venn diagrams

i have been thinking about getting a tattoo of a venn diagram pretty much since i got past the issue of not being buried in a jewish cemetery. and i’ve been struggling with what it would look like for the last eight years: two circles looks too much like an infinity symbol and a bunch of overlapping circles looks a lot like the olympics symbol.

and then last week or so, i figured it out: two overlapping circles with “both/and” in the overlap.

that is precisely why i am obsessed with venn diagrams. because of the overlap, the both/and thinking. it was about five years ago – when i was a part of a leadership development program with the Catalyst Project – that i first heard about and really started focusing on the differences between “both/and” thinking and “either/or” thinking. (in algebra, i believe they are referred to as “unions” (A U B) and “intersections” (A n B).) i catch myself when i literally say “either this or that,” understanding that the language we use can shape how we think. and i try to replace “no, but” with “yes, and.” it is hard, i don’t know if i do a good job at it. and yet, that is not the point. it is just that i am thinking about it and how i want to be in the world.

to me, both/and thinking is about community, union, consensus, open dialogue, open communication, group process. it embodies an element of everyone expresssing their opinions, experiences and needs and coming together to find ways to hear everyone’s opinions, validate everyone’s experiences and meet everyone’s needs. it is often about holding tensions and honoring them for what they are.

at the end of one of my classes last trimester, we had to give a three minute “elevator pitch” about what we’ve learned about ourselves and our leadership, plus our personal vision for the future. it was a really interesting exercise to think about a whole bunch of big questions and boil them down into a three minute pitch to fellow students. i talked about the venn diagram and the both/and. specifically, i talked about my vision for the future being influenced by this notion of both/and. of how i want to see communities thriving and working together. i want to see mutual aid and creative solutions to complex problems where everyone’s needs are met. i want to live in the overlap.

and i talked about my own leadership. about how i am both a student and a teacher at this point in my life. (maybe we all are, eh?) i spent five years in the SF Bay Area focused on developing my political understanding of the world and of grassroots change. i participated in study groups, leadership development programs, workshops, conferences, grassroots organizations. my paid work revolved around my life as an organizer and around my political development. my plan was to focus on white anti-racist organizing and community building in preparation for returning to new england.

so then i came back to new england and realized that i had a lot to learn. that where i have settled down in vermont is nothing like the landscape and culture of oakland, berkeley or san francisco. and yet, this time around, i have a specific toolkit and experiences that have shaped me, that have helped develop me that i can share with others. so here i am, holding the tension of being a life-long student and also being in a place to lead and teach what i have learned. so there it is, the both/and of my leadership: being both a student and a teacher. living in the overlap and knowing that i have a lot to learn and a lot to contribute. i think many of us fall into this space of knowing somethings and not-knowing everything. of having opinions and thoughts and not having absolutes or answers. it is a beautiful space to name and it is a hard space to inhabit.

i also think about both taking down capitalism and building something healthier. in prison abolition work, this often looks like stopping more beds from being built while also creating alternatives to incarceration based around transformative justice models. i think about the tattoo my best friend has: “in” on one leg; “out” on the other. we all place our own meanings on others’ actions, and i interpret that tattoo to represent the ways we must work both in the system and create new systems to really make any significant change. i think about myself in business school as both learning the system in order to create change from within and figuring out how to create alternatives systems outside of what we have. the both/and of inside-out organizing coupled with outside organizing.

when i think about dismantling capitalism, about creating something beautiful and beneficial, i think about the overlap of venn diagrams. i think about how we can keep our autonomous and distinct cultures and find common ground. i think about how there can be multiple economic systems that meet different people’s needs without compromising anyone’s. i think about the multitude of tactics and strategies we must use to bring down the beast. and the unknown creative solutions and opportunities to build beautiful and healthy alternatives. i think about both the reality of where we are at and the possibilities that we are creating.