Reflection at the Sentient Bean

I am sitting in the Sentient Bean coffee shop, downtown Savannah. It is a cafe owned by Kristin Russell, a good friend and supporter of Judith and the Tour. Judith and I have given two workshops here called Nights of Inclusion (the third one got cancelled because of our sudden return to Toronto), and I have played music here several times. I biked for about 45 minutes from Susan Earl's late husband's condo where I am currently staying at until Wednesday, when we take our final leave of this beautiful city. I have been going through the pictures I took at the St Patrick's Day parade yesterday. Some of them turned out excellent, I posted about 30 of the on Facebook, but the compression algorithm they use really wash the vibrant colors out. Still, they look great, it was the first sunny and warm day after about a week of rain.

Tom Kohler came by and hung out by my table for half an hour, so I copied some of the pictures onto his hard drive. Tom is one of the few people that I have gotten to know well on this trip and he has become one of my heroes. He truly represents for me what inclusive community organizing is about. I met Tom last summer at the Toronto Summer Institute, which is a week long gathering of worldwide Inclusionists, organized by Jack Pearpoint of the Inclusion Network. He is the coordinator and ED of Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy, and he is the ultimate pF* Social Networker. (*pre-Facebook) A native of Savannah, he has been at this since CA was invented, effectively growing and steering his organization through tides of change that constitute the modern history of his beloved city. I would hazard that he is truly one of the few individuals responsible for the city's amazing renaissance throughout the seventies and eighties, through his tireless efforts to connect and network, and his insatiable desire to create an engaged citizenry.

Tom knows everyone. This is not an exaggeration. By first and last name, where and when they met, what they do and who they know, who and how their spouses, children, pets...etc are. And he cares. Genuinely. This is what truly distinguishes Tom: he advances the radical notion that we are all connected, and this connection is really worth cultivating at every level, simply because this is who we truly are. Do you need to borrow a car in a short notice to get to a job interview out of town? He knows someone who will lend you one, simply because Tom will vouch for you. Is your sister organizing a discussion forum on Civil Rights and The Role of the Southern Church? Tom knows just the right key note speaker, here is her phone number. Are you interested in hiring a new parking attendant for your city department? He knows the disadvantaged black youth looking for a way to finance his college degree. But really, who are you? What turns your crank? That is what Tom is interested in finding out. What is your passion that makes you who you are? That is what makes you valuable if you take up his challenge to express yourself - not just for you and yours. Take a leap of faith and open it to the community. Whose community? Does it matter? just share it, dammit. With whoever cares. Funny, that this sharing of your gift is actually what creates the community in which you can share your gift.

I have learnt from Tom that there is a type of engagement that transcends the deepest divisions of class, race, history, religion and other dividers running through this beautiful city built on the swamp. Savannah, with its centuries old oak trees that have seen alligators, slavery, lynchings and SUVs is a city with real soul. This is where the meandering Savannah river meets the ocean and creates a unique wetland ecosystem that supports just about every type of sub-tropical flora and fauna you can think of. Pine trees, palm trees, wetland grasses and wild tropical flowers coexist and complement each other on the historic city streets; black oaks, covered in a type of symbiotic overhanging moss create a rich canopy of moody afternoons in many of the downtown parks frequented by students of the Savannah College of Art and Design (OCAD with a soul). I fell in love with Tom's vision of the Savannah that is possible through the passion and commitment to involve and include everyone of his fellow citizens in the process of the city creating itself.

In closing, I wanted to insert two entries here. First is a short bio of Tom from the SCSA website:

"Tom Kohler, Coordinator and Executive Director, is a native of Savannah. He attended the public schools in Chatham County and graduated in 1970 from Herschel V. Jenkins High School. After this, he attended Armstrong State College and the University of Georgia, where he received his degree in 1976.

Tom has been involved with people who have disabilities since he was 15 years old. His first involvement was through a volunteer experience at the Temple Youth Group at Mickve Israel Temple. Tom has been the Coordinator for the Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy for the past 31 years.

In the early days, Tom was taught that the question was “In what ways is this person broken and how do we fix them?” It has taken thirty years to get to a better question, “The world has a deep crack in it;, how do we try and stitch it back together?” This question follows Buckminster Fuller’s maxim, “Life is long; pick something big and interesting and work on it.”

The second one is an e-mail that Judith and I received regarding the workshops we gave this weekend:

"Dear Judith and Gabor,

Thank you both for all that you did for citizen advocacy Sunday and Monday. We have had such positive feedback from both our Board members and the group of advocates and community members. Some of the comments are posted below:

“Provocative…more than provocative!”
“It was the best one I have been at, in literally years and years.”
“I heard things today that I never thought about before.”
“Every citizen advocate needs to hear her, those “trigger words” are now in my mind.”

I am personally challenged to move from the private to the public. I look forward to other opportunities to experience your gifts. Please let us know when you are returning to the Atlanta area.

Sincerely,

Derona King, Coordinator

Citizen Advocacy of Atlanta & DeKalb, Inc."

Written by Gabor, March 18