== Thursday Agenda ==
* Check in
* Opening Blessing
* Project Work
** Brandon: Work on getting spacewiki.com back up
** Brandon: Pay ben for hotel
** Brandon: Remind John that I paid for taxi already
** Brandon: Beginner’s study guide draft
** Ben: Start work on Spring newsletter
** Eric: Research companies to install the culvert
** Eric: Read ThreePointEightBillionYears.com’s latest post about “How to make a religion”<done>
** Eric: Work on the idea of creating Gaia sculptures <passed to Patrick for now>
** Eric: Go for quick swim in the pool <will do after the meeting>
* Evaluation
* Closing Blessing
== Check In==
* Brandon … I'm really tired … stayed up reading last night, it was a bad idea
* Ben … I’m feeling kind of slow myself
* Eric … wow so many fireflies!
== Opening Blessing ==
Perspective is difficult to maintain. It's easier to get stuck in a viewpoint that focuses on lack and scarcity. May we bring freedom and fluidity to each other to be able to change easily from perspective to perspective, depending on what is appropriate to the situation --Blessed Be
== August Event ==
Accomodation
* Is it certain that Brandon will be in his new house (is that the one with the inlaw suite?
** Yes, it is certain
** Eric and Michelle will be staying with the Sanders and probably rent a car to ensure mobility to Michelle’s events.
Scheduling
*Michelle is busy Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the day. Eric has to be at her dance performance on Saturday at noon for an hour or two. Other than that while Michelle is busy, Eric is free to take part in SolSeed/EarthSeed events.
** Eric will be busy in mornings and evenings running Michelle to and from events
*Will John be interested in joining us again?
*How big an event do we think we can manage, given the time constraints etc?
What would the goals of the event be? Possibilities include:
* Planting an Acorn in Portland
* Recruiting Ola and her daughter to lead a ceremony
* Cement EarthSeed as a group!
** Have a meet(sic)-space Earthseed congregation in Portland
* 2nd Annual Shiny Green Festival
* Build bridges with communities of color in Portland
** Reading group of the Parable of the Sower in more diverse neighborhood (N. Portland is probably most diverse)
What pre-events/build up would we need/be realistically able to organize?
* Meetups every weekend? … probably not
** Meetups every weekend could bring a new group together like no other activity could so we should consider it (says the guy too far away to contribute to the effort)
** Consider creating an EarthSeed meetup group specifically to look for Octavia fans
== Scheduling for Solstice ==
* The weekend before is Brandon's sister's wedding and the weekend after is a “real” triathlon in Sun River
* Ben isn't available on Tuesday the 21st
* The Sanders may not have the gumption for a big trip away from Portland
* We could just attend the Earthseed Skype celebration and call it good?
** Eric: We can either contribute our energy to it or divert energy away from it to our own event … there's only so much energy to go around
** Of course we'd have to ensure the Earthseed event isn't during the wedding … Brandon and/or Shelley should use the Doodle to do that: http://doodle.com/poll/84yncq2wc7cf28n5
== Newsletter ==
The SolSeed Movement is suffering a little from event overload. The events we're organizing and attending are great, but the sheer number of them is starting to get overwhelming. Hopefully we can get some breathing room soon for our non-event-related projects. But meanwhile, here are the latest event reports:
* Fuller report on Contact Conference?
As I mentioned at the end of the last newsletter, I attended the Contact Conference on SolSeed's behalf from April 1-3 and presented a well-received talk there. But what about the rest of the event? Well, I finally got my notes from all the other talks organized and uploaded.
* English ivy removal event
Then on Saturday April 30th, we celebrated Beltane early by joining __ to help rescue trees in Portland's Marquam Nature Park from invasive English ivy.
* Shaping Change Conference
* Summer Solstice (TBD)
* Coming soon: Shiny Green Festival 2? Earthseed gathering? (TBD)
== Evaluation ==
* Ben … I felt really scattered. I spent a fair amount of time on Facebook. I made very little progress on my early start newsletter but that is OK because it is an early start. (Eric nods vigorously.)
* Brandon … I have all these things I want to do and don't feel like I have time to do them. I feel upset. (Ben is sorry to hear that.)
* Eric … I have so many different things to look forward to so I’m feeling positive. So I’m feeling out of sync with you guys. I want to give you hugs. I’m looking forward to going to Buckleberry and coming to Portland, and I just think that hiding behind all this overwhelm is an upward spiral.
== Closing Blessing ==
We came together to do the work. We came to do the work together. This work is meant to raise our spirits, connect us with our highest aspirations, and weave us feeling comforted and connected together. I hope that the strain of our growing pains is not too overwhelming for us. May your week be filled with life and love, family, friends, and a sense that life has purpose. -- Blessed Be