| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18Santa Ana Primary GA @ Civic Center
Starts: 7:30 pm
Ends: 05/18/2012 - 9:00 pm
Location: Necessity Village (Ross & Civic Center) in Santa Ana
| 19Council Practice
Starts: 2:00 pm
Ends: 05/19/2012 - 3:30 pm
Location: Liberation Plaza, Civic Center
Description: Even the simplest, most unsophisticated council practices are experienced
as revolutionary by people who've known little more than the hectic, banal,
adversarial or repressed communication modes typical of our mainstream
culture. *
*What is Council?*
We sit in silence. A stick (or some other object) sits in the middle of our
circle. Then for example, a woman who feels moved to speak picks up the
stick. She holds it as she speaks, and we all listen to what she says. No
one speaks unless they have the stick. We engage in no cross-talk or
conversation in the usual sense. When the speaker is done, she passes the
stick to the man on her left who ponders it for a moment before speaking.
After a few minutes he passes the stick to the person on his left and so it
goes. The stick continues around the circle, with each of us speaking in
turn and the rest of us listening. When our scheduled council time is up --
or when we pass the stick around the whole circle with none of us speaking
-- the stick is returned to the center and our circle is done.
That is the whole process. At its heart, it is that simple.
It helps to remember that the essence of council is listening and speaking
from the heart. Therefore, head-tripping, pronouncements, chatter,
posturing and run-on monologues of the sort that make up so much of
ordinary conversation only serve to disrupt the atmosphere of the circle.
On the other hand, *silence* -- so avoided in ordinary conversation --
often helps deepen the atmosphere.
*The main effect of council practice is in learning how to listen and share
from the heart.*
Speaking from the heart beings with being grounded in our experience of
what is -- especially being grounded in our feelings, values and in things
that are truly important to us. It means being honest, taking risks, being
real, allowing the vitality and emotion we feel to find its way into our
voice when we speak. It means finding ourselves saying things we have not
said before -- sometimes things we didn't even realize we thought or felt.
Industrial culture seldom welcomes this kind of openness and honesty, so
most of us need a safe space in order to speak from our hearts.
By "safe space" I mean a group that can really hear us, where we feel we
won't be judged or have to deal with negative consequences as a result of
our speaking our truth. Creating such a safe space is an important
challenge for most of us. Another important challenge is speaking from our
hearts even when we aren't sure how safe it is to do so. This courageous
act often opens the door for others to speak from their hearts.
*Council is a listening circle*
Sitting in a circle helps us to fully see each other as peers sharing
meaning, creativity, and a common center. I believe the most basic unit of
reflexive and intelligent social life is people sitting in a circle
listening deeply and speaking from the heart.
This is a different kind of meeting than most modern people are used to.
The focus is on dialogue -- on exploring and learning together -- not on
getting things done or completing an agenda.
*How to do a listening circle*
This form of dialogue is inspired by Native American councils. The
trademark quality of Council is in listening -- a deep listening to each
individual within the group, to the group mind and to Spirit, as well as to
each other. We can even listen deeply when we are talking: we can be aware
of the words we are saying as we say them, of the way our bodies feel, of
the stream of semi-formed thoughts and emotions out of which our words are
coming, and of the receptive group space into which we are sending them.
*Going around the circle*
To the extent we honor the stick (or other object) and its role, we don't
need chairpersons and facilitators; the stick, itself, in its journey
around the circle, shapes the structure and quality of our dialogue.
Sometimes, though, someone sets the tone and gets things started, and
someone signals the end of the meeting.
As the focus of our attention moves around and around the circle, it
spirals down into deeper shared understandings, richer shared meanings, and
a growing sense of a shared, evolving story. Although sometimes we go
around only once, our best circles result from going around at least 3 or 4
times, with people speaking briefly if necessary to permit more rounds.
Brevity can be very powerful. It is also important to sustain everyone's
attention. Sometimes we time our turns, often 1-3 minutes each, rarely as
long as 6-10 minutes. A well-functioning circle should help those who
usually speak a lot say less and those who usually don't speak up to say
more.
*In conclusion*
You don't have to do anything fancy to use the council process -- just get
together as a group and take turns speaking from the heart as best as you
can; use a stapler as a talking-stick if that's what's handy. The important
thing is to just doing it.
Think Tank Commitee meeting
Starts: 3:00 pm
Ends: 05/19/2012 - 4:00 pm
Location: Broadway and Civic Center Dr., Santa Ana
Description: TIME & NEW, NEW PLACE, same great people and interesting ideas!
Santa Ana GA
Starts: 3:00 pm
Ends: 05/19/2012 - 4:30 pm
Location: Civic Center Plaza
Description: (small think tank)
| 20Catholic Worker at Saint Matthews Ecumenical Catholic Church
Starts: 9:30 am
Ends: 05/20/2012 - 10:30 am
Location: 1111 W. Town and Country Rd. Orange, 92868
Description: Sunday, May 20, 9:30-10:30 a.m., Catholic Worker at Saint Matthews Ecumenical Catholic Church: Jeff Dietrich is an activist and writer who has lived and serves on Los Angeles’s skid row as a member of the Catholic Worker community for forty years. He has dedicated his life and writing to the plight of the poor and homeless, and to challenging the systems that help perpetuate poverty and injustice. He will discuss his book, Broken and Shared: Food, Dignity, and the Poor on Los Angeles’ Skid Row at St. Matthews, which is located at 1111 W. Town and Country Rd. Orange, 92868 (one block east of Santa Ana’s Westfield Main Place Mall). More info:www.saint-matthew.org; 714-647-1784; tiritilligreen@sbcglobal.net.
H Task Force
Starts: 6:00 pm
Ends: 05/20/2012 - 9:00 pm
Location: The Court at Artists Village, 301 #308
Description: HEIST TASKFORCE Mission
The H. Taskforce as a think-tank is dedicated to issuing white papers demonstrating what our position is and what actions can and should be initiated to improve our community in Santa Ana California. Some examples of the areas of interest to this group includes: Santa Ana’s economic system and budget distribution; the history and demographics of the city; city and county politics; education; business improvement; gentrification and immigrant rights; crime and homelessness. For transparency purposes and the taskforce’s affiliation with the Santa Ana Occupy Movement, all proposed positions and actions will be presented in Occupy Santa Ana’s General Assembly Forum.
|
| 21 | 22Lectures on Social Issues
Starts: 10:00 am
Ends: 05/22/2012 - 12:00 pm
Location: Emaculate Heart Church, 1100 S. Center Dr. (Center & McFadden)
Description: Lectures given weekly about different topics, from inequality to human trafficking. In need of Spanish-speaking translators.
| 23Women For: Orange County "Homelessness in Orange County"
Starts: 11:00 am
Ends: 05/23/2012 - 1:30 pm
Location: Irvine Ranch Water District Duck Club, 5 Riparian View, Irvine
Description: -------- Original Message --------
Subject: WF:OC Meeting - The Not-So-Golden Orange: Homelessness in the OC, Wed 5/23, 11am, Duck Club
Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 14:10:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: womenforoc@aol.com
To: WomenForOC@aol.com
Women For: Orange County
working for a better world
MAY GENERAL MEETING
The Not-So-Golden Orange: Homelessness in Orange County
Karen McGlinn
Executive Director of Share Our Selves (SOS)
Leia Smith
Orange County Catholic Worker
11:00 am, Wednesday, May 23
Irvine Ranch Water District Duck Club, 5 Riparian View, Irvine
Do you think homelessness is something that only happens in other
places? More than 35,000 people were homeless in Orange County each
year according to 2006 estimates and there are even more now.
Come to our meeting to find out about who the homeless are, what is
being done to support them and what we can all do to help.
See on-line flyer here:
http://i1141.photobucket.com/albums/n590/jmgoodman1/Women_For_OC/2012Mayflyerreducedresolution.png
___ _ ___
Free and open to the public. Men are cordially invited.
Women For: is a volunteer, non-partisan, feminist organization dedicated to advancing Human & Civil Rights, Peace, Social Justice, Education, Health Care and the Environment.
For recorded information: 714 590 7804
womenforoc@aol.com http://www.womenfororangecounty.org
GA
Starts: 7:30 pm
Ends: 05/23/2012 - 8:30 pm
Location: Necessity Village (Ross & Civic Center) in Santa Ana
Description: Daily General Assembly meeting at 7:30pm to discuss all things relating to our movement. If you are new to the GA, please pay attention/learn the hand signals and follow meeting procedures!
| 24OC Labor Federation Delegates Meeting
Starts: 6:00 pm
Ends: 05/24/2012 - 7:30 pm
Location: Int'l Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Office, 309 N Rampart St # M, Orange
Description: Monthly meeting of union delegates from all union in all sectors around OC.
| 25Santa Ana Primary GA @ Civic Center
Starts: 7:30 pm
Ends: 05/25/2012 - 9:00 pm
Location: Necessity Village (Ross & Civic Center) in Santa Ana
Occupy OC unity meeting
Starts: 7:30 pm
Ends: 05/25/2012 - 9:00 pm
Location: Civic Center & Ross, Santa Ana, CA
Description: Meeting of local occupations to discuss strategy, actions, and continued unity.
I would encourage all of us to take this week as a gift to talk with our respective groups about what we could hope to gain from this meeting and from the creation of a true occupy O.C. collective.
BE A LEADER, we can always use more. Learn about upcoming events like May 1st General Strike and help us chart the course for Summer.
Map for Parking: http://amap.to/GA-Parking_76w5w5,
| 26Council Practice
Starts: 2:00 pm
Ends: 05/26/2012 - 3:30 pm
Location: Liberation Plaza, Civic Center
Description: Even the simplest, most unsophisticated council practices are experienced
as revolutionary by people who've known little more than the hectic, banal,
adversarial or repressed communication modes typical of our mainstream
culture. *
*What is Council?*
We sit in silence. A stick (or some other object) sits in the middle of our
circle. Then for example, a woman who feels moved to speak picks up the
stick. She holds it as she speaks, and we all listen to what she says. No
one speaks unless they have the stick. We engage in no cross-talk or
conversation in the usual sense. When the speaker is done, she passes the
stick to the man on her left who ponders it for a moment before speaking.
After a few minutes he passes the stick to the person on his left and so it
goes. The stick continues around the circle, with each of us speaking in
turn and the rest of us listening. When our scheduled council time is up --
or when we pass the stick around the whole circle with none of us speaking
-- the stick is returned to the center and our circle is done.
That is the whole process. At its heart, it is that simple.
It helps to remember that the essence of council is listening and speaking
from the heart. Therefore, head-tripping, pronouncements, chatter,
posturing and run-on monologues of the sort that make up so much of
ordinary conversation only serve to disrupt the atmosphere of the circle.
On the other hand, *silence* -- so avoided in ordinary conversation --
often helps deepen the atmosphere.
*The main effect of council practice is in learning how to listen and share
from the heart.*
Speaking from the heart beings with being grounded in our experience of
what is -- especially being grounded in our feelings, values and in things
that are truly important to us. It means being honest, taking risks, being
real, allowing the vitality and emotion we feel to find its way into our
voice when we speak. It means finding ourselves saying things we have not
said before -- sometimes things we didn't even realize we thought or felt.
Industrial culture seldom welcomes this kind of openness and honesty, so
most of us need a safe space in order to speak from our hearts.
By "safe space" I mean a group that can really hear us, where we feel we
won't be judged or have to deal with negative consequences as a result of
our speaking our truth. Creating such a safe space is an important
challenge for most of us. Another important challenge is speaking from our
hearts even when we aren't sure how safe it is to do so. This courageous
act often opens the door for others to speak from their hearts.
*Council is a listening circle*
Sitting in a circle helps us to fully see each other as peers sharing
meaning, creativity, and a common center. I believe the most basic unit of
reflexive and intelligent social life is people sitting in a circle
listening deeply and speaking from the heart.
This is a different kind of meeting than most modern people are used to.
The focus is on dialogue -- on exploring and learning together -- not on
getting things done or completing an agenda.
*How to do a listening circle*
This form of dialogue is inspired by Native American councils. The
trademark quality of Council is in listening -- a deep listening to each
individual within the group, to the group mind and to Spirit, as well as to
each other. We can even listen deeply when we are talking: we can be aware
of the words we are saying as we say them, of the way our bodies feel, of
the stream of semi-formed thoughts and emotions out of which our words are
coming, and of the receptive group space into which we are sending them.
*Going around the circle*
To the extent we honor the stick (or other object) and its role, we don't
need chairpersons and facilitators; the stick, itself, in its journey
around the circle, shapes the structure and quality of our dialogue.
Sometimes, though, someone sets the tone and gets things started, and
someone signals the end of the meeting.
As the focus of our attention moves around and around the circle, it
spirals down into deeper shared understandings, richer shared meanings, and
a growing sense of a shared, evolving story. Although sometimes we go
around only once, our best circles result from going around at least 3 or 4
times, with people speaking briefly if necessary to permit more rounds.
Brevity can be very powerful. It is also important to sustain everyone's
attention. Sometimes we time our turns, often 1-3 minutes each, rarely as
long as 6-10 minutes. A well-functioning circle should help those who
usually speak a lot say less and those who usually don't speak up to say
more.
*In conclusion*
You don't have to do anything fancy to use the council process -- just get
together as a group and take turns speaking from the heart as best as you
can; use a stapler as a talking-stick if that's what's handy. The important
thing is to just doing it.
Think Tank Commitee meeting
Starts: 3:00 pm
Ends: 05/26/2012 - 4:00 pm
Location: Broadway and Civic Center Dr., Santa Ana
Description: TIME & NEW, NEW PLACE, same great people and interesting ideas!
Santa Ana GA
Starts: 3:00 pm
Ends: 05/26/2012 - 4:30 pm
Location: Civic Center Plaza
Description: (small think tank)
| 27H Task Force
Starts: 6:00 pm
Ends: 05/27/2012 - 9:00 pm
Location: The Court at Artists Village, 301 #308
Description: HEIST TASKFORCE Mission
The H. Taskforce as a think-tank is dedicated to issuing white papers demonstrating what our position is and what actions can and should be initiated to improve our community in Santa Ana California. Some examples of the areas of interest to this group includes: Santa Ana’s economic system and budget distribution; the history and demographics of the city; city and county politics; education; business improvement; gentrification and immigrant rights; crime and homelessness. For transparency purposes and the taskforce’s affiliation with the Santa Ana Occupy Movement, all proposed positions and actions will be presented in Occupy Santa Ana’s General Assembly Forum.
|
