that feeling of community

One of the things I liked about our wedding was the lack of impersonal service provider-to-consumer dealings. Yes, we paid for services, but take the catering, for example: Matt and I would run over to Jalapenos for dinner, and if Ernesto could spare a moment from the kitchen, he'd come out to sit with us and hash out the menu and pricing. That was how it worked. The parking sign said, "Reserved for Ernesto" not the caterer. I sent Norin to pick up our wedding cake from Ana, not some bakery. 

It was about this time that I realized maybe I was starting to build that community which had eluded me for two years in Marion. It was this search of something really important to me that I had named my blog after.

In two months, the Centro Unido Latino Americano will officially open its doors, although good work already happens inside that little peach-colored house on 6th St. I like that the website says collaborators will meet on Saturday mornings "to continue our conversation", because that's the part that will lead to understanding. In the last meeting, I was the only non-Spanish speaker, and it was humbling to have my language privilege overturned, so that I needed interpretation and everyone to speak more slowly. 

I help the Center out where I can: as volunteer, by taking minutes at our meetings, and hopefully by setting up a tutoring program there in the afternoons (and maybe a summer camp?). It's funny that the skills I learned by being a teacher is the same skill set I need as a community organizer. Funny that two or three years ago, I had thought I needed to be one or the other!