Others who have the right idea!

This is a response to a blog about what community means:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Community is:
A call from a neighbor when you haven't said hello lately
A business where the owner knows your name
A place where you can sing and dance and laugh
A place to find help
A place to share your gifts

At the Mid Maine TimeBank we value all these things, so much so that we pay for community building with local "Time Dollars." For every hour that our members help build community, sharing gifts, space, time and caring, they earn one Time Dollar. They can use this local currency to purchase what they need or want. By embracing technology and the Internet, we can become closer, not isolated in our homes. We can find a friend who is willing; we can gather together.
For those interested, TimeBanks are springing up all over the country. Check it out at www.timebanks.org, or www.midmetimebank.com here in Maine.

By Stacey Jacobsohn on 7/28/2009 8:56 AM

And the response by the blogger:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Thx for the response, Stacey. Your definition seems to suggest that communities are not bound by geography or place. Rather, it is we -- members of a community -- who give meaning to the term through our actions. Hmmmm.

By Meredith Jones on 7/31/2009 7:49 AM

And a further response:

Re: What's Your Definition of Community?

Community is a way of thinking, thus "what effects me effects you"---good or bad. My work (serving those around me), My education, My health, etc., all has an effect on those who share in the environment in which live. So...Let's all make way to serve at our own business or at that of another, to be open-minded and knowledgeable, and to be healthy for the vibrance of our respective communities.

By Yolanda Taylor on 8/5/2009 7:36 AM

Another Blog: Madcap Logic, about arts in children and such.

How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition
September 18th, 2009

Does education in the arts transfer to seemingly unrelated cognitive abilities? Researchers are finding evidence that it does. Michael Posner argues that when children find an art form that sustains their interest, the subsequent strengthening of their brains’ attention networks can improve cognition more broadly.

Check out this fascinating article at The Dana Foundation’s website - http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23206

Also, someone special forwarded this email to me a couple days ago and I find it poignant.
Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together..

Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet... We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord..

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-Decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy..

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to........not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away...... Life is not a race Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.


That's what I've found so far. I'll keep you updated as I find more.