{a couple-filled, roomie-loving night at holland house}
{celebrating an early birthday at cheekwood}
sitting in bed and filled with tamiflu, i've finally succumbed to the sickness that is sweeping the whole freaking globe. i realized this morning that i'm kind of still in denial - i almost forced myself to get up and go to my ceramics class (which i'm taking pass/fail, mind you), and sent an email to a few people i'm supposed to meet with for the nashville mobile market that "i just have the flu, but it's okay, i'll be there at 4:30!" they promptly sent back "um, you should go to sleep you big freak," in nicer words, of course. overachiever for the win?
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speaking of the nashville mobile market (and because the above pictures happened a week ago and i don't have much to say about them except that they were happy nights and happy days), i had THE CRAZIEST experience last week. like a THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE experience. kind of like when beyonce sings at the president's inauguration, and people accuse her of lip-syncing because they can't deal with the fact that her hair was sewn on by fairies and her voice sounds like an angel. whatever.
the director of the market and i went to visit a community center that currently houses one of our market stops. mainly because the market sits in front of the community center on a very quiet street, with little foot traffic or visibility, the stop hasn't been seeing much action. we met up with the president of the street association, a short, little man wearing a floor-length, camel colored trench coat and glasses that i thought at first were transitions, but failed to lighten when we ventured inside. he was awesome.
we'd been thinking of new ways to enhance this stop for a while, but had failed to think of anything that would help. that didn't stop this guy. he passionately spoke about the areas in the community - areas that were full of minority populations that had both limited access and knowledge to the market's services - that would benefit more from our market than the location of the current stop. he then proceeded to drive us around to gain buy-in from the community; first stopping at the funeral home across from the new lot to ask for parking permission (where i spoke to a man who told me he had seen ELVIS perform down the street when he was 5) and then at the police precinct down the road to ensure our safety during the shift (where he walked us straight into a police gathering of 60 officers who were discussing nashville's recent robberies, plastered on a powerpoint slide for all to see).
although it may not sound too crazy, it was literally an out-of-body experience. how did this guy have so much power in this community that he could literally walk into a badass, cop-infested meeting and high-five the lieutenant on his way in? and that they all trusted him enough to lead 3 young girls right in after him? that he knew exactly who to talk to in order to get what he needed? and that, most importantly, he was using this insane power for such good?
he'd been described to us as a "mover and shaker," a "man who gets things done." and seeing him in action further supported my belief in the power of connection - the power of community, of strengthening bonds, of doing good with what you have.
"it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."
- laura ingalls wilder
