When I was a student in organization development and transformation, Harrison guided us thru two days of open space (before it became a "technology"). It was February 1989. I learned and used other methods in the years after - appreciative inquiry, talking circles, future search, Bohm dialogue, etc - but found that open space is my true love. I became an active participant in the planetary open space community, at OT and OSONOS conferences and on the OSLIST. I am one of the active poets on the list.

In 1996 I entered a doctoral program in recovering indigenous ways of knowing, and began to open spaces around issues of sustainability in Marin and Sonoma counties. I found some wonderful congruences between open space and indigenous practices of coming-to-balance, and wrote a PhD? dissertation based on the question "how does open space affect the worldview of people who participate in it?" I am of Jewish, Cornish, Cymry, and Scot ancestries, born and raised in California.

I'm here (at the conference) because the open space community is my home, and I'm excited about the Great Turning, Transition Town initiatives, and interested in communities of practice among graduates of transformative leadership training programs in the Bay area.

I'm a guitarist, tarot reader, and student of the Mayan calendar. I work at CIIS in San Francisco.