Booker and Beyond Book Club

Contributed by Dorothy Yuan

After the enforced hiatus to our monthly meetings the group was finally allowed to meet outdoors in the courtyard.  Fortunately, the number was kept at exactly ten and an active discourse progressed, albeit through voices muffled by masks.  It turns out that few of us enjoyed reading The Vexations,by Caitlin Horrocks, the book chosen for this session.Nonetheless, Ann Carlson lead us through an interesting discussion on the “vexations” engendered in the readers by the author, a discussion that amply shows, again, the value of our book club.

 

Hopefully, we will be able to resume full activity by our next meeting, scheduled for July 15.  The book chosen for that session is The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.  The meeting is open to ALL.  Even if you choose not to read the book you’ll find the discussion interesting.

Or more background on the Booker and Beyond Book Club, click here.

The New Fountain

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Many will remember the old fountain that recently stood forlorn and dry in the Courtyard.  It had been donated by long term resident Warren Unna, often described as the Washington Post’s first foreign correspondent. The fountain cracked and could not be repaired.

But now, we now have a lovely new fountain, as similar as possible to the original, happily bubbling to the side of the Courtyard.  The new location makes outdoor catering easier.  A million thanks to the Courtyard Group.

Enjoy.   Maybe it will stimulate thoughts about additional water projects.

 

 

 

Another Delightful “Bond” Cocktail Hour

By Marian Fuchs
Saturday evening saw another delightful “Bond” cocktail hour.  There was music with a beat and swing, there was delicious (and free) beer and cider brewed by the dynamic duo of Chris Ramsey and Denny Klass assisted by Peggy Latimer and Lois Brown. Delicious finger food was prepared by Exec Chef Stephanie Tolson.

Here are pictures of just four of the many people whose talent and charm made the happy hour in the new-and-improved courtyard so enjoyable.

 

 

Goals, Principles, and Values in Planning

The more we get into resident participation in every level of planning, from space design to long term strategic planning, I am coming more and more to understand how important it is to structure discussions in ways that everyone can engage.  We all think about things differently, and we give our best thoughts when those thoughts are stimulated in a variety of  parallel ways.

In part it is about meeting process, listening, and meeting leadership, and there will surely be much discussion about that as we go forward.

But here I want to focus on the importance of values, goals and principles.  What I am seeing again and again is that when we get caught too early in the weeds, it is very hard to pull together and keep moving to decisions and beyond.  So I have become an advocate of focusing early on goals, values and principles, and getting agreement on those as a tool for resolving disagreements.

Some recent examples from Collington.  Back when we were discussing the so-called “transition process,” that is the process why which decisions are made about the appropriate level of care within our continuum for a resident, we started off talking about a lot of specifics, and trying to write policy out of those specifics.  There was a lot of anxiety from both residents and staff.

So we backed off, and agreed on principles first.  In particular we led with the most important principle, that of resident autonomy.  The simple idea was that absent certain very limited exceptions, the decision was ultimately that of the resident, or “patient self-detirmination,” as we called it.  The principle, particularly when expanded and qualified in other principles, made it remarkably easy to resolve other issues as they came up.  The policy summary is here.

A very different example occurred at one of the excellent meetings that the Districts have been having about how to improve our central courtyard. No suprize that that discussion brings up very powerful feelings about space, community, design, etc.  So, there it has been suggested that an initial focus on goals and principles might be very helpful, rather than getting bogged down in the merits of specific suggestions.

Here, then, are some possible goals and principles that might be a draft which, after input and changes, might be appropriate for this particular situation.  They are offered more as an example of the approach than for the specifics.

The courtyard should be usable for as large amount of the year as possible.

The courtyard should be usable by as high a proportion of our residents as possible.

The courtyard should provide a powerful visual focus for our community.

The courtyard should foster communication and connection within, and even beyond, our community.

The courtyard should be maintainable at a reasonable cost.

As we move forward, I think we will see more and more the utility of this approach.