marching on through
This month has been super busy for AnneArchy! Thank you to everyone who has placed an order - I'm always full of joy to share my stuff and to know that individuals and shops run by individuals are interested in what I've made is just huge to me. I also love to just hear from you - no need to buy anything! :)
I recently ran into someone in the community who I value very highly, and they asked if they could hang one of my art quilts in their space. I was really honored - I had pretty much forgotten about that quilt, which was displayed publicly as part of Art Walk Central some years ago, but it clearly stuck with them! Gifting it to them was the obvious thing to do. It wasn't doing anyone any good being stored (where it was since we took down a bunch of stuff in order to paint some walls), and given that I basically forgot about it, it just feels right that it should go on to a new home. For me there's such a good feeling in making something and then letting go of it - sending it out into the world in the care of someone else, and whatever happens to it from there is as it should be. I don't need to know or be concerned about what that is, and I like that.
Do you participate in your local municipality(/etc) or keep up with what's happening in local government? I have participated in some small ways, volunteering to be on a board and attending my local citizens academy, but these days I mostly read up on meeting packets so I can know what's on the agenda for upcoming meetings of boards and commissions. There's always a lot going on -infrastructure requires attention and that is one of the big responsibilities of the city commission, planning commission, and local government - and there are so many little stories encompassed within the meeting minutes, memos, and other documents that make up the meeting packets.
From the minutes of a recent city commission meeting:
A member of the community is noted to have made public comment commending one branch of public safety and repeating their dissatisfaction with another branch - there's for sure a story there.
A developer is seeking permission to build a drive-thru restaurant but does not have a tenant, yet the land is available and in-fill is desirable. There is also a story there, especially when you consider the vacant drive-thru former coffee shop that is literally across the street, sitting empty for a year.
A vacant position is being eliminated and retooled into a different one in order to create a big event that will draw people to downtown, based on the desire to increase tourism and community identity - that is definitely a story (one which I am certainly not privy to in full, so I'm sure there are pieces I'm missing). There is this wish to celebrate downtown/city center, but I haven't seen anything that describes the purpose with more clarity - is it purely to drum up customers for existing businesses? We already have a few locally-run festivals - Art Walk Central and Market for the Arts are both downtown-based art-focused events, and we have a beer festival, and I'm sure there are others, but I guess the city wants to make something new instead of building on existing stuff? It kind of feels like they look at the things that currently exist and say - not good enough. I'm not sure why. Inventing a festival that celebrates community identity without any sense of what that identity is, feels like putting the cart before the horse - as my pal Kristin put it, "trying to invent a horse," which is definitely not a thing that can be done. Asking someone to invent something specific and special whole cloth is a tall order. And I want success for this person/this job/this community! I like attending festivals and want there to be prosperity for everyone. I hope this story includes scaffolding for success for all involved. Good luck to all bands!
