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.

Open Letter on "First" Urban Agrihood

Update: Interesting Metrotimes article on many of these points

Michigan Urban Farming Initiative has created the “first urban agrihood” in much the same way that Christopher Columbus was the “first” person to discover America. With this  long history of false “firsts” perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by all the headlines last week. But even if it was not a surprise, it was disappointing.

I’m a white woman who moved to Detroit in 2011 to participate in the city’s already thriving urban agriculture movement. People have been growing food in this soil since before white settlers got here. The French colonists built “ribbon farms”along the river and many of our streets are named after those farmers. The current wave of urban agriculture continues from the City’s Farm-A-Lot program (1970s-1990s), which distributed seeds and provided other resources for residents to grow food on vacant lots. When the City stopped funding the program, the Garden Resource Program was born in 2003, initially as a partnership of MSU Extension, the Greening of Detroit, Earthworks Urban Farm, and the Detroit Agriculture Network. The program is now coordinated by Keep Growing Detroit, with over 1,430 gardens participating in 2016.

The history of agriculture in Detroit has been mainly a history of people of color, especially African Americans whose families worked on farms in the American south. Without an understanding of both local and national history, we erase the experiences and contributions of the people who came before us. Just like if we say that Elvis invented Rock and Roll we erase the Blues performers that influenced him. By claiming that we are the first we deny the existence and experience of all those other people.

I lay all of this out because history is important. Urban agriculture is not just a short term trend nor is it an entirely new movement. It has been and continues to be a way that thousands of residents provide healthy, nutritious food, and sometimes income, to their families, neighbors, and congregations.

Michigan Urban Farming Initiative didn’t start urban agriculture in the city nor did they invent the “Urban Agrihood” (though no one else may have called it that). The Brightmoor Farmway and its impact on the neighborhood has been written about in many local and national publications. Georgia Street Community Collective, on the near east side, has used agriculture as a transformational force, with a community garden, orchard, community kitchen, and youth programming, to great effect. Georgia Street’s director, Mark Covington, has been much written about in the local press as an advocate for allowing livestock in the city. D-Town Farm covers 7 acres in Detroit’s Rouge Park and grows over 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables while also acting as an important space to teach people about gardening and nutrition. Not a half mile up the road from MUFI is the Oakland Avenue Urban Farm and Farmway with their community house and gardens, farmers market, AfroJam business, and more. I know there are many more examples that I’m failing to mention. All of these projects have been grassroots in their beginnings, slow growing, underfunded, and, for many of them, led by people of color.

The project at the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative is exciting, an interesting corporate partnership in this work, and audacious in its scale. All of these are great reasons to write a news or blog article about it, but none of these things make it first.

http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/new-beginning-north-end-091216.aspx
www.oaklandurbanfarm.org/
http://www.uixdetroit.com/projects/dtown-farm.aspx
http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/how-paul-weertz-helped-stabilize-the-tiny-detroit-neighborhood-you-almost-never-heard-about/Content?oid=2343926
http://www.neighborsbuildingbrightmoor.org/
http://www.georgiastreetcc.com/

Things I have been doing instead of updating this blog : 2013 edition

It's been another year since I updated this blog, and I promise I have good excuses for it again.  More than busy-ness (though there's plenty of that to go around too) I also tend to write more when I feel certain about things, and I think the last two years I have spent a lot more time learning about complication and the importance of humility and uncertainty.  There are a few things that I'm certain about though, so maybe I'll write about those.  I am also really certain about what has kept me busy the last year.  So here it is:

• Being farm manager at Catherine Ferguson Academy.  I got to take care of some goats and chickens and do a little gardening.  Unfortunately it wasn't as great an experience as I originally thought.  The living conditions for the animals were not ideal and I spent more time working with a local vet than I would have liked.  Layers of bureaucracy at this charter school  made it difficult to make the changes needed and my lack of clear job description or contract were also frustrating.  I eventually left to take a much better job (see below).  And unfortunately this happened about a week after I quit: http://www.freep.com/article/20130604/NEWS01/306040062/catherine-ferguson-animals-killed
• Picking up recycling by bicycle: http://www.detroitgreencycle.com/Home.html  Some of the hardest physical work I've ever done, but totally satisfying.  I worked January through May picking up recycling at people's houses with a giant bike trailer behind me, in all sorts of weather and with all sorts of technical difficulties.  The company is owned by a friend of mine, and having a pile of bins taller than me on a bike trailer behind me made me feel like a bad ass.  Will be picking back up a couple days a week starting in November.
• Making Christmas wreaths.  Will be doing again this summer and selling most at Detroit Farm and Garden.
• Still running City Commons (citycommonscsa.com)  We're on the last weeks of our second season.  Went from 16 shares to 52 shares and pulled it off pretty nicely.  Unfortunately I didn't contribute produce this year because of issues with land (a whole other blog post) related to the fact that I moved and...
• Bought a house!

Yeah, that's my house.  No big deal.

• Been working on the house A LOT.  You can see before: https://plus.google.com/photos/107166267250337581442/albums/5872792512433902785?authkey=CJHx7u_f4sOFhAE and during: https://plus.google.com/photos/107166267250337581442/albums/5914547204988162273 photos here.  It's still not done so there aren't really after photos yet.
• So in May I was really wanting to get a different farming job for the summer and I lucked out because I got a farm manager job at GenesisHOPE!  I take care of about an eighth of an acre at Mack and E grand Blvd right outside of Genesis Lutheran Church.  It's been a really good experience so far.  I've learned that I still don't really like working with youth as a general rule, but I do really like teaching folks about gardening (also taught a compost class this summer for People's Kitchen Detroit and a Seedsaving Class for Keep Growing Detroit).  I'm not sure what to do with that knowledge, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.  Working for a small non profit and a faith based organization (who knew I would ever have a job where I have the keys to a church!) has also been a good learning experience, I'm sure there's a future blog post in there somewhere too.
• Dating.  OKCupid.  There are a lot of stories, not all of which are fit to be shared.  It's an interesting world out there.
• Dancing, hanging out with friends, biking, all the usuals.

 And now you know what I've been up to!

Snapshots of a Dirt Worshipper's city farm, one year in

A normal farming day for me would be getting up, watering the raised bed in my front yard and, after breakfasting, heading out to the farm.  Getting ready to head out to the farm means putting seeds in my bike bag, putting an transplants I might need on my trailer, plus the wheelbarrow, shovel, rake and hoe and then biking about a half mile down the street.

The other day the private school across the street brought out some second graders to do nature study in the lot, which is over 2 acres and we are farming on about a quarter.  the teacher's name was Jerry Ann and she was very nice and told the kids to keep out of the garden.  Later that day I met a man down the street named Rupert.  He told me he'd been keeping an eye on the garden and that there used to be a bakery there.  I told him that we knew about the bakery and actually called it the Bakery Lot, he seemed really happy about that.

Photo credit to Lauren Harroun

 About 3 months ago a church pew showed up at the lot.  No explanation, haven't seen many people other than us ever sit on it.  It is darn convenient to have a bench around though.

Photo credit to Lauren Harroun

The lot is right next to the rail road tracks, in fact a railroad service drive runs on the eastern edge.  There's more traffic than you might think.  Service vehicles, the rail police and border patrol.  Border patrol is a pretty common sight in our neighborhood as we have the Ambassador Bridge (Canadian border crossing) right there.  And many of the trains that go by are headed to or from Canada.  Most of the time these vehicles don't stop.  One time a border patrol guy stopped and asked me about the garden.  I was pretty nervous as we're only semi-legal, but he seemed to think the whole thing was pretty cool.  One of the other folks who farms there met a border patrol agent the other day and he knew our garden as the place with the church pew, who knew!

.....

Had a large Summer Solstice Party back in June, potluck, homemade ice cream, music from a parked pick up.  This past weekend we had a smaller Autumn Equinox party.  Fire, s'mores, cider, whiskey.  Clear night with just the right amount of chill to make the fire seem nice.  Clean up was mostly lining up the returnable bottles so that one of the folks pushing a cart around to collect such thing could find and take them back for the 10 cents.  I heard two guys pushing carts talking about the bottles while I was gardening Tuesday, but with me working there they didn't grab them.  Guy said something about "they've got a garden there".  I should have called out to them that the bottles were theirs if they wanted them. 

.....

Once a work day at the garden is done I load the wheelbarrow, rake, shovel and hoe back on the trailer; water in whatever has been planted; and turn my bike back home.  I usually take 25th between the garden and my house.  Its a densely occupied street with neat, modest homes.  I make a point to say Good Morning and Good Evening most of the time and many folks will wave or ask after the peppers or tomatoes as I bike by now.   I often wonder how many of them walk through the garden when we're not there.

.....

Slowly slowly plants grow
slowly slowly the seasons change
drought
tears
trucks
hydrants
rocks
concrete
rust
seeds and seeds and seeds and seeds
and slowly slowly
days shorten
extra cup of coffee before the dawn
cooler
colder
frost
fruits to
roots
and leaves
"Next year..."

Things that I have been doing instead of updating this blog

Starting and growing food for a cooperative CSA: City Commons

Learning about building and helping to build this chicken coop

 

 

 

 

And then getting some chickens for it

Pulling weeds with friends who are also part of City Commons

And then picking some plums

And getting some help from my fellow farmers to put in a giant squash and melon patch

Going to Dana and Ishai's wedding

And going to the beach

Looking for a Sign Part 4: Am I just lucky or was it meant to be this way?

When I was touring colleges out in the Pacific Northwest I almost didn't go to Whitman.  It is out in the middle of nowhere in not in an exciting city like Portland or Eugene.  I did decide to go for it though and made arrangements ahead of time for a tour and all the other trappings.  The e-mail I got said to show up at the admissions office at 8 AM for my tour of campus.

My mom and I rolled into town kind of late the night before my visit and ended up staying in a cinder block Howard Johnsons (now the Walla Walla Vineyard Inn where they busted a meth lab last year) as all the other hotels were full.  HoJos was nice and close to campus though and so we were able to walk over on a sleepy Saturday morning. (I'm pretty sure it was a Saturday, I don't think there were classes going on).  When we showed up at the Admission Office it was all locked up.  We double checked the print out of the e-mail that said 8 and then knocked.  A woman came to the door and said oh no, it must have been a mistake because the first tour that day wasn't until 9, but we were signed up for that one.  No problem, my mom and I went to go snoop around the school.

I knew that I would want to be an Environmental Studies/Biology major so we walked over to peek in the Science building, at that point just having construction finished up.  We tried the doors, but they were locked so just peered through the windows.  Then the lovely Dr. Wallace came up on his bicycle and asked "Are you a prospective student?"  I said that I was and that I was going to major in Biology and he swept us away up the stairs to his new lab to show us the cool new microscopes he had and the videos his Intro to Bio students had made of some little water critters (and at the time I was really into water quality) and he was just so enthusiastic about it all.

We eventually had a really wonderful tour and I had lunch with some cool students and my mom and I agreed that Walla Walla was a cute town, but I can't say for sure that I would have gone to Whitman if it hadn't been for the error on that letter and meeting Dr Wallace.  And if I hadn't gone to Whitman I would have never ended up in Walla Walla and met Matt and Laura and Lina.   And if I hadn't done that I don't know that I would have ended up getting into starting a local food co-op.  And I might not have ended up meeting farmers and then realizing I wanted to be a farmer.  And then where would I be?

Looking for a Sign Part 3: Year of the Moon

The moon is important for many farmers.  In Biodynamic farming all planets and celestial bodies are considered to effect plant growth, but the rising and falling of the moon is considered especially important.  Much like the pull of the moon effects tides it is also considered to effect the movement of sap in the plants.  This helps to dictate advantageous times to prune, cut timber, transplant, plant and harvest.  There is actually some science to back this up.  Planting by the moon is also advise by some Old Farmer Almanacs and certainly just the ability to work into the evening has inspired the title of the Harvest Moon for the moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox.  All the old farmers in Walla Walla would also tell you that a frost is most likely right around the full moon, something that I observed during my time there for sure.

The moon is also obviously an important sign of fertility as human women and females of other species typically have their cycles in a way that corresponds to waxing and waning.

In my own life the cycles of the moon have also often denoted special happenings.  Particularly I remember all the full moon nights I had in Tanzania as being significant in one way or another, including on on which there was a lunar eclipse.

This year the full moon is on my birthday (May 6) and I am already planning to pick up some chicks for a laying flock on the full moon weekend, which also happens to be passover and easter (which I assume are always on the full moon since they follow the lunar calendar?)  The signs for this to be a year of lunar signs, especially full moons, seem plentiful.  This is perhaps not the best sign to pick as other than associations with women, fertility and menstruation it is often associated with madness and insanity.  Somehow I feel that that might also be apt.

Looking for a Sign Part 2: Year of Fire

I was introduced to the tradition of Beltane in Spring of 2009 by good friend Emily Dietzman of Welcome Table Farm.  Beltane is a celebration of the crosswise or halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, celebrated on May 1.  It usually involves big celebrations involving fire.  Traditionally you jump over the fire from one direction to another depending on what you want your year to have.  north symbolizes earth and stability (like Taurus), south for fire and passion, west for water and compassion, east for air and inspiration.

Beltane 2011 was during a tumultuous time in my life.  It has been about 6 months since a major relationship of mine had ended, a little less than a year since I had decided I would leave West End Farm, still 3 months before I would figure out where I would leave for, 4 months before I would actually move to Detroit.  I don't remember what direction I was trying to jump from but, I know I was jumping towards the east and some inspiration.  When I landed though I slipped backwards on the flowers encircling the fire and ended up in it for a second before my friends lifted me out.  At the time it was embarrassing, but fire became my theme for the year.

Besides being associated with the south and passion, fire is also cleansing and I think that it is a good sign for a year of new beginnings.  Besides my Beltane close encounter I rung in the new year 2012 with a bonfire down by the river.  It has been a year of new starts in myriad ways, but as Beltane 2012 approaches I am ready for a sign that is less wild and destructive.  It is probably my Taurus nature.

Looking for a Sign Part 1: Looking to the Heavens

I never read my horoscope.  Let's look at today's just for giggles: This may not be the best time for career or vocational decisions and practical advice to others. You could be experiencing a cycle of nostalgia. Family, home, relatives and real estate play a big part in your life. The time is right to invest in some more substantial type of investment like real-estate. You may find yourself looking for that special home or new place to live. You want to belong on a private, intimate, personal level . . . to be needed and to feel it's okay to have needs. You may realize that it takes money as well as love to make the world go around and you work to stay with the realistic way of thinking. Imagination helps dreams come true. You discuss ways to pump up the family income and are pleased with the suggestions.

Okay, well that was spookily relevant in an unplanned way.  So maybe I should rethink my position.

So while I don't usually read my horoscope or place any stock in astrology, I have always felt a strong connection to my given sign: Taurus.  Anyone who knows me will recognize the stubbornness and certainly the aptness of my being an earth sign.  As a bestial sign coarseness and caring more about making a point than elegance of argument are also common traits.  Here are some other things that wikipedia says about this sign: "Taurus is considered by astrologers to be a highly practical sign which is happiest when involved in some kind of creative process. Although generally considered easy-going and placid, as a fixed sign Taureans are likened to the bull in being slow to show anger, but capable of raging if pushed too far. And they take time to eventually act on their anger and basically when they (Taureans) do, be rattled, because there's no telling what they'll unleash upon you...."


While I don't consider myself an Astrologist, my Great Aunt Louise was.  When all of us kids were born she did our star charts for us and sent our parents little descriptions.  This was mine: "It looks to me like she'll have a strong will , a smart mind with plenty of fight and drive to go after what she wants, plus some nice upbeat aspects to give her a sunny cheerful nature.  She might be a bit of a flirt with Venus in Gemini."  I don't know how accurate all of that is, but I like to think it is at least a bit accurate.

Trees are the right height

I can safely promise you that this is the only time I will defend Mitt Romney, but I kind of know what he means about Michigan trees.

Recently people have been making fun of his comment that in Michigan the "trees are the right height".  While I've never said that, those are the weird sort of things you notice about the place you grew up when you go back to visit after a long time.  It is the little things about the landscape, that you can't quite put your finger on if pressed, but it just looks RIGHT.  Which is because it is home.

I only moved back to Michigan 6 months ago and as I was driving across the country, from Washington to Montana to Minnesota and finally Michigan (and all the non-M states in between) it just started to look more and more RIGHT.  And by that I mean that even though I hadn't lived here in 7 years it looked more like HOME.  Maybe it was the height of the trees, who am I to say.

Ringing in the new year with Black Eyed Peas

This is a year of fire for me (ask me about the past Beltaine sometime).  After ringing in the New Year with a bonfire down by the Detroit River I decided to make a spicy black eyed pea dish for my first dinner of the year.  Black Eyed Peas are a traditional new years dish for southern African Americans, though it actually dates back to ancient Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana) celebrations.  In this country they are usually cooked with ham hocks, but this recipe is vegan.

Fire-y Black Eyed Peas for New Year
A couple cups of black eyed peas, soaked over night
Vegetable broth (optional)
Onion, chopped
Leek, sliced
Celery, chopped
Carrot, chopped
Clove of garlic, chopped fine
Olive Oil
Spices and herbs (suggestions: cayenne pepper, basil, oregano, black pepper, rosemary, coriander)
2 cups canned tomatoes
1/4 cup pepper vinegar (optional)

Start cooking black eyed peas (bring to boil then turn down to a simmer).

In another heavy pan saute the onion, garlic and leek in a little olive oil.  Add the dry spices (wait to add herbs) and cook a little longer.  Add carrots and cook and stir until covered with oil and spices.  Add the beans and enough vegetable broth (or water) so that beans and veggies are just covered.  Add herbs.  Cook without lid over low simmer until beans are done cooking.  Add tomatoes and pepper vinegar (if you don't have pepper vinegar you might want to add more cayenne or some other source of capsicum spiciness).

Serve hot with sweet potatoes, greens and cornbread.

Queensland Blue Squash Soup

There are is a severe lack of recipes online specifically for large squashes, other than pies.  This soup is based on a pumpkin soup recipe, but I think is much richer.

1 Queensland Blue Squash (about 5 lbs)
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbs coriander seeds
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 small garlic cloves
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 tsp curry powder
5 cups veggie broth +
3 cups milk
1/4 cup maple syrup

1) As much as 40 minutes before starting most of the soup, quarter and gut the squash and stick it in the oven at 400 F.  Also start making your broth if you don't already have some (the guts of the squash can go into the broth).  If you are running low on time you could also just peel and gut the squash and put the pieces in the soup early on.
2) Melt butter in the bottom of a heavy pot.  Add coriander seeds and cook on medium heat for a couple minutes.  Add onions and cook until they are translucent.
3) Add garlic and spices and cook for about a minute.
4) Add squash and enough broth to cover.  If the squash is soft cook at a simmer for 10 minutes.  If squash is uncooked or not yet fully soft simmer until it is soft.
5) Once squash is cooked blend the whole thing with an immersion blender or in batches.  Return to pot.
6) Add 1/4 cup (or less) maple syrup and slowly stir in the milk.  Taste and adjust spices and syrup.  If too spicy you can add more milk.  Serve hot.

Snapshot of a Saturday Detroit

So this snapshot actually begins on Friday night.  My bike's bottom bracket, which had been making funny noises for a couple days, finally gives out.  What this means is that the pedals all but stop turning.  I'm most of the way home from a great book and clothing exchange in Woodbridge, I'm in Corktown, almost back to Mexicantown where I live.  It is a bummer, but not a desperate situation.  I walk my bike up the pedestrian overpass and then ride it down.  Eventually my bike finally slows and it makes more sense to walk than coast.

Then suddenly DOGS ATTACK!  Or not really attack, but three roaming street dogs start barking at me in a way that makes me really unhappy.  This sort of thing occasionally happens while I'm on my bike, but it is way less scary when you can get your vehicle up to 20 mph, rather than having it weigh you down.  I figure if all else fails I can throw my steel behemoth at them, but first try what my coworkers have told me to do at Romanowski which is to say "NO" in a loud deep voice, and what do ya know, it works.

The next day I leave my house around 10 to take my disabled bike to the Hub Bike Shop.  As I may have mentioned before, they are an awesome bike collective that does lots of bike programming with kids.  They also are the nearest bike shop that I know of to my house.  As I walked over I got "Good Morning" and "How do you do" several times.  I passed a really trashy empty lot on MLK Blvd where a street ministry group was passing out food and clothing and blasting praise movement out of some speakers. 

Shortly after that a city bus pulled up beside me and the driver shouted out that I should throw my bike on the front and get a ride.  I pointed out to him that my extra long frame wouldn't fit on the rack.  Very shortly after that a white guy in a winter coast riding a Schwinn rode up beside me and tried to diagnose the problem with my bike, which of course I already had.  He was very friendly though and was the first of three people today to point out the value of having a back up bike.

Finally I arrive at the Hub.  Darrin recognizes me from both the Progressive Dinner ride and the fact that we often cross paths on our ways to work.  He quickly agrees with me that my bottom bracket is totally dead, and unsurprisingly doesn't stock the fancy pants one that I use (that while fancy pants actually holds up decently to the amount of abuse I put it through).  He orders one though and makes sure that I have a bike to ride.  I just want to point out how amazing this is.  I loved/love the guys at Allegro Cyclery in Walla Walla, but they never seemed very sensitive to the fact that my bike was the ONLY way I had to get around.  They never offered to rent me a bike for a week and often seemed pretty casual about delaying getting my bike back to me by a day or more.  I have no doubt that if I had told Darrin I was bike-less while my bike was out of commission he would have given me one of the refurbished bikes for sale in the shop to use for the week, no questions asked.  That is awesome.

Afterwards I walked the rest of the way to Eastern Market.  Picked up milk, oats, stew beef, flour, granola, onions, apple cider, and probably some other things that I forgot.  Found out my cow is giving out plenty of milk and looked at a lot of wreaths.  I think I could make better ones, definitely going to try next year, will just need to find a source of boughs.

On my walk back from Eastern Market I ran into the friendly bus driver again.  This time I was all too happy to grab a ride.  He insisted that I didn't need to pay fare (I'm not sure DDOT would be that happy about that).  He then asked me about my bike and then whether I went to church.  "Well...sometimes." "What's the name of your God?" "er...depends on the day of the week" "Well I'm a minister and Jesus is my God...." and then he went on to tell me about how if I accepted Jesus as my Saviour and was washed in the baptismal waters all my sins would be washed away and I would speak in tongues.  Minister Greg the kindly bus driver, who would have known.  He wasn't giving any sort of hard sell, just wanted to let me know about Jesus.  Then we talked about trees and gardens.

Finally I got let off at the corner of Grand and MLK Blvd and walked the rest of the way home.

Charity vs Sharing

Today I went and helped out at the BBQ for the Homeless/Forgotten Workers that is put on by the Wobbly Kitchen and some other informal groups on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month.    It made me think a lot about what the difference between sharing and charity is.

One of the things I like about this BBQ is that it is out in the park and set up as more of a party.  Those cooking and serving food interact quite a bit with those coming to eat and all of the people serving take a break and get some of the food as well.  To me it seems a lot more like a "sharing" of food and other resources, but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly the difference between charity and sharing is.  So of course, I asked Facebook.


My friend Nick said "Sharing in my mind is more of a two-way street than charity."  To me that didn't seem quite right.  I feel like if I share something and expect something else in return it is more of a trade or transaction than real sharing.  There is some aspect of mutuality though.  And I think Margaret's comment: "Charity entails a power differential - the "haves" beneficiently bestowing upon the "have nots." Similar distinction between Serving and Helping."   I think she hit it just right that there is a feeling of equality between people who are sharing as opposed to folks that are engaged in offering charity.  Even with that I felt like there was still something I couldn't quite put my finger on. 


To me part of what sharing is about is not feeling diminished afterwards.  You can share an umbrella with something and never give anything up.  When people engage in charity even if they have a lot of money at the end of giving there is a feeling that they have less than they did before.  Realizing this made me feel like I was getting to something but I still feel that you can "share" food, where you might by definition have less food at the end than you did at the beginning, but you don't feel like you "gave" food, you can feel that it was shared.


The key I think is contained in my good friend El Barto Grande's comment: "Charity is something the [C]hristians do. Sharing is something [S]ocialists do."  Perhaps it is because I was sharing all this food at the BBQ for the Forgotten Worker with the Wobblies, but that really rang true for me.  And I don't think it is just a matter of syntax.  


Handing someone a bowl of soup can only feel like charity if you recognize that soup as yours and that now you have given it away to someone else and now you have less soup and now are poorer.  If you recognize that the riches of society were built by many hands before you and with you and that without the richness of the whole we would all have nothing, then the soup is no more yours than it is mine than it belongs to the guy on the corner than it belongs to the President.  The richness of our country (of our world) is a result of the work of so many hands that to claim any of it as our own and therefore ours to give in charity to someone else is preposterous.

To bring it to another example, many feel that welfare benefits, such as cash assistance, rent assistance, food stamps, etc are charity to the poor, others feel that they are unearned wealth.  Who truly creates that wealth though?  And what person creates that wealth on their own.  Even if we accept that someone like Steve Jobs earned all of his wealth, what of the teachers who taught him the basics?  What of the roads he traveled on to get his goods to market?  What of all the people who grew the food that nourished him?  What of the police that protected the places he lived and worked and created?  Are not all these public goods part of the wealth creation machine?  Without a society that includes all of these goods there could be no millionaire, there could be no wealth and there could be no soup.  And there could be no society with out all of the individual people within it, so we can never give the money, or soup, as charity, we can only share it.

This is what Democracy looks like

Another Occupy Detroit photo post.  I promise I'll post about something else sometime soon.  These are all from the Occupy Detroit Labor Solidarity march.  We started at the Labor monument in Hart Plaza and then marched down for a rally at Grand Circus Park.  Estimates ranged from 500 to 4000.  My guess would be close to 1000.

Occupy Detroit Marching Band

Children are part of the 99% too

Getting ready to march by rallying at Hart Plaza.

The big Labor arch thing

Probably over half of labor folks were from the UAW.  Also lots of folks from AFL-CIO and Steel Workers.  Also saw teachers and letter carriers.  Probably more that weren't wearing as obvious of insignia.

About half the group is in front of me crossing the street in this picture.

Spirit of Detroit.  As we passed a loud speaker said in this very robotic voice "Please Step Away from the Statue"

Babies are part of the 99% too.

Restore the Middle Class

Arriving at Grand Circus Park.  Once again the crowd you're seeing here is only about half.

Lots of speeches made.  This woman had the power for her and her daughter cutoff by DTE for 14 days.  It was DTE's mistake and they figured it out after 3 days but it took them the rest of the time just to get around to turning it back on.

I loved this sign.

Representative from a UAW local speaking.

Secretary General from an AFL CIO and member of the labor working group at Occupy Detroit speaking.  He was AWESOME

Folks milling around and checking out camp after the rally.  Wobblie kitchen was providing delicious food.

Photos from Occupy Detroit Sunday night

I haven't made any signs yet because people keep making signs like this that perfectly sum up my feelings and so I just use them

Lots of people dancing around the center fountain last night.  Some to a bongo drummer, some to a boom box, some to a trombone and trumpet

Folks just chilling out on a Sunday night.  Behind them you can see the new food/comfort/medical tarp all set up.

Here's the inside of the new services tent, looking towards the food side.  Used a fire line to move all this stuff across the park earlier in the day.  Great example of cooperation and many hands make light work.  The new area still needs to be organized, but should be a lot better.

Lots of kids out in the park on Sunday.  Perhaps celebrating the freedom to draw on the sidewalk with chalk?

Juan's awesome cargo bike with a motor.

Another cook bike with industrial strength trailer.

Dancing in the evening light.

Chilling in the park with their kid.

Trombone!

Guy with tie and sweater helping homeless guy to get the fire started.

Screen printing more Occupy Detroit patches and other arts and crafts projects.

A fiddler and some other folks look at the map of Detroit where people are putting dots for where they are from.

Right on.

I assume this sign is leftover from the "International" rally Saturday.  Occupiers from Detroit marched down to Hart Plaza and waved across the river at some Windsor Occupiers.

New welcome banner.

The statue near one of the entrances to the park. Turns out this guy is AWESOME.  He was the mayor of Detroit that gave out land and seeds to poor folks during the depression of the late 19th century, basically the first proponent of urban agriculture.  He fought monopolists and land speculators (Matty Maroun anybody?) I can't find the quote of his that is now written in front of the statue in chalk, but here's another in the same vein: "Unfortunately the laws are generally on the side of the trusts and corporations laws made or purchased by them for just such occasions and so are most often the decisions of courts."  Things apparently haven't changed much in the past 100+ years.

A little union support.  Heard there were lots of UAW folks at the BoA protest Friday.

While I was holding a sign on Friday night a guy pulled his car over to ask where folks were.  I explained that since it was late many folks were hanging out either near the food tent or around some of the little campfire stoves that were going in the park.  He asked why we were there and I told him that we were there because we thought connection between corporations and the government had grown to tight and that the vast majority of people no longer had a voice.  He then asked why were protesting banks instead of the government then and I told him we'd probably do some protests at government offices too, but that this week we'd been protesting at BoA because of all the foreclosures in Detroit.  He said it seemed pretty silly to camp in a park if we were upset with the government.  I said that money talks with our current system but since we don't have any money we have to do this instead, and hey, it had worked since he and I were talking.  Then we said good night.

Saturday night before I talked to the skeptic I talked with a guy on his way to work at Ford Field for a long time.  He works for a cleaning company and would be working from about 10 PM to 6 AM to clean up after the Lions game.  Even though he has a job he can't afford a place to live so is homeless.  He's not without hope though, he got a Pell grant and will be starting a degree in Social Work in January.  He worries that he won't be able to finish his degree though because Pell grants are often under attack by the Republicans.  Having to shelter hop also makes things difficult.  If he loses his Pell grant he said he'd probably go into the military because that is his last option.  We talked for a long time about the state of politics and protest and Detroit and the wisdom of investing in people like him where such a little money can go such a long way