Neighbourhood Folk - 2025 06 13

Last night I attended 411 Coffeehouse, our local open mic event. Lucky for me, one of the hosts, Earle Peach, agreed to help me lead the gathering to learn my protest song, "Neighbourhood Folk".

On the eve of mass protests in the United States to restore democratic principles and ideals to government, I am sharing this song I wrote after Nov 6, 2024. 

Neighbourhood Folk was conceived as an antidote to the isolationism, consumerism and individualism that have burgeoned in the 20th century, to the detriment of our sense of belonging, connectivity and well being. We are social creatures. We need each other to help us make sense of the world. We need each other to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel empowered. We need each other to feel our own sense of autonomy as we learn to problem solve, plan, and act together. We need each other to learn competence at whatever skills, expertise or knowledge draw our curiosity and desire to learn.

Neighbourhood Folk is conceived as a social experience. It is an experience augmented by our use of communication technologies, but it is not defined or constrained by them. We gather face to face, to be present with each other, to share stories, songs, poems. We gather to experience our artful inquiry into life, meaning and being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

When we sing together, when we share stories, when we articulate our experience into poetry, we build our capacity and capability to improve outcomes for humanity. 

I hope more people will learn this song so that when we are together, we can proudly proclaim, "One, two, three, four... We are Neighbourhood Folk."