Why Blog?

Blogging offers an antidote to the fragmented isolation too often imposed by the demands and conditions of our world.

It allows us to come together (at my convenience and at yours) to discuss the day, the nature of literacy, the use of technology, the joys of teaching and learning, poetry, chicken stew... whatever is on our minds.

It gives us a chance to ponder the big questions and complain about the pet peeves.

It is communication, and it can be conversation.

The following passage is from Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, by Margaret J. Wheatley

I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation....What would it feel like to be listening to each other again about what disturbs and troubles us? About what gives us energy and hope? About our yearnings, our fears, our prayers, our children?

Human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate the conditions for change--personal change, community and organizational change, planetary change. If we can sit together and talk about what's important to us, we begin to come alive. We share what we see, what we feel, and we listen to what others see and feel.

For as long as we've been around as humans, as wandering bands of nomads or cave dwellers, we have sat together and shared experiences. We've painted images on rock walls, recounted dreams and visions, told stories of the day, and generally felt comforted to be in the world together. When the world became fearsome, we came together. When the world called us to explore its edges, we journeyed together. Whatever we did, we did it together.

I hope we can reclaim conversation as our route back to each other, and as the path forward to a hopeful future. It only requires imagination and courage and faith. These are qualities possessed by everyone. Now is the time to exercise them to their fullest.

~ Margaret J. Wheatley