Community

Todays prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

This is kind of a weird question for me, because I have been in a few discordant communities this year. The first was my community of employment, where the only unifying factor seemed to be general disgruntlement. It was a community of malcontents being squeezed by an administration of incompetence.

So that gave me no sense of community.

Then there’s my book club. There used to be more of a sense of community there because we all lived in the same neighborhood, but as the years have passed, many of us have moved away, and what was once a nice walk to discuss the book has become a drive, and perhaps because there’s less drinking, it’s not as harmonious. There have been some divisive factions in the group. The other night we had our annual Christmas party, and where there have been a lot of laughs in the past, and a feeling of togetherness, there was no unity at all this year. Instead, the party broke into little clusters of conversation. Plus, while I like the majority of the members and all, there are too many of them. I think a general rule of thumb should be that no book club should have more members than the average person has wine glasses. Using that as a guide, we are over the limit. With all of those little factions, I’m beginning to view my book club much like I did high school.

The community at the Princess’s school is very nice and friendly. We have to do a significant number of service hours for the school, which is kind of a huge commitment, but it does help people get to know one another. I have been privileged to have some really great conversations with people this year, and it does feel good to be working toward the same goal. In 2011, I would like to become more deeply entrenched there.

Another community I enjoy is the Facebook. While it is quite the time burglar, which I mentioned yesterday, it is also a great tool for keeping in touch and reconnecting with old friends.