Tag Archives: giving

Share It!

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

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After a huge weekend swap that attracted over thirty women (and a few babies), I’m upping my claim. I’d wager that approximately 70% of my clothing is the spoils of swaps. The bests and favorites of my wardrobe definitely had homes before mine, and it’s not just that funny mini-cape or those like-new Keen sandals, friends:

My camera? “Permanent loan.”

My KitchenAid stand mixer (with ice cream attachment!) was a surprise gift from a friend who had received a new one.

The cat? Yeah. Him, too.

Despite what the media/advertisements/press/etc. may attempt to convince you, sharing is integral to living. Humans from way-back-when knew it. We know it now: honey tastes twice as sweet when your friend owns the hive (hint, hint bee-keeping pals!)

The resources below were sent me from a friend (see: sharing) and I’m passing them on to you. Have experience with one or two? Leave a comment below.

https://m.brightneighbor.com//index.html – rent, buy, trade or borrow country-wide

http://neighborsforneighbors.org/ – run by “professional neighbor” Joseph Porcelli and his team, this site is local to Jamaica Plain, MA and offers meet-up type affinity groups, a Snow Crew assistance program to help move that white stuff in winter, alerts, and more

streetbank.com – sharing across “the pond”

http://farmhack.net/home/ – open source community for the farm-types among us

http://freegan.me/ – meet “freegans” worldwide and learn what’s free where, and how to find it

https://www.freecycle.org/ -I bet you know this one. (So far I’ve received: a cell phone, a safety vest and reflective strips for biking, a VCR, a typewriter, a papercutter, hangers, and more items than I can remember. My favorite aspect, though, is giving things away. So satisfying.)

http://neighbor.ly/ – crowdsourcing for your community

http://www.citizinvestor.com/ – invest in public projects

http://www.cityofboston.gov/doit/apps/citizensconnect.asp – download this free app to help Boston improve it’s streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructure (i.e., pothole just swallow your bike? report it!)

https://yerdle.com/– free stuff countrywide! (a friend of mine helped start this one, definitely check it out)

 

Quiet Holiday

09 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Jersey Moments

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Following a brief, surprise illness and non-shocking snowstorm of tiny, icy flakes, we finally trekked down to Jersey to visit my partner’s family and mine to celebrate the winter holidays.

plant against the blinds

ornament

Some years the holidays are boisterous and busy. There doesn’t seem enough time to fit everyone in.

view into the kitchen

walking in from the kitchen

Other years, quiet. Dinner is skillfully and thoughtfully prepared. A life-long holiday with many traditions is distilled to the heart of its elements. People are missed. Presents cheerfully opened. Tea served.

tea cups on the table

Lane Change

09 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by in Bike Life, Community

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A criticism I’ve heard applied to sea-change efforts/programs, like Teach for America or the Peace Corps, is that the true aim is not to directly impact the people and places served, but to change the person doing the serving. To drive that individual to action beyond the current actions.

Snacks and tunes

In this sequence, it appears that the people and places that should be benefiting are instead being sacrificed for a mere idea of Greater Good; that far-off star we may never touch.

All those young people out there, sweating towards the unreachable.

And the struggle continues

I don’t share that bleak view. Important people in my life, some whom I haven’t yet met (I’m sure), are out there doing that work, systematically affecting change, though what change they may not know. And while they strive, I continue working at the micro-level: one Feminist Culture Club, one pie sorting, one bike ride at a time.

Lane Change is a new Boston-area group uniting cyclists of color. With a few rides under our belt in the warmer months of 2013, we’re looking forward to what 2014 brings. Perhaps not a sea-change, but ripples of fun, joy, and positivity.

Suiting up to ride

Lane Change group 2013

Librarytour: Free Tiny Library Spotted in JP

17 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Boston Moments, Librarytour

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A friend, knowing me to be of the library-lovin’ sort, introduced me to the concept of a Little Free Library. Naturally, I was smitten. Library, little, and free being three words that move me with some speed to cheers, coos, or great gasps of celebratory excitement.

And then one turned up in my neighborhood.

Little Free Library on South Street v1

Little Free Library on South Street v2

I was a little concerned at first, because the library sits perched on a city-owned structure. However it’s stayed, and even grown a solution to keeping out the rain. I look forward to noticing the ebb and flow of it’s collection, as well as adding a few contributions of my own.

Little Free Library on South Street v3

For the Pie (in the Sky)

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Boston Moments, With Friends

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I used to do it for the pie.

Back nine or so years, as part of the annual public service efforts of my dotcom job, I started volunteering with Community Servings, an organization that prepares healthy meals for individuals and families struggling with life threatening illnesses. As a group, we first did a stint in the kitchen -to my memory washing pounds and pounds of broccoli. Then we discovered Pie in the Sky, an enormous bake sale that raises thousands of dollars each year. Some of us fell over heels for the pie hospital (can you guess where some of those “sick” pies end up?)

Pie Hospital at Pie in the Sky

Now days, I do it for the tradition. For the moment of walking into whatever enormous warehouse the pie quality-checking and packing operations are set up in. The refrigerator-chill and boxes of pies stacked higher than our heads.

Pecan pie boxes

I do it for time with friends and “ex” co-workers.

Mary and Lori

I do it for the music pumping through the speakers of that excellent lady DJ, spinning beats that keep our feet moving as we honor our imaginings of all of the people who will continue to receive much-needed meals as a direct result of just a few hours of our labor.

Yutien dances

Boston Food Swap – A Review

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Green Life

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I’ve been to clothing swaps, to potlucks, and food festivals. I’ve Freecycled, sold or given items away on Craigslist. I provided and received services from a time bank. I’ve mended and paid professional tailors to repair my clothing. I participate in a gift circle. I’ve volunteered for nine consecutive years at the same charity event because the gig includes all-you-can-eat pie.

It makes perfect, practical sense, right, that a person like me who trusts and enjoys and flits around in “alternative economies,” would fall in line with a food swap? Which begs the question: why the heck did it take me so long!?

Some theories:

  • I’m lazy. (Okay, that’s not fair.)
  • I don’t like to cook. (Mostly true.)
  • I’m not that good a cook. (Also mostly true.)
  • I have too many things going on in my life at once. (Dingdingding!)
  • It’s not about me. (Hmm . . . )

Suffice it to say that, when I walked through the door at Space with A Soul and sighted my very first Boston Food Swap, I knew I’d met my match.  Three very efficient organizers, a room full of the cutest and most elegant handmade food packaging, serious-looking cooks sampling well-turned out baked goods, roasted nuts, kimchi, jellies and jams, fruit compote, chocolate covered strawberries, chai tea, flaky meat-filled things, rice pudding . . . whoa!  Intimidating.

After I saw the spread, I was a little concerned no one would want my bread (ignore that rhyme.)  But then four people did.  Phew.

Checking out the goodies

Basket o yum

Sighted: one of my little breads in this basket!

Avoiding Holiday Excess

15 Thursday Dec 2011

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Recently a friend asked, quite innocently, “How many pairs of leg warmers do you have?”

The answer: um, many.

Legwamer and muddy sneaker

It’s true, I have at least six pairs rolled neatly and stored in my closet. I used to own more, but I finally deemed a few sets “excessive” and sent them packing to the thrift store to entice some other eighties/dance-fashion refugee.

What does this have to do with holiday excess? Well, as I don my leg-warmer-pair-of-the-day and set out on bike, I consider who is left on my holiday list and how I should treat them to my love this year. The problem is, we all have so much stuff! I mean, do I really need six sets of leg warmers, three of which were gifts from friends?

My dilemma-of-the-moment is what to give my friends -all of whom are working adults- when I know most of us have houses a-burstin’, but I also don’t have the time or energy to craft, or even bake, gifts? Cows, goats, geese, and rabbits are enticing (or tasty, depending on the families who receive them), but giving a gift that can’t be touched doesn’t exactly satisfy my desire to collect the bursts of good will that come from giving something tangible yet thoughtful.

If this is something you struggle with, how are you solving holiday-gift-excess in your life?