Thursday, 12 October 2006

Choreography of neighbouring

Thursday is bin day, today it was also paper recycling collection day. I happened to be on hand just after the latter so I reunited a few boxes with their lids, and slotted them away off the path. A little later I heard the dustbin collection, followed by the sound of a neighbour wheeling various bins into place.

Then presently a knock at the back, here's the lady from next door with a small cake she's baked - one for me to go with me coffee. Thanks me dear, you alright? Oh fine. Mind the step. Off she goes.

12 Oct 2006 18:30:15 | Vignettes

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Hospitality in the neighbourhood I've just had a couple of workmen fitting a new front door. This has been a six-coffee job (so far, not yet finished) for the guy who's done most of the work. So I asked him if he measured jobs by the number of coffees they take to get done. No, says he: two days ago was the worst, they worked at five different properties and didn't once get offered anything. Well, there's a longitudinal and comparative study to be done of neighbourhoods' hospitality measured by the simple courtesy of offering visiting workmen and women a drink. Not sure the research funders will be happy with the sugar and biscuit budget though, that might need commercial sponsorship.
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Compassion and anger: that'll be the community workers then Early life experiences help community regeneration professionals develop the commitment and resilience to balance complex ethical and emotional work challenges, according to a recent ESRC study, Negotiating ethical dilemmas in contested communities. The study explores how community development professionals negotiate the conflicting interests and attitudes of local residents and institutional actors such as management and local politicians, whilst dealing with problems raised by the short-term targets, competition for funding and the bureaucratic burdens of managerialism. Findings confirmed the challenging nature of such work in multiply disadvantaged communities, but found that workers' extraordinary levels of commitment and resilience - often deeply rooted in early life experiences and identifications - informed a strong sense of personal authority and a capacity for emotional and ethical complexity. One of the authors, Paul Hoggett, explained: "The fact that many of the sample group were themselves 'survivors' meant that they were able to cope with levels of conflict, tension and distress that others might find daunting." Researchers were also struck by the mixture of compassion and anger that underlay the respondents' belief in democracy, community and social justice. These values were consistent and strong in the group, and contributed to significant overlap between people's 'personal' and 'professional' selves. Press release. Report.

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