Week 14, 2022 - Mountains and valleys

I traveled from Barcelona to northern Italy for By Design or Disaster, the annual conference of the MA program in Eco-Social Design at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. This year’s theme was Radical Care - the question is not only how to care practically today, but how to create conditions that allow all to care?.

The trip to and back were long and complicated, and I got mask sores for the first time in my life. But hoisting a duffel backpack (my kit is dialed in!) and crossing country borders by train, not needing power adapters or incurring roaming charges, with new food to try and all kinds of bars and restaurants to drop into… this has become an integral part of my life in Paris - France - Europe and it’s a wondrous thing.

The conference experience was so rich, with lots of goosebumps, tears and dancing. Part of the magic was how remote it was. Where else would one encounter and grapple with these kinds of ideas with people who are committed to them, than an ex-military barrack with a layered history in a corner of the world that I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago? And mostly organized by a handful of international students? I think most of us made the trip without really knowing what we were getting into - but not needing to, either. We went home with lots of ideas but most importantly a sense of hope, protecting its flickering flame against the forces of an often-cruel world.