Thanks for the comment. What's my goal in resuming public speaking? I think that each of the points you mentioned factor into it... and the goal is different for Forbidden Philosophies than for the other ones, so you make a good point. I'd have to present the two sets differently.

For this Forbidden Philosophies series, it's all about dialog. I'd like to learn about the perspectives of everyone in the community -- both my current "allies" and beyond. I'd also like to share my perspective and see what the response is. Really, this particular idea is inspired by the philosopher in me more so than the activist. Most people don't realize this, but there are such amazingly divergent viewpoints in our community, and I want to see what happens when I toss a handful of "far out" ideas into the mix.

For the Permaculture and other workshops, it's definitely the activist in me. I want to seek out people who have at least some degree of agreement with "green living" and give them more of the information and inspiration they'll need to make ecological harmony a reality. This may seem like "preaching to the choir"... but speaking with people who already have the interest in "green values" helps to build the internal strength of the "green movement," and it also saves me the time/energy/frustration involved in talking to people who openly despise green values and will probably never change their minds. [Planet Earth: Love It or Leave It!]

On some level, it's also a purely selfish desire to speak my mind, to hear other people speak their minds, and to live in a community where all of these life-altering topics are actually talked about. Even if I fail in my goal of sparking deeper dialog and further action, at least I can sleep at night knowing that if only for a moment, members of our community talked about issues that I feel really matter.