Conversation Cafe

Last night our guest, Kate Cassidy, and moderator, Kristen Smith, led an interesting discussion on our thoughts about what “home” really means. The conversation took course as we questioned our own meaning of home and how our initial thoughts and feelings have changed over the years as we move, develop friendships and create new communities of our own.

Kate began the conversation by sharing her personal experiences and feelings around her sense of “home”. By sharing her experiences and research, she explained how her idea of “home” has changed meaning over the years. From her childhood house to adopting her dog and creating close relationships, “home” has developed in many different ways.

As our conversation continued, we explored many different issues around the idea of “home” and discussed how “home” is a feeling of belonging, sense of safety, connection and community.

What does home mean to you and has the meaning of home changed throughout your life?

Last night we explored the question “Do we still read for pleasure”? Guest, Liz Fleming, and moderator, Jon Eben Field, encouraged conversation around questions such as what it is that makes reading truly pleasurable? Is it the physical feeling of a book in our hands? Is it how the author made us feel as we read the words that they wrote? Or is it the escape that reading offers us?

Liz, an editor, author and avid reader began our conversation by sharing one of her first memories of reading as a child. Every night before bed, her father would read a chapter from Burgess bedtime stories (http://www.thorntonburgess.org/ThorntonW.Burgess.htm)
Her love of books grew through her daily anticipation to read the next chapter and find out what Jimmy skunk’s secret really was. Liz participates in many non traditional book clubs and writes for a variety of publications including Niagara this Week and her travel column in the Toronto Star.

Liz and Jon further encouraged us to explore our own thoughts around why we read and how reading has evolved in our own lives. We explored the addition of e-books and how technology such as the I-pad and Kindle has changed our own reading patterns and how it will change the reading patterns of future generations.

What do you read for pleasure whether it is a book, newspaper or favourite column or magazine? How are you encouraging your children to read for pleasure? Is reading a lost art and why does it matter?

On Monday, March 28th we hosted our conversation café at Pan Café and asked the question “What are you eating?”

We had a great conversation on the topic of food choices, both personal and as a community, last night at Pan Café. The discussion was sparked by our guest speaker Louise’s belief that our food choices are more than ever before becoming a point of judgment amongst ourselves and our community. There is a perceived sense of guilt when we treat ourselves to a guilty pleasure

Louise feels that when our bodies are telling us to do something (like eat something) that there is nothing wrong with a bit of indulgence. She encourages everyone to be mindful and conscious of these choices and ensure they are as “healthful” as possible. By creating stress over these indulgences does not contribute to overall wellness.

When your partner says “I feel like going for an ice cream, do you want to come?” she wants us to be encouraged to participate in the pleasure of food and be mindful of the choices in our diet and lifestyle as a whole. No one needs a whole bag of cookies but allowing yourself to have two homemade ones is a lovely treat!

Ultimately, Louise wants us all to be as “healthful” as possible with the least amount of suffering!

The discussion continued with great ideas for staying “healthful with the least amount of suffering from the group:
– Staying informed about the food you eat and to be mindful of where you get your information from.
– Watch out for the “The Dirty Dozen”, those fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticides.
– Food creates wonderful social connections by coming together to share recipes and techniques.
– Support restaurants that make whole, natural fresh foods and avoid all the deep fryers!
– Share your knowledge of “good” food choices.

What are your indulgences?
How do you stay healthy with the least amount of suffering?
Share your stories of how food plays a role in your community.

Our guest speaker spoke in the beginning about the perceptions that individuals have of Niagara from both an economic and tourism standpoint. One thing I found interesting was the perception of many individuals visiting is that many only see Niagara as a tourist destination and only think of Niagara Falls. After they visit they realize this is not that case and go away extremely impressed by the uniqueness of Niagara.

At this conversation café we asked everyone what their dreams for Niagara 10 years from now are. Some of the responses were:

– Prevent the Urban sprawl
– Integration in terms of better coordination of services and avoiding duplication of services. Talking together more than segregating by municipalities.
– Bring employment opportunities back to the area
– Improve our weaknesses
– Bring back the infrastructure

Other thoughts that were brought up that we would like to highlight are:

– Someone mentioned that Niagara has more to offer than the whole of Canada
– Involvement and understanding of the community are key to successfully moving forward
– What makes Niagara, Niagara is its culture
– Niagara needs to move with the trends. We are at a point where a change needs to happen and we have the blank slate to work with.
– We hang around our own kind too much and need to go out into the world and explore. We would appreciate or better see what Niagara has to offer.
– No matter where you go Niagara has that small town atmosphere to it. Could parochialism be the cause of this?
– We are all Niagara, regardless of what area of Niagara we live in.

Someone also mentioned to check out the survey on the best places to live in Canada and see how we compare…it might surprise you!

We ask you the same question what do you want to see for Niagara? What do you think makes a great community?

At our conversation on what the ultimate goal of education should be today our guest Speaker broought up the following points:

People today need to be open minded and be able to learn, unlearn and relearn.

Teachers need to move from being the knowlege giver to the knowledge facilitator.
OR
Instead of students following the teacher, the teacher should follow the students.
We need to find ways to customize the programs and let kids have a say in their education.

Niagara Resident Statistics:
50% or less have a highschool diploma
90% have not completed or attended post-secondary
15% live below the poverty line

Conversation was around the need to not only focus just on the basics in the classroom ie. reading and math; but to also look at the social skill development of kids.

The trend of education right now is stuck between two eras, with one foot still in the industrial age and the other in the new era of education.

RESOURCES MENTIONED
Book: Drive by Daniel Pink
Where he examines three elements of true motivation:
1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose

A question that was asked by one of our attendees at the end was “How do we decide that this is the type of person we want to crank out?”

My question to you is what do you think the ultimate goal of education today is?

Some say education is for:
-Training for a competitive workforce,
-Building citizenship skills and a sense of social responsibility,
-Or perhaps developing the self-awareness to lead a balanced and happy life?

At the conversation last night we discussed the topic What is love? Our guest speaker David made reference to the book “The Four Loves” by C.S. Lewis and discussed thee types of love: Affection, Friendship and Eros. David also made reference to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe in his discussion on how he defines love to be.

Some of the discussion resulted around the network of interpersonal persons and how those close to you can affect your view and how you love. Another person mentioned that Love is individualistic to the person and that those interpersonal persons may not necessarily have an effect.

My question to you is: What does love mean to you and what have you learned about love over time?

We had a great conversation discussing topics around retirement on Monday at the Coffee Culture in Grimsby.

Our Guest for the evening Penny mentioned to us that for many retirement is becoming an issue of money. The longer an individual is planning to retire for the increasing need to have funds available. Also the longer an individual is retired the trend seems to be that many see the richness in their relationships and may not require as much funding as they originally thought.

Questions that were asked throughout the conversation are:

How do we define retirement? Is it just retiring from a paying job or work in general?

Is there a struggle mentally with individuals thinking that if you are 65 and so that means I should reitre but then what should I do?

If someone says that they want to retire does that mean they just want more freedom from the 9-5 job?

Please let us know your thoughts on the above or if you have anything to add we encourage to you share your knowledge!

Hello Everyone, I would like to welcome you to our Community Learning Conversation Cafe blog. We hope that you use this as a discussion board to continue the conversation after each cafe. Check back every week to see posts on each topic and additional questions and comments that resulted from the conversation cafe. Everyone is encouraged to share their experience and knowledge on each topic even if you were unable to attend the conversation cafe!