community

Last Sunday afternoon, my darling cute piglet husband and I were on a date, and we ended up perusing the shelves at Bluestocking Books, a really fab used bookstore here in San Diego. We walked in and almost right away we each found a priceless treasure to take home with us for our very own.

It was as though these objects had been playing coy with all the other customers who had come to court them, while patiently waiting for us to spirit them away and adore them. For all I know, perhaps they had.

For my sweet Fuckbunny, an unopened, boxed 4 CD set of Django Reinhardt — for whom we both verily live — for $21…and for me, a copy of “Ariel Ascending”, a collection of essays about the life and writing of Sylvia Plath, edited by Plath scholar and biographer Paul Alexander. It was just a tad bit water-warped up on top, but it cost me a mere $3. Three measley simolians for pure bliss — can you even imagine? I was so goddamned excited, I snatched it from the shelf, held it to my bosom in unmitigated glee, closed my eyes — and almost peed right there…hovering next to a twirly metal display stand filled with the clever and illuminating postcards of Stella Marrs. (If you must do snail mail, kids, trust me — send Stella. There IS no substitute.)

The niftiest thing we found, however, was something that we unfortunately couldn’t buy, bag up, and take with us, as it belonged to the owners of the store: a small, worn poster — created by the Syracuse Cultural Workers — listing the many ways in which people can work towards building community. Its message pleased me no end.

The minute I got home, of course, I immediately looked for it online — and I present it here now, for your community-building education and enlightenment.

Learn from new and uncomfortable angles.

And pass it on.

How to Build Community

Turn off your TV
Leave your house
Know your neighbors
Greet people
Look up when you are walking
Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library
Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Honor elders
Support neighborhood schools
Fix it even if you didn’t break it
Have pot luck dinners
Garden together
Pick up litter
Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds
Put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition
Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades
Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent, though many are not heard
Work to change this