Status Updates From Gather: Black Food, Nourish...

“What gathering does require is a willingness to build something that may not be easily measurable or standardized”

“At its core, mutual aid is based on the truth that because we are living under the precariousness of capitalism, and in a society built through colonialism and violence, any one of us could be the person who is in need at any moment”

“We need a lot of practice with willingly sharing burdens that aren’t “ours” but will make life easier for someone else. We cannot live into the fullness of a ‘we’ or community without it.”

“In these moments, we see clearly that we cannot cede the soul and community-saving work of nourishment to the state or capitalist institutions. We must imagine otherwise.”

“Moments like that-when you encounter someone you haven’t seen in nearly 2 decades-remind you that even tenuous connections are still that: connections”

“What reunions teach us is that perhaps we can and should learn from the after glow of eating and what makes people feel truly nourished”

Hmm the idea of reclaiming public space

“Radical hospitality means making room for others with whom we don’t have an immediate connection”

Kin folk by choice and strangers turned kin are beautiful ideas

“ this also reminds us that the only way any long-term care is sustainable is if it is collective.”

“The more emergency food provisioning becomes the standard in place of a social safety net that should be provided by the government, the more we undermine the philosophy that food itself is a human right, not a gift that is dependent on someone else’s charitable heart”

“With few exceptions, women took on a significant portion of the labor for the readings I attended, and the ones interviewees shared memories about”

The big takeaways from this chapter:
1. Do what you can with what you have. You can turn tiny parcels into major movements.
2. Have someone in your corner to champion your ideas.
3. Take your time. Follow at the pace of your community

“Every single one of us needs someone to vouch for us and our vision for a better food world. Every single one of us needs someone to mentor us in bringing those visions to fruition. Even leaders. Perhaps especially leaders.”

“A wayward life, the kind of life that recognizes that it is pressed on all sides by deadly, unjust systems, but dare to breathe into the dream of freedom anyway”

“But assets alone do not create meaningful change. People do.”

“One of the biggest lessons that gardens teach us is that assets exist everywhere, including in communities identified as having problems. Before you can leverage those assets, however, you first have to recognize them.”

“In fact, many definitions of the word ‘nourish’ emphasize tending to or cultivating a person’s needs beyond sustenance, which suggests that the act of nourishing ourselves and one another is much bigger than providing food.”

“By any number of metrics, my grandmother would be considered one of the truly disadvantaged. But she was community minded, creative, and resourceful.”