Lemonesque connector makes exubertea

Today I sent the following quick note to John McKnight, who has come to Sarasota many times over the past few years to share ideas with us and think together about asset-oriented approaches to community.  The ABCD approach that he has developed over the past three decades (ABCD stands for "Asset-Based Community Development") often describes a community focus on assets, rather than problems, as a "glass is half-full" approach.   

John,


Thought you might like this picture. When I saw this glass of iced tea, prepared by the neighborkids, on the kitchen table, I thought to myself:  we've been asking ourselves "half-full or half-empty" while the kids are seeing instead an opportunity to flourish the glass with a lemon wedge, and take it upon themselves to pick one off the tree in the backyard to add a special touch, which in turn makes the iced tea enticing to EVERY child present...

(:  allison
Sent on the Now Network™ from my Sprint® BlackBerry




...and here is John's response:


Lemonesque connector makes exubertea.
John


"Exubertea" is a reference to the proposal (or "contest entry," as the kids described it) that we, the C-C Neighborhood Scavenger Hunters, submitted to the Knight Foundation News Challenge back in December.  We titled our proposal:  ExuberNews:  Changing Our Community for the Better through Neighborhood Scavenger Hunters."  We explained that if we won the contest, we would use the prize money to go on weekly scavenger hunts "on the lookout for exuberance and 'good stuff' happening," and after each adventure, kids would partner with adults to write stories about our neighborhood, as seen through children's eyes. 

Here is a quote from our proposal, to give you a little taste of what it was all about:

"ExuberNews is oriented around exuberance, which as social science now confirms, both attracts and is contagious.  When information is attached to good news, it is more likely to spread and we are more receptive to hear it.  ExuberNews is also oriented around kids, who are naturally inclined to demonstrate curiosity and exuberance and so can attract and model this engagement for adults." 

It turns out we didn't win the contest this year, but hopefully soon we'll connect with some folks who want to co-invest in our ideas and efforts and inventions -- together with the neighborkids, who are most certainly our first investors!