September 12th in Washington, DC

[Harrison Owen]

Lucus -- If I have learned anything over the years it is that civil
conversation happens when the space is open(ed). There is no need for
facilitators to keep people from hurting each other. The people will take
care of that all by themselves. Time and time again in hugely conflicted
environments, for example The Middle East, I have seen sworn enemies deeply
engage each other with respect and a lot of passion. But never once has
there been any need to restrain the combatants. And I would be very
disturbed if there were no deep conversations. The times are too rich for
anything less. So I wish you well with the venture and suggest that you
prepare yourself to be surprised -- Great things will happen if you really
keep the space open. Works every time!

Harrison

PS -- One facilitator will do. Any more than that and you are closing down a
lot of space. Ok -- you certainly might want a partner. After all somebody
has to hold the space when you go to take a nap.

PPS -- check out the item about The Mayor of Harrisonburg. Harrisonburg is a
very conservative town with lots of diverse opinions. Strange but true

Harrison Owen
189 Beaucaire Ave
Camden, ME 04843
207-763-3261 (Summer)
301-365-2093 (Winter)
Website www.openspaceworld.com 
Personal Website www.ho-image.com 
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Lucas
Cioffi
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 1:02 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: September 12th in Washington, DC

Hello Folks,

For those living within driving distance of Washington, DC, I come offering
an unpaid opportunity to work very hard keeping people from hurting each
other.  What more can a professional facilitator ask for?!

On September 12th, a group of 15 facilitators and I are holding a
non-partisan town hall meeting on the National Mall.  We will be right next
to a rally of 12,000 conservatives at the US Captiol, and we expect
approximately 200 progressives from local grassroots organizations to
participate.  The event is called the American Townhall on Health Care.

We are attempting to break the media narrative which implies that public
engagement always leads to yelling.  We are not attempting to have a very
deep dialogue, but we will instead show that some dialogue is possible even
in such a politically charged environment.

Because we are so few, we are going to leverage social media and
collaborative tools to create a disproportionately large impact on the media
narrative.

We have nothing to offer you, but we can sure use your assistance in keeping
the event civil.  We need facilitators who can listen to Americans who need
to feel heard.

Our blog has more details:
http://americantownhalls.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/the-overall-strategy/

Please feel free to connect with us via phone or email.  Yes, we know this
is unusual-- and that's why it just might work.  Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,
Lucas Cioffi
CEO, AthenaBridge Inc
Washington, DC
917-528-1831

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