Sunday, September 11, 2011

New Name.

Quick update, homework calls!  The new name  reflects a more refined focus I would like to take with this blog, it may also signal a new beginning...maybe I'll be able to keep updating on a regular basis this time.  I love Lynn, I am Lynn-centric, She has shaped who I am and I will do as much as I can to give back to her.  Renaissance reflects what I believe is happening and has been happening in Lynn for a while now, can't quite figure out the date but maybe some older Lynners who have their ear's to the ground might be able to pin-point the time when Lynners increasingly became concerned with the apathy and drudgery that the city was sinking into, like the recently built high school sinking into the marshy earth. Like the sinking school, there are those amongst our city, the ranks swelling every day, who are building stronger foundations. 
It feels like I discover a new community organization or Community-minded Lynner every month.  The Highlands Coalition, Lynn Happens, East Lynn Association, Friends of Lynn Woods, Friends of Lynn Beach, the growing arts community, Vida Urbana/City Life, and most recently the New Lynn Project.  I hope to aid and abet these groups in their efforts to better our beautiful city.  More people are reflecting upon the causes of crime and poverty and looking for positive efforts to prevent people from becoming victims of either social illness.  Lynners are looking to their spaces, streets, properties and cleaning/improving them, taking renewed pride in them.  I love to drive around the city and see the most humble abode and be able to see the love and care the dwellers have taken in its upkeep.  Even a potted flower on a window sill brings a smile to my heart.
Revolution.  This word has acquired a negative connotation over the years, but I find it to be a very positive idea.  A revolution of the heart, the soul, the mind, an awakening to a new way of viewing the world and our place in it.  This Revolution is sweeping the world, from North Africa, Chile, and to the streets of America.  Nonviolent revolution is always desired and I hope that our open hearts will dull the blades and cool the fiery passions of both the revolutionary and the reactionary.
The Revolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul has created the foundations upon which the Renaissance of Lynn is occurring, and it is the same in many of the other working class communities of Massachusetts: Lawrence, Lowell, Jamaica Plain, Methuen, Haverhill, Worcester, Fall River and many more.

For the city, for the stone-built towers, for the woods, for the ocean, for every stream that flows, every water the cools, for all of the people and all of the creatures.




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