OS and Community Forums on Universal Health Care?

[Winston Kinch]

You will know by Monday
:-)
Winston

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Potak" <npotak at vtlink.net>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 2:05 PM
Subject: Re: OS and Community Forums on Universal Health Care?


> Hi Everyone,
>
> 48 hours ago I heard about OS for the first time when I learned that it
> will be used at a Vermont statewide peace conference I will be attending
> this Sunday.
>
> I'm also working (volunteering - we have no $$) with some physicians in
> Vermont to set up forums to engage our communities in a discussion of our
> health care crisis and attempt to form on going groups that can educate
> themselves about universal health care and work for statewide legislative
> change.
>
> So far, I've read just about everything on the website:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/wiki/wiki/wiki.cgi  but have no other
> experience with OS.
>
> Do people on this list think that OS will be work pursuing for this work?
>
> Nancy Potak
> Greensboro, Vermont
> 802 533-9206

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>From  Fri May 16 12:27:52 2003
Message-Id: <FRI.16.MAY.2003.122752.700.>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 12:27:52 -700
Reply-To: ja at svn.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Jeff Aitken <ja at svn.net>
Subject: Re: OS and Community Forums on Universal Health Care?
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Nancy: I imagine two (or three) ways to go, off the top of my head --

1. Open spaces with broad theme (such as, issues and opportunities regarding health care in Vermont) which lead to wide ranging dialogues on a variety of perspectives; which may lead to convergence upon a narrower set of directions and strategies to pursue. You might assume that universal health care would be one of those directions.

2. Open spaces with narrower theme (such as, issues and opportunities regarding developing universal health care) -- which leads to intense pro/con dialogues if you invite a wide variety of people, which is fine, or to

3. focused strategic dialogues if you invite the "pro" camp only.

These three ideas might be nested and iterative. It depends on whom you invite to the circle, how you shape the theme, etc.

Jeff

> Hi Everyone,
>
> 48 hours ago I heard about OS for the first time when I learned that it
> will be used at a Vermont statewide peace conference I will be attending
> this Sunday.
>
> I'm also working (volunteering - we have no $$) with some physicians in
> Vermont to set up forums to engage our communities in a discussion of our
> health care crisis and attempt to form on going groups that can educate
> themselves about universal health care and work for statewide legislative
> change.
>
> So far, I've read just about everything on the website:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/wiki/wiki/wiki.cgi  but have no other
> experience with OS.
>
> Do people on this list think that OS will be work pursuing for this work?
>
> Nancy Potak
> Greensboro, Vermont
> 802 533-9206
>
> *
> *
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> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>

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>From  Fri May 16 14:24:58 2003
Message-Id: <FRI.16.MAY.2003.142458.0700.>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 14:24:58 -0700
Reply-To: bjp1 at cox.net
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: BJ Peters <bjp1 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: it takes 1 1/2 hours
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
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Jeff-- I totally agree. In fact, a week ago, I did the shortest opening of
a day long OST I've ever done, which was not as I'd planned it. As some of
you know, I have voice challenges. Normally, I am able to plow through the
"sludge" that often dwells in my lungs. That morning all the coughing, throat
clearing, watering, breathing exercises, praying, etc. did not work. I rasped
through the welcome, the theme, four principles, one law, bugs and how to
create the agenda - and they posted topics and went off  to participate or
not (most did) in their three morning discussion sessions. <br>
<br>
My "inner critic" beat me up for a while (what makes you think that someone
with an unreliable voice should be doing this work you're making a fool of
yourself you should give it up you're jeopardizing the reputation of open
space technology yadda yadda yadda!). When after lunch we met in circle to
reflect on the morning and converge, I was delighted to hear their positive
reactions and able to share some of the history of OST and Open Space then
as my voice had cleared. (And I thumbed my noise at the inner critic.)<br>
<br>
Another gift that day... This group was a City Leadership Class that had
met for about twenty (highly structured) sessions over the course of the
class year, and this was their last official day together. The client had
wanted them to experience open space and to use it to explore how they might
bring their passion and commitment to community service. I struggled with
the convergence piece as they really would not have official reason to be
together again, and their commitments would be individual rather than collective
(my assumption). So I was prepared to have them create individual plans and
share with others or create individual plans with others or . . . What happened
was that three of the 11 topic reports indicated a desire of those participating
to create and implement further action. So most everyone went to one of the
three action planning meetings.<br>
<br>
The closing circle was rich with impressions of the process, the freedom,
the day, and their entire Leadership Class experience. And two insurance
company executives indicated they wanted me to do this with their large departments.
Go figure. . .<br>
<br>
Be Peace --BJ Peters<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Jeff Aitken wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid3ec424364a7991.54682549 at svn.net">
  <pre wrap="">Harrison wrote:
  </pre>
  <blockquote type="cite">
    <pre wrap="">funny thing -- with a group of 20 it takes 1 and 1/2 hours.
Basically the same with 200 and 2000.
    </pre>
  </blockquote>
  <pre wrap=""><!---->
Hi Harrison --

Maybe it's the strength of the coffee (triple lattes) in California, but I'm finding it takes less time than it used to take.

I used to allow 90 minutes, but I feel less anxious than I used to feel if we get the opening circle started "late" or the sponsor talks longer than s/he promised.

I still try to get a daylong OST started at 9 am and have the first session scheduled for 10:30; but if we don't start until 9:30 I'm still not worried. Groups of up to 75 people are getting from the circle and breath thru the bulletin board and marketplace in 45 minutes or less.

Thanks for the wonderful 2108 story.

Jeff

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