Out of the blue, last week, I got a call from an old colleague, Nick Derrough, last week. Living in Seattle, he was coming to Phoenix for a family reunion and wanted to get together for lunch. Some of you would remember him. We were together in the Teachers Guild probably around 1969 for a year or so. He went to work on an election campaign for Adlai Stevenson (the III?) sort of as a part of permeation. I remember a bunch of us, one night went down to stuff envelopes, or something for the campaign. Anyway, he is 75 now, oldest daughter is 48, has a son in high school. His career has been related to affirmative action, both in companies and government. Right now he is compliance officer for a company that made some of the parts for the latest Mars Rover. He is a cancer survivor. As he told stories of his journey, and asked about mine I was impressed that he has retained the gentle sense of buoyancy, concern, and graciousness that I remembered from the West Side so long ago. So, I mentioned that to him, and asked him, "Nick, what keeps you going?" Quite matter of factly, he answered, "There is so much injustice to be dealt with in the world. That is what I do." Jim Wiegel Jfwiegel@yahoo.com It may be that we live in a time of collective heartbreak ... the sense that we might not be equal to the ecological, political and economic transitions that are necessary, that our own selfishness may be writ too deeply into our genes and that the future is therefore untenable and unreachable. We do not as yet know if this is true. -- David Whyte, “Letter from the House" Partners in Participation Upcoming public course opportunities: ToP Facilitation Methods, Sept 11-12, 2012 ToP Strategic Planning, Oct 9-10, 2012 The AZ Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday- Sept 7, 2012 Facilitation Mastery : Our Mastering the Technology of Participation program is available in Phoenix in 2012-3. Program begins on Nov 14-16, 2012 See short video http://partnersinparticipation.com/?page_id=55 and website for further details.