robin mooty

I wear a watch now. I am usually anti-time-knowing. Too much of my energy is spent on feeling like I’m behind that I hate having a constant reminder that I’m working against the clock. Due to a recent medical condition, I now have to wear one to remind me to walk around every hour to prevent blood clotting in my legs. This seems like it would be a nuisance, but I’m grateful that it makes me have to take a break, a breather, every hour instead of becoming absolutely absorbed in my computer. I am now becoming more and more aware of how much of my life is spent staring at a screen a foot and a half from my face–my universe now appears to stop less that two feet from my gaze. What a tragedy that this is the seemingly forced path of humanity in this current era.

At the risk of sounding like the pretentious American saying, “Well, in so-and-so place, they…”, but I’m going to proceed anyway. I was recently listening to a podcast of one of my favorite travelers, Rick Steves, conversing with my favorite travel writer, Frances Mayes. They got on the subject of how Italians, and many other European nations don’t treat time with the same mindset/attitude that we do State-side. Mayes was sharing about how in all of her time in Italy she has never had the sense that the Italians fight time the way we do. They simply “pass” time and don’t worry about it. Whereas I always feel behind, like the clock is beating me down, and I’ll never be able to match it. This notion is even apparent in our language. We use economic terms to indicate how we use time: we spend time, waste time, invest time. Instead of just passing time, heedless of it’s ticking hands. I’d like to do that–take time, guiltlessly.

I wrote this one day for the PieLab website and the Greensboro Watchman later printed it in the weekly paper:
It’s a covetous circumstance to love being where you are. How deeply appreciative I am to be able to enjoy my little town location of Greensboro, Alabama. Any of the main roads that lead you here all build the sense of deep awe because for lack of any words to do justice, they’re just dang beautiful. Rolling green hills, vast pastures, cows dotting the fields, creeks winding, and if you catch it at the right time of day, you might even see sun beams streaking the sky. The American South: one of the best destinations people overlook.

I’d like to take you on my stroll yesterday with me:
Right outside my door, the street is covered with wisteria-invasive plant as it may be-it’s still gorgeous and smells of sweet southern spring. My little seven year old neighbor walks across the street to smell them with me and expresses her desire that the flowers should turn into grapes. Moving on I get to Main Street where it is quiet, as Sabbath is seemingly more evident without the distractions of a city. Highway 69 has its usual thru traffic traveling, especially with beach-goers this time of year. There is a sort of unspoken rule here, and just about in any southern town, that you wave to any and every passerby, meaning that on this walk, I get my arm workout as well. Birds are chirping and bees buzzing. I’ve always loved how luciously green the south is. I’ve heard westerners say that it almost gives them a sense of claustrophobia, but not me. Those tree canopied roads give me a sense of mystery that incites adventure! The magnolia tree I pass is about to explode in its intoxicatingly fragrant white flowers that will fill the air with an even sweeter heaviness. With the heavy air and flora filled aromas, sometimes I think the air might just drip sugar. That has always been one of the first things to hit me when stepping off of a plane in Atlanta: a wall of heavy, wet, sweet smelling air that announces my arrival back on southern soil. By summer this air will no longer be as romantic, as we will have to change clothes three times a day to stay dry and take a nap each afternoon just to regain what the heat took out of you that morning. That combined with a dozen of re-applications of bug spray throughout the day means your shower is well worth it at night.
Continuing on my walk I notice that the recycling bins behind the Episcopal church are still in much use. This local effort is highly commended and is impressive to see a church with “ecology as part of theology.” Some of the houses I pass still retain their glorious heritage from when they were built and some are going through renovations to restore them as well. It is exciting to see part of history being restored to continue serving their built purposes.

This walk has allowed time to think and meditate–one of the things I love about Greensboro. It gives me the time and space to create and develop with the bonus of being surrounded by great people who spur inspiration into fruition. I will be researching the deeper meanings of “feweristics” soon as a friend mentioned this concept to me this weekend. I immediately attached it into the context of Greensboro. Here, there are fewer choices for shopping, eating, entertainment which means less paralysis of analysis. Some would call it boring, but I think it is liberating. There are fewer distractions, fewer time wasting activities, fewer obligations. And that’s the way I like it. That’s part of what makes Greensboro good.

I could write books on all I/we learned in Greensboro with my time at PieLab. So I’ll spare you. I’m sure the lessons will shine through in other posts as they relate to things I do as I pursue whatever comes next (which I just found out is Ponteareas, Galicia, Spain!, but more on that later). A quick little sketch of at least a few lessons…

This blog post is long overdue–a testimony to the fullness of the past few months that the blog has taken a side burner. More on that later, but now for a post I’ve had on my tuexduex list for a while (I really recommend this latter site for keeping up with life).

This past April, two friends and I from PieLab went on a road trip into the Eastern United States. What began with a desire to make it to Charlottesville, VA to see their community design center, led us to plan a week long trip stopping at places all along the way. It was initially just for fun, but turned into an incredibly informative trip that was fun for sure, but more research gathering than anticipated–a welcome surprise.

After driving through the hills of northern Alabama (I am always amazed by the varying topography and landscape of the state), we arrived in Chattanooga, TN to crash in a very generous host’s house in a revitalized part of town. She worked near there at a place called CreateHere that graciously allowed us to sit in on their Monday morning meeting and stay afterwards to probe for information, ideas, and direction for our own endeavors. We left completely enamored with the work they do (I won’t even try to explain, just visit the site). What I gained mostly from them was the power to be had in collaboration among disciplines, especially when business/venture capitalists get involved. It was very obvious the group was made of people just “loving on their city”, as they phrased it. I was very impressed with their attention to the hollistic nature of society and thereby considering all aspects from economics, to culture, safety, business, civic engagement, education and so on. They stressed to us to start with core values, not initiatives and to first figure out a place’s assets and then turn them into tools (asset-based development). One abstract map they offered that I found interesting was that creativity>innovation>economy (sustained economic development/long-term local wealth). They re-iterated much of what we have been discussing here: that changes can be sparked by an outside catalyst, but must be adopted by longterm efforts from within a place. And once again, education, education, education. A city’s success seems to boil down to the commitment it has to its education system. Education>wealth>health. Education>economy based on professionals>they create jobs. Education>knowledgable electorate>good elected officials>good government>better city>more education. The circle of cities.

Departing for Asheville, we encountered closed interstates–a welcome detour as we loved wandering through mountain paths, crookneck roads we had to slow to 10 miles an hour around, and for much of it, followed a river backdropped by spring vegetation and livestock any romantic era artist would have drooled over. The small towns seemed to have appalachian charm and had us asking the questions that each city prompted: “What is that keeps people here?”, “What makes this place work?”, “What lends this place its identity?”

Asheville was rainy, meaning we couldn’t meander the city we’d heard heralded before going. We plopped down in a chocolate shop/cafe where I tried honey-lavender hot chocolate which at first sounded like the oddest combination, but as hoped, proved to be divinely delicious. Dinner was at a chic Indian restaurant that was a treat for the palate, but so spicy my ears were stopped up and nose dripping.

Unexpected stops popped up throughout the voyage that actually made the trip more than some of the intentional destinations. One being in Black Mountain, NC. As we were studying the map for our route the next morning, we were delighted to find that we would be driving right through this little town. Black Mountain was home to the renowned Black Mountain College where many modernists and progressives in the teens and twenties of the past century pushed the boundaries of art, design, theater, and communal living. We drove to the school’s location, now turned boys’ summer camp, tucked away on a hillside with a pond in front of it. I tried to imagine what it would have been like filled with young, creative minds, engaging in the rapidly developing dialogue of art, design, and architecture–in a place that offered them the time and space to create. What was more engaging for us was the stop we made at the town’s visitor center where a sweet, decades-weathered lady offered us looks into the center’s literature on the college. We immediately started pulling out scraps of receipts/paper from our purses to jot down quotes that electrified the illuminous ideas these great thinkers offered:

“Democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience…the widening of the area of shared concerns, and the liberation of a great diversity of personal capacities.”
-John Dewey, Democracy and Education, 1916 (see last blog post to know how elated I was to find the continuity of this quote with what I learned at the Dave Matthews conference and all this year at PieLab)

“Qualities of character considered just as much as intellectual abilities in which development of critical thought, creative ability and social adjustment are more respected than mere acquisition of knowledge and skill.”
-Josef Albers

Next stop, Raleigh. We didn’t get to spend much time there, but saw the beautiful campus of NC State, couch surfed with an out of work architect now turning to cool guerilla architecture projects, and ate some delicious Lebanese food for dinner before relaxing with a drink at a local bar hosting a sitar player. Our goal in each place was to go cheap on two meals a day and eat well for the third–and hopefully find a coffee shop to start each day.

A jewel of a town we stumbled upon was Edenton, NC on the water (bay?). It felt much like a thriving Greensboro on water, had Greensboro, not slipped from prominence as a flourishing city. It had a wonderfully charming, walkable, quaint main street that led right up to a waterfront park. All storefronts seems full and the houses radiating from the town center were stately southern homes that were well-groomed. Finally tried some tasty North Carolina bar-b-que.

In route to Charlottesville we stopped in Williamsburg. I felt like a dorky tourist, but tried to not look the part (not having kids in colonial garb with me and no map in hand helped). I casually strolled the mall contemplating how this location was a great compliment to the other cities we had seen. In each of them I pondered what makes them work today, but in this one rather, I questioned what made this city work? Why design it this way? Why put that building there? What was the priority for this public space? How did the city plan promote or destroy social equity (probably not their concern)? Did this church really seek the spiritual growth of its congregation or merely serve cultural objectives? And oh yeah, that makes sense that each shop just had a picture of its goods/trade instead of words because the majority couldn’t read.

I love Charlottesville, Virginia. It was honestly just the final destination solely for seeing its community design center (which was incredible as well). I’ve never before given two thoughts to Charlottesville, but how I was wrong! The closer we trekked toward Charlottesville, the hills heightened to mountains and the woods thickened to forest. We drove down the hill off the exit and down into its historic, yet modern, downtown. The weather was perfect. As our host told us, people re-fall in love with Charlottesville every spring when the cold breaks and you can actually enjoy the pedestrian mall. I was immediately captivated by it. So much so that after wandering for a few hours, I planted myself in the middle of it to make sure to record what I saw:
The weather is perfect today–a good day for my new pink sundress and sandals. The mall is so nicely arranged and designed. The sun peaks through the leaf gaps  and the clusters of trees provide welcome shade. There is a wide range of people-college kids, preps, punks, different races, homeless, seemingly high falutins, artsy folk, and corporate businessmen. There are delicious looking restaurants with cafe tables in the middle of the brick paved walkway. Several bookstores–most of them second hand which is even better! It feels local. I can stroll and and feel like I fit. There are businesses and studios. Old and new facades. It almost feels very European in the sense that there are old buildings with modern dwellers appropriating certain parts of the architecture but covering other parts with modern angularity. Not too many gift stores but enough to provide interesting perusals. People running and biking. So nice, so livable. Gosh, this sun and weather! Intoxicating! People seem active, outdoorsy, educated. There was a steel drum band playing for a while. Culture. Accessible culture. Culture that is found in the fabric of the street–everyday life–not in fancy venues or costly overplanned events. Music, art, fashion, conversation, cuisine, architecture-all elements being combined in a beautiful way to make sense of a city. And its all at a human scale, a human pace.

I just returned from a conference I attended for three days where I heard more words that I was unfamiliar with since I traveled to Italy. The conference was put on by the David Matthews Center and the Kettering Foundation and was structured around asking the question: “How do we strengthen citizen engagement and community problem solving?” The people there were mostly from a field totally unrelated to mine that is heavy on the jargon which meant I was lost for some of it. The main words were “deliberative dialogue to lead to decision making.”

I learned an immense amount in those few days that I’m eager to further explore. As the time passed I started seeing how their field is actually really related to my field of graphic design if I make it. Some of it was heavy on the political/social justice side of things but peppered throughout were these moments where someone would say words I could latch onto like “storytelling,” “sense of place,” “community building,” “sustainability,” “inner disciplinary,” “cross cultural,” and “designing change.”

The reason for my attendance was because a friend who helped coordinate it, Lydia Atkins, invited Amanda (PieLab) and I to come share about some of our experiences at PieLab. Several of the workshops were round table discussions; we were specifically part of the session titled “Stranger in a Strange Land” in order to talk about what it is like to come into a community as an outsider and build trust/influence, engage, etc. A lot of the attendees were very interesting and sounded like they were doing great stuff. Then some of them just sounded like they had these fancy ideas and theories but didn’t really know how to enact it. PieLab started making more and more sense to me while I was there and I realized, “These people are trying to figure out ways to do what we’re doing.” And it’s simple: pie. Pie brings people into a neutral space to converse. Conversing leads to discovering your community’s values, forming opinions that lead to decisions. Those decisions lead to actions. And those actions lead to a community living out its values in a hopefully positive way. We’re here to foster that conversation and culture so that it can move in a positive direction. A lot of people don’t like the word “change” but as my professor/now friend pointed out, “Change will happen no matter what so why not push it in a positive direction?” It was interesting as well that  so many of the “how do we get people together?” answers kept coming back to food. People come together in more equality when they gather around prepared meals and meals are often one of the strongest cultural ties we have the the ones that are most often passed down through generations with the most longevity.

Some random tidbits from my time there:
David Matthew (not to be confused with the 1990s rocker) pointed out that my generation will not live in the middle class homes that our parents lived in, but rather a few steps down and in neighborhoods they probably wouldn’t have. This means that more and more people who are unlike each other will come in increasing contact and have to make decisions with them. We will live near people who make there living “by the sweat of their brow, not the use of their mind.” This puts the urgency on cultivating the ability within society to have dialogues around issues that we will have to resolve/decide on/enact. And we can’t come to a table with complete equity until we understand the various factors that shape our mindsets and worldview (race, religion, sex, ethnicity, family structure, age, etc.). Furthermore, to understand peoples’ social identity structures, we must also understand their story’s.

-All communities are looking for ways to “save their communities” and make them the best place for all people there to live, flourish, and function because all people want a better quality of life.

-We must continue to travel and personally engage because more and more because our universe is increasingly stopping in front of our faces ( at our computers) and will narrow our tangible experiences.

Part of my time in Greensboro has been spent soul searching over how change really happens in a community and if you can be of good use to a community while there for a short term or if you have to be there long term to see any results. I have come to see both sides. I do think short term things can do some good but long term things will see the most results, if people don’t lost steam. One of the long term ways to really shape a community is to really invest in its education system. Without educated individuals you breed indifference and prevent community members from having the most effective civic engagement and equality. The gap between educated middle/upper class and uneducated lower class is growing in this nation (and many others including China). There somehow has to be major investments in building better education systems so we can have community members who can formulate valid opinions, pursue the community’s well-being, and financially invest back into it. This probably isn’t news to anyone but me, as I am a growing 23 year old, but I’m noticing how a community seems to be only as strong as its education system is because education feeds civic engagement. Democratic freedom must come with taught responsibility. Organizing/Dialogue/Action lead to community change.

The icing on the cake of this conference was that it was in Point Clear, Alabama at the Grand Hotel. I have had a renewed love for Alabama over this past year and it only deepened this week. The hotel was absolutely glorious and the bay beautiful. The walks I got to take in the morning alongside the bay and quaint houses with gnarly oaks out front covered in Spanish moss made me want to explode in gratitude for such a splendid creation. It also made me realize, “Wow, taking a break, thinking, walking, resting, is quite nice. I work too hard/too much.” It’s amazing how refreshed I was after taking a one hour walk to not think about the to-do list I had to get back to. The hotel was built in the early 1800s and is chock-full of history. We spent an afternoon in Fairhope exploring its cute stores and artsy streets. I think every traveler asks itself in a new place, “Could I live here?” and I very well think I could. The conference meals consisted of several seafood dishes that made me proud of our Southern cuisine. Two Alabama storytellers were invited to do some telling of stories one night; two photographs shared how they capture Alabama through a view-finder; and a Mardi Gras brass band orchestrated a night of toe-tapping and dancing. I swelled with pride to be an Alabamian as our culture-makers were brought in for the works. Sweet home.

Saturday night PieLab hosted the opening party of its first photography exhibition. It was our biggest turnout to anything yet which was a humbling thing to be a part of. It’s so cool to think about how Main Street at night is empty but then there’s one little store front with the lights on, cars out front, and community happening. The show consisted of photographs taken by Hale County youth through a Black Belt 100 Lenses project and was curated by one of the YouthBuild students. It was a great way to bring the community together and some Tuscaloosa people down to gather around art, food and music. It was a potluck with music by an incredibly fun and talented band, Sparrow and the Ghost. The photographs are a interesting viewpoint to pull you into the stories behind the photographers. Each student is given a camera and is asked to go into their community and take photographs. In the end, you have an array of photos taken that capture the spirit of a place by the youth that have grown up there. I found several to be strikingly beautiful and then to consider that they were taken by completely untrained photographers is even more astounding. Some seemed to have a natural sense of composition, balance, and contrast.

I love this phrase above a closed store/gas station near Greensboro, Alabama. One of the greatest things about being here is being surrounded by so much local vernacular inspiration.

Lil’ apron I made for working in PieLab.

(excuse the photo…taken on my phone)

Saturday night we hosted PieLab’s second Open Mic Night with a packed house and delicious spread of potluck goodies. I couldn’t quit grinning the whole night at how great it was to see so many people coming together over music and at how much amazing talent we had in here. There was a whole slue of folks to entertain us for the night: a local 18 year old, Aaron, with his guitar, Jeff with magic tricks and dancing, Mrs. Burroughs sharing about her heritage, and for the majority of the night, Miko, Kevin, and Beau jamming some 12 bar blues. After they jammed a while, two other locals, Jamie and John Allen got up to play some country which led to some more blues. That got ‘em all going! Kevin about exploded in amazement of John Allen’s blues skills and you’d have thought they were about to have a revival right there because of the hoopin’ and hollerin’. This led to all of them rocking out together with Willie on the bucket (drums…). Awesome. Hilarious. Just perfect. People crossing barriers, coming together, sharing talent, and finding stuff in common.

Beau came in on Friday as well to check out the scene and he ended up giving me some blues lessons. I now have a huge blister on my thumb and feel like I’ve got a lot to learn! He was patient while I fumbled around and kept making me feel like I was actually good when it was really just going back and forth between two notes that I wasn’t even catching on to. All that strumming through the years meant that I never learned to pick. He even got his hair done for the night and told me if he was going to bathe for this then I was going to have to play with him. I appreciated the persistence. You never know what’s gonna happen down here…and that’s why I love it.

During dinner with my dear Chilean and Turkish friends this weekend, we were discussing their countries’ versions of “knight in shining armor.” I love Chile’s saying: “a tu media naranja”…. “your half of the orange.” How lovely.