Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Atangard Movie Trailers - Christmas 2012
Footage Provided By:
Tessa Suderman
Levi Binder
Jordan Todd
Video Edited By:
Jordan Todd
[Posted by Jordan Todd]
All I want for Christmas
ELIZABETH ASHTON - Actress
JENNIFER BORN - Actress
LISA MARIE - Actress
BENOIT BULOT - Rockstar [Posted by: Jordan Todd]
Monday, October 8, 2012
Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles per hour, the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine.
Archived photographs of the Atangard Hotel/ Downtown Abbotsford.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Atangard Community News Article
Former Abbotsford hotel rooms turned into ‘intentional community’
Levi Binder tends to get the same reaction when he tells people he resides in the Fraser Valley Inn.
They usually get a look of distaste on their face.
Binder, 21, loves the opportunity to inform people about the transformation the facility experienced more than three years ago.
No longer is it a hotel renting rooms to some of the city’s most down-trodden citizens. New owners purchased the rooming facilities, renovated them and turned them into an “intentional community” for students and young professionals aged 19 to 35.
The Atangard Community Project, a registered not-for-profit society, now occupies the entire second floor of the building at the corner of Essendene Avenue and West Railway Street in downtown Abbotsford.
There, residents pay affordable rent – between $375 to $500 per room – in exchange for a communal living situation, including shared chores and group dinners.
Stained carpets have been replaced by dark-hardwood floors. Colourful artwork lines the walls.
Each room has a unique character as determined by the resident’s decorating tastes, and doors to each suite are often left open. Currently, 24 residents occupy 19 single- and double-occupancy rooms.
The lack of privacy is not for everyone, but the openness, and the sense of family it creates, is what draws people to live at Atangard, said Lisa Ottevangers, 22, a resident who is also a member of the project’s board of directors.
“If I need someone to talk to, there’s always someone there. I love the idea of sharing life with people,” she said.
Interested tenants must complete an application form and undergo an interview. The goal is to include like-minded people who believe in the strength of building relationships, as well as environmental and social responsibility.
They must sign a contract, agreeing to certain responsibilities such as cooking dinner for everyone twice a month, helping with the household cleaning, or caring for the community garden.
Many have an artsy side, resulting in impromptu jam sessions or additions to the makeshift art gallery lining the walls.
About 60 per cent of the current residents are students. For example, Binder is studying to be a teacher, while Ottevangers is working towards a career in social work.
Others have jobs. Mark Freeman, 26, is a flight attendant for WestJet, while his wife works at a plant nursery.
They live at the Atangard – named after the hotel that first occupied the space – partly to save money to pay off debt, but mainly because of the atmosphere.
“I live in the same house with all my friends. It’s almost like you’re getting away with something,” Freeman laughs. “My life is in this building, and it is awesome to me.”
Ottevangers acknowledges that there can be the occasional issue over, for instance, dishes left in the sink, but the residents are good at communicating with one another and working out their differences.
The benefits of having a group of people to lean on far outweigh these small issues, Binder said.
“You’re losing personal space towards the betterment of other people,” he said.
Adam Roper, 27, said the Atangard has provided him with something that might otherwise be missing in his life.
“I found myself a home here.
“Over the years, it’s become a family in the true sense,” he said.
Article link:
http://www.abbynews.com/news/170518706.html?c=y&curSection=/&curTitle=BC+News&bc09=true[Posted by Jordan Todd]
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
“The Good” of Community
“To be rooted is
perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. It is
one of the hardest to define. A human being has roots by virtue of his real,
active and natural participation in the life of a community which preserves in
living shape certain particular treasures of the past and certain particular
expectations for the future.” – Simone Weil
If I would have written this entry just six months ago, I
would have probably titled it, “The
Value of Community”. Given my more
recent spiritual, relational, and academic journey, I have chosen something
different, and for good reason. The popular definition of value which would be implied by such a title would generally be
received as meaning, “relative worth, merit, or importance” (ripped from Dictionary.com).
The significant part of the definition of value is that it is understood as
being relative. How value is
generally taken to be relative is in a subjective
sense: that values are compared to other values (relative to) and that since
each individual possesses different sets of values, objectivity cannot be
claimed. Values held by individuals and groups of people are seen this way in
modern societies (including ours) and they become problematic when applied
seriously. They become problematic because the ‘worth, merit, or importance’
inherent in a value statement is treated much like indigestion or a delicious
piece of steak. Regardless of whether or not it is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, painful or
enjoyable, the significance of a value claim is often restricted to the opinion
of the individual and can easily be crossed off as irrelevant to anyone else.
In this
post, I wish to talk about my experience in community more seriously than the
modern conception of ‘value’ can allow. For if I was to use the term ‘value’
here, it would be assumed by most that I was meaning ‘what I, and some people like
me appreciate about living together’, instead of what I really mean, ‘what I
believe is good for everyone about
living together’. This is why I decided to title this post, “The Good” rather
than ‘The Value’ of Community. What is meant here by ‘the good’ implies that
there exists a non-subjective conception of ‘the good’ that can be understood
along with certain ‘objective-values’. And further, it is not only our duty as
people to pursue ‘the good’, but that in doing so we are journeying towards
what is best for our very being. The element of ‘the good’ that I wish to touch
on here is commitment.
“The word ‘commitment’ brings up notions such as a
‘binding’ course of action, allegiance, dedication and loyalty... re-committing
ourselves to respecting the personhood of others by overcoming any ways we have
slipped into unthinking habits...” - Fr.
George Morelli (Antiochian Orthodox)
It would be worth first to make clear what I mean by
commitment. One can say that they are committed to a job or to a cause, but
this is different than the context from which I wish to speak. Being committed
to something obviously implies a
one-way orientation or act. Someone can be committed to a job, but the job
cannot be committed to the person. The commitment that I am referring to is one
between people. This type demands support and investment from both/all individuals
involved. Without a multi-partisan element to commitment within a group of
people its fruits cannot be realised. It is a mutual, relationship-based type
of commitment that I believe is objectively good for anyone to pursue. The most
important part of being committed to others has to do with our willingness. Often what causes conflict
between people, groups, organisations, and even nations is rooted in our
tendency to be willful. When we hold
above all else our own will, our own agenda. When this is done at the very
least people are hurt and at the very worst people become inhuman objects. We
must first strive to become people who are willing rather than willful. When
this happens we become open to others and their concerns. We keep our own
perspectives in check and we more immediately understand how we affect others.
To be willing is to be open to recognizing the other.
“Some people flee from commitment because they are
frightened that if they put down roots in one soil they will curtail their
freedom and never be able to look elsewhere. It is true that if you marry one
woman you give up millions of others--and that's a curtailment of freedom! But
freedom doesn't grow in the abstract; it grows in a particular soil with
particular people. Inner growth is only possible when we commit ourselves with
and to others”. – Jean Vanier
A perfect manifestation of willingness can be seen in
Christ. He was willing to do what his father required of him and die on the
cross. Both in the garden and while being crucified he expressed that he did
not want to be there, but of course he would be faithful to his father. Even
throughout his life he did not force or manipulate others to accept his own
will, but instead he called people to
follow him. The willingness of his people to consider something outside of
themselves, to pursue their father’s calling, was of utmost importance, and a
first step to a divine relationship.
In a similar way, willingness is an important part of how
we are to be committed to each other. First, willingness to engage in a
relationship. If the bottom line was whose will took precedence, then God would
not have called us to be in relationship with him, but instead to just accept
his will and end it there. Willingness also requires us to meet each other
where we are at. God met his people in slavery and Jesus met his people in sin
as tax collectors and prostitutes. Our willingness to meet with each other is a
not only a starting point, but something that is continually done as we learn
more about each other and grow as people.
My own experience living at ‘the hotel’ has been one
which can be characterized by commitment. Often, how I have committed to others
and vice versa has been part of a process of willingness. However, it has also
been a more forced reality. Living here, so close and so involved, often
demands that I commit to working through things with others. If I choose not
to, it can become very awkward and sometimes even a painful place to be. I have
had seasons here where I have chosen not to hold my side of the covenant, and
trust me when I say, that those times were the hardest of my entire life.
Either through being willing or being forced to stay (because this is my home) here
and face my demons I have experienced more healing than if I were able to
simply retreat to a tiny basement suite or apartment.
In closing, commitment is not a given. Becoming a
resident and member of this community has not allowed me to take it for
granted. Commitment is a mutual agreement between people, which cannot be realized
if it is not pursued by all. But, if it is taken up by those involved, I
believe it to be something that transcends the idea of modern ‘values’, placing
itself firmly in what is good.
~jord
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