One of the things I enjoy about life in community is food. Food, food, food.

In the Wilson House, we have a way of meal planning that I think is really cool.

Meal Planning

We plan meals a week (or sometimes two weeks) ahead. Once we decide on meals, we write them down on our decorative, dry-erase board which Kayla made.

How do we decide what meals to make?

For inspiration, we look to the coupons!

Once the coupons are located, they're listed on the fridge. This is a new innovation.

Jess is a coupon superhero. She spots deals on all kinds of grocery items—usually on items we were going to purchase anyway, like milk, and sometimes on unique items, like organic romaine hearts.

Once we choose what meals we want, we find recipes. We generate grocery lists from those recipes, which were, in turn, informed by the coupons. Then we shop.

To me, this is a great system. It gives priority to the values of economy and thrift, so it saves the community money. At the same time, it does not mandate that all meal ideas come directly from coupons. Instead, the coupons provide much-needed and much-appreciated inspiration for meal ideas.

Couponing is an involved task. It takes a lot of time, energy and organizational skills to make it work, and we are so happy that Jess uses her talent for the good of the community. Life in community is all about recognizing and nurturing each other’s strengths—because people come up with better solutions when we work together than when we work in isolation.

We take turns preparing meals. We plan five meals a week, and there are five people living in the house. So, this week for example, we each planned a meal.

This is the most egalitarian way to handle the task of meal planning and prep. It is what we strive for, though I think some members end up preparing more meals than me.

Not how we eat.

Common Food

The Wilson House has a common-fund which we use exclusively for expenses that we share. One of those expenses, of course, if food. We practice what I call “100% community food,” which means that, in general, all household food is purchased out of the common fund and used in common. (Though I have been known buy Doritos at the corner store with my own money and eat them secretly. Don’t tell anybody.)

This practice differs from what Amber and I did at Formation House, Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh we had a partial common purse, as we do in Liberty, which we used for rent, groceries, etc. The difference is that in Pittsburgh we used the common grocery fund only for groceries that were for common meals. Snacks, individual lunches, ect., were purchased separately.

In my experience, both systems can work. The important thing with any system is mutual understanding and clearly articulated expectations.

When we were initially discussing the practice of 100% community food, Tyler pointed out that this is how family units usually operate, too. Rarely does one member of a family purchase a bottle of juice (for example) put it in the fridge, and then declare, “This is my juice!”

Tuesday Night

Tuesday Night at LibertyCommunity is a wonderful time. We have a potluck-isque meal which we coordinate via email the week before. We cycle locations between the Wilson House, the Leonard House, and the Jewel House. We have a recurring taco night, which I love, and other than that, so far it’s something new every week, which I also love. Jordan brings chocolate sheet cake, which (you may be surprised to learn) I love. (I pretty much practice unconditional positive regard for food.)

After dinner, we do common prayer, discuss community business, and sometimes play catchphrase.

Three Personal Goals

In conclusion, I have three personal goals with regard to food at the Wilson House.

One: I want to take an equal share in the meal prep, consistently planning one meal a week, and more if necessary.

Two: I want to get a better a feel for the skill of shopping. I want to play an equal part in the shopping process: Practice, practice, practice.

Three: I want to get a better feel for the skill of improvising recipes. I am a logistical thinker—I think that people go to the trouble of coming up with step-by-step recipes for a reason, and therefore deviation from that recipe constitutes an error, and should be avoided. However, I am starting to get the feeling from my more advance housemates that only rank amateurs stick to recipes.

I got a lot of learn’n to do!

Now, without further ado, an interview with our dear friend, Jess.

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Full name? Jessica Elaine “Danger” Tankersley

Jay: Jess, did you have any nicknames in highschool?
Jess: Actually, in highschool everyone called me Jessica.  I wasn’t called
Jess until college.

A few items on your bucket list include:

• Travel to Portland,
• Have a behbeh,
• pay off all of our debts,
• camp by myself

Tyler: What are you most excited about becoming a Mom?
Jess: I think having a little person to pour lots of time and energy into.
After spending the last few years learning about child development and
helping other people’s kiddos learn, I am ready to do it with my own
offspring.  Also, seeing Tyler become a dad is going to be special.

Tyler: Where do babies come from?
Jess: I have no idea, really.

Mark: So, who married up, you or Tyler?
Jess: I think we all know the answer to that question. And I honestly don’t
know what that answer implies.

Personal blog url/web location? www.jesstankersley.blogspot.com

Amber: If you had another dog, what would you name it?
Jess: We have always thought that Wedge would be a good dog name.

Wedge could never replace ME, right???

Amber: What is one experience in your faith journey that has really
shaped who you are?
Jess: There were a few times in my life when I felt completely overwhelmed
by life and the only thing that has helped is going on the back deck
or a stairwell of the dorms, having a good ugly cry, and then
remembering that God cares and I don’t have to let myself fall victim
to guilt and stress.  There are three times I remember doing this and
I always felt the presence of God.

Alyssa: What is your favorite movie? What is your favorite book?
Jess: I love the movie Home Alone, of course, but I don’t know if it is
necessarily my favorite.  I love the book The Perks of Being a
Wallflower.

Jay: Jess, which is your favorite season, and why?
Jess: I like something about every season. Winter: snow. Spring: warm!
Summer: swimming.  Fall: Everything.

Amber: Why are you a vegetarian?
Jess: I am a vegetarian for several reasons.  The most important reason is
that I find the way that animals are treated in factory farms to be
wrong and inhumane.  I feel like being a vegetarian is a peaceful way
to eat.  I also don’t like the taste of meat nearly as much as
veggies!  And donuts!

Jay: If you were a hotdog, and you were starving, would you still be a
vegetarian?
Jess: Yes.  I will die with dignity.

Hobbies?

• Crocheting,
• Piddling around on the internet,
• reading,
• watching TV seasons on DVD,
• researching creative activities to do with kids

Tyler: What books are you reading right now?
Jess: I am still working on The Picture of Dorian Gray and What to Expect
When You Are Expecting, and I am also reading an embarrassing read
called Three Girls and a Baby.

What is the biggest problem in the world?
People being mean and selfish and not being able to let things go.
There are huge problems, but I think a lot boils down to this.

Alyssa: If you could live any place in the world, where would it be?
Jess: Somewhere urban-ish where my family is less than 45 minutes away.

Jay: What is your favorite crochet stitch? Why?
Jess: I think double crochet.  Quick and easy, gets the job done.

What is your favorite thing about community?
I love the way that sharing responsibilities gives us all freedom to
explore our passions, I never get lonely, and I love our conversations
over dinner.

Personal hero?
Captain Planet

What does community mean to you?
For me, community is the act of gathering around something held in common, whether it is a common vision, a common cause, a common interest, or simply a common humanity.

Personal blog url/web location?
My blog is called Theory and Practice, and Amber and I have a blog called Adventures in Togetherness.

Josh: “What is your favorite piece of fiction?”
Father Sergius by Tolstoy

Favorite movie?
The Professional.

Favorite song and or artist?
Kayla’s upcoming single, “Songify Thai.“

Favorite food?
Vegetable beef soup! (and baby back ribs from Smoking Guns BBQ) (and chocolate sheet cake) (and pizza).

Amber: “Jay: When can we get a puppy?”
As soon as possible!

Tyler: What is the longest amount of time you have spent in solitude? Was it a good or bad experience?
One Spring Break I took a multi-day solo retreat to Busiek state park and camped by a stream. I think it was a three or four day trip. It was a great experience for me. I took a loaf of bread and several gallons of water, and a small blank journal which I filled up during the trip. (I took proper precautions–several people knew where I was, and I had first aid and an exit ready if I needed it.)

Where did you go to college, and what did you study?
Missouri State. I studied organizational communication and minored in religious studies.

Mark: “When did you first believe in your ability to communicate?”
I’m not sure. I remember I was very nervous the first time I preached at my church growing up. I was surprised to find that the nervousness went away once I started talking.

Hero/person who inspires you?
Nicholas Copernicus.

Hobbies?
Reading, writing, cycling, chess, frisbee.

A few items on your bucket list include:

• Some year I want to camp at least once a month every month of the year.
• Write books.
• Grin a bear.

If you could have coffee with one person living or dead, who would you pick and why?
NASA’s Martian rover Curiosity. I would say, “Hi, Curiosity. Been anywhere interesting lately?” And it would probably zap me with its laser.

Johnny 5 don't drink coffee!

Josh: “Jay: What is the best piece of existential writing you’ve ever read?”
One of my favorites is The Trial by Kafka.

Favorite Author?
The good people who write Wikipedia.

Biggest problem in the world?
Ignorance and Want.

Favorite color?
Red.

Tyler: “Where do babies come from?”
As with most theological questions, it’s unclear.

Alyssa: “Jay, if you could travel to one place in the entire world, where would you go?”
I would use the trip to kick off my “tree tour of the world,” in which I visit all the oldest, tallest, and most amazing trees. I would either visit the giant sequoias, or the baobab trees of Africa.

Tyler: “If you could be any animal what would you be?”
I’d want to be a honey badger, because honey badgers are carefree animals, I’ve heard.

What is your favorite drink?
Water.

Josh: “Also, who killed J.R.?”
I don’t know who that is. But so far as I can tell, I did!

Tiny Red and Yukon Gold potatoes, a beet, a quart of homemade veggie broth, a quarter pound of lentils, an orange pepper, an onion, and some celery.

Best. Soup. Ever.

Now, without further ado, an interview with our dear friend, Alyssa.

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Full name: Alyssa Bennett Smith

Personal blog url/web location? www.alyssabennettsmith.blogspot.com
(but I rarely use it)

Amber: What draws you to share your life in intentional community?
Alyssa: I feel as though life is more fun, more fulfilling, and more productive when lived with other people.  Human kind was not meant to be alone.

Marilyn: What is your top three short list of places to go in the United States that you haven’t yet been?
Alyssa: Hmmmm . . . probably out west mostly, because the furthest west I have visited is Kansas.  Probably Seattle, Portland, and San Fransisco. Although, I hear Maine is gorgeous and I love the east coast, so probably there, too.

A few items on your bucket list include:
1) Living outside the country
2) visiting all of the national parks (especially Yosemite)
3) Maybe writing a book.

Favorite author? It’s a tie between Sloane Crosley and David Sedaris.
They’re both essayists/humorists and HILARIOUS.

Favorite food? Potato Chips.  Or mashed potatoes.  Or really, almost any kind of potato.  Except sweet potatoes.  Ick.

Amber: If you throw a cat out the window would you consider that kitty litter?
Alyssa: WHY WOULD YOU THROW A CAT OUT THE WINDOW?!

Jay: Margarita or Greek? Margarita.
Alyssa: Definitely. But with spinach.

Jess: What is your favorite childhood memory?
Alyssa: Playing in the summer evenings with the kids from my neighborhood.  There were a lot of us, and Ohio weathers have long days and mild weather, so we spent a lot of time outside.  We invented a game called Racquetball, which was like baseball but with a tennis ball and a tennis racket, so even kids who couldn’t hit in real baseball (me) stood a chance at being good at the game(and I was).  It wasn’t until several years later that we found out that racquetball was already a game.  I still like ours better.

Josh: Alyssa, which is your favorite cat, So-So or Yare? Why?
Alyssa: I cannot pick a favorite.  They’re both awesome, and adorable, and cuddle with me.  Although, Yare has definitely wounded me less than Soso.  Take that as you will.

Favorite movie and/or actor? My favorite movie is Dead Poets Society and my favorite actor is Alan Alda, who is surprisingly not in Dead Poets Society.

Tyler: What happens inside of you when you are making art?
Alyssa: That depends what kind of art it is.  If it’s graphic design work, there is usually a song in my head that plays over and over again until I finish the project.  If I’m painting, there is tremendous amounts of cursing going on in my head.  And usually coming out of my mouth, as well.

Favorite visual artist? Barbara Kruger. Don’t google her unless you want to feel seriously unsettled.

Hobbies? Sewing, general crafting, painting, singing, occasionally writing, hanging out with my kitties, and organizing things (whether they belong to me or not)

Kayla: What is your favorite thing to craft?
Alyssa: My favorite thing to craft is quilts, especially for other people’s babies

Tyler: Where do babies come from?
Alyssa: If you haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t think you will.

Most embarrassing moment? I don’t get embarrassed very easily, but I would have to say in 6th grade when my science teacher announced in front of the whole class that I was getting detention.  That was the first time ever (of two times in my life, both of which occurred in the same week in 6th grade) that I ever received detention, and I felt it was unwarranted.  So did my mother.  That teacher got an ear-full, but I still got detention.

Josh: What are you looking forward to most about your upcoming trip to Thailand/Myanmar?
Alyssa: I am looking forward to learning more about Buddhism, because what little I know really fascinates me, but I don’t know much.  I’m also looking forward to spending time with my cohort.  Because they are awesome.  We are basically the best cohort ever.  Just sayin’.

Personal hero? Pat Reagan.  She was the chair of the art department while I was in college and I love her to death.  She  is a really inspiring, encouraging, loving woman.  I hope I’m just like her when I grow up. Also, Alan Alda and Martin Sheen.

If you could have coffee with one person living or dead, who would you pick and why? President Josiah Bartlet.  He’s not real, but I pick him anyway.

Jess: Do you have any conspiracy theories that you subscribe to?
Alyssa: I am a little paranoid when it comes to things like government surveillance.  Reading 1984 kind of ruined me that way.  But seriously, doesn’t it strike you as odd that you can go to a store, swipe a card, and in some cases not even have to sign your name to purchase things? “Oh, it’s ok, all of your financial and personal information is contained on this tiny plastic card and can be easily accessed by swiping it through this tiny machine.”  That’s a little weird to me.

What is the biggest problem in the world? Human selfishness.

Mark: Just curious Alyssa…What is your favorite kind of sausage?
Alyssa: The kind that is made from soy and doesn’t include ground up ears, snouts and tails of pigs.  Also, I prefer chorizo-like seasoning.  Yummm spicy.

chorizo

Amber: Alyssa, what would your perfect day look like from beginning to end?
Alyssa: I would wake up early, but well rested.  It would be raining, but warm.  I would be productive, but not stressed (which clearly means that I would be off of work that day).  I would spend a lot of time alone, but also plenty of time with my husband, kitties, and close friends in community.  Actually, it would look a lot like this Tuesday.

Jess: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Alyssa: I want to be loving, generous, relaxed, sure of what I know and willing to learn what I don’t.  Other than that, I haven’t got a clue.

Now, without further ado, an interview with our dear friend, Mark Buhlig.

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Question: What does community means to you?
Mark: Sharing.

The biggest problem in the world is?
It is hard to share.

personal blog: Pointsonthewheel.blogspot.com

Josh: “When you were in high school, what was your greatest goal in life?”
Mark: In High School, my favorite movie was Jeremiah Johnson and I wanted to live off the land. In fact, I wanted to buy a mountain in the Ozarks.

Personal heros / People who inspire you: Those who deal with adversity gracefully.

Kayla: “Mark, what is your favorite thing about your wife, and why?”
Mark: I have never met someone who is so committed to doing the right thing, and she is a hottie.

Josh: “Toilet paper roll: over or under?”
Mark: Okay, over, because that is the way Marilyn wants it.  It took me a while to remember how Marilyn wanted it, and then Sylvester Stallone was in a movie called Over the Top, a fascinating view of the exciting world of arm wrestling ( I am not make this up) and now when ever I change the roll (which Marilyn would say is not often enough) I simply remember that wonderful….film.

favorite food: The next pizza

Jay: “Mark, what are your thoughts on deep dish vs thin crust vs hand tossed?”
Mark: My favorite Pizza: the next pizza.

Tyler: “When do you feel most encouraged?”
Mark: Around the firebowl.

Alyssa: “Of all of the projects you are working on right now, what is the one you are most excited about? Why?”
Mark: And by project, do you mean… oh, I am going with Points on the Wheel.

Walter: “Why do I love you so much?”
Mark: That gate swings both ways.

Favorite song: Right now it’s Owensborough by Natalie Merchant.

An embarrassing moment: The first one that comes to mind is Junior Prom. I drove the car into a ditch on the way to pick up my date, and the entire side of the car was covered in mud. I did not realize this until I arrived at her house and watched as her parents video taped the event.

Amber: “Who is the person you look up to most, and why?”
Mark: I have a list, though I am not sure it is realistic or fair to call a person a hero because that creates opportunities for disappointment when a hero has moments of failure.  Having said that, I have a pretty amazing wife, and my grandparents were sort of magical.

Alyssa:  “What is the most recent thing you’ve gotten off of Craigslist?”
Mark: I am a seller more than a buyer, but I recently traded a $10 gift card for some pretty cool old wooden fruit crates.

If you could have coffee with any person living or dead, who would you pick? Albert Schweitzer.

What would you and Mr. Schweitzer talk about? Changing lives, including mine.

Albert Schweitzer received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life"

The Coffee Mark would drink with Albert Schweitzer.

What is your definition of “happiness”? “The catch.”

What was your nickname in High School? Various corruptions of my last name – it wasn’t pretty.

Favorite movie?
Lonesome Dove was great. Road to Perdition made an impression.

Favorite book and/or author? This is kind of liking asking who is my favorite child, each have a place in my heart.  I have loved Steinbeck (except Travels with Charlie).

Right now I am reading a fantastic book: Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle, by Kent Annon. (A Haiti memoir.)

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Stay Tuned! Next up, Tyler reflects on Thanksgiving.

Question: Where did you go to college, and what did you study?
Kayla: Missouri State University. I studied Wildlife Conservation and Management.

Question from Josh: “Kayla, you are the lead singer in a band no one’s heard of yet. What is your band’s name, and what crazy instrument do you play?”
K: Shiny Unicorn And The Obsidian Evolution. I play the Tree as seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utKQK66gDj4

Question: What is your favorite drink?
K: Numi Indian Night Black Vanilla Tea

Q: If you could share that drink with any living person, who would you pick? Why?
K: Right now I’m really missing some of my friends in Thailand, so I think I’d share it with any of them, but I’d prefer it to be in this climate and not that one

Question from Tyler: “Kayla, where do babies come from?”
Kayla: Tyler, when a mommy and a daddy really love each other…. SHUT UP Tyler.

Q: “A few items on my bucket list include:”
K:

• Get a tattoo
• live with an Amish family for a week
• hop on a boxcar and ride it to the next town
• sleep in a hammock
• pan for gold
• …and many more.

Personal blog: www.kaylainsoutheastasia.wordpress.com
(I haven’t updated it in about a year, but feel free to read about what I used to do.)

Question from Alyssa: “Kayla, what color is your favorite shirt?”
Kayla: Redish

These are a Few of My Favorite Things:
http://kaylainsoutheastasia.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/a-few-of-my-favorite-things/

Q: What are your favorite hobbies?
K:

• Reading
• dancing
• singing loudly in my car
• cooking
• trying to figure out if people who look Southeast Asian are Thai or not without them knowing that’s what I’m trying to do.

Q: Favorite book/author?
K: Fiction: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Non Fiction: the book of Isaiah, and Mountain Rain (a biography of James Fraser)

I just now noticed that my favorite books have the word ‘mountain’ in them, and were by or about someone named Frazier/Fraser (spelled different but pronounced the same). Weird.

Q: Favorite movie (or actor/actress)?
K: My favorite movies are pretty thematic: the deep south. That’s also weird.

• Forrest Gump
• Gone with the Wind
• Cold Mountain

Q: favorite food?
K: There are too many good choices to pick just one, but I have been known to say that if I had a lot of money to waste I might just eat sushi and ice cream every day. They balance each other out right??

Q: Most embarrassing Moment?
K: Um, I’ve had more than my fair share. A really good one was when I crashed into a person while riding my bike on campus. It was in front of a bunch of people and my nose was really runny that day, so when I hit the ground, snot came flying out. The dude I hit wasn’t really hurt, but I had to limp to class with a bloody knee. Sadly, this wasn’t the last encounter that knee would have with the ground.

Question from Jay: “I don’t mean to beat a dead horse Kayla, but what is your favorite kind of sausage?”
Kayla: Put a dollar in the jar, Jay.

Q: People who inspire you:
K: I am inspired by people who are passionate about life and what they love. I’m also inspired by people who live out their faith radically—whether that looks like living in a village in the far reaches of a jungle or believing that against all odds God is big enough to cure you of cancer. I love hearing people’s stories; They push me to trust our Redeemer in deeper ways.

Q: The biggest problem in the world is:
K: Oh man. This is a pretty weighty question, but I’m going to have to say: sin. That’s such a churchy answer. Also, the lack of access to, and cleanliness of, water.

What community means to me:
Community means so much more to me than it did just a few years ago. I know now that the sweetness of fellowship with God’s children can be found anywhere in the world, and that we need one another in ways that are deeper than had previously thought. I am so very thankful for the community I’ve had in Missouri, Virginia, Bangkok, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. How blessed I am to be loved by so many!

Question from Mark: “Kayla, What was your nickname in High School?”
Kayla: Well, it wasn’t Batman.

First, here is a picture of the Wilson Street House. Kayla, Tyler and Jess Tankersley, and the Jay and Amber Howard live here.

Here is the Wilson House’s firebowl and woodpile.

Now let’s go down the street a little. Here we have the Leonard House, where the Josh and Alyssa Smith live.

And here is their firebowl.

Well what do you know! Here’s Josh, sitting on the front porch. He’s grilling okra.  Hello Josh!

Josh says hello. Inside the Leonard house is a particularly long table—perfect for community meals.

As you see.

Let’s move on to Jewel Street, where the Buhlig’s live.

Ah, here we are.

And here is their fire bowl…

I just love fire bowls.

And finally, here is a rough map of our neighborhood (courtesy of google maps, and paint)—

The Wilson House (Tanks, Howards, Kayla) is the northern most; Leonard (Smiths) is westerly, and the Jewel house (Buhligs) is east.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the neighborhood. Up next, a member interview with our very own Kayla Cook! Stay tuned.

Hi Everybody—Jay here. I want to take this opportunity to introduce our guest poster for this week. It has been a pleasure to live in community with Josh Smith over the past few months here in Liberty, and I look forward to getting to know him more. Josh is a current student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. He writes a blog called Everyday Revolutionary. Today, he reflects on his recent visit to Philadelphia, PA.

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“Not long ago I had the privilege of traveling to Philadelphia for a youth volunteer service conference for my job. Philly has for some time been one of my favorite cities to visit—I’ve long been fascinated by the writings of Shane Claiborne, whose intentional community, The Simple Way, is in Kensington, a neighborhood in north Philly; the city is home to Eastern University, where Tony Campolo taught; and my wife Alyssa and I honeymooned there just after our wedding back in 2010. During our first trip, we stayed in Center City, with all of its hipster clubs and gay bars and fancy restaurants. This time, however, the organization I work for dropped me in a hotel in the middle of Olde City, which is kind of an affluent historical neighborhood.

The conference, sad to say, was pretty boring, so I ventured out every chance I got. I visited William Penn’s Quaker meeting house (which was thrilling for me, since I have closely identified with the Society of Friends for a while now); I passed by Betsy Ross’s house and Benjamin Franklin’s grave; I ate in a colonial restaurant that served food (and beer) prepared according to original recipes from the founding fathers (including Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale and, strangely enough, a recipe for fried tofu by Ben Franklin); I wandered my way up to Harry’s Smoke Shop and bought a new pipe and a house tobacco blend; and I spent a lot of time in a little coffee shop called Café Ole in the Israeli district (they have a fantastic vegan wrap, by the way, in case you’re ever in the neighborhood).

But by far the most intriguing part of my trip was when I got brave and walked the fifteen or sixteen blocks from my hotel to the city hall, where the Occupy Philadelphia protest had been going on for over a month.

It was extremely uncomfortable, for reasons that I am not quite certain. The crowd was so diverse that it was difficult to nail down any particular cause for which they were rallying, which I understand to be the case with most of the now global Occupy Movement. I met lots of hungry homeless folks, older gentlemen who would crash out a beat on a drum for a little bit of cash, artists, peace activists, hippies, addicts, Quakers, libertarians, anarchists, and communists. Such a diverse crowd, people who most likely would not hang out together if not for the common thread of hope that each brought to the table: it is obvious that things need to change. Corporate greed (a broad term which has so far lacked formal definition by the movement) has taken governmental precedence over the power of the common person, and the good people at Occupy Philly seemed to me to simply want their voice in the process back.

I also saw many folks who strongly protested our government’s reliance on military might to solve international issues. Two of which were Walter and Inga, Quakers who were volunteering their services at the Interfaith Prayer Tent hosted by a local Quaker meeting. “Peace be with you,” I said, sitting down to chat. “And also with you,” they replied. We talked for a long time about meandering spirituality versus the absolute certainty often touted by many churches today, and how faith and politics often intersect in remarkable ways.

Visiting Occupy Philly left me with a sense of longing, though I don’t know exactly for what. After leaving Walter and Inga to their duties, I sat outside the “Ron Paul Revolution” tent, feeling stupid in my v-neck t-shirt and navy blue jacket. I took my new pipe from my pocket, packed it with tobacco and had a long, thoughtful smoke before heading slowly back to my comfy hotel room.”

-Josh Smith

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Click to view slideshow.

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Tyler: “Walter, where do you think we all go everyday?”
Walter: “To your respective kennels.”

Kayla: “If you could be any flavor, what flavor would you be?”
Walter: “Probably bacon. And chicken. Bacon and chicken. And maybe kibbles. Probably bacon and chicken and kibbles. What was the question?”

favorite song: I’m a dog by Crash Test Dummies.

favorite book: Bliss to You: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Life.

favorite activity: Cuddling

Least favorite activity: Nerf wars

favorite food: Whatever my humans are eating at the time.

hero: Scrappy Doo

Amber: “Walter, what color do you see things in?”
Walter: “Love.”

favorite memory: When Tyler poured a bucket of grease on the fence in the backyard.

favorite animal: humans

favorite game: Keep away, but soon I will be catching frisbees in midair.

biggest fear: Cats

Biggest mistake I ever made: n/a

most embarrassing moment: When my humans dressed me in tie dye t-shirt.

word of wisdom: “I think the world would be a happier place if people greeted everybody as if they were greeting me.”

greatest mystery of life: Lights reflecting on a wall.

greatest achievement so far: perfect happiness.