"There’s no perfect village waiting to be found; there’s only the one we’re trying, falteringly, to build."

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One of my favourite writers on Substack right now is Margi Prideaux, who writes Radically Local. I felt this post titled “No Perfect Village” really captured the importance of community building, but also the difficultly. Especially in these times where the myth of separation, has separated us, not only from ecology, but also each other. Where Uber has replaced giving friends a ride, and Airbnb has replaced the once free couch.

Community-building is usually invoked like it’s a soft, warm, idealistic thing. Shared meals, collective joy. And sometimes, yes, it is. But in truth, it’s mostly uncomfortable, necessary work that asks us to stand in the mess of each other’s lives without flinching. And we’re not good at it. I am not good at it. Decades of individualism have stripped those skills out of us.

…We talk about resilience like it’s infrastructure—rainwater tanks and solar panels—but the real infrastructure is emotional, relational. That’s the skill base we don’t have, and desperately need. I don’t have an answer for this. This is territory I am poorly equipped to navigate. I only know that building community is difficult, necessary work.

I hope that Kinterra can begin to offer a place for the harder conversations, and the deeper connections. The truth is, I don’t know if it’ll work, but so many roads lead me back to the importance of community. Thanks for showing up, and helping us breathe life into this space.

Have you been doing anything to actively build, or step into community in your neck of the woods?

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This is such a good reminder that we are “in the mess of other peoples lives” when we build community. I work with a lot of schools, and First Nations organisations and communities designing participatory leadership initiatives. When people realise that everybody struggles , it’s transformative. Trust is built and burdens are shared.

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I can only imagine the insights you’ve gained from this work Anna. And this is probably a very difficult question but are there processes/rituals, or components of your work that you think would translate to building community here in this space? Whilst I’ve worked online for far too long, I’m increasingly interested in the similarities between building physical and online communities.

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Hi Ally. Yes I think there are - I have done them on line also. although always in the context of hosting a conversation about a theme, or a reason to be in conversation together.

My experience is that people value and are often deeply moved by - the opportunity to be in deep conversation. Happy to discuss if you think it helpful

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