The last two days I was asked to guest lecture at a private college here in town. The course was Critical Thinking as part of a criminal justice program. The instructor had wanted something basically from Meditations on Violence about social conflict.
I got permission to wing it a little and worked on premises from "7" and MoV with a healthy dose of the new Conflict Communications paradigm and filtered through the pilot class on violence prevention...
New connections, a real synergy in the material... but the thing that really hit hard was that the people with the most need to understand it-- the former soldier, the two former gang members and the domestic abuse survivors were blown away. Not only did their experiences validate almost every piece of the talk, but the talk gave them perspective and tools and left them with a way to understand and change things. It rocked.
The official unveiling of the course will be in Minnesota on June 18th, followed by a hands-on class the next day. All will be team taught with Marc MacYoung and, if the past predicts the future, we'll have plans for three more courses and two more books if we talk to each other for an hour.
Plans are running along for a second-level seminar in Seattle (officially over half-full, 48 hours after the announcement) and a seminar in Boston August 8th. Probable shows in Montreal and a repeat and/or second level in San Francisco in September.
Flying out Sunday for the Rochester NY area-- one evening workshop, three days of private lessons and then tagging along with a survival class. Definitely need to put a new handle on the tomahawk. I'm excited about this one. Three days of training and it should cover the basics from anthropology to shooting. The crew seems really enthusiastic and talented. This isn't just a hobby.
Rats. I have, at last, eradicated all the rats from the house. Except one died a little hard and dragged his little rat body and the trap deep, deep into the walls between the upstairs and downstairs bathroom. I'm trying to come up with some way to secure the maggoty corpse without tearing out yet another ceiling. Gag.
The rats outside the house are doing fine. They have discovered that the cats stay out of the dog yard, there's always some dogfood to be had and our beautiful Great Pyrenees crosses think it is beneath their dignity to chase rodents. I've killed one and injured one so far. Five to go that we can positively identify. A little archery practice, maybe.
All with the usual-- writing, getting a tiller running, BBQ when the weather is nice...
And the VPPG. Last one went to two-on-one blindfolded groundfighting. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Did you get the corpse out? We had an infestation a couple of years back and had to poison the little buggers. The house is about 300 years old with thick walls and we were unable to get most of the bodies out. The smell took a few months to fade.
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