| | | | | | | | | | Read on for... - An introduction to the Second World Kiosk & Village Commons
- A primer on worm compost "tea" fertilizer, and an opportunity to support our newest cottage industry
- An interview with Kevin, SWH's newest resident
- .. and an invitation to support our work!
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Introducing the Second World Kiosk & Village Commons
Check out the video below for a tour of our latest project, the Second World Kiosk & Village Commons in the front yard of the Simone Weil House! And come visit yourself... calendar here. |
| | | | | “The sepulchre, temple, and palace preceded the utilitarian house; ornament preceded clothing; work, particularly teamwork, derives from play.” - Eric Hoffer On seeing the Second World kiosk in our yard one might be justified in asking whether the name, diffusive intensity, and underlit globe in its cupola points to something entirely serious. Maybe not. It is too serious to be serious about. Because when you play, you can get right into things, both the doing and the world-making. We think the child fireman who one morning just put on a raincoat and took out the garden hose helps us approach the spirit of Dorothy Day, who, as a baby Christian, saw that the very reality of belief called for a commitment to the make-believe. She saw to it that the poor surrounding her were fed like those surrounding the Christ of the Gospels, and that the good news was proclaimed boldly in a newspaper that there were no resources to sustain. Our habit, in contrast, is to insist on squaring away the circle of loss and return before making a beginning. We call this mental (spiritual) block realism, the shadows it casts ahead of us our growth and progress, and the ideal interplay of these hardened shadows we give grand names such as “the economy.” If reality is the play of such forces, it is no wonder that we seek avoidant and even cynical play to escape it, and that our seriousness about what is unserious and our destructive play come more and more to imitate each other in a seemingly inescapable game. The bullet, the meme. The drone, the video game. How we play is so serious that it re-creates the world in its image; we can say for good or for ill, but in the end there is a pattern. We believe that there is a true game and a true path of serious play, and that the other games play themselves out within it. For this pattern we look to the one who called the Father “daddy” and said we must become like children, who fancied that Scriptural imperatives and prophecies apply quite literally, and who took the person in front of him to be the whole world. His play didn’t diffuse or shelter from reality, but distilled and concentrated it. Ultimately, when the cross brought it to a point, the tables were turned a final time - the still point of death itself was revealed to be the fulcrum of Life. It is the free play and unrestricted economy of this Life, humanity’s true calling, that we wish to make a home for in our world. To this end, we humbly offer an other-worldly watercooler to talk around, to help us experience that what is strange and wonderful is inviting us in - to get comfortable with, discuss, and play ourselves into its very different normal. This, my friends, is the Second World kiosk in the center of the Village Commons. Come have a very good coffee and maybe homemade sourdough or popcorn, without a transaction. Introduce yourself and let’s talk about building what Peter Maurin called “a new society within the shell of the old.” Like him, we have some literature we’d love to share with you and discuss, and (hopefully more than old Peter), we’d like to listen to what you are inspired by and make common cause. Yesterday the first two strangers to show up at the kiosk had stories of the small-town life of Ibiza, Italy, and Romania, and the next person was wondering how to make a life that feels like her University of Oregon student co-op. Of course, nothing spurs real conversation like knowing that we’re in a context that supports going beyond talk. So take part in the resource-sharing of the village commons, our potluck meals, the living communion (zero interest) credit union initiative, the agronomic university, or Simone Weil House’s midday liturgical prayer. We hope you join us, and we hope you dive deep enough into this “second world” to experience that there may not be another shoe to drop. Maybe the play is serious, maybe the Second World is real.
So come join us in the Second World! Our current schedule is Monday-Friday, 1:30ish to 7ish, with potluck dinner Wednesday at 6. Updates (possibly adding mornings) will be posted here and on the chalk board out front.
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| | | | | | | | New cottage industry: Worm Compost "Tea" for your Garden! 2 reusable "tea" bags - $5 suggested donation After months of raising worms, Simone Weil House is pleased to announce our new cottage industry: vermicomposting. Our “tea” is a rich, natural alternative to liquid fertilizer for your plants, brewed from worm castings (aka poop). As the worms consume our scraps, their digestive systems transform the material into tiny granules of black gold, significantly denser in nutrients and humic acids than the soil itself. A worm’s gut is a microbial ecosystem: when a worm excretes castings, it deposits a diverse population of beneficial bacteria and fungi that continue to break down organic matter, resulting in a material that slowly releases nutrients in a highly concentrated, bioavailable form. We prepare the castings as packages of “tea” bags, whose millions of microbes become active when steeped in water, creating a brew that will continuously feed your soil and plants. The bags are even reusable! Caring for these worms, harvesting their castings, and returning their richness to the earth is a gentle way of expressing our participation in God’s creation, and, by sharing the product with friends and neighbors, we hope to better nurture the common ground that connects us all, while making the community more self-sustaining. We invite you to experience the quiet power of transformation as it blooms in the smallest creatures by trying our worm compost tea on your houseplants or garden, and see how waste becomes a source of new life.
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An Interview with Kevin, SWH's newest resident |
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| | What were the circumstances that led you to experience homelessness? I had a girlfriend and a job, in telemarketing—if you ever have a choice between that and a woodchipper, the woodchipper’s less painful. Then I lost the job and the girlfriend right on top of each other. After another long-term relationship ended in her passing away, the guilt was overwhelming. I was evicted from that apartment. It was my fault, I should have gone to the plasma centre to donate blood to pay rent, but I had anxiety. That’s how I started at the rescue missions. It’s not as bad as a woodchipper, but woodchippers don’t give you bugs. |
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What brought you to Simone Weil House? The sweeps. Rapid Response, the city’s contractor, started hitting us a lot harder after the pandemic. They’d post you, clear your camp, and steal your stuff. I was camping in my usual area when they swept my spot, so I moved to another, then they swept that. I moved to a third spot I thought was safe, and they swept it too. My stuff was gone when I showed up. They threw away half of it. All my bedding—a nice, beautiful comforter, less than a year old, a memory foam pad, memory foam pillow, all thrown away. My relationship at the time was over, my cat of ten years had disappeared, and now my stuff was gone. So I suddenly needed, not just wanted, to get indoors. And your friend [from the Madeleine Parish's Maddie's Cart ministry] showed you to Simone Weil House. What was your first impression? That I wasn’t judged for being homeless! There was no disapprobation. When Bert showed me to the tiny houses, he pointed to the red one, and I smiled. I walked in, saw the inside… oh my goodness, look at this! You know how I feel about wood, I did wood shop all throughout high school. How has life changed since moving in? What’s it like sharing life in community? First, I’m sleeping better. I eat just fine. That’s why I’m bringing a brisket every month, as thanks! It’s all new for me. Last time I was in a community other than being a homeless person was in the army, and that’s a very different mindset. Here, there’s a pride of place, pride of duty, pride of care. I like working, it’s not onerous. Having to compost the toilet I use makes sense. I liked working on the kiosk because you just showed up and helped. If someone was leading something and you’re willing to follow, you’d follow. If you see something else that needs doing, you do it. Sure, I got distracted, but we got work done. Do you have any favorite memories from your time here so far? When I was welcomed, I was welcomed. Not necessarily by everybody all at once, but I was. My first Wednesday dinner was so… it was something. I was welcomed. I should say, that was my favorite memory so far—I’m hoping Thanksgiving and Christmas can best it! |
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| | | | | | HOUSE NEEDS Donations tend to drop off over the summer months, and right now we are most in need of financial contributions to help us cover our basic monthly expenses and materials to make the kiosk & commons area usable during the rainy season. You can make a one-time or recurring donation online by clicking the button below, or mailing a check (made out to In My Backyard) to: In My Backyard 5311 NE 15th Ave Portland, OR 97211 You can find a list of other, less urgent needs here. Thank you so much for supporting our work and community. | | | | | |
| | | Via Zeffy, a free alternative to Paypal for non-profits |
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| | Ongoing Invitations: Wednesday Potlucks, 6pm: Join us any Wednesday at 6pm for our open dinner. Feel free to bring a dish to share, or just yourself! While the weather's nice, we'll be eating outside at the Second World kiosk. You're also welcome to join us for compline (evening prayer) at the end of the night, usually around 7:30pm. Agronomic University Discussions: Our Thursday reading and discussion group will begin in early October with "Second World" themed readings. We meet Thursdays 5-6:15pm via Zoom. Email us if you'd like to receive updates. More details to come! and of course... Drop by the Second World Kiosk & Commons! We hope to be open weekdays, 1:30ish to 7ish. Stop by for coffee, conversation, and whatever else is on offer that day! You can check the updated calendar here. | | |
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Who We Are The Simone Weil Catholic Worker is an attempt to live, at small scale, “a society where it is easier to be good.” We are an intentional Catholic community in Portland, Oregon that offers hospitality to folks in need of shelter and serves as a node for neighborhood and parish-based social, economic, and intellectual life. |
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