Guest Post from Erika: On Creating Community

I am having an "I miss New York" kind of day today. No reason. It's intermittently raining cats and dogs here in San Francisco, but no thunder or lightening like we would get in New York. Just feeling nostalgic.

So I started thinking about what exactly it is that I miss about the Big Apple aka Center of the Universe/Best City on Earth. These days when I start to feel all wistful inside, I always picture myself in our Greenwich Ave. apartment, up in the trees with the clock tower outside of every window. I envision walking down all five flights of stairs, through the courtyard (peeking into the tiny Indian restaurant kitchen to see what's happening there), through the front building (peeking at the "free stuff" table in the entryway to see if there is anything good), and out onto the street. For some reason in these fantasies I am always heading towards 6th Avenue, where I join the throng of humanity that is constantly circulating in Greenwich Village, and in fact in all of Manhattan.

And that is what I miss. Being part of that throng. Knowing that if I leave the house at 7am or 3pm or 11pm or 4am and walk down the street, I will be among people. People who are mostly in a big hurry to get to wherever it is they are going. Different kinds of people, depending on the hour, but if I visit one of my favorite haunts, I will likely find people that I know or people that I might like to know. My people. My community. Because people in New York City aren't isolated from each other behind glass in sealed, air-conditioned cars or even in apartments that don't make you crazy after being crammed in one for longer than a few hours. They are out, walking around on the street and interacting with each other for better or worse.

I realize now that every project that I take on or become a part of, from Break-up Boot Camp to the Black Rock City Airport, to the Babysitting Co-op that I started this past weekend, has building community at its root (and the letter "B", it appears, but that's another story). I'm not sure why I am driven to do this (Late onset of some kind of only child syndrome? More therapy obviously needed.), but it really is what drives me to do almost everything I enjoy doing.

And speaking of community, we didn't get the house in Nevada City. Which I am ok with, since I am having a pretty good time enjoying San Francisco right now. And preventing Peter from eating all of the entirely unsuitable things he finds, which just today included a CD case and the tiny bits of paper that came off it, a belt, a power source, a camera, the rubber ring from a food mill, something that may or may not have been pasta at one time, mascara, my jeans, and the cat. And that was all before noon. Toys and stuffed animals? BO-RING. Forks, wires, and kitty litter? NOW you're talking. This stay at home mom thing is a seriously full time job. Thank goodness for nap time.