Cheri Robartes
Letter in support of the Many Hands Sustainability Center
July 22nd, 2008
I have been a working shareholder on Many Hands Organic Farm for 5 or 6 years, driving 2 hours each way from Boston to be a part of this remarkable community, if only for a half day a week, for 20 weeks a year. I do this for the amazing fresh and organic vegetables (many of which I freeze so I can eat them all winter), but just as important to me is the growth that I see occur as people of wildly different backgrounds, generations, and locations come together and talk, (and I mean that we talk A LOT,) while we work together.
When I use the word growth, I'm thinking partly of how much I've learned about the lives and issues of the former prisoners I come in contact with every week. I had never seen these guys who had spent time in jail as people who are much like me, people who made different choices in their lives. They seem to have had tougher childhoods, and I understand so much better now how hard it can be to negotiate young adulthood without the support and role models I was lucky enough to have.
Everyone needs role models. At 51 years old, I still use Jack Kittredge and Julie Rawson as people with a generous hearts, innate wisdom, and an ability to accept people as they are now while showing them helpful alternatives without preaching. Kids seek them out for advice, so do the older folk.
I've gotten to know two of the former prisoners pretty well, or at least well enough to feel very comfortable with them. One is still on the farm for his second year and seems to be thriving through the farm work and the association with Jack and Julie. He's VERY hard working and very much appreciated here.
The second young man I took a chance on after getting to know him last year, and used him as an actor in a film I was making. It was a small role, but he was a quick learner and did a beautiful job reciting limericks, which was a large part of his role. I ended up having him help me with a bit of the background music of the film because I was so impressed by him. He put a lot of time into learning the guitar parts I needed and was very responsible despite my inability to pay him. Unfortunately, he is back in the House of Corrections now, but we've kept in contact and I hope to use him in the future in my films in some capacity.
Organic farming is the medium, community building is the message. We workers sweat together out in those fields, we eat meals together from food in those fields, and we're sharing our lives as we talk and learn from each other. It's a beautiful set-up here, and I wish it could be more common. If only people understood how important is it to work together supporting each other and supporting a life style that feeds us all so basically, there might be fewer lost and confused souls out there.
Sincerely,
Cheri Robartes