I recently realized that for the last 58 years I’ve lived within 10 miles of my childhood home in Berkeley. Me, the world traveler, the road warrior, the guy with mad packing skills and a foolproof anti-jetlag routine, is a homebody! Bizarre.
And I’m not just a homebody here in the Bay – I’ve got homes away from home and even homes that you can’t find on a map – the circus world, the theater world, consultants, clients and former students all over the world.
I need these homes, these people, and I would have lost many of them in 2020 if I hadn’t realized that it takes a lot of work to stay connected with family, friends and history.
Luckily, I’m doing my home-work. For example, in Humboldt County, a home away from home, my friend David is creating a new show. I went up last week to help out and it was a lovefest of old friends and art – long days of puppet making (shadow and 3D), rehearsing, eating, reminiscing.
It’s taken me a long time to see my love of home as a good thing through the cloud of individualism that I’ve cultivated (my road warrior self). Philosopher Erica Lucast Stonestreet (a wonderful name!) talks about the Enlightenment belief that humans are fundamentally individuals and that our basic state is separation and autonomy. She challenges this with the theory that cooperation is the primary factor in evolution, that we humans are interdependent with one another and with the natural world, so that our interests are intertwined with those of others.
This dichotomy, individual vs. community, is playing out across the country, from Minneapolis to Portland to Alameda, as people double down on community, on mutual aid, on home, in the face of rabid individualism.
This week, lean into your interdependence. Do some good home-work.
