Category Archives: neighborhood

Why I Didn't Vote…honestly

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I must confess that I don’t remember the last time I voted. It’s possible that I’ve never voted though I think I remember filling out a ballot once or twice. Many of my non-voting years I’ve felt as though I was given the choice between bad candidate A and bad candidate B (here’s Southpark’s version) and I was so unaware of the ballot measures that my vote would have been uniformed and pointless. Obviously there’s some faulty reasoning in there that could be argued against, but my assumption is that in general many people who don’t vote feel and think a similar way. And if we’re completely honest a big part of it is simply laziness and forgetfulness…if we’re being honest.

I could also make a few different arguments around the idea that by not voting I’m actually casting a condemning vote on the system itself, on its brokenness, and on the fact that I believe that hope for our future is found elsewhere (both as individuals and as a nation). But if I were to be completely honest I’d have to say that laziness and forgetfulness are a larger part of why I never voted.

Honestly…laziness and forgetfulness, that’s really what it’s all about with me.

Well those days are over ’cause I’m officially registered to vote! Ok, maybe I’m making too bold a statement because I have not actually voted for anything yet but at the very least I’m positioned in such a way to be able to vote when the time comes.

To be perfectly honest I’m still feeling very indifferent about national politics (particularly the presidential race) but what has my attention is local politics. Local politics actually affect my neighbors in very real and immediate ways. And the one issue locally that really has my attention has to do with supporting our local public transit. The reality, and its a heavy one, is that if we don’t pass this particular measure 30% of our bus routes will be closed and all bus routes on Sunday will shut down. This is a huge flippin’ deal. This is an issue that will greatly affect the poor of our community, their ability to work and keep jobs and their ability to buy groceries at a grocery store rather than a convenience store among other things. Honestly, this is a very big deal for those that don’t have three cars and enough money to pay for gas to commute 45 minutes to work every day.

So I’ve decided to vote ’cause I want my bus system. Is that odd? Is it odd that after all these years it’s this issue that caused me to (re)register and actually vote? Sometimes I surprise even myself…honestly

Innovating in Vancouver

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If your from Vancouver and you’re not yet familiar with the Innovators of Vancouver project then you’ll want to get acquainted! What Chris is creating through this project is not just a set of videos but an attempt to capture some of what makes the ‘Couve special. The most recent episode is out and it focuses on Anni Becker who is the heartbeat of downtown Vancouver life. Anni is also one of the persons who coordinated the fundraising efforts for my family (so you might see yourself in this video if you were at Pop Culture on that fateful evening!). Music in the movie is done by local band Lincoln’s Beard which is another reason to watch.

I hope in watching this you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of what is emerging in the downtown Vancouver neighborhoods. Look and wait for this powerful quote:

“When you find out what a community is truly passionate about that’s when true change can happen.”

Change is happening.

But what about… (Staying Put part 3)

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Building off of the previous two blog posts about staying put I feel compelled to write about my friend Christie’s appropriate question:

But what happens when you have done all the stuff and the majority of your neighbors could care less about what you are doing and are even a little annoyed by it?

That’s often the reality isn’t it? The problem with churches, the problem with business, the problem with our neighborhoods is that people ruin everything! If it weren’t for people I could have a killer neighborhood. (where’s a sarcasm mark when you need it?)

Seriously though, while I firmly believe that the individualism, hectic lifestyle, and materialism we’ve bought into in our culture are completely and utterly hallow and do not play a part in creating a life or a future worth living–they are still a magnetic draw to each and every one of us! It’s like a blue-lighted bug zapper that carries with it a strange and mysterious attraction even unto the bugs death. We are drawn to it.

So what do we do when our neighbors don’t care, don’t reciprocate, or even worse what if they find it offensive? Are there any ideas we can hold onto in the midst of the epic obstacle known as real people? Here are some of my random thoughts…

  1. Don’t forget the why–We are not responsible for changing people. The reason we commit to a people and a place (in my humble opinion) is because it’s redemptive and because it’s a better way to live. While we hope it is productive our goal is not production. Healthy relationships are never driven merely by production.
  2. Invitation and Imagination– Part of our role is to stretch the imagination of those around us. People might not respond immediately and we may never be witnesses to their response, but our hope is that by living differently and with intentionality we will stretch the imagination of those around us concerning how life can be experienced. It is an invitational stance, it’s a posture that invites others into new choices without pressure to do so.
  3. Patience–Patience sucks but it’s essential. Change rarely happens quickly. Stability kind of necessitates a long term approach.
  4. Hospitality– Hospitality is going to include rejection at times. Just remember that we’re being changed as much if not more than those around us.
  5. Baggage and Process– We can’t forget that we all have baggage and that everything is a process! We don’t know what baggage our neighbors are carrying (though on a larger neighborhood level it’s a great thing to find old storytellers in order to learn some of the baggage and blessing that the neighborhood itself already carries) we don’t know what hurts and past choices continue to define their response to you or those around them. Additionally we can’t forget that we’re all at different stages in a process of growth. I find that oftentimes my frustration is that you’re not at the place I’m at in my process! It makes me mad that you’re in a different place…and that’s a me problem not a you problem.
  6. Context– There’s no getting around the fact that some places are harder than others to make a dent. When there are no home owners its going to be harder. Where there are more single parents it’s going to be harder (more opportunities to serve but…man are those parents busy trying to simply survive!). Where there are more fences, garage doors, larger yards, or when there’s just an abundance of seemingly mean people it’s going to be more difficult. I don’t know if this means we just give up when we find ourselves in these types of places or if we buckle down and live more sacrificially…but I do know that some places are just hard.
  7. No loners— Practicing stability by yourself is hard. There’s a difference when people witness/experience somebody living differently and when they witness somebodies. Seeing a nice person is different from observing an alternative community. If we want to truly see neighborhood change I think its imperative that we have co-conspirators, that we don’t go it alone but work in partnership from the ground up. This will both sustain us as individuals and it will more likely create lasting change.
  8. Assumptions rob your soul– This is connected to #5, but assumptions about how neighbors should or will respond will absolutely kill you and rob your soul of the joy of giving. Assumptions rob you of the opportunity to extend grace in real and authentic ways. Being aware of our assumptions will allow us greater freedom in giving and will in and of itself give additional blessing to those around us.
  9. Just do it– When it comes down to it all we can do it just choose to do it. Regardless of outcome, regardless of reciprocity, regardless of everything that might fail our best option is simply to step out on a limb and practice radical hospitality because we believe that it’s the right thing to do. The hope (the ridiculous and audacious hope) is that either now or later love will win out.

People Make Things Happen (stolen from Brady)

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There are many people in downtown Vancouver who I have not yet met but whom I know of. They’re people that I am aware that I should meet and I know that it’s only a matter of time ’till I do. Brady is one of those guys. I went to a benefit concert for Brady a few months ago that was hosted by the same Anni that hosted my fundraiser last week. At the event I was never actually able to meet Brady, but I’ve seen his face often since then around downtown. I’ve heard amazing things about him both as a person and as a musician and it was at the fundraiser hosted for us last week Brady introduced himself to me and we had a great (though brief) conversation.

I say all of that to get to this, he wrote the piece below last week and I thought it really interesting so I thought I’d repost it for you.

Social media websites like Facebook can be an extraordinary tool when spreading awareness or organizing interested minds for an important and worthwhile cause. However, in our community today, even without Facebook, fundraisers and donation charities are largely successful because of word of mouth.

I’ve often wondered how our community events, especially fundraisers, would be different if Facebook were not an element.

I recently heard that a neighborhood pub, Shannahans, hosted a successful fundraiser, Saturday July 16th, for the family of Jim Schiefelbein. I never saw a “Facebook event” created for it, and there was no advertising on the wall of the Facebook page for the restaurant. To my knowledge, the only public electronic acknowledgement of the fundraiser event was a comment posted on their wall the following morning, by the restaurant, thanking everyone for their contributions, including the hard working staff, and noting that over eight thousand dollars was raised.

Most recently, I have observed that Facebook has been an excellent channel for communicating to online communities the details of a benefit event, such as the fundraisers hosted by Pop Culture for Ryan Woods and by The Brickhouse for myself. The advent of “Facebook events” seems to be a game-changer. It is genius in that all of the important information is collected in one place within the online community and available electronically, which of course also means smart phone users can access it instantaneously. It beats the hell out of a paper flier in so many ways. And also, as is the case with the technology of social media websites, promoting the fundraiser is as easy as clicking “share,” and immediately the information has been made available to new potentially interested minds. It seems almost effortless in comparison to what we did before Facebook.

What did we do before Facebook?

We did what we still do today; we talk to people. A real fundraiser event is like a chain letter; You tell one person and that person tells two people. It’s a chain of events put in motion by one action, and not a one-on-one. Spreading awareness can be done in so many ways including using the telephone, writing to the local newspaper(s), writing to local officials, sending emails to an ever growing list and using other local advertising channels such as radio in addition to using online social media websites. It just seems like the latter is so much easier right? I suppose the term smart advocate could be used to describe the individual who is likely to advocate through the easiest and most instantaneous method, such as “clicking.” I truly don’t mean any cruel judgement by that statement, it just seems fitting. It still gets the word out but I believe some methods seem to reach farther than others. It takes a village to save a villager. In my eyes it is apparent that in the end the real difference comes with the real communities; the Families, the Life-Long Friends, the gathering of Long Lost Families and Associations, as well as the gathering of New Friends and Associations, and the Church Communities.

* What I appreciate the most about a Facebook event page is that all of the information needed for an individual to get involved is collected and made available in one central location, so that it is easy to find, and because of this, it is easier for someone who may want to get involved to do so.

 

I love that both Brady and I attended fundraisers for someone we didn’t know! I love that we did so because of the nature of the nature of the community forming in downtown Vancouver. People do this, they invite, they spread messages and ideas and opportunities, people make things happen.

Creating the New Normal

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A good friend of mine started saying the phrase “we’re trying to create the new normal” a lot lately. I like that. I think it’s a good summary of what we’re trying to do with the Grassroots Conspiracy here in downtown ‘Couve. Normal often sounds appealing. Teenagers spend most of their time and energy chasing after this illusive idea of being normal…But as Dave Ramsey would say, you don’t want to be normal ’cause normal is broke. While I’m not necessarily talking about money (though how we use our money to bless the world is a part of it) it is true that we don’t want to be normal! With regard to community and how we do life, normal is to be lonely. Normal is to busy. Normal is to spend every afternoon and evening watching TV. Normal is to idealize self sufficiency. Normal is to eat unhealthy and to eat on the run. Normal is broke (I mean this both financially and with regard to how life is lived). Normal sucks and does not produce the kind of life we were intended for.

Part of what’s been so beautiful in how we’ve been cared for up through this stage of our fight against cancer is that it is creating a new normal in our community. YOU are a part of creating a new normal for what it looks like to care for people in distress. Normal is to respond with help when things are urgent, when things are fresh and exciting, and to respond for a short period of time. Normal is for Jess and I to not ask for help and to suffer quietly in the name of self sufficiency and pride. Normal doesn’t work. Normal is not the picture of community that we are trying to create. The new normal is going to fight to be different. It means that the person in crisis is willing to receive help, it means that second and third waves of help come after the immediate emotional response. It means that lines are blurred, that everyone gives and receives as they are able, that every gift is valued no matter how big or small, and that awkwardness is embraced rather than allowed to hold us from speaking.

So thank you to all of you who are a part of helping to create a new normal for how we care for those in crisis and do life together. In no way are we done or have we arrived (arrival is a mirage, process is a reality…right?) but we are continually carving out a path toward what it means to do life together. The new normal is counter cultural and it necessitates a community of conspirators who are willing to rise up and embrace that counter cultural posture as a part of a movement of people who are different…because if we’re not different then we’ll just end up normal…and who wants to be normal?