Community as Creating Together

By Kathy Glass
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut

In my neighborhood there is a group of children ranging from the ages of 4 to 10 years old. My husband and I call them the posse – a gang of “wild” kids. They’re never accompanied by adults or their parents. The group is composed of 8 to 9 members on any given day, and they’re always together. On many occasions they congregate in my backyard whether it’s to play, to create, to learn, to talk, to visit my dog. They come for a variety of reasons, but they always come together. Their presence is one of the things that makes the neighborhood unique – it’s a community of children – and their voices fill the streets day after day. I am so lucky to be a part of their community, even if I’m just the lady who lets them play in her backyard.

This group has taught me that community is defined by its members and their individual gifts, talents, quirks, uniqueness. The members of this community include:

• The leader, age 10, (sometimes she’s considered a little bossy, but boy does she keep everyone on task!) and the performer. She sings, she dances, and she’s amazingly talented at wiffle ball. She wants to throw the Frisbee constantly and she’s loud and full of life, brimming you might say. She is a leader in the sense that she leads the group in their discussions, activities, play and time spent in the yard.
• The nurturer and best friend to Fester (my dog), age 5. She was afraid of Fester, a 15-pound Chihuahua mix, when she was younger. She would stand on one side of the yard where Fester couldn’t reach her and scream every time he looked her way. This lasted for about a year until she finally worked up the courage to come from the other side of the yard to pet his tail: “Can I hold his tail?” she’d ask. After months of tail holding, she and Fester bonded. She decided that Fester was no threat and that he would listen to her if she wanted him to. This blossomed into a friendship and now when the kids come over to play, she spends her time holding Fester’s lead and petting him. One of the little boys in the group is afraid of Fester so she has taken it upon herself to help make him feel comfortable when in his presence. Just the other day, she said to me, “It’s okay if he is scared of Fester now. I was when I was his age, so when he grows up like me, he won’t be afraid anymore.”
• The mother-figure and caregiver to the little ones, age 10. She always has the youngest member of the group in her arms. She is attentive and tapped into their needs. She has a brilliant memory and cares deeply about her peers. At times she is quiet and reserved, not interacting but observing. She seems to internalize everything.
• The free spirit and artist, age 7. She is always in her own head. She connects with the group when they are part of her vision, whatever that may be. Her interests include eating herbs from my garden and learning about what they are, how they’re used, why you can eat them and not other plants, and she also enjoys watering all of my plants daily. She regularly leads the group in the garden about what you can and cannot eat and what each item is. Many times she branches off from the group to do her own thing. She often begins talking and then in the middle of a phrase she’ll trail off and begin to mumble, lost in her head. She becomes frustrated easily when the other members of the group do not understand her, or are not connecting with her. A picture of her art is below.
  
  
• The daughters of our new neighbor, ages 6 and 8. The family just moved in this summer so I’m not sure of the girls’ names, but they too are a part of the community. The youngest is outgoing and tenacious. She demands to be heard and is quick to bring her own contributions to the group. The oldest is enthusiastic about almost everything. If there is something happening, she’s a part of it. She enjoys being engaged and with the rest of the group.
  The baby, age 4. The youngest member of the group, he is terrified of Fester. He is constantly in the arms of another member and enjoys being the baby.
• The inquisitive thinker, age 9, asking questions constantly. She moved just over two months ago, so the community has lost a member. She loved helping us plant our garden. We planted peppers, tomatoes and bean plants over the summer together. She was fascinated by the process of growth, monitoring the plants’ progress along the way. Nature seemed to excite her. She once made a neighborhood of houses out of white computer paper for the ants near my garden and called them ant houses. It rained the day after she made the ant houses (little tents of paper), but when she came over the next day to check on them, wouldn’t you know there were ants under the paper.

There is never any parent supervision when the kids come to play in my yard. The only adults present are either me or my husband. In the uninhibited play I’ve witnessed and been a part of, I’ve learned so much. It’s taught me that to maintain a strong community the members must ...

Care about each other.
Explore together.
Experience together.
Play together.
Help each other overcome our fears.
Grow together.
Teach each other and learn from one another.
Dream together.
Scream together.
Eat together.
Laugh together, and often.
Consider all possibilities.
Celebrate individual expression.
Move together.

This community has taught me that we must continue to adapt, engage, wonder and, most importantly, laugh. They have taught me that community is most importantly a group of people creating something together, whether a shared goal or experience. That it breathes based on the passions of its members and that it can do great things for the individuals it is composed of. Community helps us to grow as only we can with the help from each other. It teaches us an honest true sense of belonging.