COMMUNALIST MANIFESTO

The Long Run

There is someone I look up to who's garden takes centuries to grow.  Ed grows redwood tries.  Among the many things that I admire about Ed is the fact that he plans out what he is going to do 50-100 years out.

I mention that because if one is going to be really serious about building community, the time frame that needs to be discussed is similar to the scale of growing redwood trees.

I am reminded of a Chinese proverb:

"If you plan for one year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, educate mankind."

This is not unlike another favorite Chinese proverb of mine.

"If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people."

What community is about is growing people. Healthy, high-quality, educated, productive, people. In order to do this, thinking outside of a 30-year mortgage, or even beyond the futures of grandchildren, is necessary. 

In the process of prognostication, I come across some very obvious predictions...

1. Taxes will be higher in a decade then they will be now.

2. Water will become one of the most valuable resources in the world within 100 years. It will be more expensive than petrol within a decade.

I am no Nostradamus, so my time lines may be off, but I am willing to bet the farm that these conditions will happen eventually.

How I would look at where and what property I would buy will be determined by these two facts.

Giving Gifts

I have been working on a cohesive, yet concise, philosophical theory lately that roughly combines several ideas that I have picked up over the years. In repeating them to other people I have been slowly polishing them down and I think I am ready to put it into writing.

The basis of this philosophy centers around the following idea:

"If you are suffering, you cause suffering in others. The only way to alleviate your own suffering is through the giving of your gifts."

Sometime after I was given the that idea, I was given the distinction between a 'gift' and a 'present' by Heather C. and it has resonated with me ever since.  The distinction goes something like this:

• A 'present' is something you give to someone.
• A 'gift' is something that you give to someone, who is ready and willing to receive it.

A dull, uninspiring rock to one person, is a fine polished sapphire to another. The first person would take the rock and throw it into the yard with all the others.  The second person would happily part with money and take the rock and polish it into a piece of art fit for a crown.

I had a friend who spent a lot of time becoming a dentist. He eventually gave up his practice and one of the reasons he gave was that he was frustrated at how much time and attention he would spend on someone's mouth, only to have the patient neglect their dental hygiene, until they would have to come and see him when everything was out of whack again.  He would be giving his gift to someone who did not appreciate it.

One of my mentors in business, Ken, once told me a story about how people would approach him asking for free T-Shirts with the company logo on it. The would justify the request by saying they would wear the shirt and would benefit Ken because it would be free advertising.  Ken's response was "I bet if you buy the shirt, you probably would wear it more."  This story gave me another facet to my distinction of what a gift is.  One of the best ways to know if someone if ready and willing to receive your gift, is if that person is willing to pay for it.

In the process of my sharing this distinction with others, some are quick to point out that someone may be able and willing to pay for your gift but they may not have money, or you may not want money for your gift.  A good point, but I am an economist and I don't look at payment only in pecuniary terms.  

Perhaps you are willing and able to receive that other person's gift. Perhaps that reciprocal gift is a skill set, or simply admiration and appreciation. Then a classic barter of gift for gift occurs.

In his interviews with very successful business people, Jim Collins, author of 'Good To Great' and 'Built To Last', would ask why someone would still go to work, even after they have made tremendous amounts of money.  Many of those successful entrepreneurs said they do the work they do because they love it, that they would be doing it even if they did not get paid.

In 'Outliers', Malcolm Gladwell, points out that success is more often than not, a factor of being able to do something long enough for mastery - about 10,000 hours. 

As I thought about this, I came to understand that:

• if you do something long enough, you are more than likely going to get good at it. 
• Be good at something long enough, you are more than likely to  get paid well for it.
• The only possible way that you are going to do something long enough to get good at it and then paid well for it, is if you love it.

When I put the idea of mastering something with my distinction of gift, I come to understand that in order to alleviate my suffering, I need give my gifts. Not presents - GIFTS. 

The only way that I will be able to give my gifts in the long run, is if I give them to people who are ready and willing to receive them - the sure-fire litmus for whether the recipient is willing and able to receive my gift is if they are willing to pay for it, not unlike my willingness to receive a gift is my willingness to pay for it.

Ultimately my gifts boil down to my time and attention. Mozart put his time and attention on music and the gift he gave to the world was his time and attention focused through the prism of music.  On the path to mastery and the honing of the prism, time and attention become more valuable. 

So here I am, in the blogosphere giving my gifts to anyone that will listen. Enjoy it now, as I value your gift of attention as much as I value my own gifts in writing this.  Someday soon my path to mastery means I may need more convincing of your willingness and ability to receive my gifts as you may have more competition.

The 14th Annual Legendary Boonville Beerfest

 

The Legendary Boonville Beerfest has come and gone.  I am getting a flurry of google alerts regarding the event in my inbox, so perhaps it is my turn to put something up into the blogosphere.

This year was the 14th Annual and for me it was my 3rd.  Having been a part of event production  for over 2 decades, it amazes me how well this event comes off. Not just because 7000 people and 85 breweries descend onto the little town of Boonville, but that they are all here tasting beer for 4 hours.

The event is not flawless, but given that it is basically put on by the community of Anderson Valley and is about 95% volunteer, the fact that it even happens is miraculous.

Even with my 13 years working with the High Sierra Music Festival, numerous years with the Santa Cruz Blues Festival and my myriad of underground parties in the San Francisco Bay Area, I pretty much just try and stay out of the way of the locals who have been doing this year after year.   The various non-profit, community organizations such as the AV Elderhome, the AV PTA, and Land Trust, help take tickets, cook meals, and clean up the aftermath of an event that increases the town's population ten-fold.

In reality Erin M., Debi P, and Rebekah T. from AVBC, are the dynamic trio that brings this chaos into some sort of concert and make it happen. Under their guidance, the festival gets better every year.

What brings the people to the valley are the brewers. Dr. Ken Allen, the founder of Anderson Valley Brewing Company and founder of the Bahl Hornin' Foundation -the non-profit which puts on the BeerFest, believes in creating a festival the brewers want to go to.  Most of the time brewers have to schlep their beer into an event and then stay sober enough to schlep their gear out again.

At the BBF, brewers get to camp out on the Anderson Valley Brewing Company's 27 acres, under oak trees nestled in one of the prettiest valleys on the planet.  They get to have campfires and play disc golf.  There is a big dinner on Saturday night and a bonfire. True country hospitality. This is where Sierra Nevada brings out so many people, they operate on a skeleton crew. 

The actual festival occurs on the second Saturday of May, but brewers start arriving on the previous Thursday.  The real party is Friday night. This is where brewers bring out their personal stash. Experimental brews- not only beer, but cider and mead makes a showing.  This is where brewers can relax around a fire and show off their personal kung fu.  The fun part is making the round to all the camps and cajoling a taste. 

Some are so hung over that they barely make it to pour for the people who paid for their tickets for Saturday's event.  Friday night is the brewer's festival and the main event is how we pay for it.

After the official festival is over, the brewers stream back to their campsites and civilian festival goers who are in the know hoof it down to the brewery hoping to hang out. Bottom line is that the party going on at AVBC before and after the official festival is the best ticket you can't get a hold of.  To camp at the brewery you have to be a brewery, with a brewer, or know someone.  What amazes me is that this year we had so many members of the 'press.'  It seems like blogging and beer have finally made connection or at least beer aficionados who love beer realize that they could blog and score a free pass. 

This year's event was a record in terms of number of people and number of participating breweries.  As long as people can behave themselves and the brewers have a good time, the event will continue to help out the community of Anderson Valley.  I look forward to the 4 sleep depraved days next May.  I hope y'all can make it!