The Web of Change comedown

I didn’t manage to blog this before I up and left – I spent from last Wednesday, the 19th, to yesterday, the 23rd traveling to and from, and at, Hollyhock, a gorgeous retreat on Cortes Island for the 7th annual Web of Change conference. I had an amazing time, in ways that I’m just beginning to parse and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the weeks and months to come.

Being a student at Web of Change, I continually felt a little out of place, though in hindsight there was such a good mix of people that it never felt overwhelmingly one thing or another, and every one felt great about giving me their perspective on my poorly-articulated questions. There were grassroots community activists, organizers and campaigners from larger organizations, technologists and communicators providing services to organizations big and small, filmmakers, and developers all working to realize visions for a better world. A lot of people had corporate backgrounds and moved into non-profit work, which resonated with me as I am kinda-sorta making the same leap on a much smaller scale. The setting of Hollyhock encouraged such a warm atmosphere, and the honesty, curiosity and patience of everyone I met left me fairly humbled.

I’ve also typically felt a little out of place with the idea of leadership, but it strikes me more now as a series of little things rather than a lot of big things; or, that the big things come from the aggregation of those little things. Those little compliments that people were willing to drop my way about the things I had to say. I want to be able to be as giving with my praise and encouragement.

I’m also recalling some of the things people have said about the nature of mistakes and learning. You know that thing they say about how you should praise kids by rewarding effort instead of intelligence? I’m one of those kids that was told they were smart. I’m not very good at just jumping in and learning by doing, and I would like to be less hesitant about this. In the area of community organizing, this is on the double; because truthfully, it’s still a theoretical endeavor at this point, but it is time to move beyond that.

I’m feeling motivated to send letters/emails to some folks who have made an impact on me to let them know how much their contributions allowed me to feel good about being at Web of Change. It’ll take a while, but I ought to get in touch with them anyway, and this is a great way to do it. What do I want to do? What do I want to work for? How do I want to do it, and who would want to do it with me? For the last question at least, I’m fairly confident that the answer is people like those I met this weekend.