Of course officials who are elected and empowered by government to take action are often central to many kinds of community progress.  But it certainly doesn’t mean that getting elected is the only way to be a leader in your community.

So, I offer this list of Five Ways to be a Leader in Your Community Without Running for Office:

1. Volunteer your time. Find an organization or a project in your community that meets a need or tackles an issue that’s interesting to you.  This may seem like an obvious one, but giving of your time not only provides tangible assistance to your community, but it helps you connect with others who are working on making it a better place.  From these experiences you can see what other parts of the community need your attention and how you can best serve.
2. Participate in public debate and feedback.  When you’re asked by organizations or other leaders in the community for your input, or if someone is doing a survey or conducting focus groups, participate!  It can be tempting to think your individual response won’t make that much difference, but a well-thought out comment or an observation or question shared from the heart can often make ALL the difference.  School boards, government agencies and community improvement organizations can wander around in the dark for a long time without regular feedback from the people they serve or represent.  If you have the chance to help guide them, do it, and encourage your friends and family to participate too.
3. Find an unmet need and lead the way to meeting it.  In many communities there are often basic services, programs or bits of infrastructure that aren’t in place but could be.  Look for those times in the course of your daily routine when you think “Somebody should…” or “I wish they’d…” and then become the person who moves that thing forward.  You don’t have to be an expert or a full time advocate to help get a process unstuck or bring something to the attention of appropriate decision-makers.  And it doesn’t have to be a big project or an expensive solution to make a difference.
4. Ask for accountability. Make sure you understand the job descriptions for your elected officials at the local and state level, and then make sure they’re actually living up to that job description.  If they’re doing a good job, tell them that and encourage them – it’s not easy being a politician and you can never make everybody happy, so affirmation goes a long way.  If they’re not doing a good job, tell them that in constructive ways – letters that suggest alternate approaches, showing up at meetings where you share your perspective, and so on.  Let your representatives know that you’re watching and that you care.  In the end, most of them will serve the community a little bit better because of it.
5. Develop your network.  Build relationships with others around you – neighbors, co-workers, friends, strangers – and look for opportunities for people to work together or share resources to achieve a common goal.  Even if you don’t have an active project or effort right now, knowing who to call or connect with when an opportunity arises will help make things happen more quickly.

These suggestions may be obvious, and practicing these kinds of leadership may not yield the same kinds of recognition or public exposure that elected officials receive (this can be a good thing), but every successful community depends on its members to take some active role in making it a better place.

What other ways do you work at being a community leader?

I’ve written before about things you might consider when leaving a volunteer board of directors for a non-profit or other community organization. I’ve also had some good conversations recently about the process on the other side of that kind of community involvement, deciding whether or not to say “yes” to joining a board of directors or taking on some other leadership role. For your sake and for that of the organization, it’s important to do some research and reflecting before accepting that invitation, to make sure your involvement is a good fit and that the experience will be rewarding for all involved.

From my experience, here’s a list of steps to take and questions to ask when you’re considering whether or not to join a board of directors:

1. What’s the function of the board? Is it purely advisory, or does it make and enforce policy? Is it involved in big-picture strategic planning, or is it managing day-to-day operations? What role does it play in the life of the organization?
2. What’s the time commitment? Some boards meet a few times a year in intensive sessions, but don’t otherwise expect much from their members. Other boards meet monthly, with multiple committee meetings and community events in between that you might be expected to attend or even organize. Some boards have very active e-mail mailing lists, others are quiet. Learn how much of your time and energy – in the form of meetings, events and other communications – you’ll be expected to expend.
3. What’s the leadership structure? Who sets the agenda for the board meetings? What’s the relationship between the board’s executive committee or other leadership and the rest of the members? What’s the relationship between the board and the staff? Are there “covert leaders” who have exceptional but unofficial or unnamed influence?
4. How are decisions made? Do board conversations seek to build consensus, or is discussion about convincing a majority to vote a certain way? When there are concerns or conflicts, how are they resolved? Are stakeholders consulted, or informed after the fact?
5. What’s your anticipated role? Are you being invited to join because you have a specific skill, affiliation or resource that you’ll be expected to use (e.g. you’re a lawyer and they need free legal advice)? Do they already know what committee or project they want you to work on, or will they wait to discern what might be the best fit for you?
6. What’s the new member orientation process? Are new board members formally oriented to the processes and culture of the board, or are they just expected to show up and figure it out? Who does the orienting, and what approach do they use?
7. How is institutional memory preserved? Does the board create and publish thorough meeting minutes? Are past decisions and discussions easily reviewable so that conversations aren’t re-hashed with board member turnover? Are key documents like bylaws, member contact lists, and financial statements made easily available?
8. What’s a meeting like? Ask to sit in on a board meeting as an observer and see how it’s conducted. Are the espoused values and mission of the organization manifested in the way the board members interact with each other? Is member participation even and equitable, or unbalanced and dominated? How does it feel to spend an hour of your time in that setting?
9. Why did other board members say yes, and why are they still there? Talk to other members of the board about their experiences, what they think works well, and what they see as areas for organizational growth. What frustrates them? What projects and successes get them excited?
10. Check your schedule. Even if the answers to all of the above questions point toward a “yes,” look at your existing time commitments and personal aspirations, and ask whether or not you can fully engage in the life of the organization without compromising those. Do you have enough time in the day for a new role?

Are there other things you take into consideration when deciding what good causes and organizations you give your own time to?

Earlier today, I sat down with Ron and Tom to ask about how giving away a whole restaurant works, plans for the future of the Deli, and what Tom will do with all of his spare time (and cheesy jokes) in life after small business ownership; here are some excerpts from the conversation:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRnKMIDW5gk

I love this city!  Thanks to Tom, Ron, Rachel, and the entire staff of Tom’s Deli for living out a great vision for small business and community building in Richmond, Indiana.

The article contains some interviews with downtown business owners, some perspective on the history of the Main Street organization there, and some talk of renewed activity from merchants and business owners (myself among them) in helping make the area thrive.  But there’s something missing from the picture the article paints.

One key angle that the article glosses over is the role that the rest of the community plays in creating and maintaining a thriving downtown.  While there’s certainly some role for business owners and merchants to play in creating a thriving downtown, it’s not entirely their burden to bear.  Retail districts live and die by the shopping choices of their customers, and so it seems important to recognize in any conversation about the health of a downtown that at least some of it is dictated by the “consumer culture” of the surrounding community.

It would be interesting to interview some “regular citizens” and ask them where they tend to shop, and how they perceive the downtown area.  “Given the choice between going downtown to support a business there and going to the mall or a big box store, how do you decide?”  Are they willing to pay a little more for products and services knowing those dollars stay in the community longer (thus supporting the long-term health of the area), or will they always prioritize convenience and the lowest available price?

It also seems worth looking at the environment of governmental and political support surrounding downtown.  Is it possible that city, county and state laws might be negatively impacting the ability of downtown business to thrive?  Is it possible that our approach to zoning, transportation, taxpayer-funded economic development and taxation are favoring non-local chain businesses over those who would choose to start and grow a small business in the place they live?  Is it possible that politics and personalities are at times standing in the way of a thriving central business district instead of nurturing it?

I’ve blogged about these ideas before:

The value we get from a strong and diverse local business community is hard to see when compared as a “bottom line deal” against the attractions of the “big box” stores. And I’m not suggesting that these larger retailers don’t have a place in a strong local economy. But my hope is that we’ll see the Target store closing as yet another indicator of an important trend. By putting so many of our eggs in baskets that lack the personal ties and community investments that our local businesses are built around, we set ourselves up for even greater disappointments and more noticeable disappearance of the business ethic, entrepreneurship, and innovative spirit around which Richmond has historically been built.

There’s no question that the economic health of our downtown is based on complex systems with lots of variables.  The business owners and downtown merchants are mostly already doing their part – they’re running their businesses and they’re engaged in the life of the business district and the wider community.  As a small business owner myself, I know that there’s probably not a whole lot of time left over for those hard-working folks to ALSO do the marketing, advocacy, legislative and policy work needed to help downtown compete against strip malls and big box stores.

So what role does the rest of the Richmond community have in creating a thriving main street area?  How do your choices make a difference in the health of downtown?

Some observations on walking to work:

1. Since walking has become my usual mode of commuting, I’ve found myself noticing even more what complex and sometimes onerous machines automobiles can be.  There a feeling of lightness I have in walking out the door and propelling myself down the street, feeling my muscles working and pace changing, saying hi to people and noticing changes in their moods and dispositions from day to day, just being out in the open air of the world.  This is much different from the protocols for entering, activating and safely operating my internal combustion go-go machine from one place to another; it’s just a much heavier and more isolating experience, and while it still has its place, I’m quite glad to partake in it less often.
2. The walk takes about 15 minutes or less.  My prior residence was less than 2 miles from my office, which took about 30 minutes.  Even though Richmond tends not to be all that pedestrian-friendly, the previous longer route was especially obnoxious in the loud and busy roads I would walk, and so it became a bit of a psychological barrier to wanting to do it every day.  The 30 minute mark was just long enough to create some stress about how much of the day I might “lose” to walking back and forth, even though other calculations show we lose a good part of our day/lives to earning the money to be able to drive in.  In any case, 15 minutes feels like a great number for me right now – just long enough to make the walk enjoyable, and short enough that I feel close  to all the places I want to be able to be quickly.
3. I’ve certainly saved a little money, between several hundred and a thousand dollars in gasoline expenses depending on what past year I compare it to.  The drive to work obviously didn’t use a whole lot of gas in itself, but not driving my car every day also means lower automobile maintenance costs.
4. This winter season found Richmond with more snow on the ground for longer periods of time than it’s had in recent history.  Local residents and businesses are generally not very cognizant of the impact on pedestrians when they leaving their sidewalks unshoveled; it means that people either have to walk in the street, which is dangerous, or take alternate routes, which is inconvenient.  This didn’t stop me from walking, even if I had to transport an extra pair of shoes along with me, but it’s still disappointing to see the significant resources expended on making paths clear for cars and so little attention given to keeping pedestrian walkways usable.
5. I live in an Indiana Enterprise Zone, which means that the local governments have designated it as a “distressed or blighted area” that could benefit from some economic development incentives.  What it really means is that my employer and I both get tax credits for me living there – close to a thousand dollars on my return this year -  the idea being that I’m helping to make the area less distressed and blighted.  What’s that have to do with walking to work? The goal of having a walkable, bike-able city lines up nicely with the goal of having a vibrant downtown business district surrounded by vibrant, well-established residential neighborhoods.  When we remember to plan communities around the needs of people instead of around what’s best for automobiles, we almost always inevitably also build a stronger local economy.
6. I have to recognize the relative ease with which I – a tall white male – can wander out into the streets past dusk on my walk home after a late night at the office, not thinking too much about being vulnerable or unsafe.  I know some of my downtown co-workers wouldn’t find it desirable or even acceptable to put themselves in the same position.  There are things Richmond could do to help with this – e.g. fix the streetlights that don’t work on Main St. – but there are also a broader set of cultural issues that need work before the pedestrian lifestyle is truly “safe” and normal again.  In the meantime, I’m privileged in a way that I’ll keep taking advantage of, but won’t take for granted.
7. I usually listen to music while I walk (and lately I’m listening to courses on learning Spanish).  Sometimes I don’t listen to anything and just enjoy the sounds around me.  The sounds I listen to often set my mood for the day, and can inject a burst of creative energy that stays with me as the melodies or lyrics echo around in my head.  It’s perhaps no different than listening to the stereo in the car, but dancing, tapping your fingers to a beat, absorbing a powerful verse – they’re all a little more fun when you don’t have to keep your eyes on the road.

Those are some of my experiences of getting to work.  Do you have any to share?

I’ve asked a version of this question before: Must we become the change we wish to see in the world? You can maybe tell that there’s a theme here – impactful personal lifestyle change is not often convenient, and sometimes it is downright scary.  But that’s not a reason not to spend as much energy and time as it takes to try to live more sustainably, right?  Change has to happen with each person individually before we can expect the system to change, right?

Or does it?

There’s an essay out there that’s been weighing on me lately, bothering me, in fact.  Essays like this don’t bother me unless either (A) I know they’re speaking the truth and I’m having a hard or slow time integrating that truth into my own life, or (B) I know that they’re missing something important in their treatment of the subject, but I just can’t put my finger on what it is.  In this case it may be some of both.

The essay is “Forget Shorter Showers: Why personal change does not equal political change” by Derrick Jensen.  Jensen basically says that it’s problematic to see an individual living more sustainably as an effective political act, and that devoting time and energy to doing so is not necessarily worth it unless it’s personally rewarding for you.  His reasons:

1. Simple personal living as a political act is focused on harm reduction, instead of on helping bring about needed positive change
2. Simple personal living assigns the blame, guilt and burden to individuals for addressing sustainability issues, instead of to the entities (corporations, governments, etc.) who are creating and perpetuating the problems.
3. Simple personal living as a political act accepts the capitalist redefinition of people from citizens to consumers, reducing our forms of action to “consuming” and “not consuming.”
4. If we don’t question the intellectual, moral, economic and physical infrastructure that create destructive, unsustainable ways of life, but insist that we want to personally be a part of the solution, the inevitable conclusion leads us to self-destruction (or, as Jensen puts it, suicide).

I’ve rephrased some of Jensen’s reasoning, so I hope you’ll read the full essay to get his original thoughts.  But here’s my take on what he’s saying and my original question:

I agree that it’s silly and self-defeating to expend significant resources on personal change without also challenging the pieces of infrastructure that cause harm in the first place.  I do think that a balance can be found more easily within the construct of a community than it can within an individual’s life.  Some people may be really good at effecting personal lifestyle changes while not so good at doing the work needed to challenge a broken economic system, and vice versa for someone else.  Working together, a community unit can do both effectively.

I also agree with Jensen that we must not accept the premise that we as individuals hold the sole power to make our existence as humans more or less sustainable, and that our mechanisms for doing so are choosing what products we do and don’t buy.  I feel embarrassed that I spend any time worrying about making sure the hallway light is off when I’m not using it as I drive by empty strip mall parking lots lit up like daylight, using far more energy than my hallway light ever will.

But I also know that corporations, governments, etc. are made up of individuals just like us, and so I believe that there is power in changing individual minds, modeling sustainable living for each other, and planting seeds of possibility.  It may not be as powerful as getting that strip mall to change their lighting practices, but it’s not nothing.

Jensen concludes his article by saying “the role of an activist is not to navigate systems of oppressive power with as much integrity as possible, but rather to confront and take down those systems.“  I know a number of people who believe that they’re doing both – that by navigating systems of oppressive power well, they are playing a role in confronting them, changing them, and even taking them down.

It may come down to the math of the situation, in equations where we can’t know all of the variables right now.  If enough people effecting personal lifestyle change or working within broken systems is enough to actually make a lasting difference, then we’re all set.  If it turns out that the systems of power and corporate/governmental destruction and resource consumption are far more effective than we could ever hope to stop, then we better hope that our individual decisions along the way were personally rewarding, as memories of a life well-lived in the face of a world breaking around us may be the only reward we get.

How does the math work out for you?  Is personal lifestyle change worthwhile and effective?

1. Capitalism vs. The Environment: A small business perspective on doing well AND doing good. This coming Thursday September 24th at 4 PM at Indiana University East in Whitewater Hall Room 132 the Community Room, free and open to the public, no registration required.  I’ll be talking about our experiences at Summersault as we’ve tried to do the “right thing” when it comes to the environment and nurturing sustainable lifestyles, and examine whether it’s even possible to pursue a for-profit technology venture and not be in a harmful relationship with the land and life around us.
2. Get Techie, Get Social! A workshop to help non-technical people learn more about technical topics, especially social media like Facebook and Twitter.  Monday September 28th from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM at Morrisson-Reeves Library, free and open to the public, no registration required.  If you’re at all intimidated by some of those “newfangled Internet trends” or the Internet in general, I hope you’ll bring your questions and frustrations so we can work them out together.  There’s a PDF flyer for the event.
3. TCP/IP topics in Introduction to Computers and Computing.  I’ll be speaking at this IU East class on Monday October 12th about things like DNS/Bind, network topologies and routing, e-mail technologies, and web technologies.  This particular class isn’t open to the public, but if you have folks interested in discussing these topics in technical detail, let me know and I’d love to speak with your group.
4. Communicating Through Technology. Friday October 23rd at 9 AM at a conference for women hosted by the Wayne County Foundation.  I’ll be speaking along with co-worker Jane Holman about social media and general technology topics.  You can view the conference brochure in PDF, and registration is required.

I hope you can join me for one of these events!

It’s something that I think about a lot (especially when we’re trying to hire someone), but I didn’t have a ready answer – partly because there is no simple answer, but partly because I hadn’t really ever taken the time to write one down.  Below is a list of ideas and comments, in no particular order, that came out when I put the question to the wider Summersault staff.  I hope that you’ll contribute your own thoughts and suggestions, and I’ll pass the list back to the Chamber and anyone else I can find who might be in a position to work on some of these things.

1. If there were more resources and locations in town that catered to the “do it yourself” computer builder/hacker, we might see an increase in people building up their own skill sets.  Opening a Freegeek location here would be a great start.
2. We need more social venues and public spaces that aren’t “the bar scene.”  Coffee shops with free wireless access and decor/atmosphere appealing to the 20s/30s crowd are usually ideal.
3. Technology toys are a luxury, and consumption of them is probably not going to flourish in Richmond right now, especially in a depressed economy.  But, there are a small population of people with dollars to spend on high tech stuff.
4. Some of the existing computer hardware businesses in town are geared toward fixing broken computers, instead of getting people excited about what’s possible with technology, or catering to “gadget lust.”   If a computer business could provide an experience more like what you get when you walk into an Apple Store (technology is fun/cool/interesting, not hard/frustrating), they might serve as a better gathering place or hub for local geeks.
5. Perhaps obviously, more technology-oriented businesses in town will yield a larger number of people, conversations, potential hires, skill-sets, etc.   Having more diverse businesses here in general adds to the appeal of Richmond, and allows geeks to find what they want locally without leaving for Dayton, Cincinnati, Indianapolis.
6. There’s a strong crossover for geeks with bike culture and people generally interested in alternative transportation.  Other hobbies that have a “do it yourself” quality to them are generally found thriving within geek culture, so promoting those (especially cycling) could help.
7. We need more opportunities for conversation and networking among geeks and people interested in technology.  Whether it’s classes or seminars or informal meals, tech people need low-pressure ways to gather. We noted that environment at events hosted by the “Young Adult Professionals” is generally not friendly to introverted geek types.
8. Younger children need to be encouraged to share and learn about any interest they might have in technology, and given opportunities to really explore it.
9. Local higher education institutions need to do a better job of incorporating the “Linux culture” into their programs.  A number of local technology businesses (including Summersault) have trouble finding qualified candidates for our technical positions because the local educational offerings are geared toward an entirely different paradigm.
10. Richmond sometimes needs more “presentable” spokespeople for different parts of its geek culture.  Sometimes the awkwardness and relaxed attire and unique personal hygiene standards that come with being a geek are not conducive to effective public relations and messaging.
11. Richmond needs to generally be more open to a culture of subcultures – it’s okay for people to  have hobbies, interested, specializations that don’t fit into some single notion of the “mainstream” way of life here.  We should support and encourage that, not alienate it.
12. The creative arts are a huge part of encouraging a strong geek culture – when there are artistic endeavors like theater, music-making, film-making, etc. going on in a community, geeks have more opportunities to thrive.

When I asked our group a more direct question about specific actions that an entity like the Chamber of Commerce could take to support geek culture here, we came up with a few ideas:

1. Fund a grant for expanding the existing Hardware Cooperative into a Freegeek location.
2. Provide sponsorship for events and gatherings geared toward geeks, but let some geeks organize it.
3. Work toward having reliable wireless internet access across the city
4. Include the geek demographic as a target in the marketing that you do for your organization and the city as a whole.

That was the result of our initial brainstorm.  What do you think it means to grow a geek culture in Richmond (or in your own community)?

But then something curious and possibly amazing happened.

Someone, probably a White House aide who thinks a little differently than her or his colleagues, realized that there might be another way forward.  Someone suggested that maybe if the parties involved in this escalating conflict sat down together and talked in person, a better outcome could prevail.  And apparently that suggestion got whispered in the President’s ear, because Gates, arresting officer Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley and Obama are expected to sit down together this week.  Over a beer.

It may seem like a small thing, but it really does represent a total departure from the cultural norm related to how we resolve conflicts.  The idea of just sitting down to have a conversation instead of “lawyering up” is not the direction most of us take, and if you believe the evening news, we often go really far in the other direction of perpetrating further injustices on one another.  But here we have the President of the United States suggesting an in-person conversation, and we have the other men involved responding positively.  The lawyers are stepping back, the media circus is calming down, and there’s going to be a conversation.  Nice!

Of course, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome, and a lot of pressures that make this a less than ideal conversation scenario.  It probably would have been hard for either man to say “no thanks” to the President, and so both are somewhat compelled to participate.  The White House isn’t exactly the most neutral setting for any conversation, and talking through complex issues while slightly intoxicated is probably not ideal.  Both men have ratcheted up the stakes involved – for Gates, it’s about calling attention to racial profiling and for Crowley, it’s about defending the integrity of his and his fellow officers` actions – so neither can easily walk away from the conversation and just say “it’s all good now” without having hoards of special interest groups and supporters demanding further action.  (And yes, there are legitimate and serious issues around racial profiling and law enforcement practices that need to be addressed here.)

But regardless of the outcome, it’s heartening that a seed has been planted: there are other ways to resolve our conflicts.  And the seed is there at the highest levels of a governmental system that generally eschews considering the humanity and complexity of any given person involved in any given dispute.  Might we call that progress?

The forthcoming gathering at the White House may not follow its principles directly, but Restorative Justice is an approach to conflict resolution that tries to foster dialog between all of the parties involved in a wrong-doing – the victim, the offender, witnesses, family members and friends affected, etc.  It tries to build up “mutual responsibility” for addressing wrong-doing in our communities, instead of perpetuating the notion that when a crime or wrong has been committed, accountability and punishment are handed down by some externalized and detached authority.  And it’s working in communities all over.  Here in Richmond, the Conflict Resolution Center trains mediators to facilitate a similar kind of conversation that, while not strictly part of Restorative Justice practices, still encourages that kind of dialog and reconciliation.

What might these kinds of conflict resolution practices look like in your community?  Are there conflicts in your life where a facilitated, face-to-face conversation might have made all the difference in resolving them?

Here’s hoping that Crowley, Gates, and Obama make the best use of their time together, realizing that they may just be helping to model something transformative for, well, the rest of the world.

Many people refer to this act as “cutting the grass.”

Over the last few years I’ve tried quite a wide variety of approaches to and implements for “cutting the grass,” and I’d like to share them with you now, because imparting unsolicited and only moderately useful information to a halfway-interested audience is what blogging is all about, no?

1. Not mowing the grass at all.
   This is the approach I always try first when I move into a new space.  As the warm season comes around and the grass gets taller and taller, you can see the land start to return to its natural state, and it’s exciting!  Unfortunately, I’m often not the only one watching this growth with anticipation, and the neighbors on either side of me are often not as excited as I about the prospect of a rewilded yard.  Some have even given me subtle hints about their concern by, oh, say, mowing my yard for me without asking.  I do suppose there is  utility in being able to walk across some parts of the yard without encountering snakes, dead mice, abandoned vehicles, warning flags placed by the City, etc.  So, as a matter of neighborly politeness and practical landscape planning, I’ve usually been compelled to take on some sort of mowing activity.  (A blog post for another time is why we put ourselves in that position in the first place.)
2. A neighbor’s gas powered mower.
   It seems kind of silly that in most every garage or tool shed up and down most every street in this country, there sits a mowing device that is used an average of twice a month, and otherwise collects dust and rust.  Having been exposed to the clever practice that some people refer to as “sharing,” for a while I decided to try “sharing” a neighbor’s gas powered mower with them.  It was generally successful – I would just call and make sure it was okay to pick up, pick it up and gas it up, and use it, and return it.  I won’t go into the details of why this “sharing” system became insufficient for my needs, but eventually I did decide that I had to break down and get my own mowing device.
3. My own gas powered mower.
   Oh, wow, there’s nothing like it is there?  Pour a little dinosaur juice in a hole, crank that puppy up, and you’re wreaking havoc on that grass left and right.  Let me show you exactly how tall you’re going to be, little plants!  Oh, and the smell! – oh, wait, no, that’s kind of gross since it’s that gas smell.  But the sounds!  Oh, wait, no, it’s actually kind of annoying and loud, and especially if you’re a neighbor trying to enjoy your back porch or have dinner or sleep in or meditate.  But the energy efficiency!  All we have to do is drill deeply enough in the Earth to convert ancient sunlight from millions of years ago into a highly flammable substance, truck it across thousands of miles, and sell it to each other all so that we don’t have to put too much physical effort into carving up the plant life that we voluntarily arranged around our living spaces.

   Oh wait, maybe there’s a better way.

4. The scythe.
   I asked myself, “how did people mow their yards before there were lawn mowers?”  The answer (when it wasn’t, “they didn’t”) was “with a scythe.”  I read about the amazing, almost meditative practice of standing in the grass, quietly whisking a scythe blade back and forth around you, falling the grass quickly and peacefully.  It sounded great, and I decided I wanted to try using a scythe to mow my yard.  I had one custom-built for me by the amazing craftsman at Scythe Supply, located in Maine.  I was giddy with excitement when it came and while I put it together, and then I realized, I have absolutely no idea how to use this thing. I read up on scythe usage on the Internet, and I read the book that came with it, and that was definitely helpful.  I tried my best to put it into practice, and did quite a number on my yard in the process.  Somehow “Figure 4-1″ wasn’t happening.  I tried it a few more times, doing my best to keep from turning red as the neighbors looked on at the crazy guy with the death blade next door, but the rhythmic cutting motion didn’t come to me.  I realized that this simple but useful knowledge – how to cut grass with a scythe – was something I would need to learn in person from someone who already knew how to do it.  And then I realized that the number of people with that knowledge in my area is probably minimal, and the psychological barriers to using my scythe built up from there.  I still want to learn how to use it for real, but after a long week and a unruly yard staring me down, I haven’t found the patience for that yet.
5. A human powered push mower.
   Ding ding ding – we have a winner.  This is the technology that I guess emerged post-scythe and pre-gas mower.  You know what I’m talking about, right – it’s the cylindrical blades that rotate around as you push the mower device, trapping the grass between the blade and another plate, slicing it off.  They’re quiet, mostly effective, and (for my yard anyway) a good balance of appropriate physical effort and time efficiency. They should generally last many years without maintenance or sharpening, and they don’t take up much space at all.  I settled on the Scotts 2000 Classic model, which has a 20″ deck on it.  You know this last size detail is a big deal because it is written in italics on the box AND on the mower itself.  It’s taken me around 45 minutes to mow my current yard with a gas mower, and tonight it took me 50 minutes to put the Scotts 2000 together AND mow.  (“Ah,” you say, “we’re being subjected to this blog post because you happened to mow your yard tonight?  Get a life!”)

   Anyway, I know that not everyone can take the time to use a push mower, but if you can at least see all of your yard from one place without needing to walk for a mile, or even if you can’t and just want some more quiet outdoors time, I recommend it.

Okay, that’s my mowing history.  I welcome your comments, suggestions, alternate realities, etc.  If you want to try out any of these implements or strategies (remember, “sharing”) just let me know.  And remember, ask about someone’s mowing history before you get too close to them (and especially before you mow together) – it could save you a lot of heartache later.