So this week is Rally (Rally!), and it’s Rally #12, and it is already the most ludicrously magical, silly and wondrous thing.
Have you ever loved something so much it makes you want to cry from happiness that it exists? That’s how I feel about Rally.
Anyway, you may have noticed how I tend to say “this week is Rally”, and not “this week I’m _________-ing Rally.”
That’s because I don’t have a verb that adequately describes my relationship to Rally.
Verbs currently applying for this position.
Except that I am not especially enamored with any of them.
Sigh.
Running.
I don’t want to say that I run the Rally. I don’t run it. I just create the culture.
Also, when I look at my personal definition of “running”, the associations I come up with are not that fun. Personal definition = this is my stuff — yours might be completely different.
For me, running =
[+exhausting] [+boring] [+stressful] [+manager] [+supervising] [+out of breath!] [+in charge of everything].
It’s being the shepherd when that’s not my role. When my role requires that I steadily, intentionally and regularly choose the option of not-shepherding.
Facilitating.
Boooooring. So boring.
Giant-robot-doing-awkward-robotic-robot-dance:
“Hell-lo. I. Am. A. Fa-Seeee-Li-Tay-Torrrrrr.”
I’m in pigtails, tights, a t-shirt with the goddess Kali wielding a machine gun, there are sparkly googly things on my head and I’m holding a duck, and the duck is wearing a beaded necklace.
Clearly I can’t be a facilitator because that — in my head at least — kind of sounds like something which might require even temporarily passing as a grown-up.
Teaching.
I actually love teaching. It’s something I feel super comfortable with because I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember.
But Rally doesn’t get taught.
It gets transmitted and absorbed and received, but I’m not the one giving Rally or instructing people in Rally or leading Rally.
You could say that I am the holder of the Rally.
But even holding is not the right verb because the Playground (our retreat center) holds the Rally. And the culture holds itself.
I am the creator of that culture, and the person who makes sure that Rally culture is present, palpable, alive.
So I get to introduce people to the world of Rallying and everything it contains. I show them around. But Rally happens within that. I don’t make it happen.
If I metaphor it out loud for a bit…
What I’m definitely not:
Let’s see. Not a kindergarten teacher or a camp counselor.
Not a pop star. Not a guru.
Not the person who fixes things or kisses boo-boos and makes it all better.
Rally fixes things. Rally kisses boo-boos and makes it all better. The things people learn, perceive and experience while rallying turn them into the people who can meet and resolve their own challenges.
And not just resolve them, but do that in creative, playful, inspired, surprising and sometimes just brilliantly hilarious ways.
Not just by the end of Rally either. But already on the first day of projectizing.
So it might be more like this?
Like being a docent. Or a tour guide.
Or a knowledgeable, fun scholar who happens to be a friend of a friend and shows up to demonstrate how everything works and tell you about its history and origins.
If Rally were a giant secret Treasure Hunt taking place in a kooky old castle or an enchanted forest, I would be the one in the silly hat who reads the scroll of protocol and describes the traditions before we all get started.
If Rally were a gathering of friends playing a card game or a board game, I’d be a regular player but the one who runs the bank or deals the cards.
And the players would meet up in my bar. Where I set the lighting and choose the music and put out the snacks.
Let’s talk to metaphor mouse again.
If I bring in Metaphor Mouse, what are the elements of the thing that I do want?
What I want =
[+grace] [+support] [+ease] [+flow] [+sovereignty] [+freedom] [+amnesty] [+caring] [+permission] [+force fields] [+delight] [+play] [+it holds itself] [+ringing the bell] [+welcoming] [+belonging].
So I get to be the one who welcomes people into this crazy, beautiful world and shows them around, and makes sure that this world is infused with safety, comfort, love and possibility.
I am the sounder of Rally. The bell-ringer of Rally. The one whose job it is to invite Rally in and provide it the kind of setting where it can be its most sparkly and astonishing self.
So why do I need a verb?
Not having a word for my relationship to Rally wouldn’t really matter (I’m already the pirate queen, right?), except that part of my unlikely project for this particular Rally includes working on the Anthology for running Rally making Rally happen.
It’s a systems thing. Translation! Anthology = binder.
So I have this binder and it’s the Anthology of ________-ing Rally.
A Verb! A Verb! My kingdom for a verb!
Not really. But it would be nice to have one.
The Anthology of Calling Rally. Of Invoking Rally. Of Calling Rally Into Form. Of Welcoming Rally. Of Inviting Rally In. Of Translating Rally.
I don’t know.
The word education is such a lovely word.
A friend reminded me of this when I first started doing Rallies, and I was trying to figure out my role of teacher-not-teacher.
Education: generally agreed to come from the Latin root ‘educo’, which means to draw out or lead out. More root word stuff: ‘educare’ = ‘to rear or bring up’, while ‘educere’ comes from ‘ducere’: to ‘draw out from within’ or ‘bring forth’.
So education is the process of uncovering from within. Of drawing out all the amazing things that are already there.
It isn’t so much about giving people a thing as it is helping them realize they already have the thing.
But doing that in a variety of subtle and playful ways. Without necessarily saying it out loud. So that everyone who encounters what you have to teach gets to experience their own knowing. And take it with them.
For me, being an educator means providing the best possible environment for that process to happen. The safest place to play.
Play with me! And comment zen for the blanket fort.
So yeah. I still don’t have a verb.
Though I think I’m going to try calling my binder the Anthology of Inviting Rally to Play. For now.
If you want to throw out some verbs in the comments (into the pot!) or make up your own words, that’s awesome.
If you want to talk about these bigger themes (this alternative and sovereign kind of leadership, metaphorizing, creating culture, making space for discovery) or anything else tangentially related, that works too!
I would love some enthusiastic waving of flags and popsicle sticks for the beautiful thing that is Rally. And some juice.
We all take responsibility for our stuff. We don’t tell each other how to think, be or feel, because that’s how we make this a safe place to play too.
Love to all the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads!
Follow
Ooooooo! You’re a Tia (auntie) for Rally!!!! The fun Tia who creates a safe space for you to play and to…..RALLY!!!!
The Girl loves the Tias we’ve found (since I’ve no sisters by birth). Tia!!!
Rally away, beautiful!!
Mari
ummm … sherpatizing?
Kazoo! How about “empower”? When I browsed this post, it seemed to encapsulate what you’re looking for.
Tee hee… Tia isn’t a verb either. LOL. Maybe it needs to be? I’m still discovering things I learned and solved and created and grew at Rally last year. 🙂 And now you’re Tia Havi in my head: this is a grand compliment in my world. Thank you!
The first verb that comes to mind is “conducting.” You “conduct” a Rally. You’re the cat in front of the music making orchestra, waving a wand (you can make it sparkly!). OR you can be like a Train Conductor. Rally puffs along on the track and you can see where it’s going and where it’s been. You can see the scenery going by while making sure that the warm, beating heart of the engine keeps going.
I will sift through my barrel of verbs to see if anymore pop up.
there must be some kind of word for what that person does in like, Dungeons and Dragons, or rpgs or something. Or Harry Potter. But I’m not knowledgeable enough about them to know what it might be…
I was thinking tour guide before i read it – but then ‘guiding’ isn’t right, really, you’d have to use the whole thing ‘tourguiding’ Rally…
I’m going to ask my brilliant english-teaching and librarian seesters what they think!
I rather like “the bell-ringer of Rally,” particularly since the English ring their bells in “changes.” And what is a Rally other than change?
Otherwise, you are the Chorus, the Shakespearean character who tells the backstory and provides narration to bind the story (long before cut scenes and voiceovers).
My box of suitable verbs, however, is momentarily empty. I shall think on it some more.
I like “offering” a rally.
I think it’s fit, because that’s what you do: They can come, or not, everything is voluntary. And if they come, they’ll find lots of great stuff.
Coyoteing? As in assisting in border crossings not necessarily as sanctioned by big culture, and also as in trickster goddess?
Hosting! Maybe you’re hosting Rally. The role of the host includes: creating the space, sending the invitations, and welcoming those who arrive.
Just brainstorming here…
Fostering
Sponsoring
Cheerleading
Releasing
Realizing
Inspiring
Making room for
To s’s point about rpgs, the Dungeon Master (DM) or the Game Master (GM) is the person who sets up the world and guidelines in which the players act and interact. And DMing or GMing does get used as a verb in that context.
That’s my thoughts into the pot 🙂
I like the idea of “calling” Rally. Has fun playful elements like invoking spirits and magic sparkles and being the force that brings people together, along with the more mundane concept of “calling a meeting” (making this thing HAPPEN). Plus there is the idea of everyone following their calling/mission/passion/dreams. Good luck in your verb hunt!
idea #2: portaling.
The one verb that I thought of was “hosting” a Rally, even though that kind of smells like dusty web environments. But not in that sense of hosting, but like the host family of an exchange student. Or hosting a party, better yet. In that vein, maybe “throwing” a Rally, even?
Although I’ve never been in one, so maybe I’m not even on the right track (but I’m still throwing it into the pot – and telling my monsters I’m doing it “only in case someone else is inspired” to save them the embarrassment and worry 😉 ).
Building off of s.’s comment above (since I am, in fact, a nerdy role player) the person who runs an RPG (role playng game) is called a game master (generic), dungeon master (Dungeons and Dragons), or storyteller (somewhat generic, more common for White Wolf/live action games.) The verbs are more boring – usually we just say that someone is running the game.
I like invoking the rally (like a spell!) Releasing the rally? Radiating the rally? Ushering the rally (might be too formal)? Helming or steering the rally (like a pirate ship!)?
Narrating?
Hmm, first thought was hosting, but that doesn’t feel ‘right’ then came hostessing, but that sounds like some uptight lady thing with proper little tea sandwiches and such.
Quarterbacking came to mind since the quarterback is a member of the team and at the same time the game doesn’t happen if he (or she) isn’t there to throw/hand off the ball.
Then I thought maybe there is a player position similar to that in Roller Derby (don’t know anything about the sport, so I may be totally off base (but then that’s an entirely different sport ;>)).
I vote for “welcoming.” I keep thinking of the person who gets up during the Passover seder to open the door for Elijah…
I attended an alternative university where the head of the program was called the Convener. The Convener of my program said that he was called that because he convened the meetings; he never actually ran them. And he adjourned them, so he sometimes referred to himself as the Adjourner of the program.
A lot of what you and the comments have proposed are nouns, not verbs, and if you want to say that you are –ing a Rally, some of those nouns don’t easily become verbs, and the ones that do don’t seem to fit. You’re game-mastering a Rally?
I like the verb hold. You’re holding Rally. Hold has associations such as holding a party, holding class, holding space, holding a moment, holding things dear. You also provide the container that holds Rally and the Rally culture.
But I also like Rally as a verb, and you’ve used that before. We’re Rallying this week.
And, finally, I wonder about making up a word for it, the way you made up biggify and destuckified.
These are just some random thoughts. I look forward to reading everyone else’s ideas. I really like Tia and sherpa and some of the others.
I’m with Vicki. I like Rallying as a verb. 🙂 Also, I like the way it suggests bouncing back, like “they were behind, but then they RALLIED.”
I agree, rallying rally. Sounds perfect.
Hmm.
Convening
Holding
Hosting
I love you. Your robot Fa-Seeee-Li-Tay-Torrrrrr made me LOL for real. 🙂
xox
A
Curating?
I had a couple thoughts but I forgot all of them when I saw the comment suggesting “conducting” because it was Just So Great!
Um… how about compering? It’s used in UK to refer to someone on stage who hosts an event, and in comedy clubs especially the compere sets the tone for all the other acts as well as introducing them – a sort of master/mistress of ceremonies:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=compere
I know that this is a serious matter, but I just read “releasing” and now I can’t stop thinking of Havi standing in some sort of armor, yelling:
“Release the RALLY!!!!”
Yes, with Liam Neeson’s voice and everything.
I’m all for hosting. First because it describes a process rather than something you do at one point in time. Then because it can fit what you do perfectly if you want “hosting” to mean what you do at rally.
I mean, “hosting” is a very flexible verb and there are a lot of different ways of hosting. People use it for business but also for welcoming friends into their houses. To some people it means micro-managing everything but for others it means making room for friends and making them comfortable without doing or planning everything (or anything…) for them. I think you could confidently say that you’re hosting rally, and know that it means your own kind of hosting.
Usually I lurk belovedly but I’m uncloaking to throw into the pot
anchoring
“Hosting” was my thought. Hmm. I’ll keep thinking. Meanwhile, I am waving a flag on a popsicle stick for you!
My brain says NO VERBS NO because Rally is so magic I don’t want to contain it. I do love Inviting Rally to Play, very very much. And Rallying the Rally.
{Also, Rally, I love you so much I am pinching your cheeks and giving you a big squishy bear hug! Playground, I can’t wait to visit you again soon!}
my first thought was rallying rally. I didn’t have a second thought. xoxo
magicking.
spell check says it’s a word, though I like it better if it’s not.
+1 for holding.
I almost want to say you’re introducing the Rally, but while that *can* include celebration and light shows, it doesn’t suggest them. 😉
My very first instinct was to say you are “joying” the Rally, but everything you’ve described sounds to me as though you’re sharing the Rally, ushering the Rally in, or partying the Rally onward.
Yay and flags! How about:
– ring-leading a Rally
– swashbuckling a Rally
– springing a Rally (in late summer?!)
– unveiling a Rally
I’m kind of picturing an old-fashioned circus, with you as the ringmaster (red sovereignty boots!) and a top hat, welcoming the audience, building anticipation, then drawing back the red velvet curtains to reveal …awesomeness.
Ooh Jacquie! I VERY much like swashbuckling a Rally.
And in that sort of mode, I just thought of launching a Rally, like launching a boat.
I really like the idea of sticking to the Pirate Ship metaphor and people have brought up a lot of good ideas for that…except for…navigate. Navigating Rally. Hmmm…
This is fun!
I love the idea of “convening” the Rally.
I’m also fond of commencing!
I kind of think of your role as a bit like Glenda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz. She was magical & loving in a “hands off” kind of way. I have no idea if there’s a verb to describe this phenom.
xoxo
I’ve never been to a Rally but I hope to someday.
The verb “tend” is something I like to use for my role as an educator -as in the way a person “tends a garden”… creating the conditions/space for the garden, providing nourishment, watching for dangers, BUT not actually doing the growing.
This metaphor is one that works for me in my approach to my classroom. I can create the conditions/environment for learning but I don’t actually do the learning for my students.
My favourites:
* Conducting (complete with sparkly wand)
* Convening
* Swashbuckling
and how about …
* Casting (like a spell, or a net)
* Spinning (creating the fabric of the Rally)
* Birthing (giving life to the Rally)
Hosting, holding, rallying and convening resonated with me the most.
hosting was what i thought when i read the post. the hostess of the party.
Conjuring a rally?
Favourites from above:
* Rallying a rally (classic)
* Casting a rally
* Spinning a rally
* Tending a rally
* Swashbuckling a rally
* Ring-leading a rally
* Releasing a rally
Enthusiastic waving of flags and popsicle sticks! May Rally find its perfect verb companion.
<3
‘Curating’ is the verb I love when I want to remind myself that I can put things together in a creative fascinating non-managerial way. Like it’s a cool thing on at the gallery.
What about “pepping” the rally? Which will soon evolve into “pipping the rally” or “popping the rally” which are also fun. And you can put in your binder that you’re prepping the pepping.
Opening a rally? Maybe with giant scissors, like a bridge. Or like a flower. Or like a door.
How about “holding” as in “I’m holding (a) rally”.
I’m with Amna and Mary, my first thought was “holding” but I like the gamesmaster idea, too, and convening, although that sounds kind of Very Serious And Grown-Up to me.
Engaging?
I like “inviting rally to play”
but I have all these images of…well…holding. Creating a container. Or planting seeds. Gardening? Growing? Planting. Sprouting a rally?
How about Evoke? Sounds to me like you evoke Rally.
Or invoke. Call it into being.
My first thought was “hosting.” Like hosting a dinner where a bunch of friends get together, or hosting a playdate.
I’m a hostess at a restaurant. I’m not in charge of much of anything. I don’t cook the food, or take people’s orders, or pour the beer. I welcome people to the kingdom & help them find whatever they need. I show everyone to their seat. I point people towards the bathroom (and make sure the bathroom doesn’t run out of paper towels). I hand out crayons. I give directions to the nearest ATM, and I tell people how awesome the coffee shop across the street is. I praise the ballerina moves of very small ballerinas. I have never been to a Rally, but it sounds to me like you are a hostess. You’re not in charge of other *people*, you’re in charge of making sure there are always crayons.