Sunday Open Thread – December 23, 2007

What I’m Thinking of Writing (and Podcasting) About Soon:

Love, Conversation and Community: I remain obsessed with the idea that

I owe my readers a further explanation of why I think polyamorism is a necessary ingredient of effective Model Intentional Communities. I also want to talk about the meaning of ‘leader’ in the above process, and whether or not ‘leadership’ in self-managed, non-hierarchical relationships, conversations and communities.

OK So How Do We Save the World?: Morphing Love Conversation and Community into a prescription for change. For example, in his acceptance speech this week, Al Gore said: “So today we dumped another seventy million tons of global-warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow we will dump a slightly larger amount.” How can Love Conversation and Community stop this? Can it?

Self-treatment: I’m ambivalent about modern medicine, and also about naturopathy. Ultimately I believe we need to learn to take charge, knowledgeably, of our own health and well-being. That means focusing on prevention of illness rather than treatment, on self-diagnosis and self-treatment as much as possible, and on drawing on the understanding of many, rather than just ‘experts’ and ‘specialists’. What I want to discover is a regimen for self-treatment, based on indigenous learning but informed also by the discoveries of modern medicine.

Have Customers Taken Power from Producers?: James Surowiecki thinks so: “Plenty of us shop the way Homer Simpson orders wine: buy the second-least-expensive thing on the list. And one obvious example of consumer irrationality continues to work in stores’ favor; namely, the Christmas shopping season itself. It’s not surprising that, as traditional tactics have become less useful, retailers have responded by making the holiday season weeks longer than it used to be. Still, there’s no disguising the fact that power has shifted from sellers to shoppers. And that’s left retailers in a strange position: soon the only hope of turning a profit will be to offer good value for money. What a radical concept!” Well…..maybe. Or maybe customer power is just an idealist illusion, like the other corporatist illusions: ‘Free’ markets, ‘free’ trade etc.

Vignette #8

Blog-Hosted Conversation #4: I’m going to interview one of the women who’s lived in a polyamorous relationship or circle, and who believes that such communities can work and are the natural way to live, and love. I have five candidates, but they are, understandably, a little shy about being spokeswomen for such a complex and controversial lifestyle. So be patient, this will be worth waiting for.

Possible open thread conversation: What’s your self-managed health regimen? When it is human nature to do what we must, then what’s easy and fun, how do you discipline yourselfto look after your health proactively?