10 Best Minnesota Rising Posts of 2010!

From hosting the inaugural Minnesota Rising Un/Conference to engaging 17+ Network Partners to connecting with emerging leaders across the state, it's been a banner year for Minnesota Rising!

Thanks again to all you readers for your support and engagement this year! For your reading pleasure, may I present the Top 10 Minnesota Rising Blog Posts from 2010:

1. Community: Here, There, Everywhere A post about finding community in any and every place.

2. Power and Possibilities: Balancing All Of Our Selves A summary of some nuggets of knowledge from the third annual Power and Possibilities Leadership Conference at St. Catherine University.

3. Scholarships: The charitable donation loans? When we give because we are grateful for scholarships that supported our attendance at educational institutions or professional development programs, instead of calling it paying it back, should we refer to it as paying it forward?

4. Beloved Beads Jewelry by Molly Doran Molly and her jewelry are awesome. So is the fact that all the proceeds benefit great organizations doing great work in the community. Yeah, I know. I just said she was awesome.

5. Will you run? Amber Collett for SWCD2 Amber is great example of a young person who ran for office based on her values and desire to make a difference. Rather than admire her from afar, perhaps you would likewise use the political system to make manifest the world you wish to see?

6. Reportback: "Trailblazers: Charting a Course for the Future!" The Leaders of Today and Tomorrow Conference came back better than ever in 2010! Check out highlights and insights from those leading today and those readying to do so for Minnesota's future.

7. Community means strength that joins our strength Who doesn't love an awesome poem?

8. @MinnesotaRising Meets: Brian Bell This second interview in a short-lived vlog series highlights an engaged and thoughtful emerging leader. And a friend of mine. Check it out. Brian's a cool kid with an interesting story.

9. Positive Posters: Be The Change You Want To See Positive Posters is an international poster design competition that gives graphic design students/professionals, illustrators and other creatives the opportunity to visually communicate socially positive messages to the world.

10. Minnesota Rising Initial Conversation Reportback and Next Steps! One year after this blog was born and many, many years after I first considered the power of building networks early on in hopes of more effectively tackling our generation's most pressing challenges, I expressed an overwhelming sense that the time was right to come together and move forward in this blog post. This, of course, is my favorite post of 2010!

The Glossary, courtesy of the Minnesota Active Citizenship Initiative

I often use terminology in discussing civic engagement and public work that I worry can be considered jargon. To attempt to remedy this issue and support my future blog posts, I'm sharing a brief, but useful guide from the September/October 2009 Minnesota Journal published by the Citizens League. Find out more about the Minnesota Active Citizenship Initiative, to which the League belongs, and their work behind these words.

Active citizen • An obligated, governing member who contributes to the common good.

Civic infrastructure • The interrelated economic, physical, political, and social structures, processes, and practices that support and drive a democracy.

Civic capacity • The ability to contribute to the good of the whole within the tensions between democratic ideals and the real social, economic, and environmental situation. Civic capacity is developed through practice in everyday institutions using the skills of public deliberation, public problem solving, and public policymaking.

Civic leader • A leader with an intentional agenda to increase the civic capacity of self, the institution, and the whole with attention to the economic, ethical, and civic consequences of his

or her actions.

Civic organizing • The political work of developing public relationships among individuals and across institutions in order to establish a base of citizen leaders with the power to create the

common good and justice.

Common good • Found in the tension between what is good for the parts and what is good for the whole. Understood by engaging people with diverse interests and negotiating to find agreement based on shared civic values, that is mutually acceptable.

Seeking Volunteers: Headwaters Foundation Social Justice Scavenger Hunt

Trista Harris is a nonprofit rock star and here's more reason why - the organization she heads is planning a Social Justice Scavenger Hunt. If there are two things in the world that excite me, they are exactly those. Are your feelings mutual? Get in on the fun by joining the call for volunteers. And be a nonprofit (or other) rock star, too!

The Headwaters Foundation for Justice is looking for volunteers to help plan our first annual Social Justice Scavenger Hunt! This fun and hands-on event will engage a diverse group of Young Professionals and the broader community around social justice and introduce them to Headwaters and some of our fabulous grantees. Creative minds are wanted to help us plan a multi-media outreach extravaganza!

Join us for our first planning meeting:

Wednesday, January 12
4:30 – 6:00pm
Headwaters Foundation for Justice
2801 21st Ave S Ste 132-B
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407

Questions? Contact Ady at 612-879-0602, ext. 16.

Marcel the Shell (with shoes on)

Marcel the Shell has gone viral of late, but that doesn't make him any less delightful or adorable. Consider this video a holiday treat, and don't forget that sharing is caring. Enjoy!

The difference between theory and practice

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."

-Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut

PARALLEL || POSTS

• The gift is nothing without the work.
• The feeling of being rained upon
• With flourish