3 Invites for You (Mar 12th)
Hello, You -
This is Neighborfully, our weekly dispatch from Neighborful Station. It's such a joy to be here with you, as the weather in the Northeast whips us around as only March weather can. These are your 3 invites for this week.
Invite 1: Stubborn Hope
Gas prices are rising by leaps and bounds. We are all now way, way more familiar with the Straits of Hormuz than we ever wished to be. It can be really hard, in these times, to remember that a different world is possible, and that we hold within us the power to create it.
Take a moment, right now, and think about a time in your life when you felt stubborn, ornery, and determined to find a way. Maybe you had an overwhelming amount of schoolwork to finish one night. Maybe your kids were having a rough day, and you were trying your best to hold it together for them. Reconnect with your own resolute refusal to give up in that moment, and take a slow breath.
A mentor of mine once told me that hope is the management of despair. We will have plenty of moments in our lives when we feel overwhelmed, and we can't see a way out of our troubles. We don't have to have all the answers just then. We simply need to commit ourselves to finding a way, allowing for the possibility that things can change, and we can change them.
The first crocuses popped up this week in Philly, in the couple of days of gorgeous weather we had here. It's cold and rainy again today, but that will change once more. Count on it. 💐❤️😊
Invite 2: Follow Me on TikTok (or YouTube Shorts)
I'll be the first to say that TikTok is not everybody's jam, and I respect that. I've been familiar with it for a long time - I interviewed my youngest about it for my previous podcast, DadLine, which I was making with my guy J.C. way back in 2020. I've always enjoyed the chaotic energy of TikTok as a platform, and I've been posting there a lot this week, with intent to make it a daily routine from Monday through Saturday. (We work Chick-Fil-A hours around here.)
So if you'd like to follow along, my username on TikTok is @michaelsperger. I'm also cross-posting my TikTok videos to my personal YouTube channel, where my username is @michael.sperger. See you online.
Invite 3: Listen to Neighborful Station
Our latest episode is Railroad Club (Apple)(Spotify)(YouTube). You visit the monthly open house of the Solarpunk Model Railroad Club, in the basement of the Main Library. Despite you not having a license for such a thing, they actually let you drive a train. You get to hang out with Mayor Ashley and her youngest kid, Wyatt, who are devoted fans of the Railroad Club. And you also start to learn about a neighbor of yours whom you haven't met yet, an older member of the Club named Edwin. 🚄🌭👴
I spent a little time volunteering at a local model railroad club last year, and I helped out with one of their open houses. I learned that the open houses do indeed attract a lot of regulars, and many of those folks - old and young - are autistic, like me. Quite a few of them had high support needs. The members of the club, every last one, were incredibly patient and friendly with their guests. It was beautiful to see, and it made me feel truly welcome there myself.
Our young friend Wyatt is a gestalt language processor, which is a thing I learned about from a speech language pathologist. Kids who learn language in gestalts tend to use entire phrases they've heard in the world to express ideas and meaning.
I realized that I am a gestalt language processor when I first heard about the concept. For example, when I'm searching for something around my home, I will often mutter, "Where you at, Desmondo?" I'm quoting a line from The Fugitive, when Tommy Lee Jones' character Samuel Gerard is searching for the escaped prisoner Dr. Richard Kimble.
At the end of Railroad Club, you will hear Wyatt use a gestalt to communicate, and our friend Kerri will meet him where he is, in all senses. That's the beauty of being Neighborful with each other.
One last note from this lil' email newsletter rabbit hole: the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok is maybe the best pure example of gestalt language processing ever seen in popular culture.
Wish of the Week
May you find a moment each day to feel gratitude for the people in your own life who have made you feel welcome and seen.
Shaka, when the walls fell, Michael