What is Messy Conversations?

Messy Conversations provide a Collaborative Environment for Growth. At our best, the persons who make up Antioch University form a vibrant community of learners who believe in the importance of conversations that are “messy” because they are complex, challenging, intricate, layered. Everyone has a seat at the table here; any voice committed to collaborative learning and growth will be heard. Our purpose in this series of Messy Conversations is to work together to better understand the issues on the table – anti-racism, white supremacy, racial social justice, among others – in all of their complexity and to open up possibilities of making meaningful contributions to work for a more just world in thought, feeling, and action. In doing so, we challenge ideas and orthodoxies and points of view and ideologies . . . but not persons. No person will be othered or marginalized in our Messy Conversations. We will consider each point of view expressed with the goal of collaborative learning in mind. We are not aiming at consensus; we are aiming at understanding and engagement.

Messy Conversations are Intimate. We are not interested in debating issues, which harbors an expectation of winning or losing. These conversations seek instead to deepen and broaden understanding and to open up pathways to action. Conversation geared towards understanding entails intimacy expressed in a willingness to be vulnerable and share our feelings as well as our thoughts. Messy Conversations aren't about being right, they're about helping us figure out how to go about being who we want to be as a community of learners. What can we learn that will help us, individually and collectively, along the path to becoming who we want to be at this moment in history?

Messy Conversations Engage Multiple Perspectives. One of the great advantages of coming together at a public table to engage in Messy Conversations is the variety of experiences, points of view, thoughts, passions, and insights present at the table. Messy Conversations provide extraordinary opportunities to see from perspectives that are not necessarily familiar, and this helps us deepen and broaden our understanding of the topics on the table; they help us in the work of introspection and empathy.

Not All Topics are of Equal Value in Messy Conversations. In general, Messy Conversations are meant to serve us as a community, to help us grow, and engage the world more justly. They are meant to bring us together in honest exchange, not to divide us further. Comments and topics that are divisive, mean spirited, conspiratorial fake-newsy, or private pet peeves don't have a place here. Give thought to what furthers our conversation and bring that to the table.

Messy Conversations are Not Meant to be Hurtful. This has implications for speakers and listeners and the learning community as a whole. Speakers should not attack or accuse persons; they should have some consciousness about who's at the table with them and should be working towards collaboration. Listeners should keep the context of Messy Conversations in mind but also endeavor to point out the personal offense or hurt when it occurs. The Messy Conversation learning community should be sensitive to issues and harms, should speak up, should recognize our collective responsibility to respect and care for one another in the complicated processes of learning and growing.

Messy Conversations Attempt to Find a Way Forward. Complex issues can lead to challenging exchanges that unfold in ways that appear divisive. When points of view are distilled into two opposing positions, participants should endeavor to call attention to that dynamic and to suggest collective approaches to finding a way forward. What can be appreciated in the differing perspectives? What's not being heard or seen? What dynamics are playing out? Is there a way forward? Or is this a good place to stop and reflect and see if we can find our way another time?

-d. tripp, 2020

Heading into our Fifth year, faculty across our West Coast campuses will be hosting weekly Messy Conversations On Anti-Racism and Racial Justice, Monday afternoons from 4-5pm PST on Zoom. Conversationalists will discuss the week's topic together for 20-30 minutes and then we'll open the conversation up for another 30 minutes, when we formally end the conversation and a more intimate one begins for those who stick around until 5:30pm PST. We invite you to participate, to imagine ways to contribute and get involved, and to be a voice that helps move our beloved institution forward, challenging us to grow, committing us to deepen our resolve to be anti-racist and to pursue racial justice. Are you in? Please consider joining as a conversationalist, contact an organizer near you: 

Elaine Parker-Gills in LA, eparker@antioch.edu

Sara Beth Lohre in Seattle, slohre@antioch.edu

Asa Wilder in LA, awilder1@antioch.edu

Clarence Williams in LA, cwilliams10@antioch.edu

Rosa Garza-Mourino in LA, rgarzamourino@antioch.edu

Sien Mendez in Seattle, smendez@antioch.edu

Holleigh Humhart in Seattle, hhumhart@antioch.edu

Past Members

David Tripp in LA, dtripp@antioch.edu

Kirsten Grimstad, AU Los Angeles

Lisa Lepore, AU Los Angeles

Jacqueline Rose, AU Los Angeles 

Nabi Supetran in Seattle, nsupetran@antioch.edu

Anna Kwong in Santa Barbara, akwong@antioch.edu