Episode 17: Ben Fink- A Communist Jew from the Northeast - CH.1

<h2><strong>CSCW EP 17: Ben Fink – A Communist Jew from the Northeast – Chapter 1 </strong></h2><h2><u>Threshold Questions and Delicious Quotes</u></h2><p><strong><em>What defines the work of Appalshop and Performing our Future?</em></strong></p><blockquote>The work is creating the conditions, for people in communities to tell their own stories, build their own power, and create their own wealth, and doing it really intensely locally rooted in local traditions and local values</blockquote><p><strong><em>What is the difference between community engagement and working with your neighbor?</em></strong></p><blockquote>...What I'll usually say, I come in, I'm supposed to talk to a group about community engagement. First thing you got to know, fuck community engagement. And then they say, oh, what do you mean? Ben now, how do you describe your work if you don't talk about community engagement? I said, "I work with my neighbors". Sometimes my neighbors are across the street. Sometimes my neighbors are across the country. We are neighbors. We are living together and we're going to work together. Does that mean we're all the same? Hell no. What community is composed of all people that are the same.</blockquote><p><br></p><p><strong><em>How can working with your neighbor help change a community's story?</em></strong></p><blockquote>...that act of making things together and owning what we make. It's so central to the work, because when you make something together, then you are changing that story, because you now have a story of, "we built this we have added to our world in a way that is deeply meaningful of both of us." From that foundation. It is really hard to dehumanize someone.</blockquote><p><br></p><h2><u>Transcript</u></h2><p><br></p><p>So, where do I start. I think I start by asking your help. by joining in a little song. This may seem crazy on a podcast – but here is the lyric: &nbsp;</p><p><strong><em>We who believe in freedom cannot rest.</em></strong></p><p>Before we sing it, please take a moment to ponder wha