Things may sometimes look a little quiet at RECASAS from the outside. Behind the scenes, however, I have been working intensely on two book projects.
Why two books?
Because they have very different purposes.
Building RECASAS – A New Approach for the Future is part of the process of building RECASAS itself. I am writing it primarily for potential future co-owners of RECASAS (Gesellschafterinnen) and for others who are seriously interested in helping to develop the organization.
The book explains why I believe RECASAS is needed, what makes the concept different, and what it could become: a diagnosis-free, peer-led space for reading, writing, learning, creativity, exchange, and community.
I plan to make the book available free of charge to people who have a serious interest in becoming part of this work. I want future co-owners to be able to understand the ideas, questions, and values behind RECASAS before deciding whether they would like to help shape its future.
The Business of Respect has a different purpose. It is being written for a wider audience, and I hope eventually to find a publisher for it.
This book grew out of my work on RECASAS, but it has become much broader. It asks what happens when respect is treated not simply as a matter of being polite or kind, but as something that should shape the structures we create, the institutions we work in, and the ways in which we help, teach, lead, research, and live with one another.
The two books are closely connected. One asks: What could RECASAS become, and how might we build it? The other asks: What would change if we truly put respect at the center of the way we organize our lives and our institutions?
So while things may sometimes seem quiet from the outside, a great deal is happening behind the scenes.
And both books are still very much works in progress.
