Hosting Conversations about Questions that Matter
Introductions
There are people gathering here in the World Cafe community from literally all over the world, and it is so exciting!!! I really want to meet everyone, and I know I'm not alone. Would you please tell us a little about yourself here, just as an introduction, so we can start to learn about each other? Where do you live? How did you learn about the World Cafe? What are your interests and passions?
NOTE: The convention on this part of the site is that the responses are in chronological order, so you have to click forward to the last page (at the bottom of this page) to see the latest introductions.
Tags: community, introductions, stories
Replies to This Conversation
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on -
Welcome Ann!
It's wonderful to have you here - I share your orientation of a deep connection with nature as the basis of this (and all) work, and am very happy to hear the clear and energetic way you are articulating your perspective.
You may want to connect with some like minded people in the "permaculture" group, which is here : http://www.theworldcafecommunity.org/group/permacultureandtheworldcafe
Warmly,
Amy
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Permalink Reply by Graeme Stuart on -
Hi everyone
The focus of my work (paid and unpaid) is community engagement and (unpaid) sustainability. In my paid work I'm a lecturer in community engagement at the Family Action Centre, The University of Newcastle (Australia), and focus on community engagement and asset-based community-driven development. I teach a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate subjects (on community engagement, community capacity building, and school-community partnerships), do research relating to the practice of strengths-based work with communities, and support a variety of other groups/organisations in their work with communities. I still think of myself as more of a practitioner than an academic. Outside of work I am the convenor of Transition Newcastle, take an active role in my the P&C (Parent's and Citizens Association) of my daughters' schools, and write a blog (http://sustainingcommunity.wordpress.com/) on community engagement, sustainability and the strengths perspective. I've been happily married to Cathy for almost 30 years and we have two wonderful daughters (Jasmine 12 and Alexa 9). (Cathy, Jasmine and Alexa have recently started Kids' Vegies on the Verge, a community garden for kids in our street, and it has been fascinating watching community engagement in action.)
I was introduced to World Cafe by a colleague (Dee Brooks who is a member here) and participated in Art of Training in 2010. I love the process of World Cafe (and to a lesser extent Open Space) and have used them in various contexts including workshops, uni classes, Transition Newcastle and planning.
I recently facilitated a World Cafe at my daughters school as part of a visioning process (there's a fairly detailed description of what we did HERE) and today I am running a workshop for uni lecturers on using World Cafe and Open Space in teaching.
I'm looking forward to exploring this community of learning and seeing if there are discussions about a couple of topics I'm interested in (e.g., I always seem to have quite short conversations and wonder about the implications of this). If there aren't any, I might start one.
Thanks
Graeme
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Permalink Reply by Amy Lenzo on
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I love your energy, Graeme! Please do start a conversation (or group) if there isn't one you want to join. It's great to have new people join with such vitality and diverse interests!
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Permalink Reply by Kerri Arruda -
Hi Amy and Everyone ! I live in the US...New England...Massachusetts...Fall River ( about 1 hour south of Boston) to be exact. I am a student in the Critical and Creative Thinking program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. I stumbled across this site during my research of the Circle of Seven and Dr. Anne Dosher. I am excited to learn from my experiences here. I also hope that I might contribute as well. I have 21 years experience as a dental hygienist and have earned a BA in Psychology. Presently, I am more than half way through my MA and hope to pursue a Mental Health Counseling post graduate certificate as my next goal. My free, fun time, is spent playing with oil paints and clay; albeit, I am quite the novice. I am a mother of twin 13 year old daughters. Recently, I discovered that one of my daughters and her friends were self harming. NSSI, non suicidal self injury, is a mental health issue and apparently an unhealthy trend among adolescents. With the facilitation of my coursework I am attempting to bring an awareness about this trend to our community. I will keep you posted!
Best wishes to all!
Kerri
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Permalink Reply by juanita brown -
Hi Kerri,
Welcome! How great to know that you've been interested in the Circle of Seven and Anne Dosher. She has served for many years as the "elder" of the World Cafe and is a dear colleague and friend. It's wonderful to have you with us. Explore the site and see what groups you might find interesting as well.
With warm regards,
Juanita Brown
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Permalink Reply by Kerri Arruda
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Thank you, I am new to this so I was curious to what my next step might be. I will look into groups of interest. I do worry I have little to contribute but I am aware I have much to learn. I am excited!
Thank you for your welcome,
Kerri
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