Community

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"What is community? How has community impacted your life?"

These are the questions the attendees of the Common Ground Open Mic event were asked last night. We had a chance to engage in a chalk talk (apparently, chalk talks involve writing and responding to answers on a huge sheet of butcher paper). Here were my responses:

What is community?
Community is a supportive group of people who provide a safe space where both individual members and the entire group are encouraged to grow.

How has community impacted your life?
Community has given me the courage to be creative.

There were some amazing performances last night. So much musical, poetic, and artistic talent! And everyone was so passionate about working for and with the community. I am always inspired when I attend these types of events. And it's volunteers who make it all happen. I used to make it out to LA for the Tuesday Night Cafe events every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month, but it's just so far.

I signed up for open mic last night and read a few of my poems. I was super nervous, as I hadn't performed in a very long time. But it makes me want to write again. So here's a poem:

Community creates unity
amongst unique personalities
bound my commonalities
that thrive on feeling alive
through words
through actions
through music
mind-melding attractions
of the heart and soul
and pulse of the whole.

Community challenges me
to be my truest me.

My next project is creating an inspiration Swatch Booklet. I'm going to paste/draw/write in images, events, people, anything that inspires me and the reasons why. This way, whenever I'm feeling down, I will just have to flip through and be reminded of all the things in the world both big and small that inspire me.