Happy Seasons Greetings!

Thanks to Cheryl Asbia, winner of this year’s Seasonal Card contest!

We are currently in Long Beach California for the 2012 TASH conference.   The theme of the conference is So Many Answers Left Unquestioned and it’s been a great few days of conversations along that ideas – what are we doing that we haven’t held up to the light and reflected on and questioned?

NC TASH board member and poet, Megan Jones, writes, in the poem the title of the conference came from:

You could say I’m sassy

or a downright boat rocker

because I’ve always been one

to question your answers.

No “because I said so…,”

“Because that’s the way it’s always been done,”

Or “because that’s best practice”

Have never been good enough for me.

You can read the rest of the poem here.   And you can also get a sense of why we think this conference is so important – and the wide exposure to so many ideas from different places.   Next year’s conference is in Chicago and it would be great to see you there!  Last year someone sent me something just before the holidays that said “give yourself something this year that your future self will thank you for!”   Great advice and this might be the gift your future self would thank you for!

The gift of it, early in the season, is to be surrounded by so many parents, self advocates, colleagues and thoughtful people concerned with the same kinds of issues that we like to explore.   I think almost a thousand of them…  this morning, a wonderful start in the Open Space “gathering” with David Wetherow; yesterday half a day with Norman Kunc and Emma Van der Klift; this afternoon Beth Gallagher talking about intentional teaming; tomorrow if I can wake up early enough Anne Donnellan talking about autism as a movement disorder (and some other front of the pack thinking) and then we’re on, talking about Organizational Change through small projects.

We hope your holidays, of whatever culture, are full of wonder and joy and learning…    if you are looking for gifts, feel free to drop into www.spectrumpress.ca  and browse around – still lots of time to order!