Co-opers in the Community

It was iffy last Saturday morning whether the weather would allow the thousand some-odd Berkeley students assembled at Sproul Plaza at 9 am to put in their best effort volunteering with the brand new Berkeley Project community service day. But, determined to pitch in, young people guarded from the rain only by thin parkas and flimsy umbrellasseparated into crews. Off they went to paint churches, refurbish elder homes, and in the case of almost forty USCA coopers, to spend the day landscaping in the community and peace garden of the long-famed and oft-neglected People's Park. For most of us, this was our first real experience in the park

After a group-led stretching circle and introductions, community leader Terry Compost shared with us some of the incredible stories of People’s Park. I have to confess that I had felt that this narrative of resistance and counter culture renaissance was anachronistic. I had seen the park as an empty symbol. That completely changed on Saturday. By getting my own hands into the dirt of the park, I got to know it as a living entity, which offers as much potential as we choose to put into it. Attacking a neglected bed, the community garden team weeded, turned the soil, added compost, designed our beds, and finally planted. Stepping back from our work we saw garlic, onion, and lettuce patches, the ground seeming to glow with nutrients and attention. I hope to go back soon to take a peak at the beds, and I look forward to harvesting a fresh head of garlic some day!

Only by making use of this community space, did I come to feel a sense of pride in it. Not only do I feel proud of Peoples' Park, I feel proud of my fellow coopers, who I love more and more the more we work together.