The Middle Sessions

Deep Reading

Recalling sounded words is like recalling a bar of music, a melody, a sequence in time. A word is an event, a happening, not a thing, as letters make it appear to be.

— Walter J. Ong

🌱 Welcome & Opening

The Instructor will


💫 Introductions

Welcome everyone. Express enthusiasm for the start of this collective journey. Then, begin a round of introductions using this prompt.

Prompt: Share your name, pronouns, and what made you say “yes” to this invitation. Then “popcorn” to someone else. (Circle leader should go first and model this.)


🌻 Dialogue Agreements

Share these agreements for Circle dialogue. Then, welcome any questions, comments, or suggested additions. Request affirmation from the group (verbal “yes” or thumbs up).

  1. Generous: We will ask open and generous questions, offer our own stories and ideas generously, and listen to one another with a generosity of spirit.

  2. Equitable: We will have a single conversation—one voice at a time, with roughly equal time to share. We will each step up or step back with awareness of our own proclivities and privilege.

  3. Confidential: We will ensure that sharings made within our Circle are not shared beyond it, unless someone gives clear permission to do so.

  4. Growing: We will lean into learning, welcome diverse opinions and perspectives, and support our mutual growth in knowledge and power.

  5. Courageous: We will bring our heads and hearts to this space, holding hard truths while looking towards what is possible and how we can best contribute.

  6. Joyful: We will divest from perfection, performance, and posturing. We will welcome laughter, soak up the light when it comes, and celebrate progress and one another.

  7. Additional agreements for this Circle?


☀️ Discussion

Move through 3 generous questions, ensuring everyone has a chance to share.

  1. Do you think of yourself as a climate feminist? If so, what does that identity mean to you? If not, how does it feel to try it on?

  2. What are the qualities of feminine/feminist climate leadership, and where do you see it emerging?

  3. If “what we pay attention to grows,” what do you want to pay attention to and grow over these 10 sessions together?

📓 Journal Prompt

Offer the following journal prompt, for those who may want to reflect and write between this session and the next one.

Prompt: How did your climate journey begin? What/who influenced you?


🌙 Closing

Express gratitude. Remind group of next session date/time. Finally, read the prose poem summary of All We Can Save to close (p. xxii–xxiv).