Gems & Notes #2

Learning and noticing lately.

I wrote this post while listening to the album of Anthony Hamilton: What I’m feelin’.

On Zooming in. Zooming out. Making Maps.

“Going through the exhibition—Cartes Imaginaires [Imaginary Maps] at the BNF François Mitterand—I noticed myself looking at things that other people were pointing too. I started to see a new perspective in getting curious about what others were seeing. The delightful thing was that I saw so many details I would never have noticed if I was trying to see everything and soak it all in. The value wasn’t in seeing it all, but the delight in seeing.” — Anne Ditmeyer

In April I also went to this exhibit in Paris and enjoyed it. My focus per artefact/map was also deliberated.

While wandering in the spaces of the exhibit I didn’t read most of the cartels but looked slowly at the maps while appreciating the beauty. I felt the unique artistry and intent of each map maker.

This is the part of the exhibit that touched me more deeply because of my Asian roots and my love for imaginary places.

“The second section presents legendary worlds—those imaginary places once believed to be real. Blending reality with the fantastical, cartographers assigned them a location on Earth: Atlantis, the Kingdom of Prester John, El Dorado and the Garden of Eden take shape on the globe. This section takes visitors to the edge of the earthly and celestial worlds.

Non-Western maps, particularly Buddhist ones featuring Mount Meru, reflect a desire to anchor mythical places with strong symbolic and cosmological significance within the physical world.” — BNF François Mitterand

Last but not least this exhibit makes me resurface an oldie on mapping. I wrote:

When I revisit those print and digital maps, I am proud of my work and creativity. I feel enthusiastic about subtracting or adding more dots and insights.

My hunch, vision, mindset, practices and the context of our modern world are my compasses for doing so.

Those maps are resources and archives. Unique timestamps and artful visual synthesis that I can refine and re-use in another context or project. This is why mind mapping is a useful and creative way to nurture my boundless curiosity and sensemaking.

What are your compasses and activities to nurture your boundless curiosity and sensemaking?

At the library near the exhibit three books caught my attention, too. On my reading laters list.

Back to the — Anne Ditmeyer‘s blog post:

“Often we can get stuck focused on the nitty, gritty details of something and that’s not always helpful. In life, it’s also important to remember to zoom out and look at the larger picture. It helps put things in perspective and reminds us of the bigger “why.” 

This is a reminder and a nudge to myself this year and the years to come.

On Turning some Blog Posts into a Printed Book

In those podcast notes, I wrote in 2021:

DyeSubCast Episode 9

Even though I have never had the opportunity to meet Michael Josefowicz face to face, I can sense his kind-hearted nature from our past interactions through Twitter Tennis and remote collaboration on a print and transmedia project a few years ago. His knowledge and expertise in the Printernet world are truly remarkable. Thanks to the Universe for its clear communication abilities.

Here are some notes I took while listening to this discussion:

Paper-based media is the most effective for meaningful conversation. It is the result of reflecting on the paper with a pencil, highlighting text, setting it aside, and revisiting it later, transforming it from nothing to something of greater value with ink and prints. Experiments in content creation.

Printernet establishes a foundation for dialogue. For businesses in your region, profitable publication and consistent bulletins are essential. Print everything feasible to distribute in your print stores. Cultivate your image to develop a state-of-the-art facility with the ideal audience. To achieve success, you need one thing: control over your story. Enhance it with a compelling image. Utilize Google Docs for seamless editing, then convert to PDF.

Five years laters I got help to turn few of my blog posts I hand-picked carefully into a printed book via Pixxibook. Thanks to Harold Jarche and François Lavallée who shared this tool in our PBCC community.

“PixxiBook transforms your blog into a Real Book with ease. You have already put great effort into creating your blog: selecting the best photos & writing outstanding text. Now, use PixxiBook to leverage all of that effort to create your own blog book in a few simple steps.

Our streamlined & automated creation process will have your book ready in minutes.”

I can’t wait the delivery to discover the unique tapestry of my personal learnings and reflections woven artfully with my words, photography, and hand-picked quotes.

This small project I did makes me think of a bigger project I also completed five years ago: Tapestry Book. And the deep work behind the scenes.

Writing, editing, formatting, and designing my ebook on connectedness and continuous learning take time, discipline, pause and persistence. It is an emotional journey.

I don’t know if I would write a Tapestry Book II or even a book series. What I know is that I bring back my blogging mojo. In a unfrequent way. When time allows. When I feel the need to write and unleash deep thoughts and observations.

On How Ice Defines Us

“This is a bit of a different kind of video – created together with Sohvi and her research project at the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.

The short documentary explores the role and agency of ice in shaping Arctic futures by following a sailboat journey through the Northwest Passage and an overwintering in Kalaallit Nunaat.

The documentary is part of the Planetocene2025 research project which proposes a new paradigm for world politics: the Planetocene, which emphasizes that all forms of life – including humankind – are dependent on the well-being of nature.”

On Hosting

Thanks to Meredith Lewis who shared this post on Mastodon and LinkedIn so that it can be on our radar.

“Because the host is the embodiment of gathering in an age of scattered everything. The host gives time, gives energy, sometimes gives snacks. All in the name of the disappearing art of making others feel seen.Because being a host is to join the quiet rebellion of saying presence matters more than performance.” Marc Cinanni on the warm and lovely art of hosting, writing for the House of Beautiful Business’ Beauty Shot.” — House of Beautiful Business

Resonating louder as I am myself not just a teacher but also a workshop host in the schools/community I spend time and my energy these days.

“we’re built on distance but held together by a need for one another. We’re bound by closeness, attention, and the invisible attraction of care.

(…) Have you ever noticed how a great host moves around a room? They’re slower. They’re steady. They’re tuned to the pulse of the room, not their own performance.Their presence is already organizing the room long before a single word is spoken, and it lingers long after everyone has gone.”

In this oldie in which I reflect on community I somehow thought about those practices, too:

Being in Community Motion

As a host of gatherings, conversations and activities such as the community book club and the host of future skills workshops. I enjoy being the master of ceremony, host, animation and the captain of cohort/group/crew to observe how social dynamics evolve fast and slow over one hour or day, whether through online community book clubs or F2F workshops to develop social skills.

I noticed through my experience that it is about the energy that comes from me.It can be supercharged when people come together with resources: curated and created content, learning circles, silence and chatty moments. We use collaborative tools and analogue, physical movement and peer observations/feedback.

It is also about the velocity and serendipity of conversations and the random collision of participants who may be reassured to know what the plan of an event is in the kick-off of a workshop or a book club. But then we do something completely different and unique with outputs they/I haven’t predicted. It is about embracing not knowing and exploring at large with our boundless curiosity. This is about innovating to test the water, making sense by looking back to look forward while activating our superpowers, actionable insights and small caring networks and communities.

And the journey doesn’t stop when the workshop or the book club stops. It can and must continue through follow up resources, future sessions or reviews of past ones to convene and keep developing members of doers.

Those last insights from the House of Beautiful Business blog post are music to my ears:

“The host is often left alone with that quiet pulse, long after everyone has gone, a place that still needs their care.

That magic pause needs to be noticed, not broken. As a host, you connect with what just happened, you take a few minutes to remember, to jot down the moments of ease, the awkward pauses, the small sparks of connection before they fade away. And somewhere in that reflection, you may finally see it clearly: that transformation doesn’t happen in the moment itself, but in the “emptiness.”

This is sometimes what I experience when the cohort is gone after the bell has rung if I am in a classroom.

I intend to revisit my book notes on the Art of Gathering by Priya Parker to refresh and recalibrate my work practices in the trenches.

Did you enjoy this post? Check out the Tapestry Book.