Don, You have hit it right on the nail. Conflicts mostly occur between two people of the same ethnicity.
Our community gardens program is very diverse and it includes people from many different parts of the world. Approximately 52% of our participants are immigrants including, Middle Eastern, Portuguese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Romanian, and with the largest groups being, Latino, Bosnian, Italian, and Vietnamese. This is definitely a challenge but at the same time exciting to have so many people from different backgrounds. On behalf of the City of San Jose and the Silicon Valley, Happy Thanksgiving to all!! Manuel Perez City of San José Community Gardens Program 200 E. Santa Clara St. 9th Floor Tower San José, CA 95113 Ph: (408) 793-5533 Fx: (408) 292-6416 "Any man, who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, can respond with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, "I served in the United States Navy." - John F. Kennedy -----Original Message----- From: Community_garden [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Don Boekelheide Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 7:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Community_garden] Thanksgiving column from Don B Hi, fellow gardeners, I've become mostly a lurker in recent years, but I'm still a community gardener (and growing for market too - a different experience, for sure). I just wrote a Thanksgiving column, and a couple of my community garden friends suggested sending it out. One thing we do as community gardeners is stay open to inclusion. For us, an 'open door' (or would it be an 'open gate') is fundamental. We cultivate common ground. I've been noticing the notes about conflict, and for sure that is a reality in gardens, not just between different cultures in our gardens, but amongst people who are ethnically alike. I almost think that diversity helps avoid conflict! It isn't just feel good stuff either. Democracy only works if we can manage conflict, which includes knowing how to compromise and even lose gracefully at times. Community gardens are deceptive, aren't they, since they are building abilities we all need to function successfully as a democratic nation. Heavy stuff, but made easier by far when we share our harvests. Happy Thanksgiving, Don Boekelheide Charlotte NC Here's the column: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/11/16/3667563/remember-the-farm-workers-serve.html -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20121119/8a5e6306/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
