Tag Archives: community

Design, purpose, and practice

I was having a coffee with a friend just outside of a Starbucks on a beautiful, sunny morning, when we witnessed a dog owner tie his dog to this post and head into the coffee shop..

“ATTENTION
PET OWNERS
DO NOT LEAVE PETS UNATTENDED”

A few things occurred to me:

The sign (obviously) isn’t going to stop the behavior.
The sign is at the wrong height… it should probably be at the height that the person would tie the dog to the post. (Which would also make tying the dog there more difficult as well as being more likely to be read.)
The sign doesn’t solve the problem. Dogs can’t go into the store, and a pet owner will still leave their dog tied somewhere, so they can quickly grab a coffee.

I don’t know what the solution is? Even if the post wasn’t there, the pet owner could use the tree that’s just a few feet away… but I think it’s funny that the very post with the sign is the most convenient place for dog owners to leave their unattended pet.

I understand that this has potential to cause issues, with strangers (potentially kids) petting the dog, or other dogs passing by with their owners taking issue with the tied up dog. But is there something else that can be done? Is there a way to design a store line up that is dog friendly? Is there a way a dog owner could be queued in a line from outside the store? Could there be a location the tied up and unattached dog is less likely to be an issue?

The purpose of the dog owner is to respect the rules that dogs don’t come into the coffee shop, and so they leave the dog outside momentarily while they grab a coffee. The purpose of the sign is to stop unattended dogs from being a safety issue. This is a common practice with dog owners, and I struggle to think of a time that I’ve seen an unattended dog cause an issue.

So is this just an etiquette thing where owners of dogs that shouldn’t be left alone simply shouldn’t do so, and just forgo the sign? Do we need to have a sign to prevent stupidity? Or is this actually an important enough issue to warrant a sign? If so, what solutions can we come up with?

PS. I think it’s worth mentioning that I don’t own a dog.

Family owned businesses

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I’ve worked in the same building for 12 plus years. We have a pizza place that’s a 5 minute walk away that I have gone to for a slice or two of pizza more times than I’d like to admit. The two brothers that own the place are salt of the earth kind of guys.

Yesterday a great kid from my school was there when I was picking up a slice, and I teased him a bit telling one of the brothers to watch out for this one, ‘He’s a troublemaker’. The kid got a little more embarrassed than I thought he would, and so I let him know that the pizza guy and I have known each other since he was in diapers. Ok, maybe that just added to the embarrassment, and might not have been the right approach, but the point was, I knew this guy well enough that we were both in on the joke.

I just love walking into the store and connecting with these guys. We are well past the usual customer relationship and I’d call them friends. We chat about our families, our jobs, and holiday plans… And we have a fun banter, especially when my students are there. Although, that’s rare because I’m usually popping in just before or after our student lunchtime.

Still, what I enjoy is that the pizza place is a family run business that is a an important part of our community. In an era of big box stores and fast food chains, it’s nice to have, and to support, small family run businesses. They enrich our communities and our lives.

Defining and Understanding Community

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I call it the most important book I never read. It’s called “Bowling Alone”. I asked Microsoft Copilot to synthesize the message of the book for me:

“The main message of “Bowling Alone” by Robert D. Putnam is that social capital in the United States has been declining since the 1960s. Putnam argues that this erosion of community engagement and participation in civic life has led to a weaker democracy and a decline in personal well-being. He emphasizes the importance of revitalizing social networks and community bonds to strengthen society.”

I say that I didn’t read it, but I tried. It was suggested for a book club I was in 20+ years ago and while the premise is why I call it the most important book I never read, the actual text was very much like a textbook and way too boring. None of us finished it, but we had very interesting conversations about it and I’ve thought about a lot in subsequent years.

I think the message about lost community is more relevant today than 20 years ago. I have lived in the same house for over 25 years. I know my neighbours on either side of me well, but vaguely know the rest of my neighbours beyond that. I don’t live in a community as much as we cohabitate in a common local area.

Community should describe our neighbourly connections not our geographical location. Close community bonds strengthen a society. I think about this as I think about retirement. At some point my wife and I will downsize our home. Where do we move to? To me geography matters less than community. The more specific question to ask is, where do we move to in order to maximize our connections to our friends and community?

The difference between living 15-20 minutes away from a friend versus 45-60 minutes away is the difference between seeing them regularly versus making monthly plans. It’s the difference between living in a community and commuting to occasionally visit and see each other.

In the future I want to create the community that I want, in close proximity to me. I want to cohabitate with my social community, not travel from a place where I cohabitate with strangers to get to my community of friends.

Free Speech and Audience

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For most of my life I’ve been a bit of a free speech absolutist. I believe, or maybe believed, that even idiots had the right to free speech. You want to deny the holocaust or believe the earth is flat? You are an idiot. You are free to express your beliefs and people are free to ridicule your unsubstantiated beliefs. You want to share your stupidity, go ahead and do so to the cost of your social credibility.

But social media has changed, or is changing, my view. If you wanted to stand on a soap box and share dumb ideas, you will likely be ridiculed in the community you live in, and no one will take you seriously. You will essentially ostracize yourself and your message would fade as people got fed up listening to your nonsense.

But move from a town square to the metaphorical global town hall of Twitter and Facebook, and suddenly you get these echo chambers of stupidity that feed off of each other. Throw religious absolutists into the mix and some really silly beliefs start to get amplified. Essentially, there is an opportunity for idiots to find their tribe.

“A theory isn’t a fact,” is a common theme used to debunk scientific explanations. But then pseudo facts that are invented by these people are not held to nearly the same standard. So, on social media, bad ideas spread, gain popularity, and start to build an audience of believers. Instead of ridicule, these fools find a community. Instead of being ostracized, these morons find followers.

So the incentives are there to be inauthentic and to spread misinformation, instead of the disincentives of ridicule and shame. And so absolute freedom of speech no longer has the consequences it once had, and bad information ends up spreading faster than good information.

Even the debunkers and scientific thinkers speaking out against these charlatans peddling misinformation end up feeding the algorithm that puts the bad messages in front of more people. So bad ideas get spread, and this happens at a faster rate than good ideas.

I don’t know how to fix this, and I struggle to think that censorship is the answer. But allowing bad ideas to spread freely seems wrong too. Who decides? Who censors? What criteria do we use? The reality is that censorship is a slippery slope… but we are already on a slippery slope where the current social media models and the algorithms that promote more time on these apps already seem to favour the spread of bad ideas. And the tools used to elevate ideas effectively are being used to share and amplify bad ideas faster than good ones.

Ultimately, despite this, I am still a free speech absolutist. I just think free speech and the right to an audience are two different things. How we police this is not something I think can or will be solved any time soon.

Alumni reunion

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Yesterday over 70 former grads came to visit our little school that only had its first official graduation 8 years ago. We originally thought about half that many would be able to join us.

I can’t express how wonderful it was to connect with former students, to see what they are up to now, and to have an opportunity to chat with them. Two students from our first grad are now married and brought their baby. Several more are married or engaged. Many are still in school. Some are working for big companies, some following their artistic passions, and of course a few are still finding their way in the world.

It was a a very special event and it made me appreciate what a wonderful community we have created. I couldn’t be luckier, being able to stay at Inquiry Hub since its inception in 2012.

‘Le-we-go-lime’

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A few days ago I wrote, ‘Create Experiences’ and said,

As time passes, and I’m looking ahead at retirement, I think about the time I have left with family and friends. I wonder how do I create experiences rather than just reminiscing? When we meet up, are we doing something together or are we reflecting and sharing stories of the past?

On Facebook Al Lauzon commented,

I don’t think you are wrong but we need to recognize that developmentally we revisit our past and tell stories as we are engaged in making sense of our life as we age. Even in the elderly the repeating of the same stories of the past is making sense of our life. We have tendency to attribute the repeating of the story to forgetfulness but that is not necessarily the case. It is our attempt to make sense of our life. We should also note that we are not always conscious of what we are doing when we are engaged in this developmental process. According to the psychologist Erikson successful development during this stage of life leads to integrity and peace. Failure to make this developmental transformation leads to despair. Revisiting our life is important just as engaging new experiences is important.

And I responded,

Al Lauzon well said. I completely agree. My thoughts while writing the post related to my friends at a distance that I don’t see often. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the mode of ‘catching up’ and reminiscing, without planning new experiences.
It’s wonderful to look back at old times fondly and conversations can fill with laughter and happy thoughts as old times are re-lived. You are so correct about the value here… but when you don’t see someone often and that’s all you do, then you are missing out on creating new memories to hold on to at a different, future date.

Then today I saw a clip of a podcast I heard not too long ago. It is of Trevor Noah talking to Steven Bartlett on Dairy of a CEO. The title on the clip is ‘The importance of Liming (Caribbean style)’. The clip describes hanging out with friends, with no agenda, just to be together.

It reminded me of a Bajan saying growing up, ‘Le-we-go-lime’, an accented, Bajan way to say, ‘Let us go hang out together’. Unlike a set plan, that statement could be said even before a destination is chosen. It’s not an invitation out, it’s an invitation in… in to a circle of friends that are just getting together to be together.

Al’s comment and Trevor’s video clip are reminders to me that although it’s important to create new experiences, it’s also important to find time just to be together with friends, and with good friends you don’t need to have an agenda, an activity, or even a plan beyond just being together.

Case in point, I haven’t seen Al in over 30 years, and if I had a chance to see him face to face, I really wouldn’t want to be doing an activity beyond sipping a coffee or a beer when we got together. I’d want nothing more than some good time to lime.

Full appreciation

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Last night Inquiry Hub Secondary had our open house to introduce our school to potential new students and their parents. It’s a bit of a challenge being a very small program that requires students to decide not to go to their closer, local high school and commute to another school away from their friends. But then we run an event like this and we hear speeches from our Grade 12’s, who share how rich their experience has been, and I realize why kids come here.

For me it is the student participation on a night like this that charges my battery. They come to share their interests, their inquiries, their time and labour, to showcase our school… their school.

It makes me feel lucky to be their principal; to be part of this community; to work with an amazing staff. An event like last night’s open house leaves me in full appreciation of the job I have, and the work that our team does to support students, who are also our amazing school ambassadors.

It was special

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The reason we gathered wasn’t a happy one, but we took the opportunity to gather.

I became a teacher in 1998, and I joined a staff where 14 of 28 of us were brand new with another 2 teachers that had less than a year’s experience. It was Como Lake Middle School, and over the next 9 years I worked with an absolutely incredible staff.

We learned so much together. We had so much fun. When I speak to former students from that era they all share one or more of these quotes:

“We could tell that you liked being teachers.”

“We could tell you were all friends, liked each other, and liked coming to school.”

“We could tell you liked us and cared about us.”

“You guys made middle school fun.”

I thought I’d try high school or another school after 5 years, and I stayed for 4 more because it was too hard to let go of such a fantastic community. These people helped sculpt me as an educator and a leader.

Connecting with them yesterday reminded me of what an amazing group of people I ‘grew up with’ as an educator.

I feel blessed to know these people.

Tradition is peer pressure from dead people

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I wrote the title of this post and stuck it in my drafts months ago. I just had to google it to find the source:

“Traditions are just peer pressure from dead people.” ~Eliot Schrefer

While I don’t fully agree, and think certain traditions can build camaraderie and community, I also see the point of this perspective.

Is a tradition something that adds value to an experience or is it just a way to hang on to old ideas and ways?

Is a tradition a chance to feel connected to a special experience, like graduation, or is it simply a formality with little to no meaning?

Is a tradition simply a pompous way to keep change at bay, or is it something that provides a new group with an experience they want to pass on with pride?

I think too often the word tradition is used as a mechanism to pass down ideas and ideals that are no longer needed. And while we can think of ceremonial traditions as ways to create a shared experience, other traditions, around doing things the old ways because somehow things were better ‘back then’… are really just like peer pressure from dead people.

Daily-Ink by David Truss

Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.

Tag Archives: community

Design, purpose, and practice

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Family owned businesses

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Defining and Understanding Community

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Alumni reunion

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‘Le-we-go-lime’

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Full appreciation

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It was special

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Tradition is peer pressure from dead people

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