Assignment | Auburn ELP BD Session 2 Building Community Sharing Stories of Experience of Practices in Context

Assignment for August Session

1) Review Guidelines for Talking Circles and Talking Pieces worksheet. 

2) Review the description below of Auburn's what Bridging Divides means within the context of healing centered leadership 

"Bridging divides is not about shallow agreement, least common denominator. Bridging divides is not about ignoring differences or pretending they don’t exist or don’t matter. Instead, for Auburn this work of bridging divides and transforming conflicts is about all of us, each of us, being rooted in our own traditions, bringing our whole selves, and encounter each other with open-hearted curiosity, respect, and hospitality.   

Auburn’s approach to bridging divides and conflict transformation ... is geared toward grounding, equipping, and connecting you for conflict transformation and bridging divides in the context of your community. This isn’t about parachuting into a situation of conflict to serve as mediators, but what it means to hold the shape of community so that it can sit with and work through conflict without bailing out, falling apart, silencing or shaming." 

3) Consider what "bridging divides" means for you as a leader in your context. 

4) Come prepared with an example from your context that you believe could benefit from the Talking Circle process. 

Optional reading: 

"Burn the Bridge," from Colorizing Restorative Justice, Living Justice Press, 2020