First, there was the Disruptive Librarian: "the purpose of the library is the pursuit of happiness first and education second." Those big idea places inspire and hire people who are part wizard part explorer. Yes.
There followed the Creative Maven: "Creativity is a type of deviance." When the social norms aren't connection and generosity and aren't moved along by midwives in the marketplace then yes again.
The Insurance Maverick laid out three things for a co-op structure: compelling need, ownership structure and intrinsic values. My church-planter brain went fast to work to fuse it all.
I nodded with the Work/Life Integrater who said, "Forget balance. If you integrate you don't balance. You just live." Words I've been living by for years already. Why try to be two opposing things?
The Impact Entrepeneur from Bethlehem. The Obesity Physician. The Student Scientist all filled in a night of passion and purpose. Thinking the best of one another opened the door for unity in our city through inquiry.
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When the women took the stage with galoshes and strings, introduced themselves by their FEMA numbers and played their rustic songs about the September flood waters, I felt that growing sense of the present moment. That lump in my throat, nearly healed up now, reminded me that I still think in victim's language. These women, too, experienced those ferocious moments of "I'll never be the same," of deep breaths and shock. They were acted upon. Displaced. Pushed into a new path. And to heal they wrote music.
It was a melodic example of that quote that's been guiding me through it all: "feel the hurt and continue to give beautiful pieces of yourself away..."
There I sat, the Medicaid card in my own wallet, the fresh exercise in marginality, drawing inspiration from overcomers to move along. What music was I performing? What new creation is coming of the destruction? What beauty? How much of this resurrection life do I actually subscribe to? My personal inquiries set me back to finding the answers. To pursuing unity.
I dipped my fingers into the unknown. I was asking questions my textbooks didn't know the answer to. Inquiry is what being human is all about. - Sara Volz, Student Scientist
