Comics, Dinners, Bulletin Boards, Junk

Bulletin Boards, Comics, Dinners, Junk – A way to a New Future

It’s been said that when personal or civil tragedy strikes, people often come together for support. To some, tragedy appears to have struck the world now – with an approaching “perfect storm” of peak oil, climate change, national debt, population growth, and as if we needed more, the dying oceans, pandemics, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and societal collapse.

As difficult as it may be to wrap ones mind around all that, appreciating any of it is largely a matter of where and how you live – hot, dusty, and out of work in the western United States, you may be stressed, but you may also have air conditioning and be able to negotiate financial obstacles. But hot, dusty in Somalia, and you may face an entirely different, and much worse, reality.

Appreciating global tragedy almost certainly is colored by how your typical day appears. Before Catrina hit, a neighbor’s dog barked too much. After it hit, you, your neighbor and his dog clung to the same raft. This is not some philosophical observation, being aware of this kind of behavior may have significant practical consequences. It may, if we make just one assumption – that one or more of the storms now brewing really will blow over us.

Question: What do you rely on if major systems that support life fail? That is, as you now live, how would you manage if support systems of food, shelter, economics, transportation, health care did not function?

One of the generally accepted methods of overcoming resource depletion is to pool resources – people coming together to exchange what they have and what they need, to promote better outcomes. Again, assuming the storm, how, in the face of your and everyone else’s normal day – when outside it may be a clear, sunny, green landscape – do we effectively introduce the idea of pooling resources in order to address what appears to be protracted periods of resource scarcity? Without sounding like fear-mongers, alarmists, and tree-hugging pessimists?

That’s where, bulletin boards, comics, dinners, and junk come in.

In addressing resource pooling, we must first introduce the idea to many different kinds of people, each with their own point of view and own view of the environment. Whatever is proposed must make some kind of sense within the context of the current environment, not within the context of some proposed catastrophe for which the evidence is debatable (and for which many would rather debate than take action even if it’s action they find agreeable).

In short, come in through the back door, not the front. In this case, promoting action that facilitates community resource pooling that is practical and can be utilized now, not on some date in the unknown future.

Bulletin board – the physical kind, are one such resource, that can serve practical needs as well as physically bringing people together to one space (the board). Boards, if organized and maintained, can serve many uses, among them, promoting self employment and entrepreneurship, give-aways, social calendar, as well as public announcements.

Comics, and other “alternative media” such as minor journals, self-published books, graphic novels, and comics – and libraries are the perfect mix, to attract a broader range of people together in one space. Where, among other things, they can peruse the bulletin board in that space.

Dinners. Eating together is recognized as a good way to bring people together, whether purposefully or socially.

Junk swap – exchanges of commodities whether books and media, or thrift-store items, either bought and sold, or simply given away or exchanged, can be social events and can serve as a useful resource.

Each of these ideas represents a unique way of bringing people together in a non-threatening and stimulating way, with the underlying purpose of promoting community life that is flexible and responsive – should that be necessary in the future. The “added” benefit is these functions can provide useful activities now.

Here’s a proposal.

Present all four ideas as one package. Seen together can help to promote the idea of community interaction as the central theme rather than any one idea – this is not about bulletin boards, comics, dinners, or junk, it is about promoting resources that enable individuals to collaborate more effectively in ways that bring a benefit to everyone. Each idea, however, will need to be worked on individually to address the many specifics that implementation in different communities will bring out.

Here are some examples of these.

Bulletin boards may be placed in one or many locations, inside and/or outside. Boards can be structured in ways that suggest possible uses and help keep them organized. Alternative media may include donations to keep costs down, also may be structured to suggest possible uses, and for clarity. Dinners, eating together, offer different kinds of challenges as this can involve bringing people together who may not know each other – the level of structure, leadership, promotion, and oversight can impact the level of comfort. Junk swaps can be organized or simply informal recycling areas for easy picking. They can involve no monetary exchange and/or allow for sales or fundraising.

The overriding issue in these functions is to involve the community in the development and maintenance and to allow for new forms to evolve.