Social Change Book Club begins new life
By Howard Mason
Although no longer affiliated with Metro United Way, the regular participants of the Social Change Book Club have decided to keep it going. This is the fourth incarnation of the book club since its initial meeting in July, 2006.
The Social Change Book Club is still open to everyone who is interested in understanding, participating, leading, or supporting social change. Each month we select a book and get together to discuss. Selections rotate among three themes: social changes, how we work with others to make change happen, and the inner qualities needed to bring change into the world.
People just show up if they are interested–no RSVP, commitment, etc. It is great when people have read the book, but that is not a requirement to come and discuss.
We got this going because there is a lot to learn about how to make social change happen and people who are interested in changing the world need opportunities to share stories and experience community with others who care.
We meet the third Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. Our home is Heine Bros. Coffee, 119 Chenoweth Lane, St Matthews. We are grateful for the invitation and hospitality.
Maya Angelou’s Letters to My Daughter, our February 15 book, is her first original collection of writing to be published in ten years–anecdotal vignettes drawn from a compelling life. She writes, “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”
Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change by Adam Kahane is our March 15 book. Kahane suggests that power, our desire to achieve our own purposes, and love, our desire to heal the whole, are complementary drives. Both are required to effect sustainable social innovation and change.
If you would like to receive news of the Social Change Book Club, send an email to socialchangebookclub@gmail.com
I would love to join, or at least have a copy of the book list. February 15 is a holiday, so I won’t be able to make it, but please keep me posted on future events. I signed up for the emails.
please consider starting a facebook (or other social media) group for this organization so that when we read a book and the meeting gets snowed out…that we can still share out insights that we gleaned from the book. It’s free, easy, and no maintenance–and wanted !