THE PORCH IS FIVE

THE PORCH IS FIVE

Gareth Higgins

SHORT VERSION

This month marks the fifth anniversary of The Porch - so this newsletter is a recap of some of the things that have unfolded for, with, and through The Porch over the past five years, along with a request for feedback about what we’re imagining next. Want to jump to that survey? Just click here.

LONGER VERSION

FROM GARETH HIGGINS, FOUNDER OF THE PORCH:

Our vision for The Porch was rooted in curiosity and concern: 

* That the stories we’re telling most loudly and most often might not be true, or at least might not be the most helpful versions of the stories we could tell. 

* That our lives were swinging between feeling pressured as if in a scrap metal compactor and stretched as if on an enormous elastic band - to separate from each other, from the ecosystem, even from our very selves. 

* That our experience of electronic media was both illuminating and damaging. 

* That we were living out of balance, usually uncertain, often afraid, with a growing sense that we could no longer expect what we had previously assumed would be true about our lives. This is an understatement. 

We wanted to nurture something that would help us discover the best questions, and the wisest answers, or at least a bit of light on a path toward that wisdom.

We wanted to help ourselves find a way to more connection with each other.

To more conscious sharing in the task of co-creating a better world, wherever we are. 

To more creativity, giving birth to more courage. 

To take life seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. 

The first issue of The Porch was published in November 2016. And a lot has happened since then: writing, festivals, retreats, Porch Circles, friendship, going through the depths, coming out the other side, going back into the challenge, and discovering we’re not alone. You can read more about what we’ve been up to at the end of this newsletter.

As we mark the anniversary of the first issue of The Porch, we sense two callings:

1: We would like to expand storytelling that nurtures connection not separation, shared responsibility not scapegoating, creativity and courage, not despair nor withdrawal. This is an initiatory process - for ourselves as individuals and in community: nothing less than an intervention in the way we receive, tell, and inhabit the stories that make up our lives. At The Porch we want to discern the part we can play in initiating - and being initiated - into a better story, and better ways of telling it. 

2: We also seek a more balanced way of being - not expansion for its own sake, but as part of a way of life that honors the rhythms of nature, rest & renewal, and each of us having a meaningful part within the community. Within this commitment, we would like to be able to do more - to pay our writers better, to share our gifts more widely, to host more people on retreats, to invite more people into the Porch community. 

By reading this newsletter, you help make The Porch live. 

And you can help us even more by doing one or two things.

 1: Please take a few minutes to respond to some simple questions linked here. I value your input in helping us discern where best to put the time and energy available to us, the questions we should be asking, and what we have yet to learn.

2: There are over 10,000 people on this email list. About 400 are paying members of The Porch, most of whom are paying $3 a month to support what we are doing. I'm truly grateful for this support of my own writing and other work, and for the writing of our community of thoughtful, creative folks. We want to pay our writers better, and to share what we're doing more widely with anyone, regardless of ability to pay. If you believe in what we’re doing, and feel led to support us financially, there are four ways to do that (click any of the links below to take the next step):

We’re seeking to help co-create a more peaceful world through nurturing individuals and communities who learn and share a better story, wherever we are.

There is immense pain in this beautiful and broken world; yet we reject the predictions of certain collapse.

There is enormous excitement as compassion toward each other and stewardship of the ecosystem rapidly evolve; but we don’t think such evolution is either inevitable or happens without our help.

There’s a third way beyond the disempowered nightmare of catastrophe or passive utopian dreams. It’s a way that takes the depths as seriously as the heights; that knows each truly human existence requires some time spent in a garden of despair; that the only way to light is through the darkness; that the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better; and that we are invited to take life seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. What a challenging and magnificent time to be alive.

Thank you for reading this email. The door is always open if you want to ask us for our help - and if you find meaning in what we’re doing, please do tell others.

In the coming weeks we'll be sharing some more about the future of The Porch - some new projects and old ones renewed, and more ways to connect with our work in your community.

For now, I’m so glad to be able to share in this community with you, and I wish you courage and creativity, in the spirit of a better story.

Gareth

 PS: Take a look below for a little summary of what has happened on The Porch over the past five years…

FIVE YEARS OF THE PORCH: A BRIEF SUMMARY

  • We’ve published hundreds of essays in the spirit of a slow conversation about beautiful, and difficult things. We couldn’t have done this without a good number of people, most especially Jasmin Pittman Morrell, Steve Daugherty, Jacob Ratliff and Brian Ammons. And I’m pleased to say that we’ve been able to pay our writers (some of whom have waived their fees in support of what we’re doing - thanks!).

  • Membership in The Porch has always been available at no charge to anyone who needs it; and we’re grateful to the many people who have supported us financially.

  • We’ve hosted the Movies & Meaning festival in New Mexico and North Carolina, co-hosted the New Story Festival in Texas, shared leadership of Medicine Stories with David Wilcox in California, helped lead a retreat in Wyoming, and this past summer hosted the first Porch Gathering for storytellers and writers seeking the nourishment, inspiration, and integrity to share a better story.

  • We’ve developed and offered our Porch Circles model of building community, discovering purpose, serving the common good and helping each other, to anyone who wants it.

  • We’ve held frequent storytelling, music and community events in Asheville.

  • Around 200 people have come with us on one of our Ireland retreats for a journey of peace-building, inside and out.

  • We’ve hosted free or early screenings of profound movies including Blindspotting, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Mass.

  • We’ve published two books about transforming the stories we tell: Cory and the Seventh Story and The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence, co-authored with Brian McLaren; and my book How Not to be Afraid came out earlier this year.

  • We’ve hosted six Porch Courses with distinguished teachers of conflict transformation, personal and community initiation, and seeing life through the eyes of others.

  • We’ve been supported along the way by friends and admired guests including Malidoma Somé, Alice Walker, Godfrey Reggio, Mira Nair, Richard Rohr, Cathleen Falsani, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Yvette Flunder, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Over the Rhine, Mona Haydar, Micky ScottBey Jones, rev angel Kyodo williams, James McLeary, Kathleen Norris, Melvin Bray, Noah Hepler, Michelle LeBaron, and Carrie Rodriguez.

We’ve been seeking to be animated by love: to extend ourselves for the sake of the good of others, of the ecosystem, and of our best selves. We welcome your support on this journey, your share of wisdom in discerning the future, and your connection with what we're doing, in whatever ways are life-giving. Please click below to share your feedback.

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