Happy New Year everyone! Here’s some inspiration for 2012, courtesy of R. Buckminster Fuller, who had difficulty understanding basic geometry in his youth, was expelled from Harvard twice, lost a child to polio and spinal meningitis and found himself broke, unemployed, and contemplating suicide at 32. Facing this personal wreckage he decided to conduct an experiment, “to find what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting all humanity.” He then went on to make major and original contributions to architecture, sustainable housing, transportation, map-making and communication, all guided by his ability to envision new models and possibilities, regardless of, and often counter to, popular opinion.
2011 was a full and productive year for Boys to Men, as we hosted a leadership camp for boys, monthly sessions of Boot Camp for new dads, and the Reducing Sexism and Violence Program bystander intervention training for the University of Southern Maine and several area high schools. As we move into 2012, the conversation around here is focusing less on what we’re against (men’s violence against women) and more on what we’re for (engaging men in creating safe, egalitarian, and respectful communities for women and men alike). Here’s to a new year full of inspiration and joy for all of us, and may the new models we envision benefit the world and our communities, in however small or large a way.
