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In @billmckibben& #39;s 2007 essay, he wrote that battling collapse might come down to “…hyperindividualism versus community. If we can build a society where a community farm, a community source of energy,... a community bookstore make sense, then we have a fighting chance.”
a “Western European uses half as much energy as the average American. Not because they have some secret technology...but because they’ve built a society along... different lines. Half is a lot. They’ve built...cities that draw people in, not spin them centrifugally out.”
For twelve years, @marthabayne has been doing that in Chicago, in a weekly fundraising dinner that happens every Wednesday at Chicago’s best bar, @hideoutchicago. Cooks come and fill battered crock pots in the back room. There is donated bread and community. Pay what you can.
When I was poor, I relied on @soupbreadchi. Now, I volunteer, so does @apzwald. Weekly donations have raised over $90,000 for soup kitchens & pantries all over this city in its vibrant and diverse 77-neighborhood complexity. In the process we’ve made a community of our own.
If you want to know what fighting collapse looks like, some days it looks like this: imagining a world that you want, an anti-corporate, personally connected, small-scale community of people who know each other and come together to make their city better for everyone.
This year, we’re selling hats. I was tasked with finding printers (woman-owned, local, @liberationpress!, thanks @GreatLakesYard!) and making sure we’d have merch for soup season, which starts back up again on January 8. The design is by a kiddo soup cook.
Here’s a link to the hats. If you buy one with the “share the warmth” feature, we’ll donate a warm, un-branded black hat to a shelter for homeless youth in Chicago that’s close to the bar. https://gumroad.com/soupandbread?fbclid=IwAR1FaYoxrZpJWh4KO5w5lanOvyvHqswJi0GlPWpghXk_hwyPQd-dnlwCAzU">https://gumroad.com/soupandbr...
And if you want to come and cook, or donate money, or eat with friends, you can sign up for the newsletter to be kept up to date. We& #39;re there every Wednesday evening from January 8 through April 1 in 2020, and we might even have cake. https://soupandbread.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=23cbdaa8ec1ac9c4f14ade05d&id=017a15d678">https://soupandbread.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe...
Finally, if you have read through this whole thread, here is an extra gift for your troubles. @marthabayne, besides being my dear friend, is a remarkable editor and writer. If you want to know more about this city, you should buy her book, The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook.
Ideally, buy it from @wcfbook or directly from Belt Publishing, link below. She& #39;s crafted a love letter to the complex, messy way we build community here in Chicago, and it is required reading. https://beltpublishing.com/products/chicago-neighborhood-guidebook?fbclid=IwAR0rb40yAqNmi-EzCT8KvVhPt5aMvjOh5NxMYCzwZJ4Bg2PklhgAMmPGt4A">https://beltpublishing.com/products/...
And if you want to know more about the most perfect bar in the world, where I perform Emmet Otter& #39;s Jug-Band Christmas and sling soup, you can read this essay @marthabayne about the corporate pressure that seeks to reinforce hyperindividualism. https://thebaffler.com/latest/in-the-shadow-of-lincoln-yards-bayne">https://thebaffler.com/latest/in...
When I was hungry @soupbreadchi was my soup kitchen. Here& #39;s my essay from 2011 on @tikkunonline& #39;s blog about the now-out-of-print Soup & Bread cookbook, community, and radical hospitality, which quotes @billmckibben. https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2011/11/14/soup-bread-the-church-of-the-hideout-cookbook/">https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundai...
When you have enough after years of scarcity, when you are warm and fed in a collapsing world, you have to write a love letter to the people who saved you. @marthabayne @apzwald and @soupbreadchi saved me in dark winters. Keep that work going, buy our hat. https://gumroad.com/soupandbread?fbclid=IwAR1FaYoxrZpJWh4KO5w5lanOvyvHqswJi0GlPWpghXk_hwyPQd-dnlwCAzU">https://gumroad.com/soupandbr...
Since this is Thanksgiving, I’m going to remind you all, Dear Readers, that I was raised by a hydrogeologist for the MA EPA who was once a cook at #AlicesRestaurant. I grew up in that kitchen. Community matters. Thank goodness for the freaks that raised me. (This is not them.)
