Your Crafts, Your Communtiy & You

To many of us, a passion in a hobby or interest is something we disregard as a daily part of our lives.  Today Cagora - It's All About Community takes a look into the world of hobbies, and reveals a special link to community that up until now, nobody has heard of.

Each day people go about their lives with their daily tasks.  For most of us that includes spending time doing things we enjoy.  The participation in hobbies and interests, such as crafts, music, games or sports are simply natural things we do on a regular occurance.  It's not unusual to hear about people fitting in sports or hobbies with their work, family and friends.

To many of us, the hobbies we have involve others also.  Groups, big and small, get together to share in their interests, making them interest based communities, and many of these small groups also work to improve their local community, such as the Kugaaruk workshops, who help the local community by teaching how to make traditional kayaks...

"Maria Niptayuk and Marie Anguti, teachers for the sewing course, are helping the kayak building instructor Jesse Apsaktaun by preparing sealskins to be used on the frame of a kayak. The three high school students who are taking part in the sewing workshop were taught how to get the fat and fur out of fresh sealskin. "

- Source: nnsl.com

Groups like the Kugaaruk Workshop exist around the world, and by being involved in special interest communities, these groups hold a very important role in their local community.

In the world of Social Networking, it is now possible for groups such as the Kugaaruk Workshop to not only play a vital role in their local community, but to also help build their local community, help spread word about their special interest (ie. Traditional seal-skin kayaks) and at the same time , through sharing their love and passion for their interests, create a viable income for their community group.

Cagora - It's All About Community has a desire to share the passion for community interest groups with the world, bringing local communities and special interest communities together, and help community & community groups earn in the process.

Cagora - What IS Community

In a world gone mad, the idea of community appears to have gotten lost. People wake up, go to work, come home without stopping to realise that on their way to the office they probably passed through a number of small communities. They may live, work or play among any number of communities. But do they realise it? In this busy chaotic world, Cagora - It's All About Community plans to ask that question, and prove that yes, communites are alive, kicking and very strong.

You just have to open your eyes.

Scrolling through the Internet today I found a very fascinating post by Suellen Hozman. Suellen raises a very good question about Community; What does it really mean?

"The Universal Community will meet everywhere, tonight at eight. The fictitious announcement appeared as galactic skywriting. What if everyone came? Would everyone stay? Probably not. Some would leave because people from over there, you know, that place, came. I struggle with the word community. What does it really mean? I feel heretical taking issue with the word. It’s the social apple pie of language. Sometimes it gets flung, hits you in the face and it doesn’t taste sweet."

Source: About.com Human Resources

What does Community mean? For decades, people have often thought of community as weekends together doing group shared activities. Local fairs and markets, weekly town meetings and bake-offs are all steriotypical "old school" Community activities. But is this really the truest definition of Community?

THE COMMUNITY EQUATION

The American Heritage Dictionary refers to community as being:

"A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community."

Source: Dictionary.com

Now we are getting somewhere! Take a few minutes to think over this quote. let's break it down into it's 3 key parts.

"A Group"

Joined together, as one.

"of people"

Laugh if you will, but "people" are the central key phrase here. People MAKE a community. People ARE the community.

"having common interests"

Regardless of how big, small, serious or funny that interest may be, it's still a vital part of the Community Equation.

To ask the question again; What IS a community? In it's broadest sense, it is you, me, and the people around us. It is mothers sharing stories over coffee. It is athletes sharing an interest in their sport. It is teenagers talking about music.

Community "is"!

More on this in the next installment of "Cagora - It's All About Community.