Thought on Caucus and Community

This is one that is about 3 weeks overdue.

As those of you who are following know, February 5th was Super Tuesday in many states, including mine (Colorado).  The next day was free day at the Colorado CA clinics.  For me, given that I am the Democratic precinct committee person for my precinct in a state that was a caucus state, it was one of the most hectic 48 hours of my life, and one of the most inclusive.

What these 48 hours, and the month of planning and preparation that went into them, was the intersect of 2 of the 3 communities in which I spend my life.  The free day encouraged me to revisit neighboring businesses that I hadn't been to (and netted us a few takers) and few further affield that are collective in nature or are reliable places for cards attracting attention.  But I also used caucus preparations to promote myself and netted free day attendies from both my caucus training and get out the vote caucus calls.  As I don't have a landline at home, I used my clnic phone to make upwards of 150 calls to people within my precinct reminding them to turn out (I was one of 5 who showed up in 2004 and one of 98 this year, much like the increases seen elsewhere) - the call backs to the clinic rather than to the cell # I left went from confused to intrigued very quickly and the cards I was asked to have at caucus were scooped up readily.  And I guess I should mention that while at the bar where many of the progressive and more sociable Denver Dems gathered afterwards I did spend a minute after recounting my caucus details to a tv reporter filling him in on what I do should he need a human interest story.

What this late night retelling is tho, is a way of sorting out that when one has an interest and involvement with something, it can be complementary to one's other areas of life.  Are my interests of Oriental Medicine, Middle Eastern music and dance (belly dance in particular) and politics mutually exclusive?  Not to me.  And when each of us makes our lists of who we are, what we like to do and where we fit in in our own corners of the world, the web between our interests is not as tenuous as it may seem at first thought or on paper.  The different attitudes and hobbies that individual practitioners bring into their group practice (see who each would invite as a friend myspace or facebook to see the breadth of reach within your area), then who each of the patients/clients bring in by referral - that is your community.  Mine ranges from progressive political types to radicals to college students to folks from the neighborhood to a random assortment of people referred by a chiropractor's assistant and to a whole slew of yoga teachers.   Sometimes, the more I try to define my community, or the circles that eminate from it, it limits the actual community.  Connections can be made in a moment that open up new communities that would be otherwise unknown, while other spheres of community can be forced to the point of pushing them away.  And that's the fun part; seeing who calls up, what their area code is (where they've moved from), how they made their way to Denver Open Acupuncture . . . .

Contrary to something a local acupuncturist said to me a year ago in response to my initial intention of setting up a CA clinic on my own, it is not a community for the acupuncturist/s (she wondered how I could do a CA clinic on my own as I would not be a community of acupuncturists doing it).  The community we serve is the community that is made up those who seek us out; they arrive as individuals but, in turn, become a community.