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Movement or Lose it
Movement or Lose it
What provides meaning to our lives?
Many of us are learning that the answer to that indelible question has more to do with the relationships we form and less to do with our status in the world. When people are "dead inside" they seek control and domination. Having worked in the Mental Health Industrial Complex for over two decades, I've learned all about the origins of corruption, exploitation, extraction. They are all rooted in fear.
Bee-tween you and me, I understand a lot of people are fearful in this moment in history because it represents global collapse of systems that are built for the few and not for the other species we share Earth with. People develop really odd behaviors to manage fear--isolation being one of them. Given I lived in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in America, I can attest to how exponential wealth comes with the cost of living as a sequestered individual that can never really trust the motivations of the people around him or her.
I imagine if you are reading this, you don't want your one precious life spent buffering yourself from the things you fear. I don't want that for you either. I have a vision for Platt Park and subsequently Denver and see it blossoming in phases:
Phase 1: Find Block Captains that can help grow the P.P.H. (Plat Park Hive). Host a initial gathering in March at the Platt Park center to see who wants to participate.
Phase 2: Collaborate with established Neighborhood Associations and Strategic Partners. Establish funding sources (I can't do this alone).
Phase 3: Host Monthly gatherings where neighbors can get to know one another such as walks, coffee meet ups, and educational classes.
Phase 4: Launch the "Freedom Hive" (working title) Podcast and work with established publications to generate a Buzz.
Phase 5: Get zoning laws adapted so lawns become pollination stations and urban farms. Host a block party to celebrate if we make it to this phase!
Phase 6: Magic--this is the unknown. I'd like for this to become my full-time career: Hosting community gatherings, offering 1:1 support, and meeting like-minded souls whose hearts are open to "Vibe our Hive" 🐝!
Further, I really don't want Data Farms the size of the Airport burning through what little resources we have left. My sense is that we "Movement or lose it!" So, I hope you will join our community initiative that it rooted in kindness, environmental stewardship, and the one thing that drives out fear--LOVE.
Bee here now.
Bee here now.
Not a day went by in 2025 that I didn't question my career choice. It's wild to think that under duress, I made one of the most significant decisions of my life when I chose to attend Naropa University the year after my mother passed away in 2007. Over a decade later, and after working in several different agencies, I find myself employed by yet another community mental health clinic. It mostly feels like soul sucking work due to it existing within a corporate structure.
I realize that might be little too honest for someone who doesn't know me: to categorize my career in Mental Health as "soul sucking". And, after 20 years in the industry I've learned humans, well, we are a problem for all of the other animals on this planet. It is impossible to exist in "society" and not consume an exponential amount of vital resources. Suffice to say, anxiety and depression are appropriate responses to the sixth extinction.
Further, we are wearing trash bags as clothing because the majority of textiles consist of petroleum products like nylon and polyester. Fast Fashion is one of the primary sources of pollution on the planet second only to billionaires. Plus, politically speaking the globe has sociopaths in charge of every continent.
All this to say by summer of 2025 I was feeling really desperate. Then the idea came to me to found the Platt Park Hive. I've lived all over America and have learned one thing to be resoundingly true about humans: WE NEED COMMUNITY. It's not enough to slip into (plastic) yoga pants or (poly-blend) sweats, turn on a "show", and tune out the world after grinding away on "Plantation USA". Escapism is like putting a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.
So, I'm working on a theory that the Platt Park residents are ready to create a movement like nothing Denver has seen before. I've already reached out to our district 7 council woman and befriended the head of Parks & Rec. We had our first gathering of neighbors at the local pub where ten willing souls were brave enough to gather and get to know those who lived next to them. It was heart warming. It is what we need.
Also, I've noticed an increase in the un-housed population on Broadway. Some nodding off, some yelling during their meth-induced psychosis, and others balancing on a knife's edge between life and death. Then we have Pearl street where vehicles that cost more than I've made in my lifetime are valeted next to Sushi Den. The contrast is jarring while simultaneously representing the outcomes of capitalism. I feel particularly sensitive to this disparity because I too exist within a paradox.
I support people through recovering from major addiction, grief & loss, divorce, and health issues while struggling to support myself both financially and emotionally. But, I'm not the kind of person who resigns in the face of difficulty. Rather, I become clever about how to revitalize my soul and other souls who are also weary.
I hold the hope that we can find strength in numbers just as bees do within a HIVE.
In the words of Dr. Harville Hendrix, a world renown psychologist, "We are hurt in relationship and we heal in relationship". There is a lot of healing we can do in Platt Park in 2026. And I hope you will join me in this mission to bring human-beeings together to support one another as well as bring back the population of pollinators we all rely on for everything we have.
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