Create Community

Like many of you, I practically live on the Internet. My work requires it, but even if it didn't, I suspect I would still devote hours to its many attractions. So I was happy to have a face-to-face meeting this week with the executive director of Project S.H.A.R.E., the rather remarkable food bank that serves the area where I live. (Listen to this brief NPR report on how rising food prices are affecting food banks, including Project S.H.A.R.E.) The work of the food bank is decidedly personal, not virtual, with local leaders, farmers, volunteers, students, donors and recipients working together to make the community stronger.

In an era when we conduct business, commerce, politics, education and even our love lives online, a little face time might do us good. I wrote about connecting with neighbors in Natural Health magazine, but it's easy to find kindred spirits near you -- and you can use your beloved Internet to do it. Check out meetup.com, where I found Mini-Cooper fans, rubber stampers, dining-out groups and more all gathering within 20 miles of my small town. If the outdoors calls, the Sierra Club can hook you up with fellow hikers. Creative souls might uncover an artistic alliance at Design Sponge. And if this year's U.S. presidential race excites you, just enter "meetup" and the party of your choice into your favorite search engine.

I've been toying with the idea of a creative support group for awhile. Maybe it's time I "faced" it.

Polls Are Polarizing

I will know we have made real progress in race relations when the media no longer talks about the black vote, the Hispanic vote, the white male vote, etc. Can there be any better way to emphasize our differences than to divide us by ethnicity and report information accordingly? Why is this necessary? Does it advance our understanding of the issues or tell us anything about the candidates that will aid our decision? And how simplistic (and inaccurate) is it to imply that African Americans vote for this person, or women nominate that person, or a certain social class supports one candidate, when we are all individuals with as many reasons for our vote as the qualities and quirks that make each of us unique?

You can slice us up and categorize us any way you wish. If the media needs to fill its airwaves with polling results – another practice I take issue with, and I might, in another post – then why not measure the Viewers of “American Idol” vote, the Pet-Owners’ vote or the People Who Eat Cupcakes vote? It would be so much less divisive and certainly more interesting. As it is, our media coverage announces to the world that we have only three ethnic groups whose vote matters (hear much about the Asian or American Indian vote?) and that the differences among them are assumed and significant. I call that racism. If it bothers you, too, refuse to participate in political polls – unless they ask if you eat cupcakes.