CR:ECO Launch Day

08/09/2010 New Moon in Leo

It was launch day, I got up early for me and went about the business of getting ready. Then I drove up to Cyd’s. Should have rode my bike. It would have been more in keeping with the spirit of the project. Once I got to Cyd’s house, the first project was a walkabout through the neighborhood. That was a good time. We saw a lot of really high level gardens around houses that I feel will be exceptionally good conversations for us in the future. I mangle the English language. It’s a thing.

Then, we got to work producing the final materials of our project. The data entry, the printed material for binders, our name badges. I got to laminate some sheets of paper today, and that was actually a little bit of a pain in the butt. It was the cheap style of laminate, it came in two sheets and you had to carefully place the sheet that you wanted between them or you got bubbles and creases. I did it successfully once and almost successfully twice. I gave the good one to Cyd, and kept the janky one for myself. So, anyhow. Binders were completed, and it was approaching 4:30 and we had forgotten to eat. We went to Pepino’s and ate fast.

Then at about 5:00, it was organizing time. Unfortunately, we only had until 6:15 because the Richmond Neighborhood Association meeting was coming up. We had big plans for that, but as they say, “the best laid plans......”. But the canvassing was awesome. We canvassed together and I remembered why I love grassroots organizing. We had good conversations with people in the community, and had more participation in the needs/asset mapping than I expected. About half the people we talked to were willing to share skills with the community. We met Grant Writers, Furniture Builders, and Journalists. We realized that the need for finding out what our resources are as a community can be fulfilled with our dedicated work. That was the highlight of the day.

Then, after an hour of community bliss, it was time for the community meeting. We were hoping to get a chunk of seed money from the Richmond Neighborhood Association, but there was enough dissent and controversy that the main thing that we got from the Association was basically a statement of support with possible funding for a specific project down the road. If we’re finding the ideas from the community of what they want done, how can we say what the community will choose? We can’t, but the whole point of this project is to help community envision a better future and then help create it. It always seems nebulous until it manifests. Then it just is.

Also, met a really awesome artist that wants to do a mural on the Fred Meyer on Cesar Chavez and Hawthorne. It’s very much about the cycle of our food, from farm and farmworker, to the store, to the eater of the food. It highlights Cesar Chavez, and it has real potential to be an instructive and beautiful project. We should talk about that. I gave the artist my e-mail. Well, that’s about it for today. It was a launch, and was not perfect, but it just might have been good enough.