Atanetizer

It’s been just over a month since I wrote my first cheque for $450 made out to the “Atangard Community Project”. I am now in Prince George planting trees for the next 3 months, with the taste of community still lingering, enticing me to focus on the post-season main course: 9 more months living in downtown Abby.

I felt like my leaving home was a celebration of past reflection and anticipation. Around this time, several of us are going our separate ways - many are leaving to traipse around the world, others are seasonal workers, and those who are staying will have a unique experience of there own – though what we all share is our excitement for the last month of summer, when we all return to share our dog days.

My month long community hors d'oeuvre has been a unique and enlivening experience. It has been warm, loving, and best of all [in my opinion] it has been shared. That being said, it hasn’t all been fairytales and farts. Living with so many people, so many personalities; it has been occasionally quite a balancing act trying to acquaint myself with everyone’s habits, values, and humour. Fortunately, living in community has proven to be rather forgiving, which is great for someone like myself who can be frustratingly stubborn in adapting to others.

Of course, a community in a city the size of Abbotsford doesn’t consist of only 20 or so people. It is worth mentioning how friends and family have been involved and how they have blessed the people who live here. On behalf of my own experience, I appreciate my friends and family who have chosen to spend time with me and my housemates. All of you who invest in our lives here are the icing on the community cake, and are deeply loved. I can’t wait to return home and spend time with all of you!

However, before this happens I have a summer in the bush to get through. Over the past few days I have been reunited with dear friends who I have known every summer for over a half a decade. I am looking forward to my summer friends, my planting camp: my seasonal community mistress. As I fondly think of all of my ‘roommates’ soon to be scattered all over the world, and those who are staying home holding down the fort, I continue to live life in reflection and anticipation of the community I currently find myself in, as well as the one that I will return to.

Love,
~jordan

Bullet Train to Lake Titicaca

Sometimes I worry that our society is heading down a path that seems too fast and smooth. Are we steadily climbing the hill of progress with out really knowing where it goes?
Perhaps its like a train heading up a hill with the tracks ending in a lake on the otherside.... for those of us that know this, there are three options:
Take over the engine room and slow it down/send it on a different path
(the reason why I am involved in Green Party politics)
Take over the brake room and bring the train to a halt
(the reason I study and believe in anarchism)
Build flotation devices for our train car so that we can unhitch from those that didnt when we hit the lake and turn our train into a boat.
(the reason why I am involved in Atangard)

The middle one is the most violent and socially jarring, the first one is the most difficult and the last... well we still end up in the lake.

Can we act within our social circles and within the limitations of our selfishness to look beyond our community and grades, families and careers to things that are lasting?

You could say this is a spiritual ideology but it is also a earthy earthly one.

Lets build some floats, support those who want to take over the Engine room and pay attention when a few "fringe" activists want to break into the the brake room.


yes it is dan....
of course who else

It was the best of times and the worst of times

It's one year today since we acquired the keys and started renovations. Six months that we've been living here. Dad and I were recounting it the other day. He said that it was up there with some of the most challenging things he'd ever done in his life. Actually, it was second on the list only to overcoming his period of illness. This challenge was definitely the most trying that I have ever faced, mind you I am a lot younger than he. Often in the midst of the overwhelming chaos I could only see what was right in front of me, the next thing to be done. There was never a moment to celebrate because each small victory lead to another obligatory duty. All this to say, I had only a very vague hope of what the future, what living together would look like. Actually, I did not really plan what I thought it would look like, I only had a hope that it would work out. That there would be interest enough to fill our rooms, and that it would be an enriching experience for its duration.

And now we find ourselves here.

Sometimes I find myself still amazed that it actually came to be. That we are actually living in the Fraser Valley Inn. How strange it is. And sometimes I find myself absolutely overwhelmed by the goodness of things that I had never dared to imagine in my hopeful anticipation. Some dinners when our dining room is full of housemates and friends and good food and conversation, my heart is full. Sometimes after a directors meeting I feel blessed to have a depth of relationship to know these good people so fully, to have them work with and if need be, to fight with as well.

And then there are other times that seem somewhat surreal. I think that those are the events when you are truly caught off-guard. The impromptu peter pan dance party, Annie's dinners, having The Geese come and play for us, and last night with Karen playing her harp and Ron speaking - these are times I will cherish.

In tension to this. I will say that it was one endeavor that pushed me beyond my capacity and at times still does. There are times when I am socially overwhelmed. There are times when I am so frustrated by messes and dirty dishes. And times when I just need to retreat to my room and try and find my peace. But I think that the hardest things in life are the most rewarding, and so I am content and grateful to be here to learn and live.

Sophie

A Little Clarity Perhaps

This blog was originally meant as a sounding board for a group of people who were trying to discover how they could bring about positive change in their community. If this is your first introduction to the Atangard Community Project Society you should be made aware that this blog does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Society itself but rather the individual opinions of our members. Though there is significant spiritual/religious content from the various contributors the ACP Society is a completely secular organization.

That said, most cultures around the world have some spiritual component that acts as a motivating factor and Abbotsford has a prolific and deep connection with the Christian tradition. With that in mind it is not a surprise that many of the people involved in this project were and are Christians.

If some of the content in here offends you we are sorry, it was not the intent, they are merely personal opinions and reflections. The community of Atangard is full of different world-views and backgrounds and we hope to increase that diversity overtime. We do not want to push people away from the important concept of community because it is associated with an ideology that they disagree with; conversely we do not wish to censor individual opinions.

When you read the entries in this blog treat them as you would a conversation you over-hear in a coffee-shop, one you might contribute to, one you may not agree with everything that is said, but one that has a central theme you can also be passionate about.

Welcome to our community!

Community Living: An Answer to Poverty?

Last night I attended a forum in which various local organizations addressed the issue of poverty in Abbotsford. These organizations included – The Salvation Army, Abbotsford Community Services, Warm Zone, and Atangard Community Project – the last of which was embodied by Dan Bryce. Representatives from each of these organizations were part of a panel where they explained the various philosophies and projects that they were involved in.

To be quite honest, as my eyes shifted from left to right, focused on the panel members, I paused to consider the last. What was Dan doing here? A.C.P. seemed to be a little out of place compared to the others who were all on the ‘front line’ fighting poverty on the streets of Abbotsford.

As the night went on, the other three spoke of various ‘grassroots’ initiatives related to housing, education, employment, food and shelter, however, when the floor was open to A.C.P., Dan had seemingly little relevant to say. I couldn’t figure out why Atangard was even up there.

When I came to this forum I was expecting discussion to be centered on a mix of ideological opinion and practical solutions regarding poverty and I couldn’t see where our community fit in. Yet before the evening was over the significance of ‘community’ in the fight against the social and economic issues surrounding poverty became clear.

After the groups were finished introducing themselves and what they do, the forum turned into a discussion between the panel and the audience. It was at this time that I started to notice a common theme that all four organizations shared. This theme was community. It became apparent that ‘community living’ was a shared practical and philosophical solution in dealing with as well as preventing poverty.

Heading into this forum, I failed to recognize the importance of community living as a healthy model to address the social and economic factors that contribute to, and facilitate poverty. In terms of economics, poverty is a problem because not all of us can afford the high costs of living. During conversation, Darla Sparrow had said that someone on a low income or assistance budget might get something like $900 a month and that rent for a one bedroom living space in Abbotsford starts at around $600/month. This leaves an impossible and extremely unrealistic budget of $300 or less for food, transportation, and the various other monthly expenses.

If you already live at Atangard then you know this, but for those who don’t, A.C.P provides not just affordable housing, but an arrangement that allows those who live there to share the costs of food, internet, and transportation. Community living can make it possible for people to not only cut the costs of living, but also to make the cost of living a sustainable figure.

The social issue of ‘isolation’ was said to be a huge hurdle for those trying to get off of the streets. Even if a program provided the monetary resources to get someone into a home (or into a generally better living situation), in order for it to be a lasting solution it would also have to ensure that the individuals were part of a positive and supportive community. If a program failed to offer this community aspect, then any progress made usually ended up being regressive and futile.

Community living, though at times frustrating and full of compromise, provides the emotional and relational support that we all need in order to deal with simple and complex social problems. As well, community living amputates our tendency to marginalize and separate ourselves from the well being of others, an affinity which I believe enables us to carry on lives lacking social consciousness.

This is how I’ve come to understand the importance of community living and its potential as a healthy and practical solution to poverty. However, community living is a unique practice in our part of the world and it will take a lot to catch on.

So, what can we who are currently living at Atangard do? Well we all, to some degree, realize the value of living in community or else we wouldn’t be here. I believe that it will be those who call Atangard home, the people who have already jumped on the community-living band wagon; we will influence those around us, and ultimately the majority, to make an ideological shift to a heightened sense of social consciousness. We should share our experience here in fellowship with others, and perhaps more importantly, continue promoting community living in some way, shape or form above and beyond our time here.

After the forum was over, I left feeling that Dan’s presence on that panel was warranted and justified.

What do you think?

~jordan andrew

Silly Dances

I had an image of our community that I wanted to share. It was a very simple image. I imagined all of us standing in a circle looking at the center of the circle where Jesus was standing. What struck me about the image was that we were not overly distracted by the others who were standing around Jesus. We were absorbed by Jesus and His beauty and love. He was how we measured what beauty looked like. I imagined what it might look like for someone in the circle to try and steal the show and I thought of someone doing a funny little dance. And I imagined that we might simply think that that person’s performance was rather silly and endearing and not at all worth comparing to what we saw in Jesus. And that we would have compassion on those who didn’t realize that they were doing a silly dance next to our glorious Jesus. And we would know that they are just afraid and that is why they are putting on such a funny performance. That they don’t know just yet how beautiful Jesus thinks they are and so they are not yet able to rest in the circle. They still think that they have to do something silly to be loved.
Anyway, there it is. It is my prayer for this community. That we would learn to rest in a circle around Jesus.

Mark