The Radical Alternative to "Up-ing"…

A couple of months ago a good friend of mine was let go by the company he had worked at for several years. It was a fairly abrupt action, without any performance issues – essentially an act of “financial necessity” on the part of the employer. In the course of telling me the story, he mentioned that he had immediately contacted a labour lawyer, or as he put it, had “lawyer-ed up”. Regardless of any opinion that may be held about the action, the language itself is interesting. It is popular, vernacular language. We “up” all kinds of things these days, it would seem. Often, we use this kind of terminology in the context of actions of power – choices we make to put ourselves into a more substantial or powerful position. We live in a culture in which this kind of approach to power, to leveling the playing field, as it were, is the norm. The Big Story we are exploring presents, from the beginning, a very different picture of power than we are accustomed to. This week we will be exploring the radical alternative to “up-ing”…and just to keep things interesting, we will set that exploration into the context of our entering the Big Story as gendered beings. So – gender and power, all before lunch on a Sunday. Wow…coffee may be a prerequisite! And in addition, Mike has promised us a finance update, which has historically proven to be worth the price of admission. Not to be missed… See you all on Sunday! Peace, Tim Plett