Reflections on the Summit

Keynote Listener

As part of the Summit agenda, the conveners were delighted to welcome Peter Taylor of the International Development Research Centre as a "keynote listener." Reflecting on what he had heard throughout the event, Peter was asked to share his experiences of the Summit. Read what Peter said on Peter's blog post here or watch the full video here.

Rap-poet-eur

Budd Hall was invited to close the Summit in the style of a rap-poet-teur, using poetry and a street chant to deepen our understandings and to leave us feeling inspired about the the common purpose and sense of community that underlay the conversations and ideas presented at this event. The idea for a rappoeteur came from from Canadian poet Nanci Lee; our sincere thanks to her. Read Budd's poem below or watch him perform both poem and street chant with the participants at the Summit.

Below the Road

Below the road
Under the stairs
The new musicians, poets, dancers and artists of the knowledge commons gather
Community leaders seated next to big shot funders, next to students, next to sometimes tired university professors, next to national Indigenous Language champions, next to many who have never given a knowledge commons a thought
But
Wild and unfixed minds
Minds dancing the diversity of different ways of naming the world
Minds with lyrics to new song new verse
Haiku, sonnets, free verse, reggae, jazz hooks calling for
New ways of listening
New ways of sharing
New ways of speaking
New ways of moving
New ways of being together
New ways of mirroring our souls
And Knowing
That in however small or large ways
None of us
Having heard these songs and poems
And having begun this dance
Will ever be quite the same again

Budd L Hall, Montreal, June 2, Canadian Knowledge Commons inspired by the work of Nanci Lee of Halifax