Stories Lived. Stories Told.

Welcome to the ASC Presidents Podcast! ... Today, Abbie is joined by some past (and future!) presidents of the American Society for Cybernetics to discuss the past (and future!) of the ASC Organization and the field of Cybernetics. These conversations were recorded onsite in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at the 2026 ASC Conference in August 2026. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Welcome to the ASC Participant Podcast! ... Today, Abbie is joined by the participants of the 2026 American Society for Cybernetics Conference in Ouro Preto, Brazil, to reflect on their experiences of this gathering. In this episode, you will hear from 8 conference participants who stopped to speak with Abbie during the in-person conference. These conversations were recorded onsite in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at the 2026 ASC Conference in August 2026. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

What is the 'minimal structure' needed to find or create liberation? ... Today, Abbie and Keith discuss Liberating Structures, including where they come from and what is next. They talk about seemingly contradictory ideas like "strategic emergence," idealized design, and complexity science. ... Keith McCandless is co-developer of Liberating Structures and co-author of the book The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures – Simple Rules to Unleash a Culture of Innovation (2014) and The Liberating Structures Fieldbook: Flipping the Script on Meetings, Planning, and Progress. Keith operates a global consulting practice focused on strategy development, creative adaptability, and including all voices in shaping next steps. He calls himself a structured improvisationalist. Born in Cincinnati Ohio, he holds a Masters in Management from Brandeis University in Boston and a BA from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Keith lives in Seattle with his wife, Anne, and Bootsy, a whippet with talent to amuse. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page CMM Conference Interest Form … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

There is nothing you can say with harshness that loving kindness can't do better. ... Today, Abbie and Susan unpack Susan's new book, Collaborative Hardball: Using the Power of a New Negotiation as Women to Change the World , and chat about the impact of a patriarchal world culture, negotiating at the level of rights and rules versus the level of needs and interests, and what a "new negotiation" looks like for women and everyone. ... For over thirty-five years, Susan Coleman has worked from war zones to boardrooms teaching people negotiation skills, mediating conflict, and supporting clients in collaborative change initiatives through facilitation and coaching. She has worked with tens of thousands of people in thirty-four countries, on just about every continent, and with hundreds of organizations, governments, teams, and individuals including the United Nations, NASA, Senior Women Leaders of the Government of Afghanistan, and Columbia University. Her initiative with the UN ultimately resulted in over 100,000 professionals being trained in collaborative, intercultural negotiation, one of the larger peacebuilding initiatives on the planet. She started her professional journey as a litigator in New York City but detoured to the negotiation and conflict resolution field after attending the Kennedy School at Harvard. Coleman was born into one of the oldest colonial American families, where she has had a front row seat to the ironies of privilege, power, and patriarchy. Throughout her life, she has been an activist for evolutionary social change with a deep respect for both the diversity of humans and the natural world. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page CMM Conference Interest Form … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

What small changes can you make in your everyday communicating that might create a big difference in your relationships? ... Today, Abbie and Julien explore the art, practices, and concepts behind positive communication, including the ways in which positive, generative styles of communicating can be the antidote to our hurting relationships and social worlds. ... Originally from Paris, France, Julien Mirivel traveled to the US in 1994 as a 15-year-old exchange student to learn English in Iowa. He returned in 1995 and formally graduated high school in 1996. The following academic year, he joined the University of Northern Iowa where he graduated in 2000 with a BA in Communication Studies. Following his degree, he has spent his entire adult life teaching and researching the nature of effective and ethical communication. Julien earned an MA in Communication Studies in 2002 and a PhD in Communication in 2005 – both degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 2005, Julien took his first job as an Assistant Professor of Applied Communication at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock -- where he has worked for the last 21 years. During this time, he has moved through numerous roles and ranks ultimately earning the rank of full professor with tenure and serving along the way as Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence, as Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Associate Dean, and as Dean of the College of Social Sciences & Communication for three years. He is the co-founder of the Positive Communication Network , as well as the author of two books on positive communication published by Peter Lang: The Art of Positive Communication: Theory and Practice and How Communication Scholars Think and Act: A Lifespan Perspectiv e . ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page CMM Conference Interest Form … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

What does podcasting offer us? ... Today, Abbie and Simone podcast about podcasting! Inspired by Simone's recently published book- Podcasting as a Research Method- this conversation explores both Abbie and Simone's experiences with podcasting, what they have learned along the way, and why this medium has their hearts. ... Simone Eringfeld is a researcher, polar guide, writer, and podcaster who prefers to maximize her time spent with penguins. She is a PhD researcher in Polar Studies at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, where she studies Antarctica’s changing soundscapes and approach listening as an embodied and epistemological practice. Her work draws on field experience in the Arctic and Antarctica, where I’ve contributed to expedition and science teams as a polar guide and field recordist. She is the author of Podcasting as a Research Method , a book that rethinks podcasting not just as a tool for science communication, but as a site of inquiry — where knowledge emerges through dialogue, voice, and relational engagement. Across my research, I’m particularly interested in creative methodologies, including sound-based approaches. Her background is interdisciplinary by design . I hold a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Cambridge, where I produced award-winning research on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education. Before that, I completed three full-time Bachelor’s degrees simultaneously (Philosophy, Literary & Cultural Studies, and International Relations). Alongside academia, she is the founder of The Smart Rebel , where I coach gifted, neurodivergent individuals and entrepreneurs to translate their intensity and complexity into meaningful, sustainable work. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Are we underestimating our capacity for social change? ... Today, Abbie and Karen discuss quanta, entanglement, and collapsing potential as they explore mattering and social change. ... Karen O’Brien is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is also co-founder of cCHANGE, an organisation that supports deep and strategic engagement with transformations to sustainability. Her research on the human and social dimensions of environmental change emphasises integrative approaches, including how beliefs, values, worldviews, and paradigms influence systems change and social change. She is particularly interested in the relationship between adaptation and transformations to sustainability and in exploring how quantum social science can inform how we understand, engage with, and scale transformative change. In 2021, she was co-recipient of the BBVA Foundation’s Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Climate Change. Karen’s recent books include You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World and Climate and Society: Transforming the Future (with Robin Leichenko). She has participated in four IPCC reports and is currently co-chair of the International Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) transformative change assessment . She also writes a weekly newsletter on quantum social change . ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Abbie shares her own reflections as a participant of the Central States Communication Association Conference and as the resident podcaster. She discusses the importance of engaging in the work of translating in a variety of ways across the incredibly diverse field of communication studies. ... Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 3 with Tiffany Wang ⁠here⁠ . Listen to Ep. 4 with Stevie Munz here . Listen to Ep. 5 with Laura O'Hara here . Listen to Ep. 6 with Xianlin Jin here . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ .

Abbie and Xianlin discuss the afterlife of communication research and Xianlin's paper- What and Where Do I Learn About the Baby Formula Shortage Crisis? Exploring Crisis Communication Patterns, Influencers, and Information Resources , which won the Communication Studies Article of the Year Award. ... Find the article- What and Where Do I Learn About the Baby Formula Shortage Crisis? Exploring Crisis Communication Patterns, Influencers, and Information Resources, co-authored by Xianlin Jin, Patric Spence, and Kenneth Lachlan - here . ... Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 3 with Tiffany Wang ⁠here⁠ . Listen to Ep. 4 with Stevie Munz here . Listen to Ep. 5 with Laura O'Hara here . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ .

Abbie and Laura reflect on the Central States Communication Association Conference, including the major benefit provided by gathering of sharing creative ideas for overcoming challenges that educators across the country face separately and together. Laura shares a useful idea from her program for engaging students while accomplishing department goals. ... Find Laura's COMM 380 Syllabus here . Check out Laura's Department Engagement Inventory here . View Laura's Slide Deck here . ... Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 3 with Tiffany Wang ⁠here⁠ . Listen to Ep. 4 with Stevie Munz here . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ .

How can we turn the 'what ifs' into the 'why nots'? ... Today, Abbie, Juanita, and Flavio discuss the World Cafe , including the history of how it came to be and how it continues to evolve in relationship with other approaches like Coordinated Management of Meaning and Appreciative Inquiry. ... Juanita Brown, PhD. is the Co-founder of the World Cafe with her partner, David Isaacs as well as the co-author, also with David, of the award winning book, The World Café: Shaping our Futures Through Conversations that Matter, now translated into 18 languages. For more than 40 years Juanita has collaborated as a thinking partner with senior leaders across sectors in the U.S. and abroad, crafting large-scale change strategies and creating innovative forums for strategic dialogue on critical business and societal issues. Juanita has served as a Research Affiliate with the MIT Organizational Learning Center and the Institute for the Future, and as a Fellow with both the World Business Academy and The Fielding Institute for Social Innovation. Now in her 80’s, Juanita contributes to local community resilience and social healing from her family’s legacy homestead in the mountains of North Carolina. Since 1978, Mesquita da Silva has worked in Brazil and internationally in consulting, training, and coaching across human, social, environmental, educational, and organizational development, collaborating with nonprofits, universities, governments, businesses, and United Nations initiatives. He received the Honor to Merit for Relevant Work in the Service of Peace from Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies and a Research Scholarship Award from the Institute for Social Innovation at Fielding Graduate University for studies on the World Café. He is a Marie Fielder Fellow and an Institute for Social Innovation Fellow at Fielding Graduate University, where he earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Human and Organizational Systems, focusing on the World Café and cultures of peace. He also holds an M.A. in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University Seattle with his graduate project: A Holistic Systemic Approach to Peace: A Case for Design. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Where do you see communication happening? ... Today, Abbie is joined by Hannah, Sine, and Jotte of TU Delf's Systemic Design Lab (D-SDL) to talk about life and design as playful experiments. They introduce the four core practices articulated by members of the D-SDL: Framing Complexity, Meaningful Formgiving, Building Relationships, and Nurturing Reflexivity; and discuss centering relationality, moving from extracting to reciprocity, and embracing "doing less" in design. ... Hannah Goss is Assistant Professor of Transition Design at the Human-Centered Design department at TU Delft's Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. Her research focuses on how designers can stage their expertise to foster societal transitions, developing tools and methods to help designers understand and navigate complex systems change. Her PhD focused specifically on using design to foster the transition of the Dutch food system towards reducing food waste. Hannah is a member of the TU Delft Systemic Design Lab and the Food and Eating Design Lab, contributes to systemic and transition design education, and is part of the production team of Contexts—The Systemic Design Journal. Dr. Sine Celik is an architect and design researcher. Currently, Sine is Assistant Professor of Network-driven Systemic Change at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. Sine’s research is situated at the intersection of systemic design, innovation research and network studies. Her work focuses on the role of social dynamics when designing for and with complex societal challenges. She earned her PhD degree from TU Delft with a thesis on the development of innovation ecosystems from a network perspective. After her PhD, she joined Aalto University Design Factory in Finland for her postdoctoral studies, where she continued exploring ecosystems and design cultures. Sine has been actively engaging with the RSD and SDA community for over a decade and was one of the organisers of RSD10 in Delft. Jotte de Koning is an assistant professor of design for sustainability at Delft University of Technology (TUD). Her expertise lies in the field of participatory design and sustainability. Her research is focused on co-creation processes between different actors in the transition process. She explores how methods from the field of participatory design and approaches of design thinking are relevant for different stakeholders in sustainability transitions. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Abbie and Stevie talk about the CSCA pre-conference, why the theme of "Communicating in the Unknown: Navigating Uncertainty in a Changing Field" is so important right now, and what Stevie is looking forward to about this year's conference and next. ... Register for CSCA ⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠ Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ . Listen to Ep. 3 with Tiffany Wang ⁠here⁠ . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ .

Welcome to the CSW Participant Podcast! ... Today, Abbie is joined by the participants of the Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium in New York City to reflect on their experiences of this gathering. In this episode, you will hear from 11 symposium participants who stopped to speak with Abbie during the in-person symposium. These conversations were recorded onsite at Mercy University in New York City, New York at the Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium between January 27-28, 2026. (Please excuse the imperfect audio quality, as this was an experiment in podcasting on the go in a crowded, public space) :) ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Abbie and Tiffany discuss what goes on behind the scenes to prepare for CSCA, Tiffany's dual roles as Interim Executive Director and Second Vice President, and her hopes for the meaningful experiences- both academic and non-academic- that the CSCA team has worked hard to create for conference attendees. Plus, Tiffany offers an invitation for all conference attendees to reach out to her at csca.ed@gmail.com with any accessibility or dietary needs, general questions, or requests that will help enrich your CSCA experience. ... Register for CSCA ⁠here.⁠ Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠here⁠ . Listen to Ep. 2 with Jeff Child here . Listen to Abbie's 'Stories Lived. Stories Told.' podcast ⁠here⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠here⁠ .

What are your 'practices for togetherness'? ... In this special episode, Abbie shares the recording of a panel she participated in, titled, 'Hope, Agency, and Community: Practices for Togetherness' at the Taos Institute's Co-Creating Social Worlds Symposium. Panel facilitator, Somer Saleh , guides Abbie and her fellow panelists, Chris Hoff and Mario Ismael Espinoza , through a conversation about coalitions, wisdom keepers, interpersonal power, shared precarity, curiosity, story-seeking, imagination, and more. ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

Introducing 'The Stories of CSCA'- a new podcast mini-series hosted by Abbie in collaboration with the Central States Communication Association (CSCA)! ... In episode two of 'The Stories of CSCA' Abbie and Jeff talk about Jeff’s role as President of the Central States Communication Association (CSCA), including the long-term view of how CSCA evolves over time, the work of the leadership team to ensure gatherings offer opportunities to connect and learn together about how to meet this present moment, and the hope that we can explore ‘TRANSLATE!’ in a variety of helpful ways in April. ... Register for CSCA ⁠here.⁠ Listen to Ep. 1 with Kristina Scharp ⁠here⁠ . Check out the CMM Institute ⁠here⁠ .

Introducing 'The Stories of CSCA'- a new podcast mini-series hosted by Abbie in collaboration with the Central States Communication Association (CSCA)! ... In episode one of 'The Stories of CSCA' Abbie and Kristina explore this year's conference theme: 'TRANSLATE!' They talk what it means to translate communication scholarship, how Kristina is already steeped in a practice of translation, and what her hopes are for this conference and how attendees will experience translating throughout the week. ... You can register for the CSCA convention here .

What can you imagine for a better world? ... Today, Abbie and Jenn discuss the recent Chinese Lunar New Year, and the context of the transition from the year of the Wood Snake to the year of the Fire Horse as it relates to a shared sense of urgency, momentum, revolution. As Abbie and Jenn explore imagination as invitation, action, rehearsal, and experiment, they name a relationship between communication, stories, and imagination for designing better social worlds. ... Jennifer Chan (she/her) is a second-generation Chinese-Canadian settler, born and raised in Tkaranto, Turtle Island. Jenn is an oldest daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, she is a Mama to two wonderful humans, a partner to her high school sweetie, a fiercely loyal friend as well as a sister and an Aunt, she is also a Double Virgo who lives with ADHD. Jenn weaves her deeply personal perspectives and worldviews into her work as the CEO of the Department of Imaginary Affairs . ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .

What is your practice of systems thinking? ... Today, Abbie and Gerald explore the ongoing practice of defining and redefining systems; the relationship between boundaries and meaning-making; the impact of moral forces on naming the 'sacred' and 'profane;' the inter-relational complexity that goes beyond otherness and belonging: the twin myths of non-intervention and non-communication; the connection between reason and emotion; and the emergent nature of systems. ... Gerald Midgley is an Emeritus Professor of Systems Thinking in the Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull, UK . He also holds visiting professorships at the University of Birmingham (UK) , the Australian National University and Linnaeus University (Sweden) . He has held research leadership roles in both UK academia and New Zealand government, and has undertaken a wide variety of public policy, public health, natural resource management, community development and technology foresight projects. Gerald was the 2013/14 President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. He has written or edited almost 400 papers and 12 books , including "Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology, and Practice" (Kluwer, 2000); "Systems Thinking" (Sage, 2003); "Community Operational Research: OR and Systems Thinking for Community Development" (Kluwer, 2004); "The Handbook of Systems Thinking" (Open Science, 2023); and "Systems of Marginalization and Identity" (Routledge, 2026, in press). ... Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter . Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution . ... Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann . ... CMM Institute Substack CMM Institute Events Page … ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore all things CMM Institute here .