Thanks for sharing this, Ray, and please thank Mike as well.
I learned a great deal, just as I smiled over reminders of your previous postings, recognizing much we had discussed before. I always enjoy how you initiate a topic, replanting each seed within a less predominant historical context, while retracing the popularized versions to elicit new perspectives. It's not just in how one becomes transported, but in that which testifies to what is patent because of a well rounded approach, rather than the expected linear route. I'm not sure what the Commission expected, or what may have been assigned to you both, but I can guess that, rather than an all-encompassing discussion, they were looking for something similar to what was published as "Hidden from History: The Canadian Holocaust", 2001, in a condensed form with facile summary solutions to an extremely heinous and debilitating couple of centuries of abuse and systematic genocide. As you state, there is so much more to it than victims' stories. You guys should definitely expand on this because with each concern expressed, I could tell you were holding back trying to stay within a framework that wasn't malleable enough for all that should be said--for your people as well as for the rest of the world to know. I would consider revisiting the anthropomorphic global warming issue. A lot more science has emerged since you wrote this paper, with which you may still disagree, but, IMHO your work is more cohesive without such inclusion, and you can still make your point about cooling periods without it. Where you broach the topic of science rediscovering the interconnectedness of all that is, that threads into your overview more eloquently. I suspect you could, as a healthy contribution to a collaborative, copy a lot of what you need to make this into a book by going back but a few years to many of the Futurework discussions in which you posted such educational material to come up with a best seller or two. (If you lost them in the crash, I could round up a good number, if they're no longer available on archives) You always throw every fiber of your being into what you post, and you owe it to life now to impart this stuff not just to wanna-be economists, but to those who might survive because of what you can and should pass on. Hope you and Mike make the time. Natalia Thank you Natalia, Actually we are looking into the idea of a "Crossing the Divide" workshop that would work with peoples from different places around a common "observation" as they explore the way that their own context shapes the observation and communicates that observation to others who do not have the same view of what is being observed. The idea of people affirming the quality of their own culture and upbringing "points of view" while sharing their observations without the need to argue a point. In fact if the people want to make discover the other "point of view" then they can physically move to the perspective of the other so that they can see the other "view-point." John Warfield often said there was no dialogue between levels, only between those on different sides of the circle on the same level. That was why John was accepted so readily by the Indian people he worked with on the "Tribal Issues Management Service" (TIMS) that he constructed for them using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) in conjunction Nominal Group Techniques (NGT). We would work with the original processes because the purpose would be how one develops a common mega-view of an observation that is 360 degrees around that being observed. Each person would have no more investment in being THE viewpoint than any other because all are equally incomplete. The idea is to discover reality through cooperation and not to lose one's individual and group identity in the process. Where these have wars in the past, Recognition would be the first goal, Forgiveness and Acceptance the second goal and Reconciliation and group cooperative success the third. My problem with this group in the past had to do with an all or nothing approach that basically meant that I (both as an Artist and an Indian) had no relevant place in their world other than as an anachronism, a traveling entertainer or as a revolutionary angry person. My sense of Indian people in Canada in the few times I've traveled there anonymously is that the "anachronism" is a pretty common accepted viewpoint of the majority. In fact it is not far from the viewpoint Americans had of Jewish people in the military when such polls were taken during the Truman administration. The polls about Jews and Blacks were so bad and inaccurate in their prejudice that Truman just elected to totally integrate the services by fiat rather than by legislation. Three years ago the a Catholic Convent in Connecticut contacted people from several different faiths to meet together around the issue of Religion and Violence. They had Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and American Indians. Needless to say, the process was totally inadequate to meet the issue because there were topdogs and underdogs in the room. The Topdogs freely admitted the history and were unconcerned. The Underdogs were Angry and the Jews, Muslims and Hindus came late and left early. Everyone talked and talked past each other. No one was willing to meet head on the issues that were hundreds of years old and so the conference was a failure. Reconciliation was an impossibility. But failure is not an option. REH Ray Harrell wrote: I talked to Mike tonight and got his permission to post this to the list. I couldn't get it through the server so I'm sending this way to see if it works. I felt uncomfortable after my post to Ed. This is such delicate territory. Blunt seems to be brutal. Hopefully this article will more capture the spirit of what I was trying to say to Ed. I admire Ed and what he has done and tried to do. I also admire what many of you are doing and have done with your lives. Sometimes I don't express that enough. In an attempt to escape the problem of formatting I've made this into a PDF file. Mike and I worked hard on this and believe that there is a book in its expansion. This chapter was written for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada on the issue of the abuse in Indian Schools by Canadian teachers and church leaders. It is about the chasm between the two cultures as a result of the facts of the History. I would welcome any comments. For those who might question the relevance to the list, I would simply reply that there is a lot in here about the future of work and the problems of cross cultural work in the U.S. and Canada. Ray Evans Harrell, NYCity July 27, 2010 _____ --- avast! 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