Being on Tybee Island

First the weather – Google Weather is not a good source to get information on how to dress around here! Although Savannah and Tybee are so close and it’s easy for us to think of them as the same “location”, in fact they are very different communities, even in matters of temperature and precipitation. I am beginning to anticipate that the island general pattern is cool and clear at dawn, warm and clear mid- to late morning, warm and damp to drizzly by late afternoon, then an evening of heavy downpour. Near midnight it will be cool enough for a fall coat and misty over the river as it meets the still surging ocean. At this time of the just past full moon the bright mist on moonlit beach and dark waters is truly beautiful.

My body and my will are in conflict. Physically I am engaged, excited and enthralled. In the abrasive stimulation of living in cramped quarters with a young couple, very much in love and tease with each other, in a near tropical environment where sweat and flies are part of every day, where every daily ritual of bathing, using the toilet, cooking and eating still require careful management because everything is new and in strange places and every personal assistant and helpful friend is as yet unfamiliar with how my body works – in this abundant and often uncomfortable sensuality I am more in touch with how I physically and emotionally feel than I have been in years.

But the intention – the deep desire to start an unstoppable conversation that Inclusion can make people and the world more peaceful – at this level I feel off the rails, even thwarted. There are no traces currently of the Southern Collective for Inclusive Citizenship, a small collective that formed in March in Savannah and took on shape and action in April and June. The effort may be dead or just suppressed. It is difficult to tell as I am very welcome everywhere but few return e-mails and fewer initiate the conversation: “How has it been going since you were last here?”

In addition the economic downturn has hit this region strongly. It seems like a third of Tybee Island is up for sale and nearly every young person I meet is looking for more work or just some work.

It continues to be difficult for our team of three to get all the necessary equipment to work and to set up a good productive rhythm. I would have thought we would have at least one video up on our website or at least on YouTube, or some good pictures on Facebook, but some how either some fire wire is missing, or a program doesn’t work on the computer, or some other obstacle emerges. Certainly we will get it together soon – in the meantime my patience is thin. I want real evidence that we are actually DOING something!

Just the same, in reality things are percolating. Last night we were participating in the audience as two women and two teenagers sang songs and read poetry and stories from the Civil Rights movement. We caught some of it on video, along with an interview with the performers and the event organizer. Several leads were also created, and I have several leads to follow up – perhaps persistently – with some church connections and at least two opportunities to meet with active youth organizations.

We are broke. As yet this is not a crisis as I had anticipated digging into the liquidated equity of selling my Toronto home, so I have room to move in this area. Still it’s difficult for us - like anyone - to be unsure of the next source of income. There are no familiar contractors leaping forward to hire my time and no obvious grant sources. We must dig deeper, work harder – or certainly hold the faith that this is good work and the means to do it will emerge. This has always been so in my life. Still my certainty is wavering.

I look forward to a day soon to come I hope where I can add pictures and video to my words and I can tell stories of young southern folk taking on Inclusion as a means to liberate their productiveness, happiness and community.

Judith