Episode 1: Introduction

Jon and his partner Liz run Wonder Pens, a fountain pen, ink and paper store in Little Italy neighbourhood in Toronto. I am a faithful customer and admirer of their work. Not just because they run a successful pen and paper store in 21st century, but because they do that with charm and dedication while also building a community around their passion and their business. This is the future Jon imagined. I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress commercial interrupting the story and there are no paid perks. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it, you can Buy Me a Coffee. And if you like the show, please share it with your friends and family. If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com and leave a comment under an episode. The website also features AI-generated transcripts of every show.Music: Blue Dot SessionsApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Pocket Casts | YouTube

My guest this week is Chris Paterson, a friend and a former colleague. For years, I had the privilege to work with Chris in communities across Newfoundland and Labrador. We facilitated conversations about community futures, climate change, regional development and everything in between. Chris has done that kind of work across the United States as well. Today Chris lives with his wife and daughter in Grates Cove, a small community on the edge of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. Our conversation focused on community, family and what comes next once you reach certain age. I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress commercial interrupting the story and there are no paid perks. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it, you can Buy Me a Coffee. And if you like the show, please share it with your friends and family. If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com and leave a comment under an episode. The website also features AI-generated transcripts of every show.NOTE: This episode is late. It was a week of a Charlie Brown future as Chris would call it. It’s all good now and I am posting this episode from Groningen in The Netherlands before I head south to Austria and Croatia. My apologies. We will be back to our biweekly schedule!Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Before I met Ashley I knew her work. It was consistently the best reporting we had on energy issues in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. She continues to do that today as well at the Atlantic Business Magazine. At the time of “alternative facts,” deliberate disinformation campaign and infinite amount of AI slop, journalism, the kind Ashley practices, is more important then ever. During the interview Ashley mentioned a couple of books and authors whose work informs some of her thinking about media and the knowledge landscape in today’s society. The first one is the work of Cecil Rosner: Manipulating the Message: How Powerful Forces Shape the News and the other one is Thomas Patterson’s Informing The News: The Need For Knowledge-based Journalism. Music: Blue Dot Sessions

I have been following Jim’s work for years on social media and I also have one of his small books published by the incredible Café Royal Books (https://www.caferoyalbooks.com). His project Small Town Inertia and his commitment to social documentary photography has been an inspiration. As I was thinking of potential guests for this show, Jim was at the top of that list and I am delighted that he said yes. To see more of his work visit: https://smalltowninertia.co.uk and you can also follow him on BlueSky at: https://bsky.app/profile/smalltowninertia.bsky.social.Music: Blue Dot Sessions: https://www.sessions.blue/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/08rVclC... Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/eca2... Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/wt88llx0YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSBCpIXp3_c&list=PLS9hOYqtAJk-AoYN3PJ0UtMWkDnNQecF5&pp=gAQBBuy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/bojanfurstPodcast website: https://bojanfurstphotography.com/futures-possible

I don’t actually remember how I met Ashleigh Weeden, but I suspect it was on one of the rural conferences I used to regularly attend as a part of my job. Dr. Weeden is a rural researcher, an activist, a futurist, and a poet who describes herself as somebody who says yes to life and then figures it out. To find out more about her you can read her profile at the Rural Development Institute page at Brandon University in Manitoba.I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress commercial interrupting the story and there are no paid perks. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it, you can Buy Me a Coffee. And if you like the show, please share it with your friends and family. If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com and leave a comment under an episode. The website also features AI-generated transcripts of every show.Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Patrick Lydon’s work is varied and beautiful. To learn more about the films and many installations he has made, visit his website at https://www.pmlydon.com. And I encourage you to subscribe to his thoughtful and beautifully illustrated newsletter The Possible City https://thepossiblecity.substack.com. If you are curious about that documentary about urban forests I mentioned at the beginning you can find it here: https://bojanfurstphotography.com/words-and-sounds/2021/11/2/the-old-willow.I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress commercial interrupting the flow and there are no paid perks. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it, you can Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/bojanfurst). If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com and leave a comment under an episode. The website also features AI-generated transcripts of every show.Music: Blue Dot Sessions

I could not think of a better person to open this podcast with than Jo Nelson. She is the lead editor of the new edition of The Art of Focused Conversation - the book describing the facilitation methodology I based the interview guide for this podcast on. Jo has mentored generations of facilitators around the world and continues to do so on her website https://jofacilitator.ca. Full disclosure: I am a volunteer board member of the Institute of Cultural Affairs Canada (https://www.icacan.org), which is the steward of the Focused Conversation and other facilitation methodologies. If you are interested in learning more about the methodology you can do that here: https://ica-associates.ca/courses/focused-conversation-method/ I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress and there are no subscriptions. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it you can Buy Me a Coffee. If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com . That’s where you will also find full transcript of each episode. Music: Blue Dot Sessions

I believe that these are important conversations, so there are no ads because you don’t need another mattress and there are no subscriptions. If you find yourself listening to the podcast and feel like you can afford to support it you can Buy Me a Coffee. If you’d like to leave a comment or be a guest on one of the future episodes go to www.futurespossible.com and leave a comment under an episode and there you will also be able to see a transcript of each episode.