Friday, May 9, 2008

The Landscape of Diversity



Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to experience a graduation at Truman Community College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago. I used to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) there in a previous professional incarnation, but last night I was present as a friend and sponsor of one of the graduates from another country. This amazingly diverse group of people embodied such positive & vital energy. Graduation was a HUGE accomplishment for many of the graduates and their families....for me, the room held had more emotion than at my own graduation from the University of Chicago oh, these many moons ago.

So the same concept applies to people as it does to landscape: diversity equals strength!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Red Spirit Retreats



The new website has just gone up for The Red Spirit Retreats. Though seemingly a planet away, this amazingly peaceful spot in Michigan is just a few hours drive from Chicago. The retreats began last year and I was lucky enough to lead one (see my blog entry 22 October 2007 for more pics). This year I will be there October 17 - 19, our theme is "Exploring Landscape: Inside & Out." Very hands on, Karen Duffin-Shanks (Earth Mother extraordinaire and red spirit facilitator) describes the women's weekends as focusing on creativity, nature, health and self-growth. Well, I can't promise the latter, but with wonderful food, people, beech forests & crackling fires, it almost has me wishing for autumn when spring's barely begun. We had one of those rare perfect spring rains this morning: what a mood elevator!