Comments on: Small Projects Loosely Joined

By: Borderland » Blog Archive » Classroom Collaborative Give and Take

Borderland » Blog Archive » Classroom Collaborative Give and Take — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:41:57 +0000

[...] But it would be better, I think, if we began with local real-world projects, and documented them. And we can still do that/ [...]

By: Doug Noon

Doug Noon — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:30:03 +0000

Boggs’ statement is very similar to what Horton (and Freire) said about dialogue. Horton repeatedly cautioned against the tempation to offer solutions to the problems of other people. He wanted people to learn how to think and act on their own behalf, and not depend on the advice of experts. Your comment points out an interesting tension between bullshit and wisdom - not easily distinguished without relevant experience - which is why we need to be wary of “experts.” Thanks

By: Terry Elliott

Terry Elliott — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:52:20 +0000

I love Boggs’s tantalizing abstraction. I have often found this to be the case–folks who have lots of practical experience who strip that wisdom down to the bones. You beg for application and they give you ideas–of necessity. I think that experience tends to make you leery of trying to claim Truth.

When Boggs says, “It takes discussions like this. I mean, it takes a whole lot of things. It takes people doing things. It takes people talking about things. It takes dialogue. It takes changing the whole lot of ways by which we think.” I know this isn’t bullshit, but wisdom. Having experienced deeply and seen even more, her wisdom says that the rest of us have to come to this personally. She reminds me of Myles Horton.

Thanks for the chance to respond.

By: Doug Noon

Doug Noon — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:01:49 +0000

Hi Michael, while the word, anarchy, may have some negative connotations, I didn’t intend any negativity. Just meant to note the inherently unorganized nature of the movement. Your description of WiserEarth’s mission confirms my understanding of it, and I think it a great idea. Good luck with it.

By: Michael Spalding

Michael Spalding — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:11:07 +0000

Hi Doug,

Regarding Paul Hawken, you wrote, “He has a wiki called WiserEarth, intended (presumably) to bring some coherence to this anarchic movement. I’m not sure about that.”

I think your characteristic of this movement as ‘anarchic’ is inaccurate. It is true that the mission statements that inform their work are rarely the same, but they never contradict each other. Instead of no controlling rules or principles, their work is based on a deep, fundamental principle of respect for all life.

WiserEarth is not going to try and organize this unnamed movement. If the movement is analogous to the immune system, as Paul suggests, then its success depends on the quality of connections. WiserEarth is a platform to improve the quality of these connections and it was designed to be flexible enough to have the community decide what features they want to see. WiserEarth serves the movement, it doesn’t try to organize or lead.