almost 4 months ago, i sat upon lion's head in cape town, glowing in the sunset, and unsure what the next year would have in store for me. tomorrow, (well, today, really), i'm hopping a plane from new york back to the so-called "rainbow nation," south africa, to embark on a 10 month adventure of living in cape town with my dear friend & partner, billy. i'll be taking some public health coursework and hopefully continuing to volunteer as a doula, which i've been blessed to do for the past year in seattle, while thinking about my present & future roles in as a healthCarer for individuals and society.
a significant influence on the evolution of my thinking has been the concept of cybernetics. cybernetics involves looking at the interactions and connectedness of the different components of a system. how do the dynamics of the components contribute to the overall system? how does a given system interact with other systems? i hope to be a keen, if not humble, observer of many different systems while in south africa - life in cape town and the surrounding area, south african maternity & health care, the international midwifery community, etc.
AND i also hope i'll use this space to engage in some "second order cybernetics" - that is, looking at myself as unable to be fully detached from the systems i'm observing; looking the particular dynamics of the systems which birthed me, a young white female 'american' observer, and acknowledging how my own context impacts the observations i make of my experiences in south africa.
so, i invite you to join me, as matches your interest and desire. i'll periodically post photos and stories as things unfold, hopefully not too pretentious or overly-cliche.
i'm pretty in love with life these days and excited about growing in lots of directions, especially the ones i'm not able to yet anticipate. may each of our daily journeys challenge and deepen our understandings of ourselves and each other...
with love,
libby
one of the most unique perspectives, literally, i've experienced...
5 comments:
Hey Libby!
Checking out the new blog here. We'll be sure to check often and keep in touch. I'm listening to Rio in the back ground now telling the boys, "get over it" and "Maddy!" Thanks again for letting Rio bond with us.
much love,
-Dave
Lib, congratulations on embarking on your latest adventure! I am so excited to follow your South African experience... thinking of you,
Linz xooxoxoxox
ciao Libby!
i'm dario, from italy. we don't know each other, but i attended this year SDaS summer school at G!I and now i'm completely lost in cybernetics. ^___^
i'm trying to collect all the possible experiences related to it and to the school and to G!I, and of course to the people related to them.
so i wish you good luck for this wonderful life experience!
i'll try to keep in contact with your blog and to read about all your adventures.
thank you so much for sharing!
ciao! ^___^
.d
WOW! I literally got nauseous looking at that photo. Don't like heights. I look forward to reading your adventures. Good luck (from Portland).
Hey libby,
Rio is letting us pet her- full on body petting. Today she flew from the top of her cage to the laundry room!
I hope that you are finding your new surroundings as comfortable as Rio is finding her new surroundings.
Take care and much love,
Shell
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