Nonfiction | Adult
The day I began this book, I’d spent the morning on the first group bike ride of the season. The first ride of the group, actually; our winter cross-country ski group decided to form a bike group. During one part of this ride, I rode next to my good friend Louise, who told me this story: on a recent outing that I hadn’t attended, our Wednesday hiking group (visualize a Venn diagram of two overlapping circles – lots of us are in both groups lol!) had tackled a fairly difficult trail, and one of the newer hikers was struggling. She was nearly at the end, looked up at the last section, and said she didn’t think she could make it. Another hiker pulled out her phone, tapped for a few moments, and then blasted the theme song from Rocky. As a group they all climbed the last little bit, including the struggling hiker, and at the top they all danced to the theme song. Later, that struggling hiker spoke to her daughter by phone and related the story. “You’re so lucky to have that group support, Mum,” her daughter said. She then described her much different experience in another town’s hiking club. When she struggled, they told her she was not fit enough and shouldn’t be on the hike, that she was slowing the group down. “You’re so lucky,” she repeated, silently emphasizing her longing for that kind of support. I thought of that story as I read Plett’s long essay (written in short “posts” totalling about 170 small pages) on community. As a transsexual woman raised in a small Mennonite town in Manibota, she hears, and uses, the term often: trans community, queer community, online community, Mennonite community – you get the picture. But what does community mean? What are the different meanings of community, and how does it work well, and where does it lead us wrong? I loved the metaphor of community as skin closing in as it heals a wound … But Plett argues this can be a negative too, in insular communities especially, pointing to fellow Manitoban Miriam Toews’ On Women Talking as an example. Think of it – the military or police community “closing ranks” – that’s often helpful for those on the inside, but what about those on the outside? It’s a thoughtful piece that keeps bubbling up in my brain as I work in my garden or talk with friends. Community as a concept is what I love most about where I live, but for sure it has its negatives. I deleted my Facebook account because of the nonsense from that “community”. And yet, it’s such an important part of being human: “Sure, you can take care of yourself,” Plett writes, “but you can’t do it on your own.” (p. 80) My thanks to the Grand Forks (B.C.) & District Public Library for including this fascinating meditation in its adult nonfiction collection.
More discussion and review of this title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123104083
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Shelf Life with Michelle 