{"id":1951,"date":"2013-09-23T17:50:44","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T00:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2017-04-10T14:51:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-10T21:51:47","slug":"web-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/2013\/09\/23\/web-of-change","title":{"rendered":"Web of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back from an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating weekend at Web of Change 2013. I reconnected with old friends, met internet colleagues in person, and joined an amazing community of people working to make the world a better place. I was a little nervous about the hype of the conference (the words “life changing” were used), but I threw my cynicism into the opening bonfire, and let my heart open.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We discussed ways to improve our personal ecology and professional resilience, examples of the potential positive uses of big listening<\/a>, and nerded out about building online tools for social change. We waterslid and kayaked in a dammed lake, danced under the stars, and dashed through the much needed rain.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1951\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunset on the courtyard<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
\"Steering<\/a><\/p>\n

Steering the discussion<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
\"IMG_1927\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hickory Creek<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
\"My<\/a><\/p>\n

My new best friends<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

At the closing circle, Steve Andersen shared this poem about the experience:<\/p>\n

Recharge Zone<\/em><\/p>\n

The aquifer of my soul,
\nthe deep, ancient spring
\nFrom which life and love and work emanate
\nWas drawn down, by the drought of daily life
\nThe hot wind of conflict,
\nThe La Ni\u00f1a of impossible choices.<\/p>\n

With a parched heart I arrived in these hills,
\nMy roots straining down through the soil,
\nYearning for the sustaining water
\nno longer within reach.<\/p>\n

Like countless before me I turned my face upward
\nscanning the horizon for sign of relief,
\nwishing I could feel the Texas firmament let loose upon me.<\/p>\n

And you, you all, you rolled in like laden clouds scudding across the blue,
\nyou all brought the rain.<\/p>\n

Gently at first, then fiercely drumming with relentless joy,
\nFour days your life-giving drops fell upon me,
\nWarm, elemental, rivulets comingling,
\nRecharging the unseen reservoir of love
\nIn my heart.<\/p>\n

And now. Now I am ready. Ready to feel the sun on my body and know I won’t wither. Ready to bravely walk back into the desert of adversity with no fear of thirst. Ready to go into the world and let our brothers and sisters drink from the spring of love inside me.<\/p>\n

The spring of love that flows anew, because you brought the rain to the hills of Texas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back from an amazing, exhausting, exhilarating weekend at Web of Change 2013. I reconnected with old friends, met internet colleagues in person, and joined an amazing community of people working to make the world a better place. I was a little nervous about the hype of the conference (the words “life changing” were used), but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[114],"class_list":["post-1951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-work","tag-webofchange"],"geo":{"latitude":30.5532818,"longitude":-98.120224,"description":"Marble Falls, Texas, 78654, US"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1962,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions\/1962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}