Building a Community of Vulnerability and Common Struggle
We’re doing a three hour workshop called Get Empathy with students at New Roads, a high school in Santa Monica. It’s program is designed to create a space where people can learn how to tell their stories and listen to other’s stories as the cornerstone of the art of community organizing. There, I tell my story of the struggles I went through in my family, with the death of my father, grandmother, and my dyslexia. And Danielle tells her story, of the struggles in her family from her dad’s MS. After we teach them the basics, they break up into small groups. People share their stories with such vulnerability and honesty, and talk about their depression, abuse, and struggles in their families. They find the values of strength and resilience to heal themselves and others. In these groups, there is magic that happens where people realize they share struggles. In one group there was a woman who shared for the first time that she was undocumented, with a teacher who had graduated years before from the school and had also been undocumented, and they cried together. This magic, this sharing of values and resilience, is how we build movements for social justice, and it is what we do at the Center for the Working Poor. We do it in many of our activities, from our Centering Prayer group, to Get Empathy, to our support of the resistance movement— we create the space of struggle. But we cannot do that without you. We need the support of donors so that we can support myself and Danielle who live in voluntary simplicity to do this work, as well as support the community at large. Please consider donating this holiday season.
We will All Become Pilgrims: 2022 Newsletter Summary
December 19th, 2022
By Paul Engler Whenever I write my newsletter, I am afraid a subtle or not-so-subtle repetition will be noticed—I fear I write the same thing over and over again! Generally the theme has something to do with change, uncertainty, and … Continue reading
Liminality is a Recipe for Navigating Winter: Becoming a Pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago
December 19th, 2022
Whether you’re in a midlife, quarter life, or general life crisis, the proverbial crap hits the wall. You break up with your girlfriend, your community starts falling apart, your movement dies, your organization goes bankrupt, you lose the political campaign. … Continue reading
December 19th, 2022
I’m happy to report that our community has stabilized at the Center for the Working Poor house. We haven’t had one person leave in the past year! A welcome contrast to 2021, when we had so many people come and … Continue reading
December 15th, 2021
There is a big debate among economists about a curious phenomenon unfolding right now called “The Great Resignation”. We have an immense labor shortage because people are not returning to work as the experts expected (common after a recession). There … Continue reading
2021 Center Update: Ring the Bell of Hope… Again, and Again
December 15th, 2021
This fall, in one of my first trips to visit my coworkers from the Ayni Institute in Boston, I stopped by New York City to visit one of my closest friends, Eric Stoner. And I was sitting on his couch, … Continue reading
December 15th, 2021
The Center for the Working Poor was founded in 2006, but we didn’t move into our large Victorian house until 2007. Therefore, we have been in the house for 14 years now; and throughout this time, only Paul Engler has … Continue reading
The Story of Community Counseling
December 15th, 2021
Over the last year, we have started beta groups for a new model of mutual aid counseling, called Community Counseling that has engaged dozens in weekly small group counseling practice and training. In November, I went to Boston to lead … Continue reading
2020 Center Update: Surrender and Become Attentive
December 17th, 2020
“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die …” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 “Surrender to what is dying, and become attentive to what is emerging.” — … Continue reading