This is a map of LaSalle, the Montreal borough next to my home. I operate a blog about this community at www.locallasalle.com.
This is a map of Verdun, the Montreal borough where I live. I operate a blog about this community at www.vitalverdun.com.
This is a map of 100 miles around my home. I'm working on building a stronger connection with this wider community.
Earlier this year, I attended a St. Patrick’s lunch for 125 seniors held at a school close to my home. I arrived late to be greeted at the sidewalk near the entrance by a grade six student with an umbrella. It was drizzly out and he wanted to make sure that guests didn’t slip on the way in. I was treated to a hot chicken lunch, a concert with tap dancers and lots of singers, followed by lots of yummy homemade desserts. This event has been happening every year for twenty-five years now, and it’s among hundreds of events organized by active community people all the time.
I never knew about any of them before I became a local correspondent for an English weekly and began covering the neighbourhoods next to home.
In that action, I'm among the many citizens who are beginning to reinvest in community activism close to home. Many of this action is taking place in writing as individuals explore reporting for themselves through blogs, wikis and other efforts, but companies too are linking to community members in new ways. There are new computer games and mobile applications that encourage people get involved in their communities at a minute scale by giving to charities, walking through neighbourhoods or feeding the impoverished on their doorsteps.
Locals in my community are also beginning to build new organizations including Transition networks, democracy initiatives and a multitude of other ways to link to diverse people who live together. Where this will all lead isn't yet clear, but it's exciting.