There’s a conversation afoot. Let me loop you in.
Like most Elyites I know, I wear many hats in our community. Regardless of which hat I’m wearing, everywhere I go I find myself having one multifaceted, and g r a n d conversation – a conversation about how to live:
How to feel at home in a new place,
How to maintain old traditions in changing times,
How to live from the land,
How to feed our families,
How to live according to our values,
How to nourish our spirits,
How to support our communities,
How to strengthen our economy,
and so on.
Universal and enduring though these quandaries may be, their solutions are destined to be particular and ever-evolving. Striving to convince a diverse community of individuals to adopt the same strategies for any of these human dilemmas is a red herring that distracts us from the real work of pursuing divergent strategies graciously.
Besides, we are not all talking about the same thing when we use expansive and elusive words such as c o m m u n i t y or e c o n o m y. As such I propose we embark on an exploration of some of these words. I’d like to contribute to this conversation in the way that feels most natural to me: reading and writing about what I have read. In short, book reports. As such I look forward to sending out ~monthly dispatches via the Boundary Waters Connect blog this year; stay tuned.
In the meantime, I know just the thing for welcoming you into this grand conversation, an official on-ramp: I invite you to join me and Lucy Soderstrom for a FREE showing and subsequent discussion of the documentary film Join or Die taking place tomorrow night (Tuesday, January 14) at 6:00pm at Ely’s Historic State Theater.
The makers of the film posit that we may be able to solve some of our most vexing and complex problems by the simple act of joining a club. I wonder what you make of that? I watched the movie at Lucy’s behest. Indeed, I consume a lot of juicy content at Lucy’s suggestion. And so do you, for the record, if you’ve attended one of our local film festivals (Lucy’s one of the lead programmers who helps decide which film submissions are selected). Lucy is steeped in this community conversation, and she recognized it in Join or Die.
In fact, attending the free community movie night is perhaps less about the film, and more about the conversation. I personally found the film timely, relevant, and inspiring. But perhaps my background in preaching the gospel of community engagement skewed my perspective? The best way to find out is for me to hear what you think about it.
Again, please join us for the FREE showing of the film (purchasing concessions is encouraged!), and in so doing, may you join this grand conversation.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
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