the other thing i’ll just touch, and add to the post later - I’ve biked… well first

I’ve moved out of my parents house.  I finally live in the city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and second is that i’ve biked to work 3 times!!  i didn’t after the first two because I had no fenders on my bike and it was wet, and i didn’t get my lights in the mail at that point.  Once i put my fenders on (last thursday) and biked to work on friday… then the temperature actually dropped to winter temperatures and has been super icey and cold out.  So i haven’t biked since.  I suppose it makes sense.  But it’s a step.

So much to talk about, so little memory.

So, as i mentioned previously - i got really cool books for christmas.
I’ve currently cooked 2 recipies from the more-with-less cook book. I started reading the related book -Living More with Less, and then picked up the This Organic Life book. I’m almost done with that.

What made me think of anything is that i just made granola for the first time! but i burned portions of it, I think it was too close to the bottom of the oven. And last monday i cooked the Tomato Quiche with the scattered help of Far with the crusts. It was good. (heather, you should try it. I’m really excited we both have the same cook book!!) It was really cool. The one thing i don’t understand, when making granola, is that the store bought stuff (even the organic stuff from the Abundance Co-op) is really really clumpy and stuff. Mine was really fine “grained” if you will. Adam said maybe it’s because i used honey instead of brown sugar (which we’ve seemed to loose) or the manor in which i was “stirring often” broke up the chunks. I dunno. I made the crunchy granola… didn’t bind together like i’d like, but i’m going to try the “chunky” granola and see if i’m anywhere near successful.

Reading Living more with less was really good. I started it - then i got distracted. But it’s really really compelling about how we’re living in the world and how we could learn from the world community. It’s quite a social-type book. It focuses on a very gentle interaction with the world around us, a conscious, slow and steady awareness and almost “critical” eye to the world around you to make the best and least impacting decisions…. i haven’t actually read it in a week, but it’s really good.

The book that Has been rocking my world is This Organic Life. amazing book, extremely well written. I recommend this to EVERYONE. if i had to pick people to hang out with, it would be Joan Dye Gussow and Barbara Kingsolver. They seem to be amazing grounded women that want to do something for the world around them. Reading about Joan’s garden, and the experiences and people she’s met with it is inspiring (horrible word - actually almost vague in a sense) but it’s compelling and makes me want to take up gardening. and by gardening i mean farming on a small scale. I’ve become much more conscious over the past week about what vegetables I’m eating, what people are requesting for meals, or bringing home and the fact that some of these fruits and vegetables are super out of season, and have been shipped half way across the country, if not the world. We used avocados tonight for dinner - I made guacamole for the first time, and since we were tripling the moosewood recipe, i just threw spices into it - Cayenne pepper, chili pepper, and cumin. tee hee - But avocados? I don’t know their availability. I actually just googled it - the seasonal availability of vegetables are very incomplete tables that leave out a bunch of vegetables. But i googled just avocado and came up with some florida growing chart that says they only don’t grow like april and may, and they only grow in the south eastern county right near the Keys. Frankly, i don’t like that i’m getting avocados from Florida anyways, and secondly 3 of them were rotted, so i’m wary on the seasonal availability they list. But either way… as I was saying - the other thing was the boys picked up some strawberries at the Public Market. But you’ve got to have a lot of discretion about what you’re seeing as “local and in season” at the P. Market. Because some people are just selling extra stock from the local grocery stores which sell out of season strawberries from Florida.

The thing that this book has really gotten me interested in and craving almost (oddly enough) is growing a lot of veggies in our own garden this summer (terrified and baulking at the amount of work) and then Storing a lot of this stuff for the winter. That’s the one thing that doesn’t really happen here is the storing. So we can freeze and can tomatoes and use them until we run out, and then ce la vie. Ya know? Like use vegetables when their seasons are, and if you don’t think far enough into the future you’ll be sol. We could have used some version of tomatoes tonight for our little taco/burrito/tostado dinner. And even if we don’t grow everything in our own garden, if we’re just conscious at the public market to buy only local stuff, and get the in season veggies, then we can can and store that stuff. And it’ll be helping out our local farmers instead of the other people. just seems like something really beneficial to all involved.

i’ll make that it for now.

I just wanted to write the books i received for christmas.  I’m pumped to read them.

This Organic Life: the confessions of a suburban homemaker
Living more with less
More with Less (cookbook)
The Lost city (i think that’s what it’s called, i ‘ll check when i get home - not my parents home anymore)
The Eastern Tree Guide
and… Building Construction Illustrated.

I look forward to reading these and learning so much more!!

i was hanging out in Boulder Coffee on Alexander St in Rochester NY before a meeting, and some guy did the intrusive-i-want-to-talk-to-strangers thing they do. I remember doing this in college, or the first few soccer practices. You find something small you can make a comment on to get their attention and then you’re in. He did that about computers (i’m on my mac) but I didn’t mind. We started chatting and this man, Neal, has a lot of ideas about how to change Rochester. To work with what it has and focus it so we can inspire ourselves. He wasn’t too crazy and not one of those people that will bulldoze you over to keep talking to someone, anyone.

It was actually pretty cool, and obviously interesting, I love hearing about Rochester and we were on the same side of the fence. He was talking about stuff, that i want to make an analogy for. You know when you see a person, and they’re obviously oblivious to a lot stuff that’s amazing about them, and they’re all down and trying as best they can with their oblivion to fix themselves. They’re brushing their hair, and washing their face and stuff. But you look at them and you see that they were the foundation for so many things outside of themselves, this would give them a confidence, a better posture and a self inspiration to put the sparkle in their eye. and this would help them to brush their hair, AND get a flattering hair cut, and would have them wash their face, and make sure they comfortable with their internal which makes their external shine…. I hope that makes sense.

Rochester NY, we’ve got Kodak (the sadly shrinking yellow box) but it’s still alive! And they fueled the personal camera phenomena that we don’t even blink at anymore. They helped fuel Hollywood (with film) and they helped make Rochester HUGE!! I recently read an article about how there are lots of businesses around Kodak Park, and i can just see it when i drive by Kodak Office downtown, these businesses are suffering. When Kodak was thriving, these businesses thrived because employees had money and hope and would go out and spend the money. one car dealership would sell cars to these employees. and these employees would buy new cars just because they could. (that in itself is pretty messy, but we won’t get into that)

Rochester, NY has Susan B. Anthony. sadly in one of the shady neighborhoods of Rochester now, that neighborhood and larger area used to thrive. **disclaimer** this is nostalgia path. i know that neighborhoods fluctuate and they get better and they get worse, but we also have a certain amount of influence on that… it’s called preservation**** Susan B. Anthony was a major major influence.

Rochester, NY has Xerox. hello?? another major competitor and great influence currently and past on technology. Let’s tap into this. with Kodak shrinking, Xerox is a major employer of Rochester.

Rochester, NY has Fredrick Douglas. another major player in history. We’ve got many famous historical people. I think this could inspire a lot. it could also be really hokey and just a name if used incorrectly.

Rochester NY has amazing progressive institutions. RIT, UofR… and a handful of other colleges.  U of R is always getting lots and lots of press, and they’re doing some really amazing stuff…. or so i’m told :-D  tee hee.

But there’s a lot of history and culture in this town that we need to tap into.  There used to be a subway.  It’s the coolest “black market” place to visit.  and by black market i mean underground.  i take this term and it’s definition from the way we use it in my church.  There are sanctioned small groups, and then there are the organic, outside of the organized structure.  The latter is the “black market” groups.

We’ve got subways, we’ve got a river going through the center of our city, and we’ve got a canal running along the lower portion of the city.

Let’s start using what we have and thinking outside the box.  forget looking into the box and seeing if we can get anything new that is outside of Rochester to inspire us.

This is neither a clear representation of Donald Miller’s work, nar a complete stance or cause one should feel compelled to uphold.
but it struck me right between the eyes.

context:  A running thing in this book is the concept of being in a lifeboat, and the idea that you would have to choose who would be saved and who would have to go over board, ie placing a distinct hierarchical value on each individual person.  And if Jesus was in the lifeboat, that would just look like pilthy little human jocking for something that isn’t even worth anything.  There’s so much outside of the lifeboat, that jocking for a higher value within the lifeboat is being distracted from what really matters.  (I’ve been reading this book slowly, page by page, every few days… don’t take my word on the analogy)

quote: “To be honest, I think most Christians, and this guy was definitely a Christian, want to love people and obey God but feel that have to wage a culture war.  But this isn’t the case at all.  Remember, we are not elbowing for power in the lifeboat.  God’s kingdom isn’t here on earth.  And i believe you will find Jesus in the hearts of even the most militant Christians, moving them to love people, and it is only their egos, and the voice of Satan, that cause them to demean the lost.  What we must do in these instances is listen to our consciences, and allow Scripture to instruct us about morality and methodology, not just morality.
Paul was deceived when he persecuted Christians, thinking he was doing it to serve God, but God went to him, blinded him, and corrected his thinking.  After this, Paul loved the people he had previously  hated; he began to take the message o forgiveness to Jews and to Gentiles, to male and female, to pagans and prostitutes.  At no point does he waste his time lobbying government for a moral agenda.  Nobody in Scripture who knew and followed Jesus wasted their time with any of this; they build the church, they loved people.”
(p.189 Searching for God Knows What)

But another thing that just came to my mind….
I hang out with really cool accepting, loving people.  And the interesting contrast i just came to was this.
–At college, my christian-higher-education-bubble, the biggest Issue, the huge moral dilemma, the weighty divide between students had nothing to do with war, the environment, or anything that is affecting the whole human race.  The biggest Issue i personally came across was the issue of homosexuality.  Across the board.  second place goes to the select groups on campus that gave a hoot about Dafur and the tragedy that has unfolded there.  But across the entire spread of this little-bubble-world, was homosexuality.  The amount of judgment and hate that i felt as a vibe from this was huge, even just in the defensiveness of individuals not being agreed with.   sadly because i was schooled in this environment for some 4 years, i find that that still gets to the higher parts of my “Issues” list.  Whether i’m supporting my friends that are homosexuals, or just trying to make sure a balance is kept in mind when people are talking about it..  it’s still there.  And i’m not saying that it’s something we should ignore.  Resolution is always a good thing.  Lord knows I sure don’t have the answers though..
–But the other side of this coin, Hanging out with the people I hang out with now, I couldn’t tell you their stance on that issue.  I wouldn’t know.  They may care passionately one way or another, but they sure don’t carry it around as a sword, telling everyone about it, and showing it off.  They just go about their days caring for the people around them, and debating issues that actually can come to some resolution and where some personal progress and impact can be seen.  They work on being conscious about the environment and what impact their having on it.  I think it’s awesome.  make progress where you can and continue wrestling with the more “complex” issues.

I don’t intend any of this to put any of you in a box, to speak for you, or to pass judgment.  I might just hang out with a completely different set of people whose “priorities”, if you will, are totally in a different sphere.  *Shrugs*

okay, i’m done stepping on people’s toes.

I have touched on some of this stuff before, and even brushed up against it previous when i had 4 things i just touched upon.

So here we go, I’m writing from notes i took on a paper plate.  I almost prefer writing on unconventional things than on a legal pad of paper with a pen.  well, I generally always write with a pen.

I know when i initially came home from college and started looking to create my own community and find friends and people with common interest, it was difficult.  I was baffled at, when  i sat down and fully thought about it, where in the hell i was supposed to meet these "like minded people".  I thought about the old days of a small town and how you could run into people at the grocery store, and see them on the street later, and run into them at the bank or post office, and then see them again on sunday at church or at a friend’s party.  Now granted… this is a small western town idea that i have seen in TV shows and movies.  Lord only knows if it really existed, but i like to think it did.  And I like to believe that this sort of community also existed in cities.  People didn’t have the ability to cover as much geographical distance and so would stay within a certain radii as they went about their business.  *side note*  there are always pluses and minuses when it comes to innovation and new technology, the car/train/airplanes are great, but they separate us.  computers and cellphones are fabulous, but they isolate us.  But these are highly innovative and great advances… it’s the nature of the beast**  So to continue… I entered my suburban lifestyle living with my parents almost a year ago and struggled with the concept of where i was supposed to come up with people to have relationship and community with because as a human, that’s what i crave.  (which ties into a lot of what i’m learning and reading in Searching for God Knows What by donald Miller)  So i thought, well there’s bars and coffee shops, and church and my job… and my family.  But realistically, my job was very isolated, i don’t like the bar scene, I have no intention of approaching people at a coffee shop, and my family had limited connections, it was their friends from their interests…  so there really was no place to meet people except at church.  So that’s where i started.  But i think that is a sad sad state of affairs.  the ability to find community is slim and hard.  and making friends is a difficult task to begin with, and now we have gotten to a point where it is even harder.  Do you know your neighbors?

So that was one point.   another one is something i may have forgotten what i meant.  *looks at plate*  all i have written down is "the city community".  I’ll go with this one where i’m at right now.  I think there is a lot of potential for the city community.  I think there is so much benefit in investing in the area where you live, in getting to know your neighbors, being involved in your area.  It gives back to the city, it keeps areas in better repair, and it shows people that we care about the area around us, the public space and that it deserves respect.  I know it’s like throwing a stone in an ocean in hopes of creating a dam.  but i think it’s possible.  There’s something about seeing people on their porches, walking the streets, and hanging around outside that us suburban folk have forgotten.  These actions mean that the neighborhood is safe, it’s taken care of in whatever capacity the residents can.  When people are out and about thei’re looking after each other, they’re aware of the changes and happenings of their neighborhood and their outside of their own head.  Now granted this is very idealistic and not true for probably 25% of the people out.  and there’s the issue of loitering and "idle hands becoming devil’s tools" but there’s always a cost/benefit ratio that is present.  In the suburbs, people have enough yard space and that they’re more isolated and introverted.  they don’t have ot interact with people around them.  this affords some sense of security but it also isolates people.   so choose what’s more important to you and do it.    Yay for hitting two points in one.  my third point was the “porch monkey/ saftey” issue.  When i get my house, i’d love to hang out on the porch and watch my neighbors go by.  Because if they see you around and become accostom to you then they can watch your back persay.  When i go and visit the co-op, it makes me laugh and feel almost more comfortable, one of the neighbors knows me because my car is beat up like hell, and they’ve watched it get all beat up.  So they recognize me… i feel accepted almost.

My fourth point in this crisis was just an introspective look at how i would train myself to become an urbanite and become comfortable doing community and being around and involved in the neighborhood as a suburbanite.  How does this transition occur, is it easy?  I know initially i was apprehensive to tool around the area, but my friend, who introduced me to the co-op and got me comfortable in the area, doesn’t really have a cautious sense of feeling unsafe or truely worrying about it, so i was a little more willing to just move around and tool around with him, and then i grew comfortable in the neighborhood.  it’s curious watching boys’ security and comfort in an area vs. female security, caution and comfort in an area.

I also somewhat hit on the point of how technology is aiding in the creation and destruction of community.  I know a number of people that would have never found the co-op that i hang out at, without the internet and everything, and many people passing through using the co-op as a hostile would have never been introduced, met or helped out without technology.  But it also serves as a tool to isolate us and seperate us.

This point i’m stealing more from my friend who feels passionate about the crisis of community .  The rate of change in our socitey is soo fast and frequent that at this point, i don’t think we have time to process them or react to them with enough time and thought to process what the consequences might be and how this will affect the future of our lives etc.  I mean how is the construction of new office space in the city and outside of the city affecting our neighborhoods?  how is the continual vacant office and store fronts in our city coupled with the new construction affecting us.  and How is the destruction of vacant property affecting both pro/con the neighborhoods?  we need to stop and dialogue, assess some of the actions we’re taking.  even when there’s good consequences and when it’s the best route to take at a sepcific time, we need to conintually be coming back and check-pointing and seeing if we should change our courses of action…

there.  that’s what i have to say for now.

I have a technical issue.  I’m trying to network my sister’s computer to my dad’s computer.  both of these computers have been networked to each other before and to other computers (well not my sister’s)

I’ve shared the files, I’ve got the path names written down so i know preciesly what is named what for the path that i’m sharing on.  When i open windows explorer i even see the other computer listed on the network, but when i try to network them, or recognize the other computer it says something about not having permission or access or something.  I’ve never had a problem in the 4 other computers i networked at numerous occassions with permission.  I don’t know how to get to it or make it say yes to permission.  It probably is a very very easy solution, but one i can’t find.

please help. 

Sincerely,
The computer technician of this family

So three things have happened, and i’ll do you the courteseous of telling them in order.  I will do you the disservice of not fully telling you everything yet.  and all three of these affect me and interact with each other.  it’s kinda cool.  No!  there’s 4 things.  i promise.

1 - I’m getting into a small group at church…. well yes and no.  we’re investigating the possibility of starting a small group of like-minded individuals.  and one guy is really passionate about and concerned about the crisis of community.  and it really interests me as i am getting into the idea of living in the city and getting into a community and other things.  I’m loosing the structure of my idea.  but i will elaborate on this later, that’s the idea.  the point.  So this thing that has happened is the idea of community and the crisis of it.

2 - Next there was a church vision meeting last night.  It was really cool.  a lot of the ideas they were talking about struck a resonating chord in me.  something about having a “city of refuge”  idea was very interesting to me.  I think the biblical reference for this one was… Joshua 21.  I don’t know the full concept of this and haven’t researched it yet.  But one of the lead guys said a story about how when he was little his house was the “safe house” for all his friends and people.  Sometimes his mom would bring home old people and be like, “this is your new grandma this thanksgiving”  but the concept of it was really cool.  basically i want my city house to be a place of welcome and comfort for people.  like if someone from church needs a place to crash for a while, or a friend needs to get out of where ever, or some of my buddies are in between places or jobs or something, I want my home to be a place where people can crash.  and Houses are easier to do that with than apartments.  But that’s my dream.  one of the many.

3-  reading “Searching for God Knows What” -  and there are soo many things about God, and community and the spirit of christ and the idea of loving others that really connects with me and something i want to connect with and fully embrace, because it is the true message of christ.  I will get into this more after i’ve read more of the book.  but it’s really cool.

4 - just found out about a website called freecycle.org.  it’s about trying to keep things out of the land fill. will also get into this more.  boo.

So okay.  I’m a dreamer.  I won’t argue that by any stretch.  I get cool ideas in my head and really think that I could do it.  reality comes by and either nods or throws me to the curb.  So i dream lots of crazy dreams, little dreams, good dreams and shitty dreams.  It’s my cycle, it’s what i do.

And i would also like to say that I grew up in middle class, two car, private school, dance and music lessons life style.  I grew up in suburbia where we drove all over the place.  most of my childhood was spent in a car.  It’s ingrained in me.  And as a dreamer, i’m not going to be crazy enough to think i can choose to completely leave everything i’ve grown up knowing and embracing a completely new lifestyle.  I know that somethings will stay with me and i know that i can change a lot more than i think.  balance you know?  it’s a good thing.

But i have dreams of lifestyle changes i would loooooooooooooove to implament 6 months ago.  I want to use my car less.  Very less.  like a weekend car.   Now, realistically i live in Rochester, NY and we get biking weather about 3-6 months out of the year (being optimistic of course)       granted, i currently live still in suburbia with my parents.  and the job i hold (for the next week-ish) requires the ability to drive more than just work and back.  So realistically it wasn’t very realistic to cancel out the use of the auto at that moment.  obviously-ish.   but a job change is happening.  I’m looking for a job in the city.  and hopefully one day in the far off unrealistic future i’ll own a home in the city.  once these two paths cross, the world will explode and i will venture out biking to work.

in an ideal world, as i said, i would live in the city, work in the city, and use my car to venture out shopping, or to my parents in suburbia.  the area i’m looking to live would actually allow me to bike to church too.  *awesome!!!*  And i fully understand biking to work (a professional job with a dress code) could be tricky, but it’s called plastic bags, and a change of clothing.  and sweat, who cares about sweat ;)  but there are many people who bike to work and deal with that.  another thing is weather.  weather is an issue.  Jimmy said that as long as you don’t stop, biking in the winter is fine.  HA!  but that’s what public transportation is for.  lowering the use of a vehicle, partaking in what is provided, and being conscious.   My mother said something about how there’s a cyclist she sees on her way to work when she drives and she feels that it’s severely unsafe and annoying… i don’t know how she worded it, it just made it seem like it was inconvenient for her and made her feel nervous driving.    obviously, if i were to bike at night i would purchase proper equipment to light myself up so i am visible.

I dunno, i feel discouraged..  just because i feel that they think i’m crazy, i’m still striving for this dream though.  kiss my tushy.

so i suppose for me the bigger issue for me is the urban sphere, the environmental sphere and such, and what our place as humans, our duty, our burden is to these and many other things.  i mean, there’s people out there all over the place with varying degrees of spirituality, faith, ethics, moral codes, values, and societal/cultural rules that they use to function in the world around them.  but what is the burden of our duty to the things around us, the preservation of the urban city, the preservation of the integrity of the communities in the city, the environmental impacts of our city, the environmental impacts of our phsyical presence…

i could go on and on, but i’m just watching people live it out, and questioning it all over the place.  how are we showing love?  how are we showing grace and mercy?  how are we caring for and blessing the things around us?  if this is christianity then so be it.  if this makes me doubt the integrity of the 5% of the obese population?  i apologize.  i’ve got a lot of issues with food.  i apologize for obsessing.  but it’s about balance and the larger issues for me..