“News and Goods”

I spoke briefly with my ongoing RC class about what opening “news and goods” are and are not. I thought you might be interested in what I said:

What “news and goods” are not:

  • They are not a competition—even though it is lovely to hear about each of our powerful accomplishments.
  • They are not a session—discharging as we need to is fine, but using the group’s attention to have a session is not the purpose.
  • They are not a speech. I don’t time them, because they have different contents that take different lengths of time, but they should be brief.

What “news and goods” are:

  • They are attention building. They move the group’s connection forward and elevate its attention.
  • They are positive. When we bring up something good, it enhances both our attention and that of the class. (But neither get better with pretending.)
  • They are brief—to be fair to the others and leave ample time for the other delightful things we are going to do together.

Then my assistant took the first turn, with an exemplary brief, connected, and honest “new and good.”

Glen Hauer

Berkeley, California, USA

Reprinted from the e-mail discussion
list for RC Community members

Last modified: 2019-07-17 23:31:20+00