silence, prayer, creativity and the workplace … Um, no thanks. Actually I’m a bit busy right now.

7.7.06 23:07 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

wise Family friends on how it's impossible to mess up your children in some way... "we just ask them if they want driving lessons or therapy sessions. if they choose therapy, that's when we know we've really messed up." Am sweltering in a white fluffy hood. It is too hot for this game...

1.7.06 11:11 Permalink / comment

disruption what if... ... these verses were not talking about expansion and ownership of land, but a radical kind of inclusive love? It reminds me of something I read in 'A Road Less Travelled' once, about all kinds of love being to do with the pushing back of ego boundaries. Meaning that kingdom is more about identity-shaking breaking down of walls between us and the 'other' than about occupation by a single identity, maybe...? 'Enlarge the site of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will settle the desolate towns.' (Isaiah 54:2-3) Maybe it could look like this...

29.6.06 20:21 Permalink / 2 Comments / comment

pointillism My great auntie trudy just turned ninety: she is 4 foot 10 and she talks and hops a bit like a sparrow. My grandparents pour stories in their coffee, it turns out; and, on an unrelated note, today they tried to compress me in the back of their car with twenty-five helium balloons, coloured pink, 'lavender' and white.These knocked against the car and against my head like drums as the wind blew in, this was a very strange experience. Sadly, two popped. At my auntie’s party today rowan (11) asked me if I thought the meaning of life was solely to reproduce. tom (16, mohican now painted post-box red, solidifed reliably with uhu) and david (20, now looking scarily like his dad the vicar, except for pink striped emo-ness) hypothetically redesigned everyone else's 'style' with panache, while three girls ate all the trifle in a corner. We released the balloons with cryptic messages attached to them, some got stuck in a tree - that will confuse the pigeons.. Met a wise man called crow under a bridge. question: what is the shape of the box into which we fit old people? what are we afraid of? here is a picture of my family because i like them a lot.

18.6.06 00:36 Permalink / comment

space and risk   #12 live by the dice        #13 spend a day going backwards Both of these are interesting and amusing practices in themselves, taken literally. But they have also set fireworks under some interesting themes/questions which had been hovering foggily in and about my head. #13 - travelling backwards (on trains, mostly!) was about unravelling and simplicity, questions and open spaces. And here's a question: how on earth, on earth is is possible to be properly receptive to the hopes, dreams, fears, lonelinesses and lives of friends and strangers and not disintegrate into a million pieces. HOW? On #12: the question has been - what does it mean to 'live by the Spirit?' While first thoughts were mostly around the incredible and exciting possibilities exploding out of letting go, of leaning back in trust into maps discerned, and navigating through clues and treasure maps; through a number of conversations with friends and other people this week I think I have learned a new thing (although feel free to re-revise/challenge this. call it a tentative hypothesis). That is, that it's not just about maps (beautiful as they are); these are all pointing beyond themselves, to real life, which is messy and chaotic, and full of meshes of unpredictable human relationships. SO living by the Spirit is not just about discernment, but also about decision-making. Therefore, it's not just about intuition, but also about commitments; not only about trust and falling back, but also steps of faith and risk taken out of the belief and conviction that God's spirit is in us and our desires are good (although they may not be met in the way we are able to imagine).  As a new friend from Sweden writes wisely - 'i think it pretty much comes down to ignoring fear.' This leaves two brand new question which baffle and petrify me absolutely. What do you want? What are you prepared to fight for?

15.6.06 18:06 Permalink / comment

#10 sideways This is an experiment I would highly recommend… ambling down the street en route to wherever, imagine each and every person you come across as being both six and sixty. It can have quite incredible but largely indescribable effects on your perceptions of people – think you’ll have to try it to see. Every now and then, it seems that people realize you are doing it, or that you’ve seen something; there is a flash of astonishment, of surprise, of shared recognition which disrupts the flow of traffic with a quick rip in the seams. Also, moving through your day by a process of association is an interesting one; as in only sidestepping through sequences of opened possibilities rather than through pre-planning. Although health warning: this one can have particularly extrovertic consequences.

12.6.06 09:45 Permalink / 1 Comment / comment

moroccan dates Here are some mini-thoughts on the challenges thus far. I can explain things more fully in person but inbetweentimes there has been a lot and much and many things in general, and a number of the themes themselves have formed deep currents swirling through everything so it’s hard to say real things without overstorifying or straining out the mint. Mostly I am thinking increasingly that limits like this are like diving boards. With something a bit narrow and fairly solid but a good bit of spring in it all sorts of creative possibilities open up that a big empty swimming pool might allow you to miss. #1 try at least 5 new foods (fiona) Dried cuttlefish is intrinsically wrong and should be removed from the planet forever. #2 take a mud bath (beth) Emma and I looked like beggar children and attracted the unwelcome (although highly prized) attention of a policevan. #3 fall in love (john-the-wit-whittaker) Giving attention to concrete is a mindshattering way to spend time; #4 do two opposites at once (jason) Moving immobile sets lots of thoughts loose… #5 i saw this and thought of you (jerry) Shells in envelopes found amongst red sea anemones in the clearest sea in the world #6 learn as much as you can in half a day about a sort of human love of your choice (romantic, filial, platonic etc) and then determine how much of what you learn you believe (zoe) Conversations with strangers and pages read in shops; how they are all a part of the same and yet all have different faces. #7 upside down (liz) In the metaphorical sense, to answer each question of -what will you do?- and the goodness of being shaken about like a salt pot. #8 flannel (josh) Was bid (amongst others) a lock of hair, a defunct cusu card, a homecooked meal, a t shirt worn all month with an additional poem, an expensive painting on a wall, two failed raffle tickets #9 silence (roxy) Head silence is much more difficult than voice silence. The word ‘umbrella’ is helpful for bouncing abstractions, and listening is made easier.

11.6.06 02:03 Permalink / comment

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