Connections: An Interview With John Maney, Jr. - Poet & Creative Writing Workshop Leader

In nature, bio-diverse systems tend to be more productive, robust and resilient. Each element contributes to the system’s overall success, as do the web of relationships that exist between those elements.  This phenomenon is mirrored in human networks or communities, which are also strengthened when they are diverse, and where members feel respected and valued for their contributions.

In this inaugural Connections conversation, I sat down with Bronx poet, John Maney, Jr. John conducts creative writing and poetry workshops with those who often lack opportunities to develop their creative voice and to share and contribute their perspectives and experiences with others.  Read on to learn how creative writing has helped John’s students connect with themselves as well as their wider communities, enriching their lives as well as his own. 

You conduct writing workshops. What kind of writing do you teach and why?
John Maney, Jr.: I teach creative writing, because I love it, and want to nurture this in others.

What types of communities do you work with?
Maney: Well, I work with all kinds of communities. I’ve worked with the formally incarcerated. I’ve also done work with recovering heroin addicts. And of course, I’ve conducted workshops for the general public.

How did you come to work with these communities?
Maney: I’d been studying writing, attending workshops, and sending things in for publication, while at the same time volunteering to work with the less privileged. It was in one my favorite writing workshops put on by Cave Canem that I met Angeli Rasbury. She worked as a Creative Writing Workshop Leader for an organization called the New York Writers Coalition. This organization had a social justice bent, and offered workshops for people who normally wouldn’t have access to them. Angeli suggested I apply. I did, and was accepted. Some of my previous work was with the formally incarcerated. I requested the Coalition help me start a workshop with this community. My first workshop was at the Fortune Society, an organization dedicated to giving formally incarcerated people a chance to turn their lives around. I wanted to be part of this by helping validate their stories, and thereby them as human beings.

Wow! It sounds like taking a creative writing might not be at the top of the list for members of some of the groups you’ve worked with! How have they responded to taking your workshop?
Maney: Of course the effect of my workshops varies depending on each individual. It’s true many participants never thought of themselves as writers, until workshop prompts awakened something in them that required a written response. Crafting that response in a non-judgmental, nurturing workshop environment, helped many participants realize they had important things to say. This in turn made them realize, maybe for the first time in a long time, that they were important. And so, writing took on a new significance for them. I still stay in contact with several previous participants, and often find they continue to write. It appears once people discover they have a voice, it’s very hard to shut them up. If my workshops have done nothing else, I’m pleased to know they’ve done this for at least some in the ignored, under-served communities I’ve often worked in.

Why do you feel it is important for members of the communities you’ve worked with to learn to write creatively?
Maney: It’s my belief that everyone has a story to tell, and in having people listen they’re validated as human beings. The communities I’ve often worked with whether ex-cons, or recovering junkies as society likes to refer to them, are comprised of people whose stories are often minimized if heard at all. I feel the work I do helps people tap into their stories, and tell them in a more effective way.

We’ve talked about why you’ve chosen to work with certain communities, but do you feel you get something in return from teaching creative writing in those communities?
Maney: This is a good question. To tell the truth sometimes I think I get more out of my workshops than other participants. I of course write along with them. The play of thought and emotion that comes from writing with others can be very inspiring. Designing the workshop also gets my creative flames burning, as I think about who may be attending, then design prompts to capture their imaginations. So in addition to writing, I must listen to the words and hearts of those who to write with me, and respond creatively. This causes me to be creative on several levels. It’s truly an enriching experience.

How do you feel this creative exchange might enhance or alter how we all experience the world?
Maney: Hearing other people’s stories, (their pain and struggles, their dreams) helps us see better how we’re all connected. Once we see that then the next step is learning to care. Once we care, then maybe we’ll start to change things for the better.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us here at With Intent!  Do you have any workshops or projects coming up that you’d like to share with our readers?
Maney: Yes. I'll be conducting a new Saturday creative writing workshop series entitled "Finding Your Poetic Voice" starting February 22nd, through April 5th, 2014.  We’ll be meeting from 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm at the Kingsbridge Library in the Bronx, NY (291 West 231st Street).
 

~~~~

John Maney, Jr is a poet and creative writing workshop leader.
He has been published in several anthologies and magazines. You 
can connect with him at jmaneyjr@gmail.com or his 
website maneywords.

Introducing "Connections": Conversations With People of Intent

The importance of a healthy, functioning system is a fundamental concept of living with intent that we'll revisit again and again. A system can be thought of as a collection of different elements, both animate or inanimate, which work together to achieve the system’s goals. An eco-system (e.g. a garden) is one such example. Those that are bio-diverse tend to be more productive, robust and resilient. Each element has a primary role (and perhaps others as well) to play in the eco-system’s performance. A web of relationships also exists between elements, which helps contribute to the system's overall.

The same is true for human systems or networks. In a Night at the Theater we saw how a community comprised of diverse participants, each respected and valued for their contribution, created an opportunity that allowed everyone in the theater that evening— performers and audience alike— to benefit and experience something magical.

For this reason, I am pleased and excited to introduce Connections, an interview series featuring conversations with people who work to create inclusive, thriving communities. Through their work with others, whose abilities or contributions may have often been overlooked or devalued by society, they demonstrate how we all win by being open to the possibilities everyone has to offer. We’ll also sit down and chat with people whose work incorporates some aspect of the six Building Blocks of Intent first introduced last year— Health, Knowledge and Skills and Spirituality, Philanthropy and Arts & Culture.

Our inaugural conversation will feature Bronx poet John Maney, Jr. who conducts creative writing workshops. In addition to working with the general public, he also works with those who have often lacked opportunities to develop their creative voice, as well as to share and contribute their perspectives and experiences with others. Join us next week to find out how, through the written word, John has helped his students to connect with themselves as well as their wider communities, enriching both their lives as well as his own.

A Night at the Theater: Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and What it Teaches Us About Living With Intent

The Tempest: Public Works/Public Theater
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

Last summer, a friend invited my partner and I to see him in a production of The Tempest (shout out to Patrick Mattieu in the role of Gonzalo!) at the Delacourte Theater. While tickets to the Delacourte are free, you still have to enter a lottery to get them so we were quite excited to actually be picked. This production was part of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park series as well as their inaugural Public Works initiative.

Entertaining

Now, I had attended performances at the Public Theater before, but little did I know the treat that lay in store for me this time. In his welcoming remarks to the audience, Oskar Eustis, the Public’s artistic director, promised that before the night was over, no fewer than 250 people would stand or move across the stage.  Well, he definitely delivered on that promise! What followed, under a beautiful summer night’s sky, was 100 minutes of pure magical, whimsical delight.  This production took its inspiration from a staging of Caliban by the Yellow Sands, conceived and staged as a mass-participation pageant by poet Percy MacKaye in the early 1900’s at Harlem’s Lewisohn Stadium.

Community Building

The Tempest attained an exquisite vibrancy, reflective of the diversity that is New York City, by intentionally including an exciting mix of

• community organizations located in neighborhoods across the city's five boroughs who work with populations that are under-served or considered to be marginalized
• experienced, professional actors, novices and the non-experienced (three members of the New York City Taxi Workers Alliance made a brief appearance!)
• the very young and the "seasoned"
• colorful costumes
• cultural and ethnic influences
• dance & musical traditions such as hiphop, ballet, mariachi, pop and more

And, I assure you that it was all artfully orchestrated by Lear DeBessonet in her Public Theater directorial debut.

An Act of Intent

What’s any of this got to do with living with intent?

As discussed in Building Blocks of Intent: Part 2, the arts are a source of delight and a welcome interlude from the inevitable stresses of daily living.  From that standpoint alone, this production worked marvelously, and therefore moves us towards a lifestyle grounded in intent.

However when we consider the Public's founding principles as stated by Eustis in the program notes:

“. . .theater and democracy are inseparable. . .” and “. . .Joe Papp [founder of the Public Theater (1967)] believed that the best theater in the world—the greatest playwright, the greatest actors—belonged to all Americans and should be available free of charge."  Further ". . .in order to complete the democratic theatrical circuit, it was not enough to offer great plays to New Yorkers, he needed to put the voices of those New Yorkers on stage”.

as well as the following

“Art is an experience, not a commodity; art like life, is a set of relationships, not an object . . .” and it was “. . .hoped this production of The Tempest embodie[d] those truths.” [emphasis added]

we can begin to see how the intentional emphasis placed on creating opportunities for diverse, community participation and engagement— both as part of the theater's overarching mission as well as the specific goal of this production— are consistent with core values of permaculture and therefore an intentional lifestyle. Additionally, describing art as a set of relationships also aligns the creative process, its participants and its output with those same values.

It is this combination of factors that make the Public's production of The Tempest an excellent example of the role art can play in a life of intent.

Changing Your Intent

 

 Support the Arts: What You Can Do Now!

1. Attend a local cultural program or event, volunteer with or donate to a community arts organization in your neighborhood. Your local paper is an excellent place to start to checking out what's going on near you.


2. Giving the gift of the arts is also a lovely way to express your appreciation of friends and loved ones. You'll be creating experiences and memories that last a lifetime, don't take up space (except in your heart and mind), and never have to be exchanged or discarded.


3. If you've created, attended, or participated in a cultural event or program or plan to do so soon, drop me a comment here, or start a discussion on the With Intent Facebook or Google+ pages.

Farms, Gardens & Epidemics! – Part 3: What They Have in Common as Tools for Building Resilience

In this three-part series, we’ve been examining the permaculture principle, Integrate Rather Than Separate (aka “stacking functions”), and have used the farm and garden as examples to illustrate the principle at work, which basically comes down to the ability to leverage elements within a system so that it is able to perform more effectively with less effort.

In this week’s final installment, we come at last to epidemics, something usually viewed in a negative light.  Why are epidemics relevant to what we’ve been talking about so far?  Because sometimes knowing what to do or even how to do it, is not enough to move people to action.  Yet, ultimately action is precisely what’s needed to begin addressing many of our current challenges.  Epidemics, or more specifically characteristics they possess, provide a road map for doing just that.

Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

In the Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell describes the manner in which ideas, behaviors or trends seem to explode onto the scene like an epidemic and spread like wildfire.  As with the farm and the garden, we will again see how we might achieve bigger results than might at first have seemed possible given the resources available— that is, the degree to which we might not only spread a message, but how we can also influence behavior around it as well.

Three Simple Rules

The underlying theory for “tipping” is not really new. It's actually grounded in research originally conducted by Everett Rogers and others in the areas of adoption and innovation within social networks, starting in the 1960s. However, for popular use, Gladwell condenses this research down to three simple rules:

1. The Law of the Few – similar to an eco-system, certain members of a social network possess particular qualities that enhance its performance, in this case the ability to spread information rapidly, which helps to start or ignite an epidemic.  They fall into three categories—Connectors, Mavens and Salesman— and are extremely effective, not only in passing information on, but getting others to act on it. Whomever else you send, speak to or try to persuade of your message, you’ll want to be sure you identify and include such individuals in your communication and outreach, especially if your resources for doing so are limited.
2. The Stickiness Factor – before people can even act on information, they first have to notice it, amidst all the other stuff they are inundated with on a daily basis, therefore your message needs to be compelling or memorable in some way.  Ways to increase a message’s “stickiness” include making it personally relevant, practical or convenient to your audience.  It should also be simple and easy to understand and something you are able to repeatedly expose to your target audience.
3. The Power of Context – finally, you may need to create the right systemic conditions in advance of disseminating your message in order to increase its chance of spreading. As we saw in the farm and garden, the more robust or bio-diverse the context, the more likely it is that desired outcomes (healthy plants, good yields, etc.) have the opportunity to flourish, while undesired or disruptive outcomes (e.g. pests, disease or weeds), do not. The context within which your message is delivered and received is similarly important.

For our purposes, all of this becomes particularly relevant when we consider that society’s current activities have had and continue to have significant, often adverse impacts on the environment necessary to our survival. Therefore, it is increasingly critical that as a society, in addition to new technology, that we also rapidly adopt new attitudes, ideas, behaviors and ways to live if we are to mitigate or avoid difficulties in the future. “Tipping” the ideas we’ve discussed during this three-part series would be a great start.

And that's what farms, gardens and epidemics have in common and how they help build resilience!

Changing Your Intent

 

Creating Your Own Epidemic: What You Can Do Now!

In the spirit of “tipping”, if you*

• have a favorite “do nothing” local or regional farm, OR are a member of or are considering joining a CSA
• garden (your own or elsewhere in your community)
• currently shop or would like to start shopping at your local green market

help spread the word or “tip” these ideas and activities by

1. getting a friend or neighbor to join you. There’s strength (and resilience) in numbers!
2. joining/starting a discussion on the With Intent Facebook page

So long for now!

*In NYC, visit Just Food or GrowNYC for more information about these options.

Farms, Gardens & Epidemics! – Part 2: What They Have in Common as Tools for Building Resilience

In this three-part series we’re exploring how farms, gardens and epidemics illustrate the permaculture principle, Integrate Rather Than Separate (or “stacking functions”), and through this principle, how they might contribute to building personal and community resilience. Last week we looked at Masanobu Fukuoka’s “do-nothing” approach to farming, as described in his book “One Straw Revolution” and saw how he was able to leverage elements of his farm’s eco-system to accomplish more with less. However, as I also pointed out, farming is not necessarily practical for most people to take up. So, this week we’ll be looking at the garden and how we might achieve similar goals.

The Home Garden: More Than Just Another “Pretty Face”

In residential settings people may often view gardens as simply ornamental or decorative landscaping (your neighbor with the green thumb’s vegetable or herbal garden not withstanding!). However, the home (or community) garden can have quite a few more tricks up its sleeve than you may have realized. In Gaia’s Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture, Toby Hemenway describes other potential benefits they provide and how to go about implementing them. Here are just a few:

• outdoor physical activity or exercise
• in addition to utilizing rain water, the ability to otherwise hold it onsite and then later, slowly release it back into the environment, thereby helping to reduce the load on local sewer systems
• utilization of trees and bushes, which in addition to their potential for providing edible fruits, berries or nuts, through strategic placement, can help manage heating and cooling loads, by providing shade in the summer while letting sun through in the winter.  They can also serve as wind or firebreaks or a form of natural fencing to deter intruders” (both animal and human!)
• habitat for birds, insects and other animals, who in turn help to control or eliminate undesired pests, potentially replacing or mitigating the need for expensive and possibly harmful fertilizers and chemicals often used for this purpose
• material for the compost pile, a dividend arising out of a garden’s “waste”, which can then be continuously returned (or reinvested) to build and improve the garden’ soil health and structure, potentially reducing or eliminating the need for commercial fertilizers. . .

. . .beginning to see a pattern here?

These benefits are very similar to those described by Fukuoka using his “do-nothing” approach!

The specifics of how to design a garden in this way is beyond the scope of this post, so again, I encourage you to check out Gaia’s Garden for yourself (or any other of the numerous gardening resources available). However, what I hope you’ll take away from this week’s installment is that in so many ways, the garden is more than “just a pretty face”. A garden designed to “stack functions” can simultaneously perform multiple tasks in the process of achieving the overall goal of growing things to eat or pretty things to look at.  Even as it utilizes resources, it can also regenerate and improve them. Eventually, it might even become more self-managing, thereby reducing some of the work and expense of maintaining it.

So, looked at another way, beyond a garden’s harvest, which can certainly be sold for profit, there is additional “money” literally growing on the trees and other plants within it, and as such it should be viewed as a tremendous asset.

Changing Your Intent

 

 What You Can Do Now!

Still on the fence about starting your own garden? Or, maybe you live in the city or an apartment building and don’t think you have access to enough space to do it. Well, think again!

1. Consider becoming a member of a local community garden, before taking the plunge yourself (in NYC, visit Just Food or GrowNYC for more information about these options)
2. Or, another option for the urban or apartment dweller is a window box or container garden.  You would be surprised how much you can actually grow in small spaces.  Start with something simple like herbs or spices to jazz up your meals, before attempting a more ambitious project. Your local botanical garden or similar organization is a good place to start learning more (in NYC: New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanical Garden or Queens Botanical Garden)
3. Already gardening or supporting one in your community?  Drop me a comment here, or start a discussion on my With Intent Facebook page.

Next week, in the final installment of this series, I’ll explain what epidemics have to do with all of this, before tying everything up.

See you then!

Farms, Gardens & Epidemics! - Part 1: What They Have in Common as Tools for Building Resilience

(Revised, 8/25/13)

Yikes! You’re probably wondering what the connection can be? “Farms and gardens? Sure! That makes sense. . .but epidemics? Surely nothing good can come from that!” Not to worry! They each actually do share something in common, and it’s one of my favorite permaculture principles, “Integrate Rather Than Separate” (also known as “stacking functions”). What does that mean? That in effective, resilient systems

1. all elements (large and small) each have a part to play (or primary function) that contributes to overall, effective performance
2. each element should also be able to perform other functions, in addition to their primary ones
3. at least some of the elements should be able to provide “back up” for “mission critical” functions in the event of the inevitable disruptions or failures that occur.

I believe this principle is beautifully illustrated in three of my favorite books on the topic:

• One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka 
• Gaia's Garden, Second Edition: A Guide To Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway
• Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

Building resilience is a key component of living with intent and will be extremely important to successfully weathering the types of events we’ve already begun to experience due to modern human activity.

A detailed discussion of the techniques and strategies described in each of these books is well beyond the scope of this series, but you should still come away with a basic understanding of how they work. I encourage you to check out each of these titles yourself for more details on how you might incorporate the ideas they contain, to build both personal and community resilience.

We'll start off first by looking at Masanobu Fukuoka's "One Straw Revolution".

The Farm as Eco-system

The ability to produce and distribute food is critical to a society’s health and well-being and farms play a primary role in that effort. Masanobu Fokuoka was from a small village on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan, but before he took up farming, he had a career as an agricultural scientist, in the 1930s. He first worked at the Yokohama Customs Bureau in the Plant Inspection Division, and later as the Head Researcher of Disease and Insect Control at the Kochi Prefecture Testing Station, before finally returning to his home village in the early 1940s.

Fukuoka coined the term “do-nothing farming” to describe his theories and techniques developed through trial and error over the next 30 years, on his father’s farm lands. He discusses them in detail in his book “One Straw Revolution". Now let us be clear! Fukuoka did not mean for this phrase to be taken literally. Farming is hard work! But, in his opinion, it should not be unnecessarily so. As in permaculture, he believed we should work with nature rather than against it. In fact, his approach was very similar to those used by permaculture practitioners, although, he is said to have not actually met anyone in or had knowledge of this movement during this period of experimentation.

Fukuoka noted that traditional Japanese rice farming was water intensive, but that his method allowed for a significant reduction in deliberate irrigation or "flooding". He also noted that at best, traditional Japanese methods maintained soil health while chemically treated crops over time ultimately depleted or destroyed it. However, through the strategic use of elements within his farm’s eco-system, described in more detail below, he achieved difficult and seemingly competing goals comparable or better to either traditional Japanese methods or those using chemical treatments: 1) healthy, productive soil, 2) good yields, with 3) a simultaneous reduction in expense and overall effort. Such an accomplishment is tremendous! Think about it:

In the process of meeting a key human need—growing food— the need for a critical resource— water— was reduced and another critical resource— soil— was improved, rather than diminished or depleted after use!

Fukuoka’s Approach

Fukuoka’s "do-nothing" approach avoided

• active soil cultivation
• plowing or tilling
• use of expensive petrochemical based fertilizers and insecticides
• prepared compost
• heavy machinery

each of which can contribute to increased costs, destruction of soil health and structure, or adverse effects on the environment as well as human health. Fukuoka instead opted for manual laborers, using only traditional Japanese hand tools, straw and cover crops (e.g. white clover) which serve to enrich and preserve soil health and structure. But, there was something else that he did. He also utilized the crops themselves (rice and winter grains such as barley and rye; vegetation used in this way, is also known as “green manure”) to assist in this process. By following a specific seeding and harvesting schedule, each crop functioned to prepare for and nurture the next one by controlling the proliferation of weeds, increasing disease resistance, and protecting against insects, birds and other plant predators.

Farming & Sustainability: New Perspectives

With that said that, I realize that most of us are probably not in a position to run out and start farming! But what we can learn from examining Fukuoka’s “do-nothing” approach is that by giving some thought to how a farm, as well as the work involved, is organized (that is “stacking functions” within the system), it is truly possible to move beyond a concept of mere sustainability, and instead towards outcomes that are regenerative.

Next week, we’ll look at gardening, which is probably a much more realistic option for many people, especially those living in apartments or urban settings, and see how we might achieve similar goals.

Changing Your Intent

 

 The Farm: What You Can Do Now!

1. Feeling inspired? Go out and start a farm! (just kidding. . . well, maybe only a little!)
2. Consider joining a CSA or checking out your local green market (in NYC, visit Just Food or GrowNYC for more information about these options)
3. Have a favorite “do nothing” local or regional farm?  Drop me a comment here, or start a discussion on my With Intent Facebook page. 

Ready to Save the World? Three Ways Your Local Weekly Newspaper Can Help!

In Building Blocks, we looked at six practical components we could use to help design a life of intent.  One of those components was increasing knowledge and awareness of your community and the world around you. This component incorporates the permaculture principle of Observe & Interact (see here for the list of other permaculture principles).

Here’s where your local weekly paper comes in!

Now, you’re probably wondering how seemingly mundane tidbits such as wedding and birth announcements or coupon inserts will lead to personal enlightenment and help you save the world!  However, here are three ways your local weekly can be a powerful and invaluable tool for doing just that:

1. What’s Going On in Your Community?

Obviously, a weekly reports local news stories, but of particular interest for our purposes are the civic association columns. They’re a really great source for news and insights about issues of importance to the people in a community. They also highlight activities and events that association members organize to enhance the quality of life for themselves and their neighbors.  Due to my schedule, I am not able to attend my association’s monthly meetings, so I look forward to reading about them in the paper (Bronx Times Reporter). In addition to the civic columns, I of course enjoy reading any articles about green initiatives, but really, anything reflecting the care, commitment and pride residents take in where they live or work is also of interest.

Last year I was thrilled to learn that a member of the Locust Point Civic Association (Chrys Napolitano), in conjunction with Stoneledge Farm, was starting a CSA in her neighborhood, one of only two operating in the northeast Bronx.  CSAs (or community supported agriculture) allow smaller, local or regional farmers to sell their harvests directly to consumers (for more information see Building Blocks – Health & Fitness, but in particular, Just Food's site).  Chrys has also begun writing a biweekly column called Food for Thought, where she discusses sustainable food production, gardening, and how, as consumers, we can be more mindful about our food choices.

I find these two developments to be very exciting, and are just a couple of the many things I’ve learned reading my local weekly.

2. Who and How is it Getting Done?

My local weekly also regularly features articles about the efforts of local officials to address various issues. These types of articles will help you to keep up with what they are doing year round, and not just at election time.  They are often your first and last lines of recourse in getting a matter resolved.  From initiating or passing legislation, to allocating or advocating for additional funding to jump-start a project or initiative, they play a critical role in helping a community to function effectively.  This is especially true of problems that are persistent or recurring in nature.

One such situation involved a battle between a community group (the Pelham Parkway Preservation Alliance) and the city over how many trees would need to be removed to make way for a major road repair and improvement project.  This story unfolded in the paper over a period of about three years.  However, through the determined efforts of both sides, a mutually satisfactory solution was eventually reached.  Many more trees were preserved than originally specified in the city’s plans, while also accommodating construction needs. And again, this is just one example of information I gained by reading my weekly, reflecting what's possible when different constituencies work together to resolve a problem. See? Contrary to popular belief, you can fight City Hall and your local paper shows that!

3. How and Where Can You Spend Your "Green" Locally?

My local weekly regularly features articles about existing or new small businesses operating there.  As I will continually emphasize, economics is a key factor in a community’s health and resilience.  Local small businesses can be significant drivers of employment and entrepreneurial opportunity (see Saving the Mom & Pops: Ten Ways to Support Small Independent Retail Stores and Keep Manhattan Vibrant), so a decision to patronize them is a great way to contribute to your own community’s vitality while also reducing your carbon footprint!  Many of the businesses written about are often family owned and have been operating in their neighborhoods for years, maybe even passed down across a generation or two.  The proprietors always express great pride and enthusiasm about the goods and services they provide, and why they feel you won’t be disappointed if you shop at their establishments. Their success in turn attracts new businesses, whose owners often cite this positive atmosphere as one of the reasons they feel they too will be successful.

Finally, you might not have considered this, but your local weekly is itself a local institution in need of your support! As is the case with mine, some of the paper's staff may have grown up or currently live in the community.  Additionally, in my area, membership in one’s neighborhood civic association entitles you to a subscription to the paper.  So this is a convenient and easy way for me to circulate some of my own green locally, support my civic association and access all the great information the paper contains.  Looks like a with intent trifecta to me!

I hope you are beginning to see that there's far more to your local weekly than meets the eye. It is a huge window allowing you to observe who, what, where and how things get done in your community. As you get into the habit of reading it, you will eventually begin to see how you can connect and interact with your community in ways that are personally meaningful.  Caring about something is far easier when you’re familiar with it, and making good or better choices, including those related to the environment, are ultimately a natural consequence of caring.

Changing Your Intent

Observe & Interact: What You Can Do Right Now!

1. If you already read or are a fan of your local weekly, give a shout-out here or on Facebook. Not yet acquainted with your local weekly? What are you waiting for?! Check it out and report back!
2. Leave a comment here or on Facebook, about one thing you learned about your community that you didn’t know before, or an activity that you have or will participate in as a result of reading your local weekly.

Happy reading!