During this past year I’ve not written any blog posts and felt ready to beat myself up about it when I realized that I’ve been creating narrative intensively on multiple fronts. With designing and rolling out two new programs I’ve had to articulate the education mileposts for each, as well as the scope and sequence of competencies learned with each course; articulate the role of newly hired faculty in developing these courses, while overseeing the build out; to communicate with accrediting bodies how our program is different from competitors. I’ve developed the following courses:
- Extraction, Analytical Methods and Formulation Strategies
- Botanical Pharmacognosy Research and Development of Products
- Cannabis Formulation
You can see more about the programs below:
And it’s not just about the writing of text in a document. Rather, to connect with the various tribes or stakeholders requires deep listening; it’s the primitive call to connect even in these most mundane of circumstance.
Also, my work over the past year in creating various formulary, combining cannabis and herbal products for a range of products too is an act of deep listening. Each client is in discovery mode, trying to articulate their own vision for their company and a place for their product in a complex marketplace.
I just needed to step back and appreciate that I’ve been telling stories all along, and an active engagement with my audience refining multiple narrative over time into a cohesive whole. As the poet Peter Klappert, one of my writing mentors, once asked me, “are you writing for yourself or to be part of a community?” There’s no right or wrong answer. There’s just a direction that accompanies your answer. I hope this finds you well and in connection with your tribes.