Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Living the Dream in Uncertain Times

Do you ever have one of those moments where you realize you're living the dream? Not necessarily every hour of every day, but in one moment all the things line up and if your life was like this all the time things would be all right?

When I lived in idyllic Walla Walla on a farm I would often get that feeling as I watched the sunset behind the hills. Beautiful hills, dotted with wind turbines. I'd usually be on my bike or picking vegetables for dinner, maybe drinking a cold beer, and in that moment I could clearly see the dream.

In the hustle and bustle of Detroit things are often more complicated. If I have those moments its usually in the night life, a funk concert in an old garage, or a Afro-futurist performance behind an urban farm. Sometimes its kids playing in the street at the end of a sweltering day. They're shorter in general, more easily interrupted. Some of it is that I'm older, probably less naive. Some of it is that the problems of the world are nearer the surface in a big city, particularly Detroit. And that's part of why I love living here, even if I can't do anything about the problems of the world I can touch them, and sometimes touch the solutions too.

This morning is ugly, damp, unseasonably warm. We're only a couple days away from the inauguration of a President that promises to stand in opposition to almost everything I believe... but....

I see it, just for a moment. As I sip a hot cup of coffee and eat a Pastry Date from the local Middle Eastern bakery, share spring time dreams with other urban farmers, and write a grant proposal about how its hard to convince folks with little money to share their skills for free.... I see the beauty of this world. Of a place where new immigrants open bakeries, people of all colors coax bounty from the dirt, and I do work along side others fighting the same struggle against capitalism and racism.

In a time when I think we'll be doing a lot of "opposing" on a governmental level it's good to notice and hold dear to moments like this. It's important to know what we're for, not just against. And I'm for Pastry Dates and hot coffee on a damp January day.