why [here] actually matters | w[h]m pt.8

Shortly after that interaction with Mayor Pete, I finally met up with Christin…

She had invited me, been truly excited to see me, and made sure to include me as we stood in the Best. Wednesday. Ever. beer tent celebrating her tremendous accomplishment with her friends and partner; I tried to be present despite feeling almost defeated. I had left South Bend feeling like a meaningful contributor and came back feeling like a relative stranger and interloper. As someone who has spent most of my life as an outsider, a misfit or at least a social floater, it sat heavy with me to feel foreign in that moment. The time and literal distance had created a figurative distance which positioned me firmly from the outside looking in on a place that helped me feel a moment’s worth of belonging.

But I got to celebrate Christin and experience a thriving community, while restoring some much needed faith in humanity in the process. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have bore witness to South Bend’s community, whether it was for a month or a moment; the same goes for Johnson City and Northwest Arkansas.

What I know to be true from this experience and countless others is that communities are made by the people who show up every day, day-over-day, to make a difference in them. They aren’t made by the naysayers nor the visitors nor the curious folks, like me, who seem to leave just as soon as they arrive with little more than a few photos and memories to show for it. I guarantee that your community has its own version of every person I mentioned in this story. Maybe you are one of them, but if not, I hope you take the time to seek out, find and support them. One thing community leaders can never be short of is support.

As I sit here and write this, I reflect on my interview with Christin. We had been connected by her mentor, Sam Centellas, who I had been connected with by Jacob. Despite being a 20-something emerging leader who was already well-known and respected in her community, she was incredibly nervous when we met in the West SB office on a Saturday afternoon four years ago.

She was nervous because she cared so much about her community that she didn’t want to misrepresent it, to let it down, as she did her best to tell South Bend’s story.

In the years since we first met, Christin and I have stayed in touch, and built up a wonderful, supportive friendship. The screenshot above was from a Zoom call that we had during lockdown in 2020. We most recently saw each other for coffee while I was passing through South Bend on my way from Chicago back to Chattanooga last month. The night before I had caught up with Willow over dinner as well. She has since taken on a leadership role overseeing South Bend’s downtown economic development nonprofit. After dinner, we strolled the streets of downtown, as she eagerly shared stories and aspirations for every building and small business owner along the way. It felt like no time had passed between either of them and me, despite me just being a guest in South Bend one more time.

What I’ve realized in the process of piloting this project is that, what gives our communities substance and makes our stories mean something, are the people in and relationships between them. That’s why [here] matters. I’m grateful for the journey that allowed me to come to that realization.