A Cincinnati Weekend by Gabor

We sat in a circle.

[inclusion]

She started by saying: I am angry. You are not listening. The room went silent.

[syncopated]

She broke through by saying: I am the lucky one. Out of my three siblings, I inherited the genes that allowed me to live a life of deep connections, intimacy and adventure. The room gasped and buzzed with excitement.

[transition]

She ended by saying: we did this together. We created the space in which we can be the Gifts that we are for each other. The room laughed as we acknowledged the shared intimacy emerging from the intensity of the last seven hours.

[listen]

On Saturday we went to an Intensive hosted by Peter Block (www.asmallgroup.net) and Jo Krippenstapel. This is a group gathering of about forty citizens. Period. No agendas. No goals. No programs. Emergence, not emergency. Peter has been at the forefront of facilitating the creation of physical and theoretical spaces that foster citizenship. His last book talked to me about two immediate ideas: the way the structure of gatherings create the gathering itself, and that the gathering itself IS the future we are coming together to create. The future is now.

[to the space]

After a bit of getting lost on the grounds of Mount Saint Joseph University, we showed up to share breakfast and mingle with a wide variety of people in a green building called Earth Connection. We started by introducing ourselves and sharing the gift we brought to the gathering. Each and every one of us. We followed by two people singing songs and playing the guitar, all of us joining in on the refrains.

[between]

Then we got down to work. The work of creating citizenship. In the group, and in small groups we explored the sometimes painful and very personal subject of Protection being a barrier, as parents and stewards restrict and police their wards ("To Serve and Protect" is the motto painted on the side of police cruisers world wide) . Of disability as Slavery by another name, as people are bought, sold and oftentimes killed by the service provider organizations based on their attached funding money. Of the wider implications of being the authors of our own lives. Of the exhilarating possibilities latent in powerful listening. Of the power of creative collaboration between people whose voice is usually not heard. Together, we created conversations that transformed us and began to emanate out of the circle into our lives and the wider world. We confronted our own stereotypes and explored ways of being and action that challenge and transform the dominant discourses of oppression. We learned that this is dangerous and sometimes frightening work, but always rewarding. Starhawk says that "Magick is changing consciousness at will". This is exactly what happened on a group level. By Magick, we created each other as citizens. At will.
After lunch, Gary sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and again we all sang the chorus.

[the beats]

Listen. To what is said. From a place of understanding and generosity. Listen to the gifts she brings in her words, actions, ideas, history and herstory. Pain and anger are also gifts expressed as they are energy that transform and are transformed in community. The conversations we took part in were healing because we listened deeply to each other. They brought us together, because in their peculiarity and specificity, they express the common struggles we all face. I asked a question at the end. In a small group, I asked a question about self organization and it's implications for political action. Jo and Ken and Gary, Brenda and I talked about locality, about neighbours, about autonomy and about citizenship. Ha. That word again. I walked away, energized that we are asking some really important questions. Before we left, Judith and I sat around talking to Peter Block. Since the first time I met him, what continues to strike me is his presence. Here is a man, I thought, who is there, wherever he is. He looks you right in the eye, always with a glint, and he poses more questions than gives answers. He really got what we were talking about, and pointed us towards some areas requiring emphasis and clarification regarding the concept of syncopated transition. For the last forty minutes at Earth Connection, we engaged each other in building the future Foundation. I felt like we arrived. Before we left, I thanked him for inviting us and grounding the Tour. This has been a real turning point. That moment for me was the real halfway point of the Tour, with five months passed and one left. Nothing is linear. We are now the community that sustains the real work of Inclusive Citizenship.

[listen]