Thursday, January 27, 2011

I CAME FROM FAR AWAY

This piece came through my heart and voice in the Closing Circle of the "Open Space for Higher Purpose" Learning Experience on January the 17th. The 4 days experience was so insightul and moving to me! As it just came last minute and as I was a bit wary not to take too long with the talking stick I didn´t take the time to translate it. Now back in Bilbao I did it and I´m glad to share it with you. You can listen to the song, read the lyrics in Basque and the "amateur" translation to English...

SONG (Urrundik heldu naiz = I came from far away; J.A. Urbeltz-lyrics / Benito Lertxundi-voice&guitar)


LYRICS (Basque)
Urrundik heldu naiz
luze ibiliz,
bidez bide eta bidetako
hautsak garia sortarazi du
ene oiñetako behatz artetik...

Ene burua untzaz ari da
estaltzen, eskuetako
behatzetan madariondoaren
hosto xamurrak loratzen...

Bizkarrean...
ortzien barna...
magali mikatzen kimuak
txertatzen ari zaizkidalarik...

San Migeletan... itsasoa...
ñabarra ludia ttipitzen duen
itxasoa...

Ene baitan urriaren
egohaizearekin batera,
azi busti eta emankorra
ari du... ari du...

Zilegi bekit adiskide,
pentsatzea, esatea,
harek ez du goroldio
baizik sortuko
gure harrizko buruetan...

LYRICS (English) 
I came from far away after walking long, from path to path and the dust of the paths has given birth to weat among the toes in my feet...
Ivy covers me; soft pear-tree leaves flower in my fingers...
On my back, through the sky bitter twigs embed in me;

During San Michael season (around 29-Sep) the sea...rainbowcoloured... the sea that makes the earth so small...In my soul, with the autumn south wind it´s raining wet and productive seeds...it´s raining.

Let me think, friend, let me say, that those seeds won´t give birth but to moisture over our stone made heads

Keep in touch and enjoy life :-)!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

STARTING THE UNDERGROUND WORLD CO!NSPIRATION :-)

STARTING THE UNDERGROUND W-CO!NSPIRATION :-)

This draft was started in NYC, during the Open Space for High Performance and Peace Learning Experience the 14th Jan 2011. Suzanne&Eleder (both in the photo, having co-written the first draft of this post) Terri, Caitlin, Karen, Harrison, Chino, Greg,  and many more took part in conversations that inspired these piece. 

Are you an underground mayor (UM) of your place? Someone that plays politics in a joyful way;  probably out of the political parties but being in touch with people engaged in all the parties?  Someone that loves conversation and would need an hour´s time to walk half a mile in her neighbourhood? Prone to dream up the craziest ways to get us all to a more joyful way of living?

Yes, kind of? Sure, you really are an UM (underground mayor -preferred to unofficial-) of your place and have been so for years.  Now you come to know that a term was coined (first heard to Greg Rivera addressing myself :-) for it, you finally get a sense of belonging, and are now eager to spread the word.  This makes quite a difference because you´ll be conscious from now on and the idea will start its own life.

We have probably also UPs of the world (term coined by brilliant Caitlin Nisos-Atlanta): they have the same way to play politics, but they play in a wider area, not necessarily their everyday walking distance area. They move quite much by plane. Myself I´m also a UP of the world, I was told, concerned with food, public space usage, creativity, de-electified fun, but act mainly as UM, considering it a more comfortable and easier way of being.

Organic growing: by the way, how can the word be spread in a minimal effort way? I suppose that starting a w-platform and so would imply too much work and would be counter-underground. Maybe that just having people knowing about it, mainly through oral informal conversations and just a little organic presence in the net, just people that like the idea most keeping lists of mates around the world, signing e-mails with the term, keeping some links related to it listed, something like so would be enough.

Openness: Maybe you still don't realize that you really are one of us, but you sure know some of them. Let them, us & the world know, please! There are, sure, some 87.349 UMs in NYC, same as we are some 12.739 in Bilbao... We are a growing government :-)! How many UMs in your town?

Voluntary responsibility: it´s oneself who comes to know about the term and says, oh, yes, I´m a UM of my town, city, neighbourhood,…” and starts to state it wherever, when told the story.

No salary: but maybe we one day start paying a symbolic fee for the U-mayordom to fund some funnily interesting experiment/people/stuff
And, if you feel much like, start us in the WUM movement, the net supporting all the underground mayors of the world :-)! Maybe just organizing a minimal distribution list for Ums and people around?

More key words: Another entry outside of politics (as politics is losing its meaning). Flatten the hierarchy. With humor, fun, creativity, dreaming of what can be regarding serious issues. Visionaries. Inspire each other. Play on words. Attractor, curiosity, playfulness, positive politics (pp). Humor: diffuses criticism or marginalizing of others; invites a place to have serious discussions.

Some UMs met these days in NYC, Bilbao, and through the internet:
Chino (Carlos) Garcia, NYC-Lower East Side; Karen Davis, NYC-Upper West
– people in the HI Youth Hostel : friend from Osaka, Japan; Rodrigo and Ricky, Buenos Aires,
Gerry Kirk, Kirk, Canada
Suzanne, Florida ; Caitlin, Atlanta ; probably, indeed, all the participants of the workshop 2011 OS for High Performance Learning Experience.
- John Stewart.Comedy Central
- Bilbao: Oihane, María, Rober (Zurbaran), Rubén (Zurbaran), Eleder (auto-exiled in Mundaka :-)
-Berlin: Anna Caroline Türk

Keep in touch!

Love,

eleder.aurtenetxe@gmail.com

Thursday, January 6, 2011

SUNNI BROWN (Gamestorming): Visual Thinking and Facilitation. Course(s) in Bilbao (and near) soon

Do you want to collaborate in the organization of this great meet-up?

Sunni Brown, author of Gamestorming will be spending some months in Paris and we are organizaing a workshop on her expertise. Some thoughts regarding it...
1. A 4 morning or evening course could be good. Incubating time in between meet-ups is usually helpful. Maybe Tu, Th, Fr, Sa ; maybe better Fr-eve, Sa, Su, Th or so,... we'll see. We could arrange the accomodations in homes of the organizing time, quite sure.
2. First it'll be to find some support and people interested in it. It's my first time in this kind of mediation business... As Sunni says, where there is a will there is a way. Good!
3. Potential attendees we´re thinking about...
Consultants
Facilitators

People in these fields:
Creativity
Innovation
Media & Publishing
Education
Art (people looking for other business opportunities)
...

         Are we right? Any other suggestions?
4. We asked Sunni a short note on the kind of workshop she would offer. Any other suggestions from anyone reading this post will also be so welcome, sure!

5. Collaboration: we could ourselves run a part of the workshop regarding mind mapping (we have some expertise in it). We could also translate parts, but I think it best having it for English speaking/understanding people -not so usual here-. It would be a pity losing Sunni´s humour and the momentum through translations,...
We´ll keep on with this dream-idea and let you know if sth flourishes...

Enjoy life :-)!


Eleder BM31_Bilbao  
@Eleder_BM        (+0034) 638.733.223
eleder.aurtenetxe@gmail.com