Wade's Journal and Readers' Comments

CONTENTS
A Note to Readers
Wade’s Journal
Readers’ Comments

NOTES TO READERS

Please help build Wade’s Weekly, not for my ego but for the Cause. Given its growing and more responsive readership, I plan to work harder to make it worth reading.

You can support Wade’s Weekly in these ways:

• Via email, recommend to your friends and associates that they subscribe to Wade’s Weekly. They can do so on the blog’s home page at http://wadeleehudson.blogspot.com or on the listserv’s homepage at http://npogroups.org/lists/info/wadesweekly. Readers can also bookmark the blog’s homepage.
• On Facebook, share, “like,” and comment on the posts. The total number of likes and comments is displayed. The greater that number, the more credibility the post has. Sharing is especially helpful. My Facebook name is wadeleehudson.
• On Twitter, re-tweet.
• Send me feedback, which I’ll include in “Reader’s Responses.” The more public interaction there is, the more credibility the effort has. Feel free to include links and other information about your own work that is related. 

Wade’s Weekly currently has 165 subscribers who have opted in to subscribe. In addition, the website attracts about 150 page views each week (and that number is steadily increasing) from 10 countries. So this effort seems to hold some potential. With your help, it can grow.

By the way, according to Google’s stats, the most viewed posts so far are:

• Preventing the Next Big Bank Bailout 197 page views
• Angry Populism and Compassionate Nonviolence 164 page views
• Why Some of Us Seek a New Strategy  145 page views

Since in the past I’ve missed a week from time to time, I may post more than once a week for a while, still staying within an average of once a week as promised.

In the future, I hope to post “Reader’s Comments” more promptly. You can post your comments directly to the website if you want.

Thanks again for your participation. I trust we can continue to learn from and inspire one another.

--Wade

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WADE’S JOURNAL – 11/19/12

Being in Mexico is always magical for me. The natural beauty, the warmth of the people, and the richness of the culture mesmerize me. It helps that the sun has shone every day since I arrived Nov. 8, the temperature has ranged from 68-82, and I can stare at the stars at night. Often when I stare at a star, I wonder if it is still alive, which amazes me. Then I reflect on the fact that I know it may be dead and I’m even more amazed.

As I posted on Facebook Sunday morning, I find that people in Mexico do not discriminate based on age and appearance the way people in the States do. Saturday night while sitting alone at El Mango processing email waiting for the music to begin, two relatively young women, Barbara and Isabel, sat down next to me and when I put down my phone, made eye contact. I started a conversation and we proceeded to enjoy ourselves. When I asked to take their photo, they insisted that I be included. Only then did I think about posting it to Facebook, which I did. None of us liked the music there, so I suggested that we go to another place and mentioned two options. They preferred the acoustic troubador music at Café Tantra (to see a video I shot there last year, click here), and when we got there they immediately began to sing along and laugh. Especially since my Spanish is poor, it’s hard to compare that style of music to anything in the States. Brett Dennen may be close, but this music that I call “troubador” is very romantic and often very humorous. Isabel used an Iphone app to translate some for me. She said the refrain for one song was, “Thinking of you” and the other computer-generated translation was, “The singer conquered to a woman who was man and composed a song why us fuck.” I offered to give them a good tour when they come to San Francisco and they offered to show me where to go hear music in Mexico City. When one of the singers joined us and the three of them started talking in Spanish, I said good night and took a taxi home. All in all, a refreshing evening.

On top of the rewards offered by Mexico, I find it valuable to be away from the States and not have to work for money. The distance helps me break bad habits and develop new ones. I’ve lost ten pounds, I’m stretching regularly, and I’m refining my daily routine. I try to write for at least two hours in the morning, read a real book for at least two hours in the afternoon, and network/socialize for two hours in the evening (which mostly involves email, Facebook, and Twitter, visiting with neighbors, and talking with friends on Skype). Soon, once I empty my Inbox, otherwise get organized, and find I have the time, I hope to focus some on the big bank issue and help publicize the January 19 Social Transforming Using the Three-Fold Path workshop, on which the planning committee back home appears to be moving forward.

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to begin writing a memoir and reevaluate that project after a few chapters. I’ll probably share drafts as I proceed. I also want to get back into the big bank issue, share a Wall Street reform proposal, and offer to help with research if needed. And now that I’m learning how to use Facebook more effectively, I hope to do the same with Twitter. By the time I return to the States, when I’ll have less time, hopefully I’ll know how to use those platforms efficiently.

The growing response to Wade’s Weekly has been heartwarming, icing on the cake. I would do it anyway for my closest friends and for myself, because writing helps me sort out my thoughts and feelings. And Wade’s Weekly has helped me develop promising connections with some new projects, such as:

• Shryl McCormick and her Fearless Communications newsletter.  
• Rabia Roberts,  an international peace and justice advocate who will soon be launching a new website, Waking Up Together: Feminine Wisdom and Great Transformation. To subscribe, email http://pathofthefriend.org/contact-us/
• The Next Edge, a by-invitation-only Facebook group with almost 3,000 members which is “a container for those of us creating and embodying the transformative emergent new paradigms of being & doing as a response to the profound challenges we face at this moment of the 21st century. This group was started as an experiment in curated emergence to see what value might be co-created.” If you would like to join, please let me know.

I was particularly honored when Seb Paquet, who is very astute and one of the more active The Next Edge members, recommended Wade’s Weekly after a member asked, “What juicy books/blogs are people reading at the moment?” Seb’s response was:

• One of my favorite blogs these days is Al PhaLo's Opencollaboration.
• Wade Hudson's blog is excellent too.
• Whiskey River is an endless source of inspiration. 

 After reviewing Opencollaboration and Whiskey River, I was even more honored to be included in that company.

And I appreciated that Richard Moore, Cyberjournal editor, shared “No Secrets to Conceal” with three of his email lists.

Writing can be lonely. They say a “writer” is someone who must write. In that case, I am a writer. I would write even if no one responded. Nevertheless, it helps to know that readers are out there and they care enough to reply.

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I recently completed the encouraging, well-done survey my.barack.obm just sent me. They said, "Our work isn't over. We didn't do all this just to win a campaign. We have more progress to make, and there's only one way to do it: together." Following are my responses to some of the more important questions:

• Is there anything that could have encouraged you to get involved earlier or increase your level of engagement? A real commitment to ongoing grassroots organizing dedicated to growing supportive communities that nurture open-ended personal development.
• What is your general feedback on the Obama campaign offline, including field offices, campaign staff, interactions with volunteers? After the 2008 California primary, the official campaign became dormant locally. It offered no support or encouragement for ongoing grassroots organizing. Many months later, it merely mobilized for the General Election. When it folded with the Democratic Party after the election, neither it nor the Democratic Party made a commitment to transform the Party into an activist organization dedicated to implementing the Party platform between elections. If this was necessary to avoid alienating power centers that were needed to win in 2012, I can accept it. However, now that Barack is not running for re-election, I would like to see it happen. 
• Is there anything else you’d like to tell us? Barack, become a community organizer again!

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Two fascinating resources I learned about through The Next Edge are:

• Welcome to the Peeragogy Handbook, a Resource for Self-organizing Self-learners
• Total Noob to Learning Online? P2PU’s Peer-to-Peer Courses Hold Your Hand

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To see a video of  Tepoztlan, click here.  I hope to do something similar soon.

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Dave Robbins told me The Eyes Were Watching God is the best American novel ever written. I just finished it and loved it.

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READERS’ COMMENTS

Re: Facing Fear 

I know that as a little child, my own mother crushed me internally with her words, but even then, I knew she was wrong. I did not realize at the time that she she suffered from mental illness, but I knew in my heart that she was wrong about me. I think I've spent the rest of my life proving her wrong, and since then, we have developed a loving relationship with each other.

I've had to fight feelings of inadequacy at times, but overall, I'd rather be a person who openly shares my feelings, fears, joys, and sadnesses with others. Yes, there are people who can use this against me, but to what end, I do not know...I'm still here and I will continue to reach out to others in the hope that we can help each other create better lives for all.

After all, why do we live at all if not to create something positive?
Anonymous

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Re: No Secrets to Conceal

One of your finest pieces Wade.  Touches on issues in a personal moving way that makes the analysis tangible, credible.
Richard Cohen

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Hey Wade; thanks for your post here on listening...
Tom Ferguson

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Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Wade.

Listening is definitely an underrated skill and activity.

I wrote an article on listening and social change, with some spirituality as well, a version of which can be found here: http://jewishmag.com/90mag/listen/listen.htm
Dan Brook

NOTE: After reading his essay, I emailed: Dan, I just now saw this comment and read your essay, which is very good. Thanks for referring me to it. I think you could also talk about how deep listening can lead to changes in oneself, as well as be a way to prompt change in others.

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Years ago, there was a technique that grew out of the encounter consciousness movement in the Bay Area that I participated in for a while.  It was called “co-counseling.”  We arranged to meet with a perfect stranger somewhere.  The whole idea was that one person would talk and the other would listen.  Then, the other person would do the same thing.  We were encouraged to act out emotions too…. The whole idea was to remain anonymous and to use each other to sort of act like counselors.  Although, we weren’t to offer our opinions, etc. to one another.  The whole idea was to listen to each other.   You reminded me of that when you said people need to learn to listen and that most people talk at each other without actually listening to one another.

It’s a difficult world these days.  It’s true that many of us don’t trust very many people.  I know that the last time I entrusted someone with some information I now wish I hadn’t, I noticed how that person did share my information with others without my permission and even retold to me my information in a taunting manner as well as rewriting my information in the process so that it was even more lascivious than the original true version.  Her memory had contrived a gossip version of my life.  So, it’s small wonder that people don’t trust people.  I also notice that once you tell people something intimate about yourself, it puts you in a lower position.  I think it’s because we are like pack animals.  When a dog is top dog, the dog never looks at the other dogs.  He/she looks away.  That’s how it is for people too in a way.  If you reveal too much of yourself, people think of you as weaker.  I know it’s shitty; but, I think it’s hard for us to learn to trust each other.

…[I]t seemed like that took me down a few pegs.  It wasn’t until I let everyone know that I was better and I could drive myself that everyone seemed to respond to me better. Sometimes, it’s risky to let people know too much.  They like you better when you have on your best face.
Anonymous

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Enjoyed reading this week's "Weekly." Your new motto could be, "listen, listen, listen.”…. Earlier in the day I came across this gem:

Candor is a compliment; it implies equality. It's how true friends talk.
PEGGY NOONAN, in Dr. Mardy's Quotes of the Week, www.drmardy.com, 18 November 2012
Leonard Roy Frank

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Re: Dylan at the Greek 

[Thanks for] the previous Dylan centered one... speaking of which, his influence on me as a songwriter may be evident.... You Them Me Us, album #10 covering the songs in my Songbook 1969-2012  in batches of ten.... free listening               http://thinkspeak.bandcamp.com
Tom Ferguson

NOTE: I’m listening to the album right now. It’s quite good.

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Thank you so much for this message!

You reaffirm my own feelings that it's only the authentic encounters that matter, and that (despite my own love of language) most words are wasted.

Dylan's songs meant much to me growing up, though I haven't kept track of anything after "Blood on the Tracks".  And I readily confess I don't - or can't? - see the meanings in his songs that you draw from them.  So it's good to know how you interpret them; not that any of your meanings surprise me, coming from you.

Take good care of yourself.
Yahya Abdal-Aziz

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Truly a fan's notes.
Mike Larsen

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Thanks for sending us these great lyrics for Bob Dylan...I love hi and also Mark Knopfler.  It must have been a wonderful concert.
Suzanne Schecker

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You the Man  thanks loads for da lyrics made my day
Marvin Surkin

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Loved the way you shared his lyrics in your own message...
Marcella Womack

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Re: Social Transformation Using the Three-Fold Path Workshop 

Lurking in the name of the workshop is the title of a book.
Mike Larsen

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Re: I want to know and be known and I want to touch and be touched 

wow, 2 wondrous poems.  I will print them out so we can return to them again and again.  hope you are doing well.
much love,
Kristen Walsh

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Progression towards intimacy is fascinating. It feels so dangerous before you go there. Maybe because it is?
Seb Paquet