The Story It was the Fall 2002 at the Social Venture Network annual conference in El Capitan, California, a coastal nature preserve just north of Santa Barbara. I was invited as a guest to that years conference which was themed as "SVN Summer Camp." We stayed in cabins and ate in the camp mess hall or outside. I had just turned 29 and was there with my 23 year old friend Amanda who was practically the CEO of SVN, Rob a sustainable business coach who liked to where one furry (fake) tiger paw glove, and my friend Jonathan, a filmmaker who had just made a film called "Commune." There was talk of cars run on vegetable oil, setting up work systems that embraced diversity, the triple bottom line, micro-credit lending, restaurants partnering with local farmers, creating peace treaties between gangs in East L.A., living wages for factory workers, sustainable re-growth forest wood and paper supplies and companies that made it their policy to give back. The vision that drove these organizations was overflowing vast pools of creativity, hope and inspiration and our cups were overflowing. Amanda, Rob, Charles (from Housing Works, NYC) and I met on the hill to commune, to relish, to get away. It was too much. It was amazing. It made us cry. We were surrounded by such brilliant committed souls – we were are part of that. It was real. We started to move, to hop and jump from being filled, we could do nothing else with this wild energy that seemed to well up from a world unknown. I felt alive. Together we felt alive and as we hopped, we laughed and keep hopping. As we spilled out of our bodies, we started hopping all over the camp, interrupting break out groups to have them share in the hopping. We got CEO’s, economists, sustainable lawyers and bankers, restaurant owners, farmers and teachers to all move, and celebrate the hope that streamed through us all. It was in that moment, we started the movement movement. We were hoppy. As the sole movement artist in the posse, I adopted the name (with credit, of course) and as my own cup runneth over, I will spread whatever spontaneous inspiration arises from within. I am purely in service to the movement movements to come. |
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