Common Good Collective

Reader

This Reader is an expression of Common Good Collective, a vision for an alternative way, rooted in the act of eliminating economic isolation, the significance of place, and the structure of belonging. Whether you come at this from a place of economics, social good, or faith, we hope these reflections help orient your day in fresh, provocative, courageous ways. And most importantly, we hope these lead you into the sharing of gifts in particular communities—into co-creating a common good.

We read hundreds of articles and select the best ones for you by sending them to your inbox on Thursday.
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“Finding Home Through Exiles’ Eyes” with Christian Wyman

The poet Christian Wyman spent the first stretch of the pandemic gathering some of humanity’s most brilliant pieces of writing about home. In this conversation with Yale’s Evan Rosa, Wyman suggests that many of us turn to poetry out of a love for specific places and a feeling of separation from those places. We build a home in words, even as we hope to build more belonging in our cities and towns. This is a rich conversation, worthy of multiple listens.

“Finding Home Through Exiles’ Eyes” with Christian Wyman

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Borders

“Good fences make good neighbors” is a proverb that cries out for critique. History shows us that most borders are not born of natural environmental transitions or agreed-upon boundaries, but rather through colonial force or colonialist economies. As we look closer at the origins of these artificially imposed lines, we acknowledge their absurdity and the tragedy imposed upon the natural world and its people.

 

By Brodie Theis

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 Poetry for Building Community, Reader, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

“To A Siberian Woodsman”

Wendell Berry’s thoughts and works consistently transcend politics, spirituality, and environment. His provocative poem “To a Siberian Woodsman” imagines the life of a man on the other side of the planet. The poem illustrates how artificial borders, nationalistic propaganda, and the threat of military force blinds us to the common humanity of raising daughters and sons, playing music, walking beside streams, and breathing hope for the future.

To A Siberian Woodsman
(after looking at some pictures in a magazine)
By Wendell Berry

You lean at ease in your warm house at night after supper,
listening to your daughter play the accordion.
You smile with the pleasure of a man confident in his hands,
resting after a day of long labor in the forest,
the cry of the saw in your head,
and the vision of coming home to rest.
Your daughter’s face is clear in the joy of hearing her own music.
Her fingers live on the keys
like people familiar with the land they were born in.

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 Imagination: The Prophetic Act of Living an Alternative Narrative, Invitation, Reader, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

Window Swap

“WindowSwap is here to fill that deep void in our wanderlust hearts by allowing us to look through someone else’s window, somewhere in the world.”

Although this website was designed to satisfy our wanderlust, literally seeing through someone else’s window halfway across the world can show us beautiful distinction of place while also reminding us of the common elements of our existence.

Click the image above to look through windows from all over the world. What ideas or stories are come up for you as you gaze through these various perspectives?

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 Eliminating economic isolation, Reader, Significance Of Place, Structure Of Belonging Permalink

Chanell Stone Infuses Human-Made Environments in Nature Photography

Chanell Stone is breaking through an age-old tradition of viewing “nature” as environments untouched by humanity. Rooted in racism, preservationists like Theodore Roosevelt mistook the forests nurtured by Indigenous peoples of the West to be pinnacle of Creation’s spontaneous rejuvenation. Urban renewal was also rooted in this idea – that inferior people create inferior environments and the solution is displacement and modern development. Stone’s work is a redemptive reminder that we are all an ecosystem, interdependent and at it’s best when this truth recognized.

Housing Projects And Empty Lots. How Chanell Stone Is Reframing Nature Photography
By Will Matsuda

Chanell Stone photographs places like overgrown lots and green spaces at public housing projects, often including herself in the frame. Above, “In search of a certain Eden,” 2019, Brooklyn.
Chanell Stone

When most people think about traditional nature photography, black and white images of towering mountains and rushing rivers in the American West are often what comes to mind. It’s a genre that was made popular by men like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, whose work in the early 1900s often positioned the natural world as something that is remote, wild and untouched.

But missing from this tradition is another kind of landscape — the natural beauty found within cities.

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