“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
Doc’s Rock –
“The essence of community, its heart and soul, is the non-monetary exchange of value; things we do and share because we care for others, and for the good of the place.”― Dee Hock,
It’s been a busy week with lots of travelling around New England. Nope I wasn’t leaf peeping although that could not be avoided. I started my week off at Den’s ‘cabin in the sky’ with the TYBO group. No running water and only electricity via a generator, we made food, ate, and worked together. And what a difference that makes in getting to know and rely on one another. The conversations and activities were fulfilling. By the end of the three days, I felt that I had a next step with each TYBO. I believe everyone felt the same about follow-up with one another. Yes, we definitely did some bonding over the three days. This could not happen in a hotel or a school. It was a great experience for all and something to ponder about how we do what we do and where we do it. Special thanks to Den for making it happen at his ‘cabin in the sky.’
I Cover the Waterfront – Signature song of Billie Holiday - composed by Johnny Green with lyrics by Edward Heyman
Teaching With Small Boats Alliance (TWSBA)
From New Hampshire I drove down to Mystic, Ct where I keynoted the Teaching With Small Boast Alliance Conference. While at the conference, we had discussions to take our next steps in a partnership to combine our programs to get youth into the maritime trades both on land and at sea. Many of the youth and young adults participating in TWSBA are in one form of another school refusers. They have had enough about how they have been treated and what is being taught in school. At TWSBA, they found a place where they can be known and where they can develop their skills in a community that values them and their work. Turns out that the maritime trades have loads of credentials and tons of work that pays extraordinarily well where you don’t need a college degree or even a high school diploma or a GED. If you get one of these many credentials, you can get the work. For our part, Harbor Freight Fellows and the 311 dovetails with their already existing programs. It feels like a great fit.
Things went great at the TWSBA gathering but as always there were glitches. When I arrived for dinner the night before the conference Joe Youcha, their Executive Director told me there is no projection device for the talk and I would have to do without one. I stayed up a good part of the night figuring out how to make things work. The next morning, I drove to the Mystic Seaport in the freezing cold and when I got there, I found out why there was no projector, it was because there was no room. Joe forgot to tell me that I was doing the talk outside. All in all, the laughable sanfu made the talk that much more engaging and memorable for all. After the talk two people came over to me. One was Jeff Winn, a recent Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence Award winner and the other was Alex Severino. Alex went to The Bronx Guild and attended Rocking the Boat. She’s now working as the Assistant Director at Rocking the Boat. We had a great time talking about what she was up to as well as talking up Jeff Palladino. It turns out that everywhere I go, I find BPL alums doing great stuff and that’s great news!
From Mystic, I drove north to Boston for the ImBlaze Campfire gathering where the team assembled to figure out next steps. I got there for the evening event at The Wig Shop. It was a great choice with just the right amount of friends and food in a great setting. The next day, David started off the facilitation with a prompt about what it means to do ImBlaze work in and around Boston given its long history of school segregation and what we were already experiencing. Lots was accomplished with the ImBlaze/BU team and I was glad to be a contributor. Once again, this was the third gathering on my schedule for the week that made me think about community and culture over strategy and efficiency.
“Community is composed of that which we don't attempt to measure, for which we keep no record and ask no recompense. Most are things we cannot measure no matter how hard we try.”― Dee Hock,
Next week, I’m up in Sonoma doing IBPLC work with our schools up in the Sonoma area.
Be Well!
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