One Year Check-Up

When we were blogging the Artist's Way, we would do a weekly check-in, to see what we'd accomplished, and to set new goals.  Now that I've been blogging for a year, I'm feeling the need to have a yearly check-in. I hope it all makes sense, and that you can stay with me through this check-up. I'm more than a little nervous. It's so late, that it's early - but I can't sleep; I feel like I have a beehive hairdo filled with busy worker bees, there are so many ideas buzzing around. My life is changing (is this "the change of life" they talk about?), with health and work, and oh, heck I don't even know where to begin! Wait, yes, I do...

I've made a promise to myself, and now I'm turning to you, to help me keep it (if I post about it, I can't keep postponing and procrastinating, can I?)  Plus, I really would like your feedback, to let me know what you think; if you have any suggestions for this little dream of mine.

I've posted a bit before, about some of my concerns for our valley we live in. About the McCorporatization driving out our local  mom-and-pop businesses.  It's really just one puzzle piece of so many factors that have played into the economic downturn in the little part of the country we call the Inland Empire.  We've quickly become just another bedroom community for Los Angeles (also, the closet where L.A. keeps its skeletons - all those mountains and wide-open desert provides a lot of room to hide the bodies).  We are so much more than that - if we can hang onto it, and build on it.

As someone who was born and raised here, and chose to raise my own children here, and watch my grandchildren grow here, I feel an ownership, a responsibility to my community. I've been playing with this idea for months, ever since I first saw Jill's  posts on her hometown of Pasadena. Her blog  inspired me to post a few things here and there. It never seemed like enough; I had so much more I wanted to show you, to share about - yet, I didn't want to abandon this blog's focus on art and writing.

Finally, this past  year with the struggles our non-profit  day program has had, and now this summer, seeing even our local county Arts Council close its doors for lack of funds (sorry - no link; it's closed down, too) - I've decided to get off my duff and do something about it. I'm going to start a new blog. Don't worry - Tinker Art will still be here and I plan on maintaining it. In fact, I think having a separate blog for community, may actually help me focus better on this one - I won't keep feeling torn between the two topics.  I've felt the call stronger and stronger to start a blog on my community (I have another one calling me for families - but one thing at a time!).  So I arbitrarily set a timeframe, for when I would begin this new blog. Now that I've been blogging for a year  (counting my time on my old Blogspot blog),  my timeframe has arrived.  I had goals when I started blogging a year ago, to find and grow with other artists and writers; and also, to learn enough about the way the Internet worked, to help our organization establish a website.  I'm still adding to it; but I achieved that goal (it may not have all the bells and whistles - but it's a website!), and very importantly to me, I've found other artists and writers - friends, and I think I've grown from the experience.

Now I need to "pony up" and do the right thing for my community.  I may be away from this blog for a couple of days, but I will return to it and give you the address of the new blog.  Though you may be far away from our little town, in our big county (believe it or not, San Bernardino is actually - geographically - the largest county in the continental U.S.!  Riverside County is quite large, too, and is right next to us, quite literally next to where we live - and I plan on including it, since it's considered part of the Inland Empire by the media).  Who knows, you may someday decide to visit or know someone who plans on visiting the area, and then you'll know where the good places are (there really are some cool places to see here).  So these local people who are working so hard to bring back our economy, will have a fighting chance.  I want to do what I can - I want the local kids to have as good a chance at a decent life, as those who are commuting with their parents to the good, private schools. I want them to have a hometown to be proud of; we need a sense of community again. I want us all to take pride in living here.

I want this new blog to be a resource for the people who live here, as well as those who visit. Which parks are safe, how they can get there. Let them know where there are art galleries; free concerts and plays, and storytelling times for their little ones.  Restaurants and other businesses, owned and operated by local people - so the money that they spend stays in their community and comes back to help it.

Yes, we have local papers, but they tend to shove these kind of articles in, willy-nilly, when there aren't shootings and stabbings and wars to report on; or do once-a-year "Best Place" articles; a store or restaurant can go out of business in less than a year.  TV news coverage comes from the Los Angeles area, and they tend to report on only our wildfires and murders; seldom the good things that happen here.  There's no one continuous resource, where a parent can easily turn to and see where it's safe and fun to take their chlidren locally.  Sure a lot of those who've grown up here know; but there are many who don't.  I want to break the cycle of poverty and ignorance and violence that's been perpetuating in recent years. I want to be part of the solution.

I'm feeling very passionate about this right now - especially after visiting the first business I plan on featuring.  It was a wonderful restaurant and we were the only people in it, at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night - primetime for eating out, right? Where was everyone? Down the street at Chili's or TGI Fridays or some other chain restaurant for their ribs, when they could have been eating the most delicious food, that was made from recipes that had been passed down in this man's family for over a hundred years!

This enterprise may be just Tinker tilting at windmills; but at least I'll feel like I've done a little something to give back to the community that raised me; hopefully it will help in some small part to sustain us - and the Southland (another of our nicknames) will rise again. 

If you have any suggestions for this, please let me know in comments or by e-mail. Does this sound like a feasible thing to attempt?  If this were a blog about your hometown, what kind of things would you want information about?  Do you know of a really well-done community blog?   This blogging community has helped me realize how important community (and community feedback) really is - virtual or in real life, and I can't tell you enough how much it means to me.  It's been a good year, getting to know so many wonderful people - by which I mean You!! I'm looking forward to this new blogging year and I hope you continue on the journey with me.  You're my other hometown.

Ok, here I go again - Wish me luck!

Comments

[Ninnie]

You go girl... Hope your new blog is a great success and helps.

[Paris Parfait]

You are an amazing woman, taking on this task!I applaud your idea and your community spirit. I totally agree about the importance of trying to maintain a sense of community; of keeping the mom and pop stores in business. I hate it when I travel in the US and find the same homogenized chain restaurants everywhere. Where's the vision and imagination in that - or for that matter, the continuity and life of the community figured into the big picture? One person really can make a difference - and I'll be watching your new venture with interest and admiration. Bravo, Terri! Bonne chance et bonne courage, mon ami! xo Tara

[Jill]

Oh wow! I'm so excited. I would love to be able to get this kind of information about San Bernardino, and ESPECIALLY from you! G and I like to do local travelling, and having a guide blog to San Bernardino would be so great. It's so hard to find stuff on our own when we are new to a place. And the community-building aspect would be so good, too.

[Ray]

Tinker, the world is there waiting for people like you to make a difference. Go forth and write, and in your writing encourage others to consider their community, and the future of it, and the aspirations of its people and the difference one person can make when joined by another and another and another....

[Gemma]

If I were to visit my hometown blog....I'd like to see lists all of the junk stores, thrift stores, bookstores,theatres,Bed & Breakfasts, Inns,
antique stores,parks, good food,good bars, good music,nature walks, bike paths, as well as the libraries, schools, museums and city services.
Good luck and Bravo on this endeavor. You will make a difference.

[Pam ARIES]

Tinker, this is a great thing you are doing! I thing Gemma is right on the money with what to put on a hometown blog! When I moved to Mt. Pleasant 16 years ago, it was so small and peaceful and quiet village with a few stoplights on the way to the beach. It began the urban crawl.... Within the last 5 years it has become a sprawling chain filled monstrosity!Bigger hiways, more malls, unGodly traffic,etc. now they are building a Super Wal Mart! Geeze, it is so sad to watch them daily clear away trees and greenspace to make way for yet another Drugstore..Do we need that many Pharmacies??? Evidently! YOU do something before it gets out of control.!!!!!

[artzyjudie]

Good Luck to you Tinker girl. This is a huge endeavor, and it will be like "fighting city hall", but there will be many who appreciate it. I know the feeling also....I moved to the beach in 1986, and there was a quiet community with lots of green space and beachy homes....Today it is all high-rises and condos and all the same color and style. It is so plastic now, and the traffic is horrendous! I miss the old beach town but it all gave way to "progress". Progress meaning dollars. Good luck!

[Daisy Lupin]

Go for it ! Go for it! If it feels as right as you say, you need to do it. xx

[artzyjudie]

Forgot to tell you. You KNOW I love the bird doctor!!!

[Elizabeth]

Oh Tinker! I can feel your passion and energy through this post. This is such a fantastic undertaking and it will have a big impact--- never lose sight of the power that one individual has-- this is a great idea and I send you loads of energies of support and encouragement.

[Alexandra]

What a wonderful, heartfelt mission Tinker. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and have been disheartened too at what much of southern CA has become. People deeply need to have a sense of community and I wonder how many ills are really the result of not feeling this anymore. People who have grown up without it don't even know what they are missing but it does profoundly affect their lives nonetheless. I'm really excited for you to pursue this. You might want to study Portland as it seems to be a city that has worked hard on multiple levels to keep its roots and values alive. P.S. I get the Skinny Cow sandwiches in a plastic tube in the freezer section at the grocery store-Ralph's should have them in CA! so tasty you won't believe it!

[patry]

What a terrific idea! Can't wait to hear more...

[melba]

I think this is such an excellent idea!!!

I think you could probably get funding from the state to support your website...maybe a grant?

This might be alot of work. I was thinking about asking a high school senior or college student for help with justBe... (once school starts) someone who is Really into computers and maybe they could get life experience credit for helping me. I will tell you how it goes...but maybe you can get a helper too and won't feel so overwhelmed.

You could also get cards made once you have the blog ready and hand them out and ask poeple to email or comment when something is going on with their business or happenings in the community.

I wish you well on your new adventure!

Happy blogging birthday!!

[Marilyn]

I'm SO PROUD of you for doing this! I know it's totally not even close to the same...but even doing Bloggers for Darfur (which I created with Jill) gave me such a feeling of purpose...as if I were doing SOMETHING (besides just gazing at my own navel). I will give it some thought and get back to you re what kinds of things I would like to see if it were about my area. BRAVO!!! xoxo

[Cookie of the Desert]

Awesome idea, and it couldn't come from anyone but you! I plan to visit often.