Best. Wednesday. Ever. | w[h]m pt. 1

Christin bugged me enough about attending Best. Wednesday. Ever. that I couldn’t say no…

Okay, by “bugged”, I mean that she sent me a few Facebook messages and, as an enthusiastic and effective event organizer, she instilled a certain conviction in me to attend. After all, it made a lot of sense for me to attend - as the place where my four-month-long why [here] matters pilot trip began - it felt like the perfect way to close the loop and finish my wayward self-funded and self-guided journey.

Best. Wednesday. Ever. is a block party-style event that takes place along the main commercial corridor of South Bend’s westside Latino community, Western Avenue, during the city’s annual Best Week Ever, the first week of every June.

This is the same Western Avenue where I had my first lunch - tacos at Taqueria Chicago - when I first arrived in South Bend for my project. The same Western Avenue that Joe Biden turned into political fodder in a Pete Buttigieg attack ad after the Iowa Primary. The same Western Avenue that in many ways served as a lynchpin for the story of South Bend in 2019 (as well as today). So, it might have been the best time and place to experience the thriving, connected, and celebratory South Bend, which was more or less hibernating during my time there in February and March.

The serendipitous moments and inspiring motivations that led up to me choosing South Bend as the community where I would launch my pilot of why [here] matters are all documented in this fledgling Substack that I started the evening after I arrived, but the fact that my first day in South Bend would place me feet away from Mayor Pete Buttigieg, while my return trip would have me shaking the hand of 2020 presidential candidate, Pete Buittigieg, just months later, speaks volumes to everything that changed for the world (and me) in the short time in between.

… a little over a week before the big day, I told Christin that she could count on me to be there.