What is "alternative community"?
When trying to describe the concept of this community network idea -- Prescott Confluence -- one of the key words that came up was "alternative". In other words, seeking options that may not be main-stream in the dominant culture.
For me, and I think for many of the people that I know, the word "alternative" has come to symbolize the following: natural healing, music that isn't necessarily "popular" but is never-the-less quite good, a way of living that is different than the "norm", permaculture (growing food locally), recycling and re-using and re-purposing, generating clean energy as close to home as possible, transportation that doesn't pollute, associations of people that are interested in spirituality or consciousness or "awareness" but may not necessarily be religious.
"Alternative" cutlure for many is accepting of diverse people -- sexual orientation, race, gender or marriage arrangements that are not as traditional as the past. Though activities like yoga have become quite common, it still isn't reflected much in the popular or main-stream culture. So yoga remains an "alternative" activity in my mind. So too is driving an electric car (though many new electric models are reportedly on the way), or putting up solar panels on one's house.
A particularly interesting cultural movement is about food. While you simply don't see commercials on TV about "organic" or gmo-free products, those labels are increasingly appearing on the shelves of the stores in which we shop. So a once marginal market group -- whole foods -- has become a much larger fraction of the marketplace. Even though there isn't much evidence of it in the dominant, popular culture memes, it is happening. It is happening because people are choosing to adopt an "alternative" to what the popular culture memes are supplying. They are voting with their cash. And retailers are responding.
Bringing this discussion back to the local level, what makes an "alternative community" is that it behaves differently than communities of the recent past have behaved. And by that I mean recent past suburban community patterns -- the dominant American culture norm in which Prescott is immersed. While Prescott itself doesn't have suburbia in the way that many cities do, Prescott Valley has functioned as a suburb of Prescott for many years. But that is rapidly changing. And so all the challenges of a suburban culture in decay are present in our local region.
Examples of what move the "alternative community" of Prescott in a growth direction would be the following:
- greater focus on supporting local sustainable activities (local food growing, cleaner transportation programs, eco-friendly development (or re-development),
- more integration of healthy life-styles into our common discourse (yoga in the park, meditation, natural healing practices, stress reduction programs),
- public displays of celebration that bring people together for play, performance, creativity. Tsunami on the Square was an example of this. Alas, the cost was too high for organizers to sustain. But that does not mean that something like it might not once again emerge from our local culture since it is still in the collective memory,
- a sense of safety, that it is okay to be "different" or "alternative" while going about our daily pursuits in public without being targeted. Now that we are living in a Trump era, there are increasing reports of people "confronting" or bullying others in the larger culture about their different-ness. For us to create a sense of safety here in Prescott, it is important to protect and support the marginal in our local community so that if such acts do bubble to the surface here, there is swift response of justice/peace making and help for those in need.
I am sure the list could go on, but this is just a starting point from which to explore what "alternative" really means as we choose to support each other -- or not. I hope that many of us choose to lend our time, energy, love and presence to a growing sense of community where we and our children truly belong -- where we respect, celebrate, heal and transform our lives together.
Please join me in this effort of getting the Prescott Confluence project off the ground -- and thank you for your time, your heart and your spirit.
- Levi Mason, Founder
