Giving the Gift of Gathering
I end the year filled with gratitude for all the meaningful connection with people made, and I offer a couple of gifts to spark ideas for gatherings in 2025.
Hi, friends.
How have you been? It’s been a while since I checked in here, largely because I’ve had a writing backlog for a couple of months, and have dedicated my writing time to Ugnayan Cards lately. (Do check out our recent posts on Pasasalamat, Pag-asa, Tibay ng Loob, and our one-year mark!)
Mostly, I’ve been preoccupied with various gatherings — with Ugnayan, Good Food Community, and other spaces in between. I didn’t get to share those gatherings here to invite you to them, but I hope to be better about updating my Substack in 2025 (as we are most optimistic about habit changes at this time of year) to share more about the things I’m learning and the gatherings I’m creating in the different spaces I’m moving in.
I realize that even when I got really fatigued by organizing events at several points throughout the life of Muni, I still really am energized by them. I feel that one of my reasons for being, or one of my gifts to the world if you will, is really to gather.
It’s also clear that gathering doesn’t have one look or shape or face. It can take the form of community conversations I’d co-organize for Ugnayan and for Good Food Community; it can be shared meals around our dining table; a cooking session in our kitchen; a picnic; an art date.
It is not always a grand event. In fact, my preferred flavor for gathering is one that doesn’t involve too many complicated logistics. What matters more to me is a shared intention — where the invitation or purpose of the gathering serves as the bouncer (as Priya Parker would say) that allows people to self-select whether it’s a gathering they want to be part of or not.
A lot of experiments were made this year — gathering-wise, and I look forward to version 2.0 of some of those experiments next year — from my emergent Likha Ginhawa women’s circle for collective wellbeing and liberation, to the Hapag Ugnayan dinner in collaboration with La Picara for Good Food Community.
I’d also love to see more stories of other people just organizing their own gatherings, perhaps with the help of some tools and encouragement I’d been able to give them!
In the spirit of that, I wanted to share a couple of resources for gathering that I created for Ugnayan Cards (a digital guide!) and Good Food Community (a zine!) respectively.
A Gift from Ugnayan
We designed a guide to support you in creating more meaningful gatherings and cultivating deeper connections, which you’ll see snippets of in the above Instagram post, and access the full version of at bit.ly/gift-ugnayan-2024.
The guide is not exhaustive, but perhaps that’s the point. 😊
I hope you’ll take these gifts of Ugnayan, and that they give you the courage to create more meaningful gatherings wherever you may be.
* You can also get a chance to win one (1) of three (3) @ugnayancards decks we’re giving away by joining our raffle by Dec. 8! 👉 Swipe through the post above to find out how to join!
Start a (revolutionary) Meal Prep Club
Nothing like a deadline to light a fire under my ass 🔥
These past 2-3 weeks have been exceptionally busy but I’m glad I set aside some time yesterday morning (!) to make this zine for @goodfoodcommunity in time for the last @xeroxography fair of 2024 yesterday.
There are several things I would still edit. But I think the beauty of a zine-making practice for me, is that it is an exercise in pagbubuo — in making rough drafts of something that could be more (but is also whole in itself); and for me, a space for play.
About the zine
A couple of months ago, we @goodfoodcommunity carried out a People’s Research project asking the question:
What does solidarity with farmers look like for “co-producers” (that’s us consumers, if we approach the relationship with farmers less transactionally)?
What can co-producers do to be in stronger solidarity with farmers?
A number of different interventions were mentioned: from community dialogues, a social media campaign, a Good Food Kitchen, and a “host your own meal prep club” initiative.
The latter was an idea inspired by the Meal Prep Clubs that @goodfoodcommunity sometimes did, but also, a gathering I had with friends one time — that was emergent, enlivening and enlightening all at once.
My Meal Prep Club with friends did not take much. Just some Good Food tampipis, a kitchen, and a desire to create something together.
When we @goodfoodcommunity later did the research / testing with a community of co-producers about this idea, I was surprised with all the questions or logistical concerns that folks had in hosting their own meal prep club. I didn’t think it required so much planning as much as it required will. I consider this zine as my response to that.
The zine is not overly formulaic, because your meal prep club is really yours to create. However, I hope it helps give co-producers the boost of courage to just do it.
If you would like to start your own meal prep club and want some more guidance or still have questions, feel free to leave a comment below or DM me @pagbubuo. 🙌
In @mabidavid’s words: Yakon do it! 💪
Whatever your flavor of gathering, I hope you can create (or co-create!) one that is meaningful for you — whether in the year ahead or before this year ends — especially in this season that can be riddled with many that you would rather not be part of. 😅
Love,
Jen Horn
@pagbubuo