Face Time

On Saturday we held our inaugural fundraiser for the OriginalGreen project at the Silver Lake Badminton Club, courtesy board member Andraleia Villand and her husband Kiino, replete with music by Josh Smith and soul food for twenty-two.  Great company.  I can truly say that my batteries were recharged.  We forget in this technological age that we really do need to get more face time with people. And not just people we know and have established patterns with.  Because that, while valuable, is easy; and it also doesn’t tend to expand us or challenge us or create new spaces for action.  Sometimes we just need to sit at the single seat in the joint and meet someone new.

Architects talked to painters.  Social workers talked to musicians.  Writers talked to firefighters.

It was an opportunity to show how increasing forums for interaction and exchange encourages the relationship building that leads to action.  But how does face time increase the value of community?  Well, as with anything valuable, you have to get people to want it and then do (buy) it.  Merely extolling the virtues of play is not what makes it so valuable –  it is the experience of playing!  Likewise, experiencing community can increase its value.

Part of being a member of a community is the communal aspect, which includes sharing and helping one another.  So our event was more than simply a fundraiser for OriginalGreen.  It was also the springboard for recurring gatherings to support local urban agriculture and sustainable practice, among other efforts.

We’re developing a valuable currency of community.  And there is definitely more face time in the future.