1 location
Good venue

The market place was in a good space and the big tables worked well for meals.

The Food was ok.
No coffee after meals seemed strange for a hotel.

Some of the workshop rooms were too small for workshops they hosted.

2 programme
Mixed
The physical programme looked good, perhaps it could be printed on glossy paper?

Ceildh/pub quiz - missed the pub quiz. Not sure it worked.

Optional worship times
Good/fine.
Seemed (understandably) constrained by venue restrictions,

Morning prayers sat am
Informal to the point of seeming unprepared. Took a slightly bizarre turn with invitation to confession of secret sins or headaches part.
In general fine

Rural youthwork workshop
Good/Fine
Some useful questions

Zoo
Best bit of the weekend.

Main sessions sat am,pm sun am
Key note Speaker spoke entertainingly and told nice stories. Not sure his message actually fitted into what the weekend needed to say to the audience.
The band musically were fine, although they only reflected one way of worship.

3 Scottishness
Good to see that workshops were mostly run by Scottish based youth workers but I think my main reflection was the conference didn't feel particularly Scottish. Deep Impact is marketed as Scotland's national youthwork conference, but I felt it lacked a distinct Scottish voice. If it was there which it may have been, I couldn't find it.
The worship sessions seemed to be based on a vineyard churches model of worship, (Californian 70's Jesus people).
The speaker was English and all his examples were English, entertaining and fun but English.
Is there a distinctively Scottish model of worship which could be used? What would that look like?

4 Development
I wonder how different the programme was in form and structure from the first deep impact? Not too much from my hazy recollection. I wonder if there is scope for a radical rethink and reorganising of the programme.
I may have missed it, but there seemed a lack of edge to the conference which is the raison d'être of youthwork?

the weekend conference seemed to go well, and people seemed to enjoy it. I enjoyed parts of it as well and hope this feedback can help the consideration and planning of the group who organise the next one.

As I listened I started to wonder why young people haven’t caught onto yoga as a spiritual discipline. Why when you hit 20′s and beyond does yoga start to become something accessible and open to you. What are the barriers to this experience. Why do young people not respond to it? Are young people spiritual in a specifically adolescent way? Is it cultural norms rather than spiritual norms which close the door?

As I thought about this I wondered about young people.
I believe young people, like every person is inherently spiritual. Has a curiosity about spiritual things and develops ways of being/ acting/ understandings which reflect this.
Yet one main stream spiritual activity, which has dual benefits, and seeming agnostic view of religion, seems not to hit the spot.

What does hit the spot. What is the language of this spot and where does it exist/ can it accessed. My suspicion is that it is a foreign country, they do things differently there,(as someone once remarked.) I wonder what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like?

Could it be online.
I wonder.

Graciousness is a quality of mind that does not separate truth and beauty. Talk of truth always makes it sound as if truth were the cardinal virtue. yet without beauty, truth becomes blind and can be turned into a blunt and heartless imperative. When we hold beauty and truth together, truth will always have a sense of compassion and gentleness. Sometimes the so-called facts of a situation actually tell us little or nothing about the heart of an experience. Only in the light of beauty can we come to see what is really present. This is true also of the way in which we view our own life. If we were to describe our life strictly in terms of its factual truth, most of its interesting, complex, and surprising dimensions would remain unmentioned. The gracious eye can find the corners where growth and healing are at work even when we feel weak and limited. It is no wonder that Jesus said; the gentle shall inherit the earth.

From Divine Beauty, The Invisible Embrace, by John O’Donohue.

oft of an evening, I read the Harvard Buisness Review, this one is from september 2008. Contained within it is a great article from Ed Catmull, Pixar Studio President, called, “How Pixar fosters Creative community.” As part of the article, he outlines some of the Pixar communities shared beliefs;
- Talent is Rare
- Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capacity to to recover when failures occur.
- It must be safe to tell the truth.

it sounds pretty awesome but i wonder how well each of these would change into some of the communities i live and work in.

but it was the statement directly after these beliefs which caught me.
- We must constantly challenge all of our assumptions and search for the flaws that could destroy our culture.

how, what, hi. [puzzled but curious face]

Love it, but could this apply to the communities i am a part of.
i wonder how this could work within a church community?
(sounds as unlike general assembly as anything could be.)
my wanderings are under formed but are wondering.

more later

solas2010 was class
you should have been there.

great music, speakers, weather, activities, and fun for all the family.
it was great to be a part of something like this.
where sourcing affordable, local produce, sold at affordable prices, (£2 for an organic venison burger. nice!) was as important as getting the right band. Where giving the festival the right feel & vibe was more important than having a pub.

It was a delight and joy. I still can’t quite believe how well everything went. Someone gave me feedback based on turning Solas from a 4star festival into a 5star. Trust me, a 4star rating is deserved and accurate. It really was good. You should have been there.

thanks to lots of people I worked directly with including,
Dominic,
Hoggy & Gordon @GBR,
Ben & E&MS crew,
Bill,
Sam,
Martin & Dave,
Jonny @Wiston
and the solas directors.

Here’s to many more.

PS Becoming a Solas Saint would be very helpful. please consider helping Solas to grow and develop the conversation between Arts, Justice & Faith, http://www.solasfestival.co.uk/give.php

Changes.
They come in some unexpected places.

You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow
We had our mindset
(I made a lot of mistakes)
All things know, all things know
(I made a lot of mistakes)
You had to find it
(I made a lot of mistakes)
All things go, all things go
(I made a lot of mistakes)

I was working 1 to 1 with a young person who came up with three rules. I came up with seven others (I had a fair idea where the session was going), so here fro you i present our rules for a group of survivors lost on a desert island somewhere.

1 – No eating people
2 – No murder.
3 – Only talk about yourself in the third person
4 – create tribes
5 – rotating leadership structure
6 – share food
7 – compusary fitness classes
8 – no ugliness
9 – national dance to be performed everyday.
10 – you must keep the rules

If you would like to come and live on our desert islan I am selling tickets at £1000000000.99 per person, available from the usual outlets!

the way YW’s try and deal with situations.
the areas YW’s choose to work in.
the young people YW’s work with.
the things that frustrate YW’s.

this really hit home in one exercise we did .
the first part created a continuum between the words ‘flight’ and ‘fight’
we were asked, ‘in relation to conflict, what is your initial response’
Accepting the flaws that the false dichotomy raises, I took part.

I stood close to the ‘flight’. my initial reaction is to avoid conflict, not to rush headline into or cause it knowingly, (there are exceptions…). I was quite far away from everyone. and quite noticeably not part of a group near the flight side, there was quite a group near the fight category though.

The second part of the exercise was similar but instead of a continuum the trainers set up a large triangle with the words ‘out and shout’ , ‘silent and hidden’ & ‘talk and sort’ at each point. “these are the tree responses to conflict. Thinking about your childhood what were you brought up with.”

This statement annoyed me. First the way the language is used in the three point statements is flaws the entire process and creates a ‘correct answer bias’. Secondly I am not sure that these are the main three ways to deal with conflict. But as I had decided not to overthink things, i tried to get over that. It was the subsequent questions of ‘ What approach do you use’ which was significant.

As there was a sudden rush to the ‘talk & sort’ sign. I didn’t rush. I went kind 50% on the line between ‘talk & sort’ and ‘hidden & silent’. Again I was on my own, nearest to the ‘hidden & silent’ sign and quite clearly out of the crowd.

The reality for me is that sometimes I need to be quiet and deal with things. Youthwork is build on communication and working together. Creating space for reflection, learning, growth and understanding within the relationship. To be me within that relationship I need to be me. ‘Talking and sort’ isn’t me.

So where does that lead me. It does confirm my suspicions that I am not the A-typical youthworker, but the conclusions to my thoughts aren’t fully formed, but I am theorising. I have some ideas but don’t quite know how they form together yet into a coherant thing.

As soon as I know…

Picture of behaviour I find Challenging

“there is no such thing as challenging behaviour, just actions, and how you respond to them.”

last week I ended up in Ayr for two days of training run by LEAP, organised by YouthLink Scotland and paid for by the Scottish Government.

The LEAP philosophy revolves around provoking personal reflection and change coming from yourself.so every discussion is very focused on the participant, their feelings, their reactions, their thoughts and their processes. as all you have the power to change is yourself. I did think about preforming the entire second day only speaking about myself in the Third person but decided that maybe not taking the process seriously!

some reflections

It was good to be able to take time and think about the work I do.
The course was entertaining with a good mix of theory and practical stuff to do.
My aims at the beginning of the course was to take time to think/reflect and to be challenged. I think i achieved this (This seemed to set me apart from everyone else who seemed to be asking for new techniques and solutions to problems.)
It was good to meet with different people who were prepared to work to be honest and open with each other.
It was good to be geographically somewhere new.
I quite enjoyed the role play stuff.

Several things occurred to me outwith these direct reflections. one thing was that i have been to training with a different organisation who work with LEAP, and their training course was an almost complete ‘lift’ from what LEAP did and do. this got me thinking about how fair a critique of youthwork being a profession which is happy with ‘simulacre’ was.   This copying is prevalent in some of the youthwork I hear about and see. Perhaps I am being judgemental because I am comfortable thinking about things,  writing my own material for everything, being creative with a topic, and trying to engage with people in new ways. not every worker can do this comfortably. ‘Simulacre’ seems to be growing though and everyone can be subject to it. I should point out I am unsure if this is the fault of the worker, the manger or the employing agency. (By ‘simulacre’ i mean copying without giving credit, or knowing who credit should go to.)

Youthworkers are remarkably similiar. (why?)

the way i choose to work with young people seems to be affirmed by being on this course. (I think…)

I need to think more….(hmmm. more later possibly?)

anyway all in all a good two days. nice people, good time to think, good to paddle in the sea,

Good to be