#NewSkillNovember
Hey all! Hope you're enjoying the lack of political ads and text messages 😂 I do have some news about our local City Council Election, but I'm going to be a tease and make you read through the rest of the newsletter first...
Events on the Horizon
- Every Friday, 5-8pm at the Artisan Market: Firewood Fridays! Come enjoy a potluck picnic, good music, and the opportunity to whack a piece of wood with a hammer until you feel better about the world 😂
- Saturdays in November: The Artisan Market is officially closed until the Holiday Walk, but Nate and I are still going to be hanging out at the Workshop cabin from 9am-2pm and working on projects. Come hang out!
- November 10, 5-7pm at the White Lake Community Library: Common Ground is hosting another of their community forums, this time on "Belonging, Group Dynamics, & Conflict". We'll hear from Lisa Cobb, a licensed therapist, on staying grounded during difficult conversations (perfect for the Thanksgiving season.)
Circularity Village Update
We submitted our site plan for Circularity Village to the Planning Commission for approval on Monday! It'll be reviewed at the next planning commission meeting on this coming Monday. If it gets approved, we might be able to get our first mini-barn set up before the snow sets in, which would make things a lot easier.
#NewSkillNovember
#NewSkillNovember started on Mastodon, a peer-to-peer social media network that lets people and communities host their own servers instead of relying on corporate tech. It doesn't have ads or an algorithmic feed, so your feed is 100% posts from people you actually follow, in reverse chronological order. When you've caught up on everybody's posts, you're done! You can put your phone down and go outside.
The idea with New Skill November is that you pick something you've been wanting to try, or wanting to get back into, and you spend the month of November learning how to do it. Learning a new skill is really good for your brain, and as Big Tech does its best to de-skill as many people as possible, learning a new skill can be a tiny act of rebellion.
My personal goal for the month is to re-learn how to juggle. I've learned how to juggle twice in my life, but I tend to lose interest once it stops being challenging, and the skill fades fast once I stop practicing. I'm going to try to shoot some video for Mickkayla over on the Facebook page this month to highlight some of the skills you can learn through Montague Commoners, as well as track my journey back to juggling.
If you want to learn a new skill, odds are pretty good that we can either teach you or connect you up with someone who can, so spend some time thinking about what your #NewSkillNovember project might be.
So about the City Council race...
I won by 17 votes! Laura, Bill, and I will be filling the three City Council slots that were up for a vote this year. A huge thanks to everyone who talked me into running and supported my campaign. I've got a lot to learn about the duties of a City Councilmember, but I hope to be able to represent the community with forethought, understanding, and compassion.
Recommendation Corner
This week's recommendation is Mycelarium, a cozy video game in which you play as a forest's fungal network, connecting trees and gathering resources. It's still quite early in its development, so don't expect endless gameplay, but for $4 on Steam right now it's a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
No nails this week 😢
In all the hustle and bustle this week, I did not get around to my nails. Hopefully I can get back on track next week.
Enjoy the end of election season, and if I don't see you around town I'll see you back here next week.
Pre-meme-ium Content
Now that we've got a few people supporting us with premium subscriptions, we wanted to find a way to thank our supporters without putting anything useful behind a paywall. So I've started tacking on a couple of memes to the end of each newsletter! If the paywall feature is working, free subscribers will see one meme below, while paid subscribers will get to see all five. If you're living on less than $35k/year, please do not give us money. Just let us know and we'll hook you up with the memes for free.
