Community - Neighbours, the world wide web and everything in between

 Cloud communities - constantly changing

First of all, to expand our concept of community probably as far as it can go (at least in the space dimension), this is an amazing tour of the International Space Station by departing commander Suni Williams, courtesy of my politics lecturer (go figure! He is a bit obsessed with space). 

 Rainforest communities - interconnected and interdependent

collage and oil pastels 

 

Again, here is an extract from my blog two years ago. I am including three topics today, to catch up with myself. To justify, friends are part of community, and creativity is clearly being practised, often, in this blog.

Community
This has been a huge theme this month, due to the flood. I have volunteered to do counselling for flood-affected people. I have had my pyjama angel interview, and just need to do the training, so I can be matched with a foster child. Today I am going to the Reggae for Recovery concert. Its a long time since I went to anything like this, but S loves reggae, and it seemed like a fun way to help raise money. It will be a nice reminder too of our past life in Brixton.

Friendship
Lots of  communication with friends since christmas, mainly on facebook and by email, and it has been good to catch up with friends face to face, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Creativity,
I have done lots of sewing, making things for the house, altering clothes, and making containers of all kinds. I have also been doing drawing and painting for this blog. And the blog itself has become a valued outlet for my creativity.

 Human (or jelly baby?) communities - increasingly complex and connected

oil pastel drawing

Clearly, I am having trouble writing daily, as I had planned to over the holiday period. Life throws up constant distractions...one of them being a very cool rainforest walk, another being ancestry.com, which I signed up for (the 14 days free trial) the other day. I figured if I would ever have time, it would be now. ('Don't procrastinate...').

However, this led to an amazing discovery, of a descendent of Jack, my step grandfather, (or rather, one of his sister's) who is living within my neighbourhood. This is my second amazing discovery regarding family via the web. Eight years ago, via genes reunited, I 'found' my father's half brother, Peter, and learned all about this missing part of the family - as was so often the case in the past, it was all a bit secret, and dad never knew his real father after his parents separated. Knowing a little about my grandfather, Freddy, helped me with the family tree. So far I have made it back to the 1700's, which is not bad in a few days. I can see it could be very addictive, which is why I will stop at the end of the trial period. At least until I have finished studying. But anyway, its very relevant to today's topic of community.

 APTB community - creating connections

collage, paint and yarn

This image is a reminder of my placement at A Place to Belong this year, which taught me so much about community development, and what it is (and what it is not). And yes, I feel more connected as a result, with some good personal and professional outcomes. It was also great to be placed somewhere which valued my creativity. I even read a poem I wrote out loud to a community group meeting, which was slightly challenging, but not in the way I anticipated. (The challenge was to keep reading, when someone was talking loudly on the phone at the same time!) You can read the poem, called 'A riddle', by following the link, above...and looking for the post on 23rd November.

In this placement, community, friendship and creativity all came together. As they do in the art therapy community, and the therapy community in general.

A Place to Belong - with red flower

pastels and fabric collage

Friendship  is always a slightly challenging area for me, as I usually feel that I am not seeing friends or connecting as often as I should (or would like). This is in comparison to younger, child free days, and is affected by the general perception of busy-ness. It is however mitigated by the internet, which helps me stay connected, via facebook, skype, google hangout, and this blog. And I am very appreciative of this blog, which I was so keen to start, but also so apprehensive, two years ago. It would still meet my need to write, and create art, if no one read it at all, but the fact that people do read it, is very pleasing.

The truth is, I feel very connected, in real and virtual worlds, even across time and space, and I value this much more than I used to. As I found in my placement experience, so it is generally true. Work, friendships and creativity all overlap and feed into each other, which is something I am hugely grateful for.

Happy New Year!

more later.