I love the idea of entropy, explained eloquently by the BBC's Dr Brian Cox. According to Wikipedia, "In statistical mechanics, entropy is a measure of the number of ways in which a system may be arranged, often taken to be a measure of "disorder" (the higher the entropy, the higher the disorder)."
Watch this video and then let's consider entropy from a social change perspective.
Here's a video of me getting my first tattoo.
The design starts with my sun sign Capricorn which merges into the lemniscate or symbol of infinity. Growing leaves sprout from paths that lead around my wrist. Decaying leaves and shadow paths feature on the underside. The design encapsulates my birth, the potential of my life, the processes of growth and decay and paths I have taken and those I could have taken. It also depicts spaces in between which give rise to possibility.
Am at a bit of a loss for inspiration to blog today so I thought I'd take the liberty of sharing an email I received this morning:
"I saw you at the LATE at the Museum a while back. Your ideas about decay have been incredibly important and meaningful to me, and I have thought about them and reconsidered my own life in terms of decay and what can come from it. I find them useful on an almost daily basis, and have talked about them with others.
"Thank you very, very much."
The conversation about gender equality has long been commonplace in workplaces around New Zealand. It's the foundation of the EEO movement and, as the precursor to cultural diversity and "family friendliness", is often the corporate world's only claim to some semblance of equity.
Here's the dilemma: Binary notions of gender - ie. male and female - are on the decline with transgender and genderqueer people more and more challenging the idea that one has to stay the same gender or, in fact, be either one or the other.
Another seldom explored dynamic is that of masculine and feminine traits. Dominance, logic and decisiveness may be generalised as masculine traits, among others; intuition, creativity and caring as feminine. Masculine traits are often more likely to be nurtured and valued in men than in women. Feminine traits, in contrast, though more likely nurtured in women, may also more likely be valued in men, depending on context.
Disability awareness is slowly becoming more commonplace in workplaces around New Zealand, though it hasn't really taken off like other diversity issues. You find it sometimes in community organisations, particularly disability service providers, and some Government agencies.
In most cases the corporate world asks, "What does disability have to do with us?"
So here's the dilemma: Awareness of disability is a red herring. Everyone is aware on some level that what we call "disability" exists in some people (medical model). Some are even aware that "disability" can be seen as a social construct of environmental, attitudinal and policy barriers that exclude 20% of society (social model).
Growing awareness of cultural diversity has become commonplace in workplaces around New Zealand.
But here's the dilemma: Culture is changing constantly, particularly among generations, and there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Learning what is culturally appropriate in one context may or may not be relevant in another.
The inquiry here is how to create the space for culture to emerge fluidly and comfortably by decaying expectations about what is the right and wrong way to do things. It's about generously allowing people to get things wrong and politely explaining why. And being prepared to authentically apologise when a mistake is realised.
Growing awareness of diverse sexuality in the workplace is one thing.
But here's the dilemma: What if the dominant culture of the organisation is to talk about the ideals of heteronormative marriage and children, mums and dads, with no mention of two mums, two dads and civil unions? The assumption is that everyone is straight and an employee may still feel unsafe to come out.
In fact, the "spotlight" of awareness may create a shadow that shrouds a non-heterosexual colleague in "otherness". They may not want to be the only one.
As promised, here is the blog remix I presented yesterday at the EOPHEA Conference. Hi and thanks to those who attended. You'll see I only got about halfway through ;-)
I work in the area of social change, and I often find it hard to explain what exactly I do. So I'm going to demonstrate it. At the end of this talk, by listening to it, you will have changed, just a little, as will I have also, simply by saying it. And that, in essence, is the nature of social change.
I want to tell you two stories and link them to four ideas: gratitude, compassion, rainbows and leadership. First story: A few months ago my boyfriend and I went to stay a night at the Westin Hotel down on the viaduct. We checked in to one room with a double bed so it was obvious we were a couple. The two guys on the desk, whom we presumed were straight, didn't blink an eye and were polite and professional to the extreme.
Most close relationships — be they parental, friendships, intimate or professional — begin with passion. We see all the good things — the cuteness, the interesting ideas, the good looks, the skills, the strengths.
As the relationship matures and develops, we need to bring in compassion. This allows us to understand and excuse the naughtiness, the lateness, the strange habits, the occasional inflexibility, the weaknesses.
Relationships based on passion and compassion are healthy, useful, balanced. We are human.
There was so much I learnt in the recent retreat run by Sue Davidoff and Allan Kaplan of the Proteus Initiative. I want to share another amazing insight, this time about the nature of diversity itself (and when I say "nature" I mean both the phenomena of the physical world and the basic or inherent features of something).
One of the exercises we did was to go and observe plants that were growing and dying (or decaying). We were asked to observe them carefully and then sketch them. Obviously the latter action is not a forté of mine but observation doesn't require much dexterity and I made a discovery that literally left me reeling for a moment. Let me use these two pictures to demonstrate what I saw. Can you see it too?
