Snow and Open Space

Ralph Copleman rcopleman at comcast.net
Mon Feb 8 05:26:23 PST 2010


Some suggestions about the impact of snow... and open space.

You know how we sometimes say that if you're in open space for a brief time, say 4 to 8 hours, it's a very good, exploratory conversation, and that if it goes as long as two days, you can get in to action planning, and that if you go for about 2 1/2 days it becomes all about action planning...  Well...

Six inches of snow pretty much closes up some spaces, but most stay open.  Twelve inches (in my part of the world) closes everything down for a day, and 24 inches closes it all down for 2 days or longer.  But something happens at about the 18-inch mark.  Conventional spaces may close down, but new ones open.  People gather in groups in their neighbors' homes to share food and company, and talk with each other perhaps in different ways.  One e-mail I received said 35 inches (nearly a meter) fell and neighbors organized a communal dinner -- and none had ever been in each other's homes before.

Say what you will about the deterioration of local community in America, the snow storm has opened doors and spaces, and maybe hearts, too, in memorable ways.

Ralph Copleman

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist



More information about the OSList mailing list