Community Philosophy Fosters Meaningful Connections

Continuing education by the community, for the community. 

Seeing a need to respond to the needs of a community constantly fluctuating and striving to cope with blinding and often confusing transition, Simon Fraser University’s Continuing Studies Department created the Philosophers’ Café. 

Meeting together throughout the lower mainland, the regular café gatherings are open to the public with no pre-registration. The environment is attractive to a diverse crowd of formal academics and academics of the heart. Each session is moderated by a pre-selected individual hailing from one of many universities or colleges. Topics have ranged from sex talk to poverty, politics to poetry, never shy on exploring the issues that strike us all at one time or another. 

The goal is simply to bring people together for one common purpose: To learn. It is a creative and innovative way to discover meaning in a manner that seems to always leave behind the byproducts of camaraderie, unity and enlightenment. 

Comfortable in casual surroundings, lifelong learners teach each other through the every day discussions about real life experiences. The Globe & Mail said “The Philosophers’ Café might be the most successful continuing education program in the country” (October 27, 2003) 

In a time when many are struggling to belong in our community in a meaningful way, the Philosophers’ Café series provides a unique circuit to build interpersonal connection. 

The next False Creek Community Centre edition of the Philosophers’ Café is on December 6^th at 7 pm. The topic is “The Art of Dying.” 

Philosophers’ Café

False Creek Community Centre, 1318 Cartwright St, Granville Island

Everyone welcome. No pre-registration required. Admission $5.

The Art of Dying Constantly relegated to a taboo status, the encounter of personal death is possibly the single most pressing and crucial moment of our existence. Can we face it straightforwardly? Joyfully? How? Further, how does society with its current values and customs help (or hinder) us to die peacefully? 

Moderator: Miguel Rodriguez is a writer and poet from Spain, currently residing in Vancouver with his partner and daughter, where they coordinate and live at a settlement house for refugee claimants. He has written numerous essays (long and short, but not very good ones he says) on many different topics, including Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, art and literature, politics, economics and science. He publishes periodically in a variety of journals and magazines.

Community Supported Agriculture Feeds Sustainablility to Shareholders

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a truly sustainable community oriented endeavor operated in the style of Social Enterprise. The basic premise is that members of the community purchase shares in a farm or community garden and in return for their investment they withdraw food weekly or by weekly. The farms income from shares and commercial accounts go to fair wages, and general operations.

There are many advantages of being a shareholder. In addition to quality food that is produced healthily and holistically, many CSA farms also give shareholders power in major decisions that affect the food at annual meetings. 

The local community is also a beneficiary as CSA farms are mast often very sustainable. The impact on the land and plants as well as the treatment and care of animals is often far more ethical and controlled. The opportunity for small scale farmers to be successful in their endeavors is also greatly increased.

In North America, a basic share may be $350-500 for a season (18-20 weeks). There may also be a variety of share types ranging from full to half seasons, single people to family shares. Costs are typically calculated based on the budget of the farm rather than weight or volume of food. The pricing system is usually agreed to democratically as is the variety of food produced. All sign a “shared risk and reward” agreement that commits them to sharing in the success, or failure, of the farm regardless of the unpredictability of the season.

In a time when many are searching for healthy and safe sources of food, Community Supported Agriculture is a strong option for many families.

Social Networking Sites Make Community Development Easy

Cities are funny things. The bigger they are and the more people in them, the less social people seem to be. 

Growing up in a small town often comes with the experience of being familiar with the vast majority of the population. In a town of 500 people, one has a high probability of knowing everyone on their block. Living in a downtown condo, one housing 200 or so people, one has a high probability of knowing not one of the people living in the same building.  

Humans are social creatures. Our instincts to settle in clusters and flock to causes with other like minded folk are simple and undisputable examples of this fact. Ironic how the closer we seem to live to each other the less likely we are to “know” our neighbours. How many times have we said or listened to someone we know say, “it’s so hard to meet people” or “it’s so hard to make friends”? We walk down streets, sit at coffee shops, go to movies, shop at malls, ride buses… all the while surrounded by hundreds of other people. The bigger the city, the more people seem to be afraid to say “hello”. 

Our hero? The internet. 

Enter: Social Networking sites. 

Facebook, Myspace, Nexopia, Bebo, LinkedIn and the list goes on and on. Wikipedia notes that at last count there were over 200 Social Networking sites providing frameworks for us to get to know each other “safely”. 

It all began in the early 90’s with BBS (Bulletin Board Services) and Usenet. Before Windows and before IPods when the internet was text based and the majority of users were still in secondary school and college. As we hurl through the Internet Revolution at light speed, Social Networking sites become more advanced and far more popular. 

On September 7^th, 2007, MySpace had OVER 200 million registrations from around the world. Receiving more hits than internet search deity, Google, MySpace is by far the most successful of all the Social Networking sites. It even comes complete with Groups (online clubs for like minded users), MySpace TV (for user generated content), Films (professional content), Music (both major labels and new breakthrough artists), Comedy (for new and popular comedians), Blogs, Email, Instant Messaging, and the list keeps growing. 

MySpace and similar sites provide users with a safe and entertaining platform to step outside of their condos via the internet and build a community on their own terms.  Staying in touch with friends is easy even as we go about our busy lives. Any user has the freedom to create groups, plan events for real world activities, upload photos, chat via email, make new friends and generally most other types of social activity. 

One of the most common benefits from free membership is finding all those old friends that have been lost through the years. Most users have tales to tell about how they found their first love, high school chum, forgotten coworker or long lost relative within days of joining on of these popular networks. The ease of building and maintaining our social relationships is definitely an attractive advantage in a time when one of our biggest complaints is that we have no time.  

And it is big business too. In July 2005, MySpace was purchased by News Corporation (Fox Broadcasting’s parent company) for $580 million dollars US. Facebook, MySpace’s biggest and fastest growing competitor, was rumored to have been offered $750 million in early 2006. It is also rumored that the asking price for Facebook was around 2 billion dollars during that same time frame. 

Shocking many in October, 2007, Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share in Facebook for a startling $240 million. More astonishing was that the 3 ½-year-old internet community was appraised by Microsoft at $15 billion dollars. 

$15 billion dollars. 

It seems that making friends is good business. Regardless of the obvious profitability of such an enterprise, the positive affect of making a sense of community popular and easy is definitely worth the price.  

Social Networking sites may just be a blip in pop culture, destined to fade into the night with pet rocks and Flock of Seagulls, but one thing is for certain, millions and millions of people around the world are herding to them today.

Hugging The World

Free Hugs. 

It’s a simple sign and a simple idea that has, in its own way, changed the world.  

Juan Mann (a pseudonym and a homonym of “one man”) had a mission. He wanted to brighten up one person’s day with a hug. He didn’t hug someone he knew, he simply began offering free hugs to total strangers on the streets of Sydney, Australia. 

On September 22, 2006, a music video featuring Juan’s endeavor was posted to YouTube, kick starting the phenomenon that today is Free Hugs. The footage, shot in 2004 at the Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, showed Juan’s walk through the mall holding a sign that read “FREE HUGS.”

It started with one hug from a stranger. One year after the YouTube release, hundreds of Free Hugs campaigns have sprung up from the grassroots of communities worldwide.  Even Oprah invited Juan to her show. Today anyone can join the movement by signing up at the Free Hugs website. 

Free Hugs Worldwide: 

AUSTRALIA

• PERTH & WA

NORTH AMERICA: 

• LOS ANGELES
• NEW YORK
• SEATTLE  (Video)
• TORONTO
• BAY AREA
• NEWFOUNDLAND
• PORTLAND
• MONTREAL (Video)
• VICTORIA, BC, CANADA
• DENVER 
• BALTIMORE (Marley Station Mall)
• SAN DIEGO
• VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA (Video)
• OTTAWA

EUROPE 

• ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 
• ZURICH
• KRAKOW
• TORUN, POLAND
• KIEV
• SPAIN
• OPORTO, PORTUGAL
• SWANSEA, GB
• BARCELONA
• MOSCOW

MIDDLE EAST

• TELAVIV1 (Video 2) 

SOUTH AMERICA 

• VENEZUALA

ASIA

• MANILA, PHILIPPINES
• SEOUL, KOREA
• INDIA + THE WORLD/AMMA
• CHINA (Video)

 List reposted from Tribe