Reverb 10 ~ Make and Community

Here’s the late one:

December 6 – Make.

What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

(Author: Gretchen Rubin)

I made a book. And now I am editing, editing, editing, editing until I edit my way to the moon.

But the very last thing I made was some really good farfalle, with lots of garlic, sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini and olives. And a bit of cream. I thought I made way too much, but my family ate the whole thing.

Other than the world of words, a lot of the things I’ve been making have been in the domestic realm. Food… well, a lot of food.

I would like to make more visual art again. I used to be a painter but I haven’t done it in a long time. I would like to draw, paint, glue things to the floor. I could take a leaf out of YaYa’s book. She draws every day, for a lot of the day, just spins out these incredible illustrated worlds.

*

And for today:

December 7 – Community

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

(Author: Cali Harris)

This one may seem obvious, but I will state the obvious.

I have a beautiful community of souls who read and comment on this blog, and I should say it more often: sometimes the world I occupy is thick with anxiety and it can be terrifying. Your lovely voices are a kind of bridge to peace and compassion. Thank you for being God’s voice to me.

I have a community of new friends and old here in Goa. Everyday we seem to grow closer, deeper, see more of the rawness that is in one another, and reach out and touch that rawness. I know there are things about me that people probably don’t like or understand, but they don’t leave; they keep walking beside me, and this is God in the world. Even this week we have laughed together so much- we eat together, pray together, walk on the beach in the dark together. It is beautiful, and it is a choice we make daily, to move towards, rather than away from one another. I am thankful for these people in my life.

And I have the community of my family, my relatives. I long to go deeper with them.

I discovered a community of writers at the Fiction Writer’s Workshop at Squaw Valley this summer. I was so surprised by how much I understood and felt the understanding of others around these other fiction writers. We had the same tics, the same quirks, the same obsessions.

Which is a pretty good description of a great community. At least some of the same tics, quirks, and obsessions.

I think so, anyways.

(Reverb 10- for anyone who wants to check it out.)