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I remember sitting in the back of a drafty church hall during a neighbourhood planning meeting in the nineties, clutching my notebook like a shield. I could see the “natural leaders” in the front row, the ones who seemed to… Continue reading

I remember standing on a rain-slicked corner in my old ward, clutching a clipboard and watching twelve people stand around aimlessly because nobody had actually told them where the rubbish bags were kept. It was a mess, and it wasn’t… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in ’94, staring at a pile of glossy, expensive brochures about “corporate social responsibility” that promised to bridge the gap between commerce and community. It was all nonsense. You don’t win… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly capable woman—the heart of our flower arranging committee—just fade away. She wasn’t lazy, and she wasn’t disinterested; she was simply drowning under the weight of a… Continue reading

I once sat in a drafty church hall, watching a lovely group of neighbors fall apart because nobody had bothered to clarify who was actually responsible for the community garden keys. They weren’t being difficult; they just hadn’t agreed on… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’98, staring at a stack of handwritten sign-up sheets for a local garden project, feeling a sudden, sharp knot in my stomach. It wasn’t the tea being cold; it was… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, staring at a thirty-page health and safety manual that was thicker than my old parish records. It was filled with enough jargon to make your head spin, all suggesting… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good neighborhood cleanup project fall apart because the organizer had spent three months designing fancy brochures instead of actually talking to the people on the street.… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a lovely woman named Mrs. Higgins try to navigate a twenty-page printed survey we’d spent weeks designing. She looked utterly defeated, clutching that thick stack of paper like… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good community tea party dissolve into chaos because someone forgot to appoint a treasurer and nobody had bothered to write down who was bringing the biscuits.… Continue reading