Today I did something quite a bit different, for me anyway. I participated in a focus group at CSUN, a roundtable discussion - made up up several tables of people in a conference room - that was headed up by two facilitators from outside the University. The overall subject was "The Future Of The Mike Curb College of Art", and the participants included CSUN professors, including Professor Tim of the Cinematheque, students, and also members of the community. I fell into the last category as did many of my fellow patrons of the Thursday Night film screenings. Professor Tim had put put the word out that this meeting was to take place, and it was great that so many of the Cinematheque fans showed up.
They sat us at tables in groups of six, and we were given twenty minutes to discuss subtopics of three different categories : "Vision", "Values" and "Mission". Each table would discuss a category and the subtopics involved, and then after twenty minutes the facilitators would stop us and have everyone get up and change tables, like in musical chairs. That way everyone wound up in different discussion groups each of the three times the table seatings were changed.
The meeting was two hours long, and was meant to include every department of the Curb Arts College, meaning music, theater, etc.
What wound up happening was that it more or less turned into a referendum on the future of the Thursday Night Cinematheque. Wow!
We really did good, and I hope we made a difference. We were bolstered by the fact that, just this morning, there was an internet article about the proposed cancellation of the Cinematheque from the Los Angeles Daily News, written by Bob Strauss, one of the major film critics in our city.
Wow, again! A well-known film critic wrote about the demise of the Thursday Night Retrospectives. And many of us long time fans showed up to voice our support.
I was proud of myself (which I know it is not cool to be, because it sounds egotistic), but I was anyway, because I am - as you know - a relatively introverted person, but I spoke out and felt comfortable doing so. To CSUN's credit, they set up a very constructive environment for everyone to have their voices heard. It was really cool. We stated our case in an articulate manner, with passion, and.....just maybe....we got the attention of the Dean who can have some influence over the decision to cancel the Cinematheque series, and maybe that decision can be reversed.
At least there is some hope, and we will see what happens.
But wow! Yeah, discussion groups. Focus groups, with professional facilitators. (Refreshments too).
It was something totally new to me, and I liked it.
Let's have a discussion group about 1989! We can have participants, and CIA agents, and community members who lived on Etiwanda Street, or near the Wilbur Wash, or at Concord Square. And we can have the same facilitator ladies who did the CSUN discussion today, because they were great and they got positive results. They got people talking about solutions to problems.
That's exactly what I have been trying to do for almost twenty years, concerning the topic in question. I've been trying to get people to simply discuss it.
That's all.
Of course, I've had zero success, and I've had to resort to sending FOIA requests to secretive agencies, but after today I believe that one day, a discussion of the subject may be possible.
I am semi-jesting here, because I also know how frightening and confusing the subject has been to everyone besides myself. I am therefore pretty sure there won't be a round table discussion of it any time soon.
But maybe the ice can at least be broken before too much more time elapses.
Time is all we've got, guys.
I believe in the power of words, and discussion, and conversation. I believe in listening as well as speaking my mind. All my life I have tried to be a good listener, and to really listen to what people have to say, because it is only by doing so that I can take another person's opinions and feelings to heart. Then I can respond, and by talk and response, a dialogue is created.
Dialogue is diplomacy. Once a dialogue has been established, anything is possible.
The whole world opens up, for everyone involved.
Dialogue builds trust and eliminates fear.
And that's all I've ever been trying to do. :)
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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