Category: work

Making space

community reflection work No Comments

Since I’ve come back from my summer break, I’ve been working with Youth Space Latrobe who are on an important mission to co-design a new space for young people in Latrobe Valley. If you know a young person who has great ideas and would like to participate – please share this with them. It’s a huge opportunity and responsibility.

I had the opportunity to share our process of making The VRI space with them.

It was satisfying to remember and talk about the important background work we did with Rosalea Monacella, Craig Douglas, the amazing team from ReActivate Latrobe Valley and our community. I speak to Rose very often since they’ve moved overseas, but still miss having her around. We did so much together- winter and spring festivals, #getsunflowered, 50 Mile Farmers market and especially for me The VRI. We met with countless community groups, businesses and stakeholders.

It’s good to reflect. I’m so busy moving on to the next project or program that I don’t look back on all that’s been done.

I showed the clip that was produced after our consultation.

I found our initial design concept presentation for The VRI which we were calling LV Community Shed or VRI Hall at the time, before we got our branding from The View From Here.  It’s tattered from sharing (as shown in photo). So many conversations and meetings around that big pile of paper.

The Design Concept Presentation for The VRI

Further reading:

http://blog.outr.org/2013/11/reactivate-latrobe-valley-workshop.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/04/the-vri-creative-community-space.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/07/vri-hall-lidar-and-photogrammetry.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/07/vri-hall-vr-exterior-photogrammetry.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/07/vri-hallvr-interior-photogrammetry-model.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/07/vri-hall-vr-lidar-model.html

http://blog.outr.org/2014/09/reactivate-latrobe-valley-vri-working.html

*A lot of this info was on my old blog that disappeared during a server crash where I was hosting it. It’s still on the Internet archives but I don’t know how to get it back. If you know please tell me.

– http://web.archive.org/web/20150228071420/https://johblogs.com/

Plastic and other conversations

learning reflection work No Comments

Plastic free July starts today.  I’m impressed with the efforts by those around me to take up the challenge. We had Tammy from Gippsland Unwrapped come to speak to us at The VRI Sunday Talk last month. She told us about her first time challenge and her ongoing quest to reduce plastic in her life. Her approach and the consistent way she has worked towards making a difference in her personal life was motivating. She has some great resources on her blog if you are considering it.

It’s an empowering feeling to act on an issue you have with the world. We all have things we feel strongly about. When I scroll through my Facebook feed I read the many ways people want change. I respect the efforts others go to, such as Tammy and those joining her in reducing waste, to be the change. I have switched to a bamboo toothbrush (compliments of my wonderful daughter) and will take my own bags to our 50 Mile Farmers Market tomorrow. I still have a long way to go though.

50 Mile Farmers Market @The VRI

I was at the VicHealth Latrobe Community Challenge workshop today with a group of people – all passionate about projects to make a difference. At lunch we had a conversation about cling wrap and it’s overuse, when my friend chose a serviette over a plastic bowl for her lunch because she is taking up the challenge. I looked at my plastic bowl and thought oops. I’ll make a better choice next time. It is actions that make change and surrounding yourself with good role models :).

The VicHealth Community Challenge led by Spark Strategy has been interesting and we have grown our ideas much faster than we could have without it. They have shared this great toolkit – DIY – Development, Impact & You. So many great tools !  I’ve been reflecting on my practices in the last couple of months and getting lots of new tools. I attended Telstra Imaginarium facilitated by Thick nearly a month ago and whilst I missed some sessions due to a cold that swept through The VRI taking it’s turn with each of us, I gained some great resources there. I met people from non-profits across Victoria who are working with new tools to solve problems.

Almost Quarter Time

work No Comments

April is a blink away.

I can’t shake this sense that things aren’t happening fast enough. The time is passing very fast, perhaps that’s where all the speed is.

 

IMG_3899I put a photo of our #getsunflowered project on my Facebook page last night. When the sunflowers were there, I was so focussed on getting the courtyard finished, I didn’t stop and smell the sunflowers nearly enough. I’m glad I took photos.

A learning experience.

See those tall sunflowers in the photo – that is the patch where we had the compost from the last crop. Photographic evidence – composting works. They grew faster, taller and there were more flowers in that patch.

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