Tuesday 26 February 2008

Youth Forum

On another track. The digital workshop with the Youth Forum set up a blog and discussions about using images from the park walking thingy that the Youth Forum do, to make a multi sheet image, for placing on the wall at the event in March.

The next Youth Forum meeting will be at the Library.

dis-engagement

following the attempted poster making, I find myself removed emotionally from this project. There is another meeting soon, where I will need to talk about this.

The poster was rejected as it failed to meet "funder communication standards". having been allowed to make the poster and putting a lot of thought and effort into the design, to find out it was unsuitable because of the rules set by the funder, my feeling has been, why was I allowed to get that involved in the design, when it was always going to be rejected if it was not what the funder wanted. I don't do what people want, I do what I want. I put forward at the last meeting what i wanted to do, it was approved.

As a result of the rejection, the brochure information has also grounded to a halt.

I don't like being empowered and then disempowered by the very thing that empowered me. Calls into question trust.

Time will tell, I guess.

Monday 11 February 2008

New Name?

Now that the steering group in charge of what does happen with events in the Abbey Ward have given themselves a name and a logo, do we reveal it on here or wait for the banners to go up?

Love the pictures, especially the passageway to the back garden one.

until it was time to walk again...





and played for quite a while...





the dogs amused...





a nearby park...





into a park..





we went for a walk...



Thursday 7 February 2008

thoughts, just before going to an organisational meeting

Memory of last week is very much in the forefront of my thoughts. It doesn't help that I'm feeling tired and worn out by the day already.

Getting the project off the ground has been a long slow process. Not sure why that is.

There is a certain beginning of certain feelings about certain things. I'm not really that certain about what it is about.

Maybe it's a kind of no mans land, between wanting to do and actually the doing of it. Maybe after this evenings meeting, the certain feeling will be more certain and a certain amount of direction re-established.

I've chatted with another friend in the area tonight about the intergenerational project, as it's being known. My friend was up for talking. I am aware that I need to put some dates into diaries soon.

The photography and videoing for the cornershop project, that too will start soon, and the box of rejection making and the youth forum is next week. I still don't know if that will happen. I wonder if that is the core uneasy feeling that I have.

Tuesday 5 February 2008

yesterday something happened for the first time

For the first time yesterday, I spoke to both of my neighbours.

One delivered a left parcel, the other was a result of their landlord not repairing the down pipe of the drainage system from the roof. I'm becoming very annoyed at getting wet when leaving the house while it rains.

Not shatteringly academic a piece of writing I know. However, within community cohesive planning, the talking to neighbours forms a central part of cohesion working.

It's dam hard work, I can tell you.

Saturday 2 February 2008

Belonging

Have you considered where you belong ?

Possibly an awkward question and I immediately apologise for placing you in that position.

In attempting to put together a project to promote cohesion in a community(within an area of housing defined by governmental policy), is the notion of "you don't belong here" applicable ? I don't think so. Who has the right to question whether anybody belongs somewhere. It becomes racist and uncomfortable. It might be different if an individual considers the notion of "do I belong here" or "where do I belong". I would suggest that any community project should encourage the notion of " you belong here, you are amougst people that feel good to have you here."

A project will only exist by those engaged with it to make it happen. Again, no one can join in and then immediately question the role or validity of someone else within the group.

I'm not laying any rules down here, merely suggesting that attitude toward "belonging" could be at the heart of a project that is attempting to promote cohesion amougst an area defined by governmental boundary. Where that area defined would really liked to be known as a community.