Word of the Year for 2024: Community

 

Hiking in Ephraim Canyon
24 January 2024

I've done it again. I moved. 

After 7.5 years in Newburgh, Indiana, my husband and I moved to Ephraim, Utah.  This is a return trip to the state of Utah. However, I formerly lived in Utah County (9 years) and Salt Lake County (1 year). I am new to Sanpete County, population 28,437. I did visit the Manti Pageant in 1976 and the Manti Temple in 1991; otherwise, I am very naive about all things Sanpete.   

The county has deep roots with the Latter-day Saint Pioneers. It was settled in the 1850s (with some controversy with conflicts between the white settlers and the Native Americans as well as many conflicts among the white settlers over land rights and water rights).  Many of the settlers were Scandinavian. I looked at all the photos of pageant queens at the county court house. I saw names such as Jensen, Hansen, Nelson, Olsen, Jorgensen, etc.  Ephraim hosts an annual Scandinavian Days Festival at the end of May, and Spring City hosts Heritage Day the same weekend. 

More than half the county is federal or state lands. It's beautiful here. My husband works at Snow College, but much of the economy is based on agriculture: raising cattle, sheep, and turkeys.  Many people have ancestors going back 3, 4, or 5 generations. However, in the last twenty years, there have been more people moving in from other Utah counties or even from out of state. There is a significant Hispanic population here, many working for The Moroni Feed Company / Norbest, working with turkeys.  (I think Tyson recently bought this business.)

Word of the Year

You can see that I have been thinking a lot about my new community.  I recently finished a book about the history of Sanpete County, a book that has a strong focus on the 19th Century.  I have also been trying to meet people at the college, at church, at the library, at quilting bees, at gardening club, book club, the university fitness center, the hardware store, etc. 

I am trying to create community around me. It will take me months to accomplish this.  

It will be impossible for me to connect with everyone, so I must make some decisions on how to spend my time and how to build common ground with people in the county.  I would like to say that I am being super intentional, but I realize that a certain amount of serendipity if not chaos will shape my efforts. 

Because I am very focused on building a community where I may end up living for 20 or 30 years, I decided to make "Community" my 2024 Word of the Year.  

I do not make New Year's Resolutions anymore. Instead, I choose a focus word. I find that I can meditate on that word for an entire year and gain a lot of insight in how to define and apply the selected word. 

The word "community," for example, shares its roots with the word "communication" and the word "commune," the latter having a connotation of religion and spirituality.  How can individuals overcome their differences to hold shared goals? How might the Divine help mediate those efforts?  

When I was in Indiana, I interacted with several people every week. I taught at two universities, attended several fitness classes each week, accepted volunteer opportunities at church and with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and even attended other faith communities: a synagogue, a mosque, and a Buddhist sangha.  

I enjoyed interacting with hundreds of people during my time there. It was hard to leave my community / communities behind. Again. I have lived in 9 different states at 38 various addresses. I am hoping to stay in this house for decades. For this and other reasons, I hope to make friends with young people as well as with my agemates. I believe in intergenerational connection.  Young people make the world new. It's interesting to see how they function in the world and how they view the world. 

Downsizing My Community 

I have been thinking a lot about how communities might shape me. I do enjoy getting out of my comfort zone and befriending people from radically different demographics, interests, vocations, hobbies, etc. I like to learn about how other people are wired, how they view the world, how they interact with the world.  The philosophers call these realms epistemology (how we know what we know) and ontology (a sense of being).  It's invigorating to have my own frameworks challenged and expanded. 

I am also thinking a lot about maintaining personal integrity to my own goals, values, and projects. When do I decide to keep my distance from others?  I may not feel comfortable contorting myself to "fit in."  Some people have shown themselves to be very utilitarian with me: how can they use me to meet their own needs without considering my limits?  I will need to assert some boundaries at times.

We, They, Me, S/He

Basically, participating in community/communities involves a complex interaction among four (sometimes) competing forces: 

1. We. The shared values of a community whether it be a bowling league, a book club, a political party, or a religious congregation. What attitudes, values, and practices make this a "We"?
2. They. What does another person in my friend group offer that may pull me to become more like they are? What pull do they exert over my activities, habits, attitudes, values. What is specific about "Them"?
3. Me. What am going to hold on to even when friends, family members, congregants, coworkers, fellow citizens, etc. might be directly or indirectly challenging me to abandon or change things about myself. What is the "Me"? 
4. S/He. This refers to "The Divine Ones." In my faith tradition, this is Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost. Often Judeo-Christianity refers to the Holy He, but I am expanding to S/He to refer to these four divine beings central to my theology.  What gravitational pull do I feel to change according to invitations from the divine "S/He"?

I admit that I hit town a month ago feeling a bit frantic about surrounding myself with people--a lot of people for a lot of my time each week. However, I may end up spending more time alone than usual for me. I was more introverted when I was in elementary school. I might return to some of my more solitary ways. 

While it is interesting to socialize with dozens of people, there is a quiet joy in pursing personal projects or finding just a handful of people to hold as close friends.  It might take me a year or two to fit in with select existing communities, to build my tribe, and to find joy in some solo projects, but I am hopeful.

Related:

Word of the Year for 2023: Breath(e)

Word of the Year for 2022: Smaller

Word of the Year for 2021: Witness

Word(s) of the Year for 2020: Humility and Compassion

(I cannot find a post about my 2019 WOTY)

Word of the Year for 2018: Grounded