shifts

Not sure why, but when I awoke today I felt an internal shift taking place. Although it is true we have shifted away from the longest day of the year (6/21), toward shorter days, mere seconds less of our intense summer sun is not, yet, making a difference. But yesterday, at a meeting, I spoke out (not a new behavior), and, as I did, I looked around the room and saw that all of the others at the table were younger than I was and all but one was younger by 20-30 years. I didn't process it then, but I have since, that I am in the "legacy stage" of my public dialogue career. And while I could get depressed about that, I am not because I sense this younger generation is more than capable of taking of the next stage. I am not quite out the door yet; they still look to me for guidance, but they aren't waiting for my wisdom. I feel really good about that and it's freeing me to then look around me and see what I want to do next with my life.

This new opportunity with the Arizona Humanities Council really excites me. I have always loved reading to children; I read to Aron until he was 12! And so this PRIME TIME project seems like a perfect fit. It connects the reading to children and their families and it allows me to help them stretch what we read into the realm of big ideas, philosophy, the humanities. I know when I first discovered that realm, reading poetry at my Grandparents Dice's farm house, I knew a magical door had appeared before me. Public dialogue first drew me in with Kettering's work and it, somehow, too, presented the "big ideas" of political theory, philosophy and history as the bigger framework for community work. I haven't really been able to mesh that approach here in Tucson with the exception of the two projects that got funded by the Az. Humanities Council: Good Neighbors and the Good Life and Fields to Tables. Although neither could help "pay the bills" in the way that the Grant Road and City of Tucson work has been able to do (and I am very grateful for that work), these projects had long legs that extended into the deeper roots of community life. I sense this new project will, also.

In addition to that reality is the juxtaposition of this effort called Imagine Greater Tucson. Although I remain cautiously optimisitic about its grand plan, the group of people I am working with (mostly my age but a few younger, a few older), are smart and committed to community work. It's a bit like having the energy of the early years of the National Issues Forum, and I find that, surprisingly, I am enjoying it. I am setting some boundaries so that I don't get sucked into the vortex of egos (including my own), and need to be aware of the pull that still has for me. But, if I can keep my wits about me, I think it will be a good transition from Grant Road (which is either frozen or winding down) into the next two years of part-time community work.

So, what remains is the opportunity to write more--whether that is fiction or non-fiction. And other creative ventures may present themselves. As my ankle is slowly healing, I am slowly shifting directions. It's a good time--summer when the "livin' is easy", and, if not easy in the desert, it's definitely slower--to consider these internal shifts and be open to the way the monsoon winds blow.