Reply To: Exercise 9: Second Personal Essay
Method Initiative Exercise 9: Second Personal Essay
I started this class because for several years I have wanted to organize a “clean up Merida” project. I never acted on this idea because I didn’t know where to start and it seemed fruitless and overwhelming. The class has helped me realize that I could just “jump in” with my idea on my own and then let it grow from there. “Start with where you are and what you have”. Making a poster for my cart that says “I “heart” Merida” and picking up trash on Paseo Montejo on Sunday mornings has proven to be an energizing place to start because it both feels good to “do something” and because there has been positive feedback from people on the street every time I have gone out.
Thinking of “who” has the problem has been a different way to approach the problem than anything I have done before. When I started, I considered the trash on the street the problem. It is for me and it is for most of my friends. I wasn’t sure it was for local people. In thinking through what the negative feelings are and for whom, I realized that the feeling evoked by the trash is disgust, overwhelm and hopelessness. These are the feelings that paralyzed me and perhaps others. Though I have had formal conversations with friends and acquaintances that have confirmed that others have these feelings, the consistent response by strangers on the street thanking me for picking up trash reinforces the idea that others want it to be different but also don’t know how or where to start. With this in mind, I have gotten some supplies to share with others who want to join me on Sunday mornings while I work on organizing a larger community event.
The idea of iterations has helped me see the process as one that is expected to evolve. When the class started, I had in mind a city-wide event that would look like the Love Modesto event with which I was peripherally familiar. While I still have that as an eventual goal, the feedback from people who have organized similar events is to start small and learn from them how to scale up. Josh’s feedback that my Sunday morning pickups WERE a start encouraged me to keep it up.
It has been refreshing to have a structured purpose in reaching out to people that I might have been timid about reaching out to before. I have yet to make a real “cold call” because everyone with whom I’ve spoken has been someone in my community with whom I’ve had at least casual contact or a referral by someone with whom I’ve spoken (Classmates have been invaluable in giving referrals). I do feel the groundwork has been laid for making cold calls and I feel more comfortable and prepared to do so. I have had so much positive feedback that I expect people to be open and receptive to the idea of a clean-up event that would invite broader participation from the community. My challenge now is to establish a group of people committed enough to the idea to be on a “steering committee” to organize and plan an event. I have a visit to a local church scheduled. I am hopeful they will be interested in starting a project in their community and that there will be a person or two interested in heading up the project with me.
While I had difficulty completing the spreadsheet, it did make me think of what items/expenses to expect and how to obtain them. I have a better idea of what will be needed and thus have a list of things to bring to the table when organizing an event with a specific group. I believe that some of the people I have talked to in the business community will be willing to provide some financial support and “in kind” help such as with advertising or supplies. I think I still have a long way to go on this but it has gotten me started in assessing the costs and the benefits of the project to those who participate. Since I am not looking for this to be a “money-making” event, I have a different perspective than others. However, I also don’t want it to be a “money-losing” event.
I am thinking about how to make the event “sustainable”, as in not creating more trash and minimizing the need to buy new things with which to do the work. I am still pondering how to dispose of the trash collected. There are recycling centers that I would like to enlist as well as the trash collecting services that are already used by the city. I have discussed with classmates and others some options for how to have the volunteers identifiable when they are going about their work. Love Modesto uses T-shirts, and I like that idea because people are proud of them and wear them throughout the year providing more opportunities to get the word out. The idea of “repurposing” t-shirts that people already have doesn’t address the need to make them the same and identifiable from a distance. I am exploring what the most “sustainable” t-shirt might be and how much it would cost. Having a t-shirt be a part of what the volunteers “get” would be significant here. I have not settled on a solution to this but I am working on it.
I have now developed relationships with a number of “movers and shakers” in Merida who have voiced support and interest in the project. These conversations have not just been beneficial for moving forward with what I want to accomplish, they have also been personally satisfying. I have heard their stories and gotten to know them beyond a superficial level. I learned that Ireland used to be the worst European country for cleanliness until someone thought of starting a national movement to change it and thus was born “Tidy Towns Ireland”. This is a national competition for being the “tidiest” town in Ireland. It started in 1958 and is still going strong. According to my friend, it was pivotal in turning around the national “consciousness” of taking care of and pride in the country of Ireland. I wonder if something like that could be part of my project. Could we develop recognition for neighborhoods that decide to clean up their streets? Give them acknowledgments that would matter to them? Ireland has gotten my synapses firing. I also learned that there have been neighborhood structures in Mexico before, something like the Neighborhood Watch program except for keeping the neighborhood clean. It is an idea that has not continued, but there may be those who remember it and who would be motivated to help a new iteration come to life. Another conversation was with a young man who grew up in Campeche, a World Heritage Site city and the one with the designation of “the cleanest city in Mexico”. He grew up with that being emphasized in his schooling, in his home, and in the city-wide identity. He was shocked when he moved to Merida and saw the condition of the streets with ever flowing trash. Each of these people is part of my “circle” now and I will have no problems connecting with them as the community wide event plan evolves. All of these examples have seeded my own ideas that I will bring with me when developing our Merida project(s).
My next steps are twofold. One is to continue with my Sunday morning clean ups soliciting others to join me and the second is to meet with the church community that was a referral by a Padre in Merida. Now that I have a contact in the radio community, I will reconnect with him, too, and explore other media avenues for getting the word out. I have become a bit more trusting and relaxed (less stressed) about allowing this to grow organically as I continue the assignments and meet with more local people.
REFLECTIONS
I enjoyed writing this essay more than I imagined. I had felt pressured to “catch up” and was more in the mode of “getting it done” than actually benefiting from the process when I first sat down. However, as I began to write, I realized that I am more focused about the project than I was before. When the class started, I examined a few extraneous avenues before landing on “just” a clean-up project as a good goal. This was largely due to speaking with people who have done their own versions of “clean-up projects” that have endured decades and that have helped raise the awareness of trash and of stewardship. The experience of talking with people has been rewarding and effective in moving me forward both with ideas I want to incorporate and those that I don’t. Having had so many spontaneous contacts on the street on Sunday mornings has been fueling my determination to see this through. Meeting someone with a radio program last Sunday confirmed to me that local interest is there. I feel ready to take the next steps.