Building Community
Every town needs a poet or two, just as it needs an auto mechanic, a grocery shop owner, and an “in house” band. Every town is a microcosm of the whole world. If we stay where we are and invest in our own community, the whole world eventually comes to us. ~ Colleen from Homegrown, WVTF radio essay.
Once a month my kitchen table is taken over by papers, glue stick, and scissors as my friend Jayn and I cut and paste the latest edition of our community newsletter, A Museletter. Every month 150 subscribers look for the latest music and art listings in Floyd. There’s poetry, letters, articles, and a bulletin board of announcements.
But the Museletter isn’t only about local news and entertainment. For over 20 years it has served as an activist’s forum. In the last few issues, for example, the reading has included: an announcement for a film showing of “Iraq For Sale,” a Fourth Amendment benefit celebration at Winter Sun, information on how the marriage amendment will hurt all non-traditional families, and a write-up on (Virginia Senate-elect) Jim Webb’s visit to Floyd’s Country Store.
Sustainable living, environmental stewardship, and local food production are regular Museletter subjects. 
Last month there was greenhouse for sale, free tree root seedlings were offered, and a Jewish film festival in Blacksburg was announced.
December’s Museletter announcements, which Jayn and I finished pasting together today, include a Hafla celebration of woman’s beauty and self-expression, featuring belly dancing, woman’s music, poetry, art, and Middle Eastern food tasting at the Black Box Theatre on December 15; a clothing drive by a group of homeschoolers for the people of Burma; some flashback art made by Blue Mountain School kids in the 1980s; and an article titled “Why Organic Cotton?” that begins: Cotton is the second most pesticide-laden crop in the world – after Coffee and before Tobacco … It takes approximately 1/3 pound of chemicals to grow enough cotton to make just one T-shirt.
There’s a “Winter Fest” at the Jacksonville Center on the 2nd and 3rd, and the annual fine arts auction for Blue Mountain School on the 9th. My Asheville potter son Josh, a Blue Mountain School and Floyd High alumni, is doing a slide show presentation on the 27th. Not only will he share his wild clay adventures and recap his BFA thesis show, he plans to talk about the influence the Floyd community has had on his life as an artist and potter.
The Museletter is an all volunteer production of the CERC, PO Box 81, Floyd, VA, 24091, and subscriptions are $15 year. Read more HERE.
November 28th, 2006 12:36 am
This sounds like a most imformative and personable museletter. Organic Cotton.. who new?
November 28th, 2006 8:45 am
I wish our area had a paper like this. Our area is so tied up with conservative, right-wing people that it drives me crazy. I will subscribe. Thanks.
November 28th, 2006 9:28 am
As you know, I am a subscriber and I thoroughly enjoy receiving the Museletter and seeing what’s going on in Floyd.
I also love our Cedar Key News…certainly not the NY Times, but that’s what I love about it….small town stuff that feels cozy.
November 28th, 2006 9:33 am
colleen- you’re making me jealous! 🙂 that’s what is so neat about your area- there are both ends of the spectrum in beliefs, ideas, etc., but everyone seems to get along. i’m definitely more conservative in my political, religious, and ideological beliefs, but i love the art, music, and cultural opportunities that comes along with having the diversity of lifestyles and beliefs. i was blessed to grow up in both worlds, so to speak.
November 28th, 2006 1:09 pm
This “Newsletter” is amazing, Colleen! To cover so many varied subjects and opimioms, too…you both do a famtastic job, my dear…And I know it cannot be an easy task, at all! Bravo to you both! I think it would be fun to get and read this Newsletter even not loving in the Floyd area…! In fact….
November 28th, 2006 4:49 pm
How did you go from a backporch vacation to “up to my eyebrows in newsletters” in one day! You are one very busy lady! Is it getting cold there yet? Up to 70 today at the beach, not good weather to get in the Christmas spirit.
November 28th, 2006 6:49 pm
Is very cool that you are on the inside cut of all these neat happenings! You have a very progressive and ecclectic place even though it is small. It’s the people who make it!
November 28th, 2006 6:57 pm
I am going to subscribe. I am always trying to find out what music you guys have going on up there!
I had forgotten you help put that together…you keep a lot on your plate girl!
November 28th, 2006 7:12 pm
I love that you are literally cutting and pasting this labor of love together with scissors and gluesticks! Brings back memories, it does.
November 28th, 2006 7:46 pm
I think of it as “kitchen table democracy.” It’s very homespun. We don’t plan anything, just put in what people send our way.
It’s been unseasonably warm here. Nearly 70, I’d say.
November 28th, 2006 8:24 pm
Community-focused journalism at its finest. This is why I became a writer. This is why I need to live in a smaller part of the world at some point in my life.
November 29th, 2006 8:15 am
As a former newspaper editor, I love that you’re doing this it’s such a great community service, not to mention fun! Well done, you!