Peter Slattery

Welcome to 2010 and welcome to the website.

It’s about young people, not-so-young people, family, communities, social stuff…all the things that concern humans and what helps us flourish and what can distract us.  If there’s something you were looking for and can’t find it…just email me and I will do my best to direct you.            petersla@zip.com.au

You will need flash player for some of the vid things on this site. You can download it here for free. Also be aware that if you type something into ‘Search’ you may come up with items that seem, at first glance, disconnected from what you were looking for. I have put tags on anything that I think may be related to the topic you are looking for. If you look for something about Education for example, you may find results that include comments about relationships. This is because, as far as I can see, relationships between teachers and students seem fundamental to good education. So you may want to look at these items too, or if you prefer, scoot through to what you were more directly looking for.

And as always, do let me know if you think there is something that should appear here.

Cheers. Pete.

It’s time again. And good to say happy Mardi Gras to all. And to celebrate the celebration and remember the serious stuff behind it all. Buffed bodies not withstanding. Looking at some Youtube stuff lately it was disturbing to see comments about ‘fags’…the word used with no sense of humor or irony. So for the queer world and understanders and sympathisers…we have come a long way…and yes we still have a long way to go. Or put in reverse. We still have a long way to go, but ya know what? We’ve come a long way!

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

I really like this little ad. Yes, my boy has red hair so that’s probably part of it, but I also like it because:

• Standing up for some-one else doesn’t necessarily even require a single spoken word
• Here standing up for someone leaves the supported person with their dignity intact, their sense of self enhanced, their own power undiminished…and yet adds a sense of ‘you are not alone’
• No-one had to tell anyone. Yes this has to happen sometimes. Not always
• It seems real. A young person could do this.

I thought I should start with my own. Taking my 4 year old to school on the back of my bike. We turn to go up the curb and the hill slopes to my right. My right foot sticks in the bike stirrup and we start to topple down hill. Franticly I wiggle the foot free as 30 or so kilograms starts rotating and the front wheel whips up to face the sky. Planting foot on pavement my body does a 90 degree twist to keep my boy from hitting the deck. And I do it. He is saved. My back on the other hand, is not. My back has rotated but my body has not overall, moved. Sore back and visit to my physio. Thanks Steve.

This is what I have learned. And you must remember that I am basically an idiot. I know quite a lot about very little but not very much about almost everything else. I learned that children just expect to be saved. For them it is no big deal. So for me, while it was a gut-wrenching, nerve-racking, back-breaking near catastrophe experience…for my son it was just another day at pre-school. No big event at all. I just did what I should do and what was expected of me. What a great job I have. Him too.

Let me tell you why I am putting these two vids up on my website.

This first one because:

1. It’s about something important.  Ie encouraging people to get involved in the process of democracy
2. It does this in a really engaging way
3. The hiphop stuff is just sheer brilliance in itself.

This second one because:
1. The hiphop stuff is again just sheer brilliance
2.Funny is good
3.It continues, in its own way, to remind us of the political process.

Both of them are posted here because they continue to remind me that a really really useful way to present ideas of importance is through humour, lightness and useful and relevant spectacle. And if we want young people to be active in their worlds then these are good things to remember for those of us who work with young people. Especially those living on the edge.

Whether you love Richard Florida or love him less, he does say interesting things from time to time. In ‘Rise of the Creative Class’ he has the following to say….

‘As we have seen, most people do not quest after some workplace zen:They desire challenging work, good pay and reasonably competent management that does not get in their way.’  P 133

and…

‘…creative people and knowledge workers respond well to organizations with solid values, clear rules, open communication, good working conditions and fair treatment.’  P133

and…’failing companies’ are:

‘…beset with near constant stress, continuous uncertainty, chronic management turnover, frequent changes of direction and general chaos.’  Page 141

Would I be drawing too long a bow to ask just how might this all apply or not, to communities, to community work? To agencies in the welfare/youth sector? To the work we do with young people? To families? To how we spend out daily time? Hmmm…would it be time for coffee?

Ian Plowman, helpful and friendly person that he is, sent me an email in response to me referring on my website, to the terrific research he has done about what helps country towns flourish. I have cut and pasted Ian’s email below. Interesting stuff. And I am always keen to think about what these specific ideas mean for young people, for youth work, for the community sector in general, for running a school, for living in an apartment block……???…!!!…???

Thanks Ian. Keep it coming.

Hi Peter,

I’m pleased to see that my research still has currency.  Here is a summary of the main findings plus a link to the full report.

Given your blog entries on communication, you might also be interested in my current work, aimed at improving the resilience, creativity and dialogue within communities.  If you’d like to email me, I’ll send you an overview of a suite of techniques collectively known as ‘Meetings without Discussion’ and subtitled ‘Productive meeting techniques for helping people to contribute willingly, to listen respectfully, to consider deeply and to decide wisely’.  It has found effective use with teenagers, with government executives, with communities and with desert-dwelling indigenous peoples.  They all love it.

The most innovative country town had:
• The highest proportion of new residents,
• The highest level of home ownership,
• The highest average level of education,
• A high level of overseas travel,
• The fewest leaders,
• The highest proportion of people who had knowledge and expertise they were willing to contribute when required,
• A number of strong civic bodies in addition to Council.
• A Council that preferred to support civic projects in partnership with community groups rather than initiate or lead projects.
• A high level of passion and a low interest in the pursuit of funding.
• A higher proportion of professional people,
• Strong support for and pride in the artistic and creative dimension of its town.

In general innovative towns:
• Are not innovative because of a particular size, geographic location or particular industry,
• Are highly tolerant of diversity,
• Are very welcoming to visitors,
• Take pride in and contribute to their community, (participative democracy)
• Have a low dependency upon leaders and a high dependency upon idea and responsibility sharing,
• Have a low dependency upon governments.

A fundamental truth.  Most people have mobility choices: to move towards something that is attractive, away from something that is unattractive and to stay somewhere that is sufficiently attractive.  People who are the most mobile are commonly the most creative.  The innovative talent that most towns crave, they already have.  Intolerance will chase it away.

Recommendations:
• Invest heavily in diversity in every dimension,
• Invest heavily in leadership rotation, responsibility sharing and the growth of civic responsibility,
• Make all visitors feel welcome.  In particular, welcome the weirdo’s.  Form a visitors welcoming group.
• Promote your town shamelessly; talk it up; invest in it socially and financially; make it easy for others to want to do the same.

More information:
http://www.business.uq.edu.au/display/research/Research+Reports

Perhaps our paths might cross someday.

Warm regards,

Ian

More from Wes Fryer about censorship and the net, on what we can do, might do, should do, shouldn’t do…and picking the right response for the right event.

Blogging on 28th Jan 2010 Wes talks of an event in America that I didn’t know about. And what he has to say is this:

Today’s USA Today article, “Tennessee teen expelled for Facebook posting,” highlights the need we have in ALL our schools for social media guidelines. According to the article:

Taylor Cummings was a popular basketball star on the verge of graduating from one of Nashville’s most prestigious high schools until a post on Facebook got him expelled. After weeks of butting heads with his coaches, Taylor, 17, logged on to the popular social networking site from home Jan. 3. He typed his frustrations for the online world to see: “I’ma kill em all. I’ma bust this (expletive) up from the inside like nobody’s ever done before.”

Taylor said the threat wasn’t real. School officials said they can’t take any chances.

But the case highlights the boundaries between socializing in person at school and online at home. It also calls into question the latitude school officials have in disciplining students for their conduct online.

I think Jaime Sarrio’s choice of words in this introductory sentence is misleading. A “post on Facebook” isn’t what “got Taylor Cummings expelled from school.” Taylor’s decision to threaten the life of a school coach was the action which led to expulsion. The word choice of reporter Sarrio suggests the social media technology is to blame in this situation. Like many other scenarios, however, a social media platform provides documented evidence of inappropriate communication. The genesis of this problem does not lie with Facebook or social media more generally. As I stated in Wednesday’s post about the Pope encouraging priests to blog, in many cases “transparency is instructive and helpful, rather than undesirable.” That is the same point I made in my August 2008 post, “Josh Jarboe YouTube video controversy shows the value of transparent, publish-at-will technologies.”

There certainly ARE and should continue to be limits on the punishments school officials mete out in response to students’ off campus behavior with social media technologies. This case involving Taylor Cummings, who reportedly had a public Facebook page and was threatening school employees with physical violence, is very different from a case like that of Churubusco High School (Indiana) student athletes who were punished for slumber party photos they posted to a private Facebook profile over the summer. I wrote about this in November 2009 in the post, “Photographic privacy is over.”

What is your school doing NOW to proactively address these kinds of issues? Do you have a set of social media guidelines yet? Each of our schools do NOT simply need new “policies” to address social media issues, we need guidelines which can catalyze ongoing conversations about these issues and the themes of digital citizenship, digital reputation, and online ethics among all our school constituents. I have several good links to videos and other posts related to these issues on my T4T class overview under the heading, “Digital Footprints, Privacy and Information Disclosure.”

 

 

Doncha just love a playground where our kids can be exposed to the whole range of fun things to do with their bodies?

It’s noticeable.

The indigenous presence can be noted, if not everywhere, then constantly and in many places.Simplistic and lipservice? Or simple and respectful?

I kinda like it.

Here we are in Wellington New Zealand Aotearoa. And it is now 2010, and already I am delighted by what I have learned.

1. Travelling on aeroplanes causes accents. I boarded in Australia talking in a ‘normal’ accentless voice and after a couple of days I realised that I had an accent. Clearly caused by air travel.

2. Hills have two sides. Arriving at this insight has been enthusiastically encouraged by jogging in Wellington.

3. Start as you would like to continue. I got up on the first day of the year, had a black coffee, went for a jog, came back and did yoga; then had lunch with people I care about and who are important to me.

4. Don’t be seduced by good intentions. As much as I believe in 2. above, I know that human frailty and impulsiveness can de-rail the best of intentions.

5. Being human ain’t no excuse. As much as 3. above is true in terms of 2. above, I can’t use it as an excuse.

6. Asymmetry is good. Both in big picture arrangements and small picture design..

I am led to think this both by the layout of Wellington and the architecture of the city. I suspect the hills here have played a role in these developments.

7. Colour is good.
And Wellington constantly provides it.