The gifts of a season - my grad student sprint

This post is mainly a celebration of a season. Today, I'm taking time to count the myriad ways in which May-November has been generous to me.

It has been, I believe, the time of my genuine experience as a graduate student. My life has been affluent in all the ways that my time back at Michigan was scarce -- I now have love by my side; I get to laugh often over silly things; while I still wonder about lots of stuff, I now have a basic ability to navigate the everyday nuances of being an adult (which I didn't have at 22) - whereas the areas where I am still disfunctional, I must admit that it has beem mostly by choice; I eat healty and delicious food I now have the skill and energy to make for Jenny and myself; I exercise; I still retain my dignity, conscience and peace of mind unsullied... And yes, it's close to the end of my rope and I'm officially "without liquidity", the last of my savings is put away to face paying the minimum on my credit cards and next month's rent, while Jenny is covering the everyday expenses with her savings... But overall, my Integral Worth, as a person, is more solid, and more clear in my mind than it has ever been.

I had thought that I'd left behind activism a dozen or so years ago, only to realize I had only become more discriminating about my causes. Recently, I had to decide whether to pick up the banner of dignity as a University for Peace graduating student, or to simply look away and float into the driftwood of acquiescence to authority simply because it is authority. At the time, I held strong to the banner, this particular banner said "Transparency and Accountability", until there was a new cohort of students who will need to make that same decision for themselves. I had Jenny's support AND PATIENCE throughout the process, and the response of nearly a third of the graduating students, and later of 40% of the alumni from 5 prevoius years. A fellow alumni's documents much of that struggle in his blog: http://upaz.blogspot.com/ .

An unexpected consequence of researching background material about UPEACE's new direction, its links with corporate and geopolitical interests distanced from accountability and the prevalence of human rights over economic criteria, and the call for accountability and transparency, has been the opportunity to become more stronlgy committed to the cause of Burmese people, the monks who are leading the most recent pro-democracy protests, and the country's rightful leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. It seems this will be a long battle given the indiference of the Costa Rican government and media towards the current events in Burma (Myanmar).

Jenny and I also had our moment of anti-CAFTA activism. It was only for a few weeks and doesn't match the commitment of the thousands of volunteer community activists who worked non-stop until the day of the vote, but it was significant and committed. It was also Jenny's first activism experience.

I had another surprise connect with a job opportunity, working with Franklin, which seemed to slip from my fingers at least twice, but was rescued each time, once by Franklin's stubborness and a second time through a last minute hattrick that involved getting information about my U of M degree from someone I hadn't seen in over 15 years. Now I'm waiting for this to work its magic and turn the tide finantially, as well as nurturing my career and my experience as a trainer.

So with a heightened awareness of imparmanence, I count my blessings, parry the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and keep alive my connection with the flow.

How an organization can act like an addict

My mind, prompted by recent events, has gone back to this old handout, which I first learned about got when I was training as a rape prevention instructor at BAMM (now Bay Area Impact) www.bamm.org

HOW AN ORGANIZATION CAN ACT LIKE AN ADDICT

From the Teamwork section, Model Mugging instructor manual

• Offering a promise for the future while ignoring the problems of today
• Operating to create and maintain an false image - decisions based on keeping a good image, not on real needs or honesty
• Determining what to do based on how it will look to others
• Invalidating any views that threaten status quo - no channel to get honest feedback
• Fabrication of personality conflicts to shift attention away from real issues
• Dualistic thinking - simple solutions for complex problems
• Us against the world, us against them attitude
• Using perks, praise, promises to get people to act in ways they are not in agreement with/overworked, under-paid, etc.
• Isolating people who don't go along with the crowd, plan, policy

Starting work on my Thesis Blog

Well, I'm finally caught up on old journal entries and other assorted thoughts I wanted to transfer into here. Now, unfortunately it is time to roll my sleeves up and dive into that big tank-o-jell-o that I call my thesis.

I've promised myself no more idle blogging unless I've put in at least as much time polishing up my thesis. This means I won't be here as much, and I'll be way more invested in my Thesis Progress Blog: Deliberative Environmental Governance.

Please come over, post comments, frown at my bizarre ideas, light votive candles to Saint Jude (or to Sherab Chamma), whatever works!!

The link to that other blog is:

http://deliberativegreen.blogspot.com/

(or just click on the title to this article)

Hope to have you over for coffee and to being enriched by your input.

Garuda / Sergio.

Manual de Colaboración / Collaboration Handbook

One of my most satisfying accomplishments in 2006 was the design and completion of five training workshops with the multi-stakeholders of participatory management of Wildlife Protected Areas in different Central American countries. This work was done under a contract between CEDARENA (Costa Rica's Environmental Law Center) and the International Union for the Conservatin of Nature, with the support of the European Union.

I was lucky, in the implementation of this project, to have a chance to work with my colleague and longtime friend, Fran Paniagua, who took some time off from his Ph.D. studies at the University of Florida to co-design and co-facilitate the workshops wit me. The workshop participants in each country were extremely generous, supportive and patient with us, and provided extremely valuable insights that helped us refine our methodology.

The workshop methodology was documented in a 24-minute DVD. Once the project was completed, Fran and I felt it would be a worthwhile effort to compose a handbook laying out the design and basic concepts of the workshops.

In my opinion, the handbook made two significant contributions: integrating diverse skills (communication, facilitation, negotiation) under a common thread in a way that can be relevant on-the-ground conservation stakeholder concerns, and its proactive framing of the learning process as collaboration, rather than resolving conflict. The handbook's pdf file (Spanish edition only) can be accessed at this address

http://tinyurl.com/comanejo
(or by clicking on the title to this article).

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Uno de mis logros más satisfactorios en el 2006 fue el diseño y ejecución de cinco talleres de capacitación con multiples actores del manejo paticipativo de Areas Silvestres Protegidas en diversos países centroamericanos. Estre trabajo se ejecutó bajo un contrato entre CEDARENA (una O.N.G. de Derecho Ambiental de Costa Rica) y la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, con el apoyo de la Unión Europea.

Tuve la fortuna, en la realización de este proyecto, de trabajar con my colega y amigo de muchos años, Fran Paniagua, quien se dio un descanso de sus estudios de doctorado en la Universidad de Florida para co-diseñar y co-facilitar estos talleres conmigo. Los participantes en cada país fueron extremadamente generosos, apoyaron mucho el proceso y nos tuvieron gran paciencia, además, nos aportaron sus puntos de vista extremadamente valiosos para depurar la metodología.

La metodología del taller fue documentada en un DVD de 24 minutos. Una vez que el proyecto había sido desarrollado en su totalidad, Fran y yo consideramos que valdría la pena preparar un manual que detallara el diseño y los conceptos básicos de los talleres.

En mi opinión, el manual hace dos contribuciones relevantes: la integración de diversas destrezas (comunicación, facilitación negociación) bajo un hilo común que pueda ser relevante a los intereses locales de los actores de la conservación, y su planteamiento proactivo del proceso de aprendizaje como colaboración, en lugar de formularlo como la resolución de conflictos. El archivo en formato pdf del manual (unicamente disponble en español) puede accesarse en la dirección

http://tinyurl.com/comanejo
(o siguiendo el vinculo en el titulo de este articulo)

Wut u want...

(There's two more things I want to post from old journals and projects, then I can focus on the present and sharing a little more about my thesis and about how life looks downstream from a UPEACE M.A.)

I got these seven questions from a workshop on holistic hypnotherapy with Makarand, a transpersonal psychologist and body-worker, about 10 to 12 years ago.

Used in sequence, they may help arrive at greater clarity about what you want, and about the steps you can follow to achieve that.

1. What do you want?

2. How would you know that you have received what you want?

3. How would your life be different when you get it?

4. Is there any situation where you don’t want this thing/person/behaviour?

5. What resources do you need in order to get this specific outcome?

6. Is there anything you might lose when you finally get what you want?

7. What is stopping you from getting it right now?