Santa Cruz Bioneers, Jan. 18th, '04

Judy led us in a discussion of new directions for our group, in light of the Bioneers decision not to introduce new Beaming Bioneers locations in Northern California this year. Bioneers was overwhelmed with requests for new Beaming Bioneers sites (a little too much of a good thing). They've decided they need to regroup and think about how better to connect with local interest groups. They hope to work with us in other ways as we develop our local groups.

We listened to a portion of Van Jones' moving presentation from the Bioneers conference last October, in which he talked about the dangers of the "Strategic Deliberate Indifference" that grows between groups more narrowly focused on social justice or environmental issues, and that our hope for success in any of these areas is at the crossroads where our interests intersect.

We discussed what we wanted to happen at future meetings. We've decided to meet at less formal locations than the library, where we can have food and more comfortable camaraderie. As our group seems much smaller now, we can use people's homes and workplaces. Without the pressure of organizing a major event, the division between "business" meetings and supportive conversations is less useful, so we will simplify it for now by having more frequent (roughly biweekly) gatherings with open attendance.

Leslye offered to host a meeting at Seeds of Change Bookshop (417 Capitola Avenue, in Capitola Village), with potluck snacks, on Sunday, February 1st from 4:00 - 5:30pm. Invite a friend, and bring your ideas about meaningful action to promote our visions of a better community. Call Leslye at 464-1601 for more info.

On Tuesday, February 17th from 7:30 to 9:30, we will meet at Nicola's house to listen to a recording of a speaker from Bioneers, reflecting on the ideas expressed and how to they might be applied locally. For more information and directions, call Judy at 251-5939.

We also talked about continuing on our goal of mapping the network of local organizations that we would like to connect through Bioneers. For now, we want to start with personal connections, those that already exist or are easy to make from Santa Cruz Bioneers participants to other groups. Michelle will initiate this through a quick email survey so we can learn more about each other and our links.

Mish stressed the urgency of dealing with electronic voting issues, and recommended we get involved through the Verified Voting website. There is a meeting of the group in Santa Cruz on February 7th.

 

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