Okay, now that I am cozy in my red, white, and pink cherry checkered pajamas, I can try to recollect the collective phone call from Sunday... though the substantive quality may be questionable considering I took sketchy notes, the astrological aspects were aspecting and the telewonkavator was telewonkingout!

10:43 a.m. CST

Three hours and 17 minutes prior to the call the sun had just entered the sign of Aquarius. The 2008 Aquarius challenge? Commitment to a collective endeavor contrasted with the inherent need to be a rebel, a nonconformist! The cool aspect of this contradiction? It illuminates our unique and remarkable qualities.


2:10 p.m. CST

sandpiper joins the collective call listening in trying to determine who is who and what is what... finally she identifies the participants... zach, inel, and scatter... agustina joins in by listening and makes an unexpected cameo appearance later in the call... we got to hear agustina's voice... hooray! :)

Alright so wud we talk about? Well, the discussion eventually touches briefly on the proposed icarus project structure which is still in the works... something like a hub-and-spoke model, a central hub with spokes (i think scatter mentioned three main spokes: media, website, and support network, but i am not sure if i heard this right...).

Though this might not be envisioned as your usual wheel, hubcap and spokes folks! cos there'd be spokes of all shapes and sizes in different places and spaces radiating out of the hubcap... er, hub.

The idea? To create a structure which encourages and allows for a greater number of people (everyone and anyone interested) to plug in how they want to the icarus project... to broaden the circle so that more of us have a voice and an opportunity to influence and guide the icarus project even if we aren't directly involved in organizing.

(Of course when we talked about organizing I wasn't sure if we were talking about organizing at a national level or local level or both?) Anyway, scatter had mentioned the possibility of having six people (the hub?) meet twice a month, but we got kinda sidetracked, and didn't really go into more detail on this.

Oh yeah and I had limited feedback on the above topic because organizing and structuring is not my strength. I can't see organization and structure that easily. But I still want to participate and contribute to our TIP community so i'll be like one of those wavy wacky placed spokes or something...hahaha!

Okay, the one other topic we mentioned before I rang off was the idea for the August Icarus Retreat in Tennessee at the Highlander Institute. (See scatter's post above for more details.) We talked about the possibility of having it the first weekend in August ... August 1,2,3 to be more exact... before everyone goes back to school... for a group of about 35 icaristas . We discussed the possible purpose for the gathering... to nurture, cultivate, energize, and galvanize as well as to provide skills...

Personally, I think I really like this idea...it has potential...

3:20 p.m. CST

sandpiper cuts out of the conversation and pirouettes to the park with her pooches so she doesn't know how the phone call wraps up!

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Addendum to notes by inel...

I've been on a handful of calls and this particular one felt more unfocused than usual. I think having agreed upon topic set ahead of time, a facilitator and note taker/poster would help in the future as it seems to have in the past. This past Sunday, we did not set a topic for the next call (2/17), who would put the shout out or any such thing.

Other stuff mentioned:

Zebras, Horses, Rats (i think i heard a roadrunner).

I was touched when Z said, "I'm waiting for something I can recognize."

Sascha talked a bit about the proposed structure and explained the hub/spoke concept that Sandpiper mentioned. Ideally a crew of 6 people, meeting 2xmonth with online agendas people can add to.

It was mentioned that enough inner structure needed to be in place prior to inviting others in.

The work that 7 did talking to people all over the place and the sometimes critical voices were referred to.
(notes here:https://site.icarusprojectarchive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10887)

It was acknowledged that TIP organizers have been on a winter break.

Sascha mentioned that TIP is financially doing pretty well.

TIP recently hired a new office manager, Mimi, who asked, "Who am I accountable to? What is it TIP does?" These questions still need to be answered.

As Sandpiper mentioned, we talked about a gathering in August for up to 35 people at the Highlander Center. Money would need to be raised and a budget set. Sascha mentioned putting a call out for some sort of written application to attend (which could feed other things) and have a process for reviewing them in place by 3/1.

It was briefly mentioned that the "Friends Make the Best Medicine" guide needed a 2nd Edition to shift the tone away from only 3rd person.

Call ended late. I felt less enthusiastic when we ended the call than when it began.
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