MEETING OF THE MINDS BULLETIN
February, 2012
Hello
friends....we send you greetings and hope that 2012 is going well for
you so far. Here are few items we want to share with you.
• DEBRIEFING WITH THE SAA
In
November, Kay, Gay and I met with Carolyn Manning and Leslie Winick of
the SAA to report on the M.O.M. event. With great enthusiasm, we told
our story, with an emphasis on what made it work and what made it
unique:
• The spirit of '59
was embodied in the original concept, creative planning, our strong
volunteer bench, and the enthusiastic response. Past reunions and other
class gatherings have fostered a sense of class identity which is alive
and well after fifty plus years.
• It was an "intellectual feast"
with a simple, flexible and uncrowded schedule. In fact, as an
"un-reunion", M.O.M. attracted many classmates who had not attended
class reunions in the past.
• The program design was ideal: the
idyllic summertime campus, the dSchool which unleashed our creative
juices, and our incomparable A-list speakers. Other program elements
that worked so very well: Open Space discussions, Jeffersonian Dinner
conversation, the Power Point presentation, Lagunita dorm life, breaking
bread together morning, noon and night!
• The personal touch in
our messages and responses to requests made everyone feel welcome on
arrival and ready to hit the ground running. The initial email survey
was indispensable, giving us valuable ideas for the program, schedule
and logistics, as well as confirming that we had enough interest to make
it a GO.
• The group's size and informal agenda facilitated
spontaneity, full participation and candid interactions with our
speakers and among ourselves. We shared the stories of our lives in an
atmosphere of support and trust.
• Building community:
for our three and a half days together, we built a true community.
Lifelong friends shared a new experience; new friendships were forged
between classmates who had never met before!
• Impact:
Participants reported on major changes in their lives as a result of
M.O.M. Many reported wanting to be more intentional and committed going
forward. The impact is best exemplified in this quote from a classmate: "These three days have made me want to re-invent myself."
Carolyn
and Leslie were very positive in their response, though we think
somewhat surprised, not that we had pulled it off but that we had
created something entirely new in the world of alumni activities. We
came away from the meeting understanding that the most critical success factor
was that M.O.M. was ALL OURS...from beginning to end, built upon what
we know about each other, our interests, passions and style. And of
course, now we know a lot more!
• NEXT STEPS?
Many
of you have asked when is the next one? We've realized we can't do it
every year because of the enormous effort required. We agreed, however,
that we want to infuse every future class of '59 event with the spirit of M.O.M.: the
warm welcome, full participation, learning, listening, and always
creating the space and the time for our great conversations.
We
promised the SAA we would provide a summary of the concept, planning
and execution, potentially as a model for other classes who might want
to do something similar, as well as a good record for ourselves. This
"M.O.M.-in-a-Box" summary is a work in progress!
• DONATIONS TO SPEAKERS' PROJECTS
At
the final accounting of our M.O.M. funds, we had a surplus, thanks to
the greater than expected turnout. We decided the best use of the
surplus was to donate to the projects that each of our faculty speakers
told us about. Your planning team felt that you would all support this
decision because of your enthusiastic response to their projects. These
donations will be on their way soon, and we can provide details when
they are complete.
• CLICK HERE….
Sent along by Emory Lee...
As
a spectator on the second floor of the d.school building, you might
observe students standing at a project table or sitting on foam cubes or
an assembly of executives paired up at cocktail tables doing some
cutting and pasting.
• CLASS NOTES & OTHER MAGAZINE ARTICLES
In
the January/February issue of Stanford Magazine, check out Margi's
column for a great report on Meeting of the Minds. This is the first one
she was able to write after the fact so it includes some of the
unexpected things that actually happened! Magazine timelines being what
they are, her earlier columns had to be written before the event and
published after the event. It takes a creative writer to deal with
this!
Also,
FYI, take a look at page 29 for a piece on the Longevity Center and
page 43 for a book review of "The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and
Their Quest to Ban the Bomb".
• IN CLOSING....recently
I heard Tom Brokaw call ours "the luckiest generation". Our parents
left us their "greatest" legacy in the world of opportunity we have
enjoyed. I like his term a lot better than being called the "silent"
generation. In any case, it's wonderful knowing that you are all out
there making a joyful noise.
Keep in touch!
Gail Stypula, on behalf of THE QUAD - Kay Grace, Gay Hoagland, and Howard Elkus.
