Closed Openness (vol. 7, no. 4)
Here are a few things I’m sharing this month:
1. Question:
- “…there are quotes that go through my head from stories; one of them is the little Leo Matienne in The Magician’s Elephant, who always is so upbeat and says, “What if? Why not? Could it be?” which is a wonderful refrain to have in your head as a positive thing: Why not? What if? Could it be?” – Kate DiCamillo (On-Being podcast)
2. Quote:
- “Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like … keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that it is so.” – Nick Cave
3. Poem:
Correction by A.R. Ammons
The burdens of the world
on my back
lighten the world
not a whit while
removing them greatly
decreases my specific
gravity
4. Something Inspiring:
Bullshit without Borders: Let’s Change the Way We Change the World by Susan Davis
- Drawing from three decades of experience, from a scrappy startup that became Water.org to managing a multi-million-dollar USAID contract, Davis reveals the shocking truth: the system designed to end poverty may be perpetuating it. For example, half of all charitable water projects fail today, just as they did in the 1980s. Susan is also a contributor to the Sidekick Manifesto II.
5. Project updates:
Published Sidekick Manifesto II: Power, Proximity, and the Practice of Humility
- This edited volume brings together eighteen practitioners from across the Majority and Minority World. Each returns to the original manifesto’s preambles or promises. Not to polish them, but to interrogate them and decide: Keep. Reimagine. Or Discard.
Thanks so much. And, have a great day! – shawn
