Patterns of Engagement

Sheltering a budding promise, close to the earth

Ken Gillgren — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:00:58 +0000

I took several photos at the Rainier Beach Urban Farm project, at several different levels of scale, from entire greenhouses, to rows of pumpkin or squash runners apparently vying for the longest reach, and even clusters of neatly arranged seedlings in a box. And then this first swelling of a future squash or pumpkin beneath [...]

Where natural rhythms prevail and refresh

Ken Gillgren — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:00:30 +0000

Urban greenery, in parks, gardens, and sheltered pathways, turns the experience of the city inside out. For some city dwellers, everything “outdoors” is for getting from one place to another place in as little time as possible; we mostly are “passing through” on the way to someplace else. Yet once in a while, we get [...]

When we become the peace that passes all understanding

Ken Gillgren — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:00:59 +0000

I kept watching for this moment to take a picture of the Peace sign that had been marking the progress of the prayer walk through Rainier Beach, sometimes leading from the front, other times lingering further back. Here, the sign stands in respect, bathed in the light of a setting sun, anchored in the silence [...]

A sacred place for reclaiming the shared promise of young lives lost

Ken Gillgren — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:00:04 +0000

This curbside memorial, in all its exuberant chaos of blossoms, balloons, toys and statuettes, represents for me the awakening of the sacred in space, just as the church bell represents the emergence of the sacred in time. This is where it happened, where two lives were prematurely cut off. And this is where the community [...]

A yard sale network–and neighborhood event–you don’t want to miss

Ken Gillgren — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:00:01 +0000

Something about the make-shift assembly of this particular sign caught my eye. The neighborhood had been blanketed with the “branded” poster at the top of the photo, but this entire configuration displayed an ad hoc flow of imagination with a passion for capturing the attention of any and all passing by. The “branded” poster has [...]

For whom the bell tolls, and when—sacred rhythms that structure and interrupt the routines of life

Ken Gillgren — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:39:41 +0000

Church bells and carillons are the legacy of times past, when the rhythms of worship and prayer structured the lives of the surrounding community as a reminder of what time it is now, and what we are called to do with the time we have. And those same bells would interrupt routines in alarm or [...]

10+ musings on Liberating Voices and Civic Engagement

Ken Gillgren — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:27:03 +0000

Here are a few overall musings on the Liberating Voices Pattern Language and Civic Engagement, based primarily on conversations that occurred during and after the series of workshops I conducted at The Evergreen State College over the past two years, while also drawing upon my experience in community development with the Institute of Cultural Affairs [...]

Gratitude for Songaia, the Journey of a Song of the Earth

Ken Gillgren — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:30:24 +0000

This posting is something of a dedication for the new series of articles under the category of “Inner Voices,” which I have introduced in another posting as a music-based, rather than psychological, metaphor for a vital aspect of emerging community. I’m not even going to try to be rigorously consistent in my observations at this [...]

Inner Voices: Exploring the Mid-range Voices for Hints of Structural Community Innovation

Ken Gillgren — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:00:08 +0000

OK, it’s time to start anew, and to symbolize a fresh beginning, I’m opening up a new category, Inner Voices. I intend to use the term primarily in it’s musical sense and the structural development of complex harmonies, not so much in its psychological associations with internalized dialogue or personal identity construction, although I suspect [...]

Public Thinking Public Health 4: Preliminary Reflections

Ken Gillgren — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:30:07 +0000

This is the last of four articles focused on the Liberating Voices practicums conducted for the two Public Thinking Public Health classes held at Evergreen College at the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010. The earlier articles focused on the overall context for the sessions, the structure of the group breakout work, and the [...]