Saturday June 14th:
For the second time on this trip, Andy and I pledge to let life unfold and to go with our intuition rather then trying to fit some mold or pattern. This was after we had stopped at a coffeeshop 13miles away from Madison to try to escape the storm that was brewing and met up with people in the community that were working towards a more sustainable town. Twenty minutes of staying here, we learn about their green drinks, their leed library(the first in WI), dialogues groups, and a coffeeshop that prides itself on buying locally made products, and a woman who is creating the space for community.

Mary Devitt, owner of Crossroads coffeehouse, has a spark and love for curiosity and continues to question how we can make changes in the world that is sustainable. Through her coffeeshop she has provided the space for discussion on sustainability, and in a year and half of being open, is getting to the point of having her customers work on some sort of project. She coordinates and mediates situations and connects individuals effortlessly. In addition has a kind and warm personality. Within a fifteen minute conversation she graciously offers us a place to stay at her wooded retreat only minutes away. Andy and I do a little internal debate, but not to long, as this is just one of the many serendipitous moments where it makes sense to say yes. After we've figured our accommodation, she also calls the librarian, Chris, to show us around the LEED certified library in the morning. So within less then an hour, we have a shoot, a bed, and more ideas because we decided to let life naturally unfold.



Though we only traveled 13 miles, we were happy with the decision, and spent the rest of the evening chatting with Mary on community building, change, action. And in this town of 3000, Crossplains, she particularly saw the need to not only provide good coffee and promote local products,in her town, she was even more concerned to create a place where people could come together and talk, as there were few gathering spaces other then the bar. It seemed to be successful, as now on Sunday, the place is packed.

So after a restful night, the next morning, she had arranged a meet up with Chris, the librarian who showed us the LEED certified library. As we interviewed Chris, I continued to be amazed at how much the community and different entities were involved in the process, and how it seemed there was a clear buy-in at the grassroots level to the municipal level. Not only did the members have the vision, but the strength to do it, when no other library in the state had yet to be certified. They took what many would seem as a chance, but as Chris stated they are going to long term benefit from this endeavor, and in a simple example their energy costs are half of what they used to be.


After leaving Chris and Mary, I'm inspired even more so in community building and providing space to move forward or not necessarily move forward, but again get back to common sense where politics and names are dissolved, where humanity and life reign. This journey continues to challenge where my passions could lie, or where my energies would be consumed, and i'm hopeful that when I get back to Bloomington there will be the focus that I am craving.

We are now going to try to make it to Spring Green, WI. As Andy and I said yesterday, we probably could the whole summer just in WI, as there seems to be a lot of sustainable thinking, and ACTION going on, and it's not just in the cities, it's in the small towns. Who knows how long it will take to get out of this state, but as i've said before we are taking it as it enfolds. Stay tuned.