Estuary is a physical, in-person, space where we welcome everyone’s myopic mental meanderings, but where, over time, as friendships develop, and mutual trust grows, we may come to see in each other’s reflections more nuanced insights, which sometimes, as by some higher power, give way to truth, sometimes even actionable truth… John Van Donk

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BYvMkPOAwA4Aqsh0dyYFDHbmEmCEA0XSlRGNCeF3wGs/edit?usp=sharing

An estuary is a transitional zone where the fresh water of a river flows into the salt water of the sea. It’s a place of interchange where a wide variety of creatures come together. Unique, highly specialized species live there that can only survive in its brackish water. For the waterfowl that land there, estuaries are important breeding grounds and resting places. For marine fish species, they are nurseries. Migratory fish pass through estuaries on their journeys. Estuaries are among the most diverse, productive, and interesting biotopes and are very important for biodiversity. And as with anywhere else in the natural world, life in the estuary is dangerous. For there, in the untamed riverbed, with no protective levees or floodwalls, we find ourselves in the midst of the chaos of life-giving water that holds unimagined depths.

Estuary is a physical, in-person, space where we welcome everyone’s myopic mental meanderings, but where, over time, as friendships develop, and mutual trust grows, we may come to see in each other’s reflections more nuanced insights, which we would hope will inevitably lead to better action in our lives and communities regardless of political or religious beliefs or affiliations.