Culture Study Challenge: One Small Community Thing

If you forward this newsletter all the time, if you rely on it as a precious break or a primary source for future reading — and if you have the means — consider paying for the things that have become important to you. (If you don’t have the means, as always, you can just email me and I’ll comp you, no questions asked). Subscriptions make work like this possible.

Steve loves his island community

I’ve written before about what it’s like to live on an island of just around 800 full-time residents. I’ve written about how community is the core of survival here, and I’ve written about the ways I’m trying to show up for my friends with kids and (my friends without kids!). I think about the hard work of community formation all the damn time. But it does not come naturally or easily to me — not at all.

I’m good at being in community with my existing friends here on the island, but I have struggled to reach beyond. Part of the problem is that a lot of my social life gets sucked up into those friendships (I’m not mad about it, part of the reason we moved here was to dedicate more time to them!) and part of the problem is that the vast majority of people who live here (or anywhere) either 1) have kids, and make connections through said kids; or 2) are retirees, with a different organization and order to their lives. My partner and I are neither of those things, which I personally think kind of rules, but it can also mean less immediate access to the same sort of low-key community infrastructure.

And then a huge part of the problem is good old fashioned social anxiety, nervousness, and fear of awkwardness…all the stuff that looms large in your head when you’re trying to convince yourself to show up for something and it’s a lot easier to stay put. 

For example: I had plans to make cookies for some of my neighbors before Christmas and talked myself out of it (they would think it’s weird, what if they don’t like the cookies I made, blah blah blah). I allow regular old daily fatigue to trump plans to actually show up to a nature walk. I think about how weird it will be when I walk into a meeting and everyone else knows each other and what they’re doing and who they are and why they’re there. All of these worries are somewhat irrational, and I know from experience that when you force yourself (and/or are forced) to do something low-stakes like showing up, you very rarely regret it. People are kind and welcoming, and mild awkwardness is not a tall price to pay for setting the building blocks of relationships and future care. I know this! And yet, and yet. 

I’ve realized I need more accountability to actually do the things I want to do — and I know, from discussions I’ve had with many of you, that you need it too. Call it a prompt, call it a challenge, but I want to do it with a bunch of you, too. In a month-ish — on Sunday, February 26th — we’ll check back in with all manner of celebration, struggle, and support, because those are things we do very, very well here. 

---

So here’s my own Small Community Challenge:

Show up to at least one community event, and go on a walk with one person on the island I didn’t know before moving here. 

---

Now, if you’re up for it, tell me about yours. The goal is making it something that requires reaching out, showing up, and/or doing more than making a donation. 

Some very basic ideas that you can take in any direction: 

• Leave a note on one (or more!) neighbors’ doors with your contact info or offer of specific help (if you ever need me to pick up an extra grocery item, if you need help with your lawn, if you ever need an extra egg, you name it) 

• Set-up a playground date with a fellow caregiver that you see all the time but never actually set anything in stone 

• Create a specific offer of childcare assistance (“I can do these times, on these days, what would work for you?”) for a friend who hasn’t had regular help 

• Offer to double a soup or dessert or dinner recipe and bring it to a friend or neighbor 

• Show up at the community event or activity group or knitting circle or public book club you’ve been meaning to show up to 

• Set up a volunteer training at the place where you’ve been meaning to volunteer

• Text someone juggling a lot of care responsibilities and tell them where you’re going on errands, and where — anything you can pick up? 

• Actually sign up for Meetup.org, or the friend version of Bumble, and do more than just browse 

• Sign-up for a group class and then show up

• Ask someone you met in a class to go on a coffee walk, or an art show, or something tangentially related to the focus of said class 

• Google your city’s Mutual Aid group or community fridge organization, send the email to get on the contact list, and commit to a shift 

• Introduce yourself to at least TWO of the dog owners you see on your walk every day and casually nod towards

• Reach out to someone in your peer/friend group who’s dealing with chronic illness or disability and ask how you can support them this week — and make a plan for more consistent, weekly support 

Again, you can go far afield of these basic suggestions, but writing the thing (and asking for/receiving support on how to actually make it happen) will (hopefully) help keep us accountable in building the community we crave.

If a lot of these things sound like doing things for others — of course they do. Caring for others is part of how we create the sort of bonds that make it possible for us to be cared for in return. 

---

To keep this wieldy, the comments are only open to Culture Study subscribers. If you have the means, click on the button below to join us. If not, just email me at annehelenpetersen@gmail.com and I’ll comp you a subscription, no questions asked.

Subscribing is how you’ll access the heart of Culture Study. There’s discussions like this, but also the weirdly fun/interesting/generative weekly discussion threads and the rest of the Culture Study Discord, which is what one reader once described to me as “it’s own little town.” There’s a dedicated place to talk about doing the hard work of building community, and your DIY projects (with experts who will tell you how to do things!!!), and all your various movement pursuits. There’s a place to ask for advice, and talk about how to navigate a sticky friendship, and find help in your job hunt, and get support as we all deal with our weird and wondrous bodies. Plus there is so much more — if there’s something you want to talk about, there’s a space for it, and if not, you create it, and people will come.

If you’ve never been part of a Discord: I promise it’s much easier and less intimidating than you imagine. 

As always, if you are a contingent worker or un- or under-employed, just email and I’ll give you a free subscription, no questions asked. If you’d like to underwrite one of those subscriptions, you can donate one here.

---

If you’re reading this in your inbox, you can find a shareable version online here. You can follow me on Twitter here, and Instagram here — and you can always reach me at annehelenpetersen@gmail.com.