Portals of Possibility is Back
That's right, Portals of Possibility is back!
Reading back on the last newsletter we published in late July 2021, it's almost like we were living in an alternate reality. Which seems funny to say this far into a pandemic when the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. But back then when we thought we were on the road to vaccinated herd immunity, we were in a brief moment of shedding our masks and social distancing and, dare I say, optimism for the future. What the Portals team worried about at that point was whether this swift return to what we thought was "normal" would make us miss the moment to make transformative change. And while that is still the worry of the day, the optimism has naturally dimmed.
What followed that hopeful period was the deadly Delta variant wave and now we're deep in the Omicron wave. Not only that, the world today honestly feels quite dark. Deadly and catastrophic weather events almost everywhere in the world are showing us that climate change is upon us. The continuous hacking away at mechanisms of democracy in the U.S. shows that our democracy is in peril. And the right wing parental backlash against teaching racism in schools is showing how systemic racism is still alive and well. Ooph.
Honestly, it's all of that <gestures wildly> that's bringing us back to Portals. We need a dose of hope and optimism. Despite all of the foreboding from the aforementioned events of the day, there are so many amazing things in the works that show people and coalitions and communities are working on what is needed—what has always been needed—and finding ways and supports to make them possible.
And on a personal note, I needed Portals to keep me focused on those possibilities. As a multi-hour NPR listener, I've had to turn off the news more often these days and turn on the music (as of late Disney's Encanto soundtrack) because it changes something in my brain where I forget everything in the world and dance with abandon to "We Don't Talk About Bruno" in the kitchen. What we're hoping is that Portals offer some of that music in written prose form. That doesn't mean we won't mention or discuss the hard things going on in the world, but it will focus on the ways people are creating and finding solutions to persistent problems by saying, enough is enough, and choosing something else in the form of transformational change. This focus on hope might also make you dance with abandon in your kitchen…maybe.
Here's how we plan to do that.
What to Expect from Our Team Members
First, what's new is that I (Elizabeth Doerr) will be the main writer within our Portals of Possibility team. The reason we took a hiatus was because the three of us on the team (Monica Cuneo, Carlos Pompa, and Elizabeth Doerr) were all incredibly busy. We had intended to bring Portals back in some form last fall. But we are all self-employed working parents and this project is a labor of love, not one that pays. So as our respective workloads grew, this naturally had to be put on the side.
What's still true is that we are all still incredibly busy. But having just finished a book with my co-author (stay tuned, the topic is very much within the realm of Portals), my brain has been freed up a bit to concentrate on labors of love such as this.
Monica and Carlos will still have a role in reviewing and sending inspiration. At the moment, they are both beyond their capacity to write newsletters on a regular basis. But their work is very much linked to Portals and, as the inspiration strikes, you'll likely hear from them on occasion as well. We are even tossing around some ideas to offer some more collaborative workshop-type conversations with folks who engage with this work as the ideas grow. Stay tuned for that.
And of course, they'll be bringing the inspiration to Instagram as well where we'll be even more active moving forward. Follow us here!
Evolving Our Focus
The other element that will be slightly different is our focus. When we began our internal conversations about Portals in 2020 and launched last year, our "thesis," if you will, was to explore how the "shockwaves" of 2020 and beyond (Covid, worldwide racial justice uprisings, etc.) were leading to transformational change. While this "thesis" remains similar, we've decided to expand it. We realized—no more acutely as we near the second anniversary of Covid-19 lockdowns—that we are in much more than a "moment." We are at a point for many reasons where transformational change is needed more than ever.
Portals of Possibility has always been looking at what is possible. Now we are expanding that to any and all causes and effects. Where we see cause for hope--big and small--that will be our focus.
You'll get a dose of that optimism the first week of every month in your inbox.
Tell Us What is Giving You Hope
While we are already creating lists of hopeful stories of transformational change, there's so much that we don't see. What's happening in your local community that shows the power of possibility? What are you seeing in your professional world that is giving you hope?
DM us on Instagram or email me at elizabeth@doerrandco.com so we can share what you're seeing.
Thanks for being along this optimistic ride with us! See you all next month for Portals 2.0.