Healing Roots facilitates a discussion every month for our Learning Community and we offer a workshop every few months. We conduct our discussions over Zoom. Participants at each meeting pick the topic and the date for the next meeting. Everyone is welcome.
We choose topics on modern European American culture or whiteness, particularly to build our skills at facilitating discussions and educating others about what needs to be transformed for an equitable, just, and healthy society. We also choose topics to learn about our root cultures and draw resources from them to replace whiteness, for health and healing, and to add richness and meaning to our lives.
Healing Roots Learning Community
Discussing a Story Together
Thursday, April 24, 2025
7:00 - 8:30 pm Central Time on Zoom
Last month our group decided to continue working with stories by choosing a story or two that we can discuss and create meaning from together. Our goal is to expand our set of strategies for understanding and responding to complex stories and how we might respond to them to promote healing and wellness. Tom Ehlinger suggested this old Danish tale: The Story of the Lindworm Prince (see text below). It has many variants from many parts of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lindworm. We will begin with Tom telling us the tale.
Please join us. New people are welcome!
Samples from past discussions:
Last September we talked about how we could structure our learning environment and curriculum so that it is speaks to the needs of our time and recognizes the diversity within our country. Some comments from the discussion: Include multiple stories of history (including non-Western histories and culture); make learning cross-generational; teach students to find resources, ask good questions, and check facts; and develop education that is problem-posing vs banking (a la Freire) where students are primarily fed information. Teachers need to have an understanding of culture as different than race, to teach students to learn from mistakes, and to have emotional intelligence and be self-reflective.
Last June we discussed: What principles or "guardrails" can we apply to use technology wisely? We came up with these questions to ask ourselves and each other, when deciding how and when to use a technology:- Does it take up too much time?
- Is it addictive?
- Does it increase or decrease my connection to people?
- Am I being manipulated?
- What do I know or need to know about the effects of this technology?
- Am I listening to my gut, my body (tired from being on screen, sitting)?
- Is it serving me or am I serving it?
- Who is making money on this? Do I support this?
- Will this tech and my use of this increase inequities?
- Do I need this? Do we need this?
- What skills does this build or destroy?
- What will be the unintended consequences?
- Would I want my grandchildren to use this technology?
If
you are not already on the mailing list, please email Janice Barbee at
janicegwb"at"yahoo.com if you want to join us via Zoom. (@ has been
replaced by "at" to avoid robot spam.)
Root Culture Interest Groups
- Nordic/Germanic spirituality: Sara Axtell -- axtel002"at"umn.edu
- Celtic cultures (Irish, Scottish, and Welsh): Janice Barbee - janicegwb"at"yahoo.com: Next meeting on Wednesday, May 7, 7 pm CT.
- Nordic ways of healing and accountability: Anna Vangsness -- annavangsness"at"yahoo.com
European American Identity and Culture Workshop
Email us (see address below) if you're interested
in a workshop in 2025.
The workshop is presented via Zoom over 6 - 2 hour sessions. We offer short presentations and use the breakout rooms on Zoom to have small group discussions. A Reflection and Study Guide is sent out before each session with reflection questions and additional resources (most available on-line) for deepening your learning. In order to engage all participants, we limit the workshop to 20 participants.
When you pay using the PayPal button, you will be automatically registered. Contact Janice Barbee at janicegwb("at")yahoo.com if you have questions, need a scholarship or prefer to pay with cash, or if
you want to be added to the email list. (To combat robot spam, the @ has
been replaced with ("at").
Fee: $125
Scholarships are available
We will explore:
- Characteristics of modern mainstream American culture and their effect on our identity and the manifestations of whiteness
- The concepts and history of whiteness and race
- Our root cultures as dimensions of our identity
Over the course of the workshop, we will identify and develop
- Strategies for creating productive discussions
- Resources and skills for building and maintaining healthy, diverse communities
- Visions of a healthy identity for Americans of European ancestry
We ask such questions as:
- What are the characteristics of European American culture?
- What is a healthy cultural identity? How does knowledge of your culture inform your work in communities of many cultures?
- What is the history of whiteness in the U.S. as a concept and identity?
- What are the cultural narratives that support whiteness and what counter-narratives can we promote?
- What resources from your cultural roots can you draw on to have a healthy identity and have healthy relationships across cultures?
- What new language can we use to replace language based on hierarchy and prejudice?
What past participants have said about the workshop:
"I would call my experience with the workshop transformative and has propelled me into doing the lifelong work of dismantling whiteness, while also seeking information on what to love about my European heritage/culture."
"It was exactly what we needed. The information was perfect."
"I wanted my group to have the same vocabulary and foundation to discuss these issues. It was a good basic start."
"I'm so grateful for the Zoom option! I really enjoyed the breakout groups. It's much easier for me to speak honestly and freely in a small group."
"Living in Madison, WI, I would have never had the opportunity to attend this workshop otherwise."
" It was clearly the best workshop I've experienced. It was valuable not only personally but [for] family and work experiences as well."