My journey started after my dad dropped me and my stuff off at a carpool lot where I was met by Connor (between Toronto and Waterloo). Our drive was to take about 6-hours, but we were held up a bit at the boarder while they tried to wrap their mind around what Emerging Leader Lab (ELL) is, and why we were being given such a magnificent opportunity for free. We stopped to eat at subway along the way and spent our time together catching up and discussing Metamaps, which is our shared project here at ELL. We arrived in East Chatham a couple days earlier than the rest of the participants, but were certainly able to be of use.
The next day was a day of work in preparation for the official beginning of emerging leader labs, when all of the other participants would be arriving nearby and being picked up and brought to the lab. I spent most of my day with Arthur moving furniture to the support team house and setting up that space to be inhabited. This house is where I slept each night for the rest of the week, until tonight that is... Tonight I am moving to a “host home”.
The majority of the first week was spent working on the lab to set up workspaces and to make it an enjoyable place to be. However, aside from the physical labor, the group also began to connect and grow closer. During our first evening together we discussed why we were here and what we wanted to get out of the experience. It was amazing to begin to see just how connected we already were, but weren’t yet aware of it.
My top personal accomplishment for the week was envisioning, designing, and then setting up a standing desk for the Metamaps workspace. Connor and I began to discuss the specifics of what we intend to accomplish over these 8 weeks and how we want to go about doing that. We also began to have daily calls with Ishan, the other member of the Metamaps team, who will be arriving on Thursday as another participant of ELL.
My understanding of what ELL is, what its intentions are, and what role I fill here was foggy to begin with, but is becoming clearer with every day. Each person here adds their own unique contribution to an overriding vision that we all seem to share... A belief that our current social structures are flawed and that together we can build alternatives for humanity to prosper.
I was anxious to get started, to begin to learn and grow. My excitement level has increased each day as I have realized more and more how amazing the people are that have been assembled here and how much we have to learn from each other. I can easily say that ELL will be the best period of personal growth that I have ever had in my life, and we have only just begun. I have never been in a space with such constant deep conversations going on. We have discussed community and social structure, began to play games to experiment with group dynamics, considered alternative forms of education, questioned reality itself, supported a growing gift economy, prioritized health and sustainability, and looked deeper within ourselves. The pinnacle of the first week for me was learning about Arthur and Eric’s Streamscape project. It is a wonderful and all-encompassing idea that is at the root of what ELL is all about.
Our weekend is just about over, and I am more excited now than ever for what the next day/week/conversation will hold. I hope to soak up everything each day to my utmost potential.