In the case of an emergency, who would you call?  Imagine a personal crisis happens in your life, who are the people you call for help and support. In a recent community conversation looking at building on the assets in our communities some one mentioned the ...

Inspired by the passion, energy and ideas at the last “In Search of Hospitality” conversation at the super welcoming Goodman Centre. We identified some of the assets within our organizations and  we made plans for identifying and building relati...

Hosted an “In Search of Hospitality” conversation with community builders in Madison: We talked about the places where we each find radical hospitality in our neighbourhoods and the significance of these people and places. Groups like the Wisconsin...

“Like A Rolling Stone” was recorded 50 years ago this week. Reportedly Bob Dylan had been writing the song over weeks and even referred to the song as “vomit.” Al Kooper was invited by a friend in the band to hang out as they recorded and he sat in the...

I’m reading a book, “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon. This is an easy, fun read about 10 things “…. nobody told you about being creative.” Kleon encourages readers not to “throw any of yourself away: don’t feel like you have to toss any o...

This past weekend an impromptu concert popped up in the park in my new neighborhood. The group that performed at the gazebo brought together musicians from a half dozen bands. They invited neighbors to bring their instruments and join in and one person sang a ...

I was traveling a lot over the past 2 weeks and was struck by the power of and things to be learned from community. In Cincinnati I learned that at a Neighborhood Council meeting the neighborhood officer reported that the crime statistics were at the lowest po...

On a recent visit to Cincinnati I went out for a run from a friend’s house where I was staying.  I have some knee issues and now run for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute. I caught up with a guy who was carrying a plastic grocery bag and picking up t...

I stopped on a bike ride a few days ago and sat on this picnic table to look at the lake. Within a couple of minutes a man walking by with a white bucket, a tackle box and a fishing pole asked if I would share my table. He needed to rest as he had […]

A key “teacher” in my life was David Schwartz who wrote a compelling book, Who Cares?- Rediscovering Community. It speaks of responses that will lead to better more enriched lives for us all and about the remnants of hospitality that can still be f...