And one more thing: we are building a family compound (long, expensive story, but a leap of faith) and we need to replace the fence surrounding the lot in this gentrifying neighborhood. The (White) neighbors on one side already built a fully opaque, 10' high wooden fence. That just didn't feel right to me: I don't want to be surrounded by walls, I want the wind (and birds, and lizards) to pass through, and **I want to talk to my neighbors** over the fence. Garrett, your work helped me crystalize and articulate what we wanted and why. So we are doing a 4' high fence with hog wire, and a gate--with visions of hosting, wait for it, neighborhood potlucks! I was chatting with our (Black) neighbor on the other side, gave her a heads up that we would need to replace the falling-down fence, and assured her it would allow for conversation. She was like "yeah, doh, of course!"
"Every organizing effort is a leap of faith. There’s no guarantee that anything we try together will actually bear fruit." This. Thanks, I'm going to use this as the opening quote at the next social justice meeting I lead at our UU church.
On FB, Rebecca Solnit shared a really useful reflection on how Mamdani's behavior at the press conference mirrored the social tactics of desi folks the world over. Look for it. I think you'll appreciate the analysis.
And one more thing: we are building a family compound (long, expensive story, but a leap of faith) and we need to replace the fence surrounding the lot in this gentrifying neighborhood. The (White) neighbors on one side already built a fully opaque, 10' high wooden fence. That just didn't feel right to me: I don't want to be surrounded by walls, I want the wind (and birds, and lizards) to pass through, and **I want to talk to my neighbors** over the fence. Garrett, your work helped me crystalize and articulate what we wanted and why. So we are doing a 4' high fence with hog wire, and a gate--with visions of hosting, wait for it, neighborhood potlucks! I was chatting with our (Black) neighbor on the other side, gave her a heads up that we would need to replace the falling-down fence, and assured her it would allow for conversation. She was like "yeah, doh, of course!"
"Every organizing effort is a leap of faith. There’s no guarantee that anything we try together will actually bear fruit." This. Thanks, I'm going to use this as the opening quote at the next social justice meeting I lead at our UU church.
On FB, Rebecca Solnit shared a really useful reflection on how Mamdani's behavior at the press conference mirrored the social tactics of desi folks the world over. Look for it. I think you'll appreciate the analysis.
Do you know if this is posted elsewhere ( not FB)?
He (the author of the post Rebecca Solnit shared) posted it on LinkedIn, too:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ji-uncle-kedar-gadgil-njp7f/?trackingId=%2F%2FhYssq23DkO02GwjiJwaw%3D%3D