Community and Skiing

     A good life is lived in various types of communities.   Wherever we go and whatever we do our activities take place in community.    Our geezer skiers at Greek Peak make up a community that has a set of rituals and relationships that have grown and changed over the years.    Alliances change and associations vary with the time of day and over the season.   The dynamics of community are fascinating both in the long run and in day to day events.   As individuals enter and leave the community  adjustments take place.   Absorbing a new person into the established community takes time to develop.   And also the greater community is subdivided in smaller communities with their own behaviors.  So as an observer of human kind it is fascinating to participate in community dynamics.

Award Winning Poet

     Perhaps I have become more observant of community dynamics as a result of my wife's participation in the Cortland County Community Arts Challenge.   Artists, musicians and writers of the Cortland area were challenged to create a work that was exemplary of community.  The artistic theme was community.    Last night we were treated to a display of the art and writing submissions and performances of the musical pieces as well.   A delightful evening.  Certainly the most exciting part of the evening for me was the awards ceremony.   I always knew my wife,  Nancy is a great writer but that personal judgment was confirmed by her receiving first prize in the writing category!   Her poem "Ode to Community" was selected as the best of the competition.   If you are ever in the Cortland area, visit the Center for the Arts in Homer, NY to view her poem and the other writings and art.   Here is are brief excerpts of her poem.

"Community binds us and expects things from us:

to volunteer, to lead, to serve to raise funds,

to be firemen, jurors, school board members, city council folk.

Community nurtures us,

through teachers, neighbors, grandmothers.

Educates our children and gathers us into zip codes,  hometowns, teams."

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"Not just place, but purpose.

It isn't free. This belonging comes with a price.

It demands that we participate.  It makes us who we are.

Gives us our identity.

Community."

By Nancy Rehkugler