It’s early morning, just beginning to get light and the fog is in the valley – but my mind has kicked in; so I waddle downstairs in my bathrobe and bunny-rabbit slippers. However, I do not read the newspaper comics first, as I usually do. Instead, I start to compose today’s blog. I simply cannot shake off this SOC addiction. (Remember – SOC = sense of community.

Before going to bed, last night, I was re-reading The Saber-Tooth Curriculum by Dr. J. Abner Peddiwell of Petaluma State College, and came across a picture of New-Fist-Hammer-Maker (p.27), with this caption: “They are living what they learn, and learning what they live.” New-Fist was a thinker and a doer. “He knew how to do things a his community needed to have done, and he had the energy and will to go ahead and do them.” (p.25) The text continues, “He began to catch glimpses of ways in which life may be made better for himself, his family, and his group. By virtue of this development, he became a dangerous man.” (Yes, that’s what the book said on page 26, “dangerous.”) Well, to make the long story short, New-Fist eventually created The Saber-Tooth Curriculum and The New Tiger School. The concept of a conscious, systematic education had been created. The rest is history.

So what? What’s the connection? Where am I going with this topic? As an aside, do you think I, as a Hammer-Man, might be related to New-Fist-Hammer-Maker? I could also put on my professor’s cap because that’s what I was at one time. Do you want me to deliver a 50 minute lecture about Petaluma’s Sense of Community; or due to the fact that I was editor-in-chief of a college newspaper, I could write a column. (Hmmm, now that I think about it, when I was in high school I wrote a column titled, So What?)

Getting back to our theme, how about creating a hands-on exercise, which in my outdoor education days was called a DEAL for the direct experience approach to learning. The DEAL I’m proposing is this: What could our community learn if we organize two events; one at Petaluma High School and the other at Casa Grande High School (just like the past 24 Hour Relay Challenges.) This time, however, instead of one community organization sponsoring the event, multiple CBOs (Community Benefit Organizations, both ad hoc and official non-profits) would collaborate in order to demonstrate Petaluma’s CBO Ecosystem. In other words, how can we show Petalumans the interdependent relationships between CBOs, rather than have a professor talk about it.

This proposed experiential learning exercise could be organized as follows: 10 community groups with 5+ of its members (with a sturdy pole, colored cord and matching sign) would space themselves around the PHS and CGHS athletic fields in an oval. At the sound of a bell, or a bugle, or a countdown, the exercise would begin. One-by-one, each participant would step up and connect his/her organizations colored cord to a ring surrounding one of the other groups. At the same time, they would also announce the connection or the interrelationship between the two groups.

Sounds crazy! You bet it does. It would be a madhouse; however, as the exercise progressed, the Petaluma SOC Web would be illustrated in 3D and living color. It just might be worth the effort so that Petalumans may actually see how connected they really are and the interdependency pattern of our community. Ok. Time to go back for more Zzzzzzzzz. Stay tuned.