Jack posted something to his blog that illustrates AIM on different levels: it’s about conversations, small acts, inviting participation, being engaging. This is an excerpt from a flight chat with a seat mate who joins neighbors in regular small acts of connecting people in his SanFrancisco community. They were talking about the Kerouac stories of natural communities a couple generations ago.
I started to say, “Well, you know this year is the 50th year of …” he [Bob, a San Franciscan electrician] finished with “Yea, On The Road … Kerouac”, leading to another hour of recounting the rich tapestry there. The routine he and some of his neighbors have is once a week or so, they’ll set a bench out front of their home near the Mission District and drink wine, offering to anyone who shows up. It is magic in bringing people out of their houses and into community. No surprise that he is one of the entrepreneurial members of a thriving non-profit board…
Neighborly Benchwarming is a great example of something we’re including in the book—Recipes for building community. It’s one of the areas Jack and I are looking for your ideas on. If you have any tips or techniques on creating community that we could include (with attribution of course), please email them to us, or leave them in a comment below.
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