We tend to ascribe a magical, suspended-in-time meaning to the idea of a new calendar year. It therefore carries an astronomical (pun intended) amount of cultural and personal weight, regardless of which calendar you go by. We (the West) mostly follow the Gregorian calendar. In it, we find ourselves in the year 2019 of what we call the Common Era. In the Buddhist calendar, it’s currently 2562 BE (Buddhist Era). In the Islamic calendar, we’ve arrived at 1440 AH (Latin: Anno Hegirae, referring to the Hijra). Japan follows a blended calendar - it’s 2019 CE, but it’s also the year 31 by imperial Heisei timekeeping.
These calendars have their rhymes and reasons, but one can argue that it’s all up in the air. There is the atomic clock - from which we get Coordinated Universal Time - and it is meticulously synchronized, so it’s as close to accurate as we’ll get. Still, like that Chicago song goes, does anybody really know what time it is?
If you think about it, every day - every second - can be seen as the beginning of a new year. Chicago asks: does anybody really care? The now is where we are, so we shouldn’t be too concerned with rather arbitrarily declared milestones... right?
Paradoxically, it’s very hard for us to inhabit the now. The song goes, “I was walking down the street one day / Being pushed and shoved by people trying to beat the clock.” We have our own big plans and aspirations, and then we have our society which tells us we have to do it all and then some. And it’s all from the get go, right out of the gate: we’ve got a year from midnight to get it all done, and we’d better get started.
We load a set of 365 days that have not yet occurred with ambitious resolutions and a set of expectations which we heap upon the year to come. Why? We say that we want to better ourselves, achieve more, etc. I would argue, though, that it’s really just because everyone else is doing it. I had a Civics & Economics teacher in high school who was only partly joking when he exhorted our class to be antelopes, not lemmings. Antelopes were quick, making their own way while leaping gracefully over obstacles; lemmings followed the pack in a neurotic, unthinking collective frenzy to get...nowhere. Antelopes, for the purposes of this discussion, live in the now; lemmings live in some made-up, stressed-out place and time that’s a blend of past and future.
Being in the now is especially hard when we have urgent and complex work to be done, and dreams of what could be - like what CAFN works towards (what December’s Food for Thought theme of climate change and hope explored). It’s harder when you’re a volunteer in such an organization, and you have very limited time, resources and energy (a reiterated thank-you to you all!). We can offload the burden we place on ourselves and our time - or cancel it entirely - when we look at what we must do, and what we want to do, in the lens of the now. Without tethering these things to lemming-like ideas which will only pull us further away from the sphere of reality, we can say, “I want to do x, I need to do y, and I will focus on that and only that.” What happens is then not bound to anchors like a year, or weighed down by expectations that ground ambition before it has a chance to fly. We give ourselves the chance to embrace the now as the gift it truly is rather than ungratefully skip forward to the next (and trip over our own feet in doing so).
So in the absence of unrealistic resolutions attached to a point in time no different than the others it resides among, and in the presence of these three hundred and sixty-five brand-new, non-refundable, non-guaranteed, twenty-four-hour days, wide open and available to us to do with what we will, what will we do with our time this year?
Let’s get to it and find out.
Happy now year, CAFN.
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Add your reflections on January's theme using the hashtag #happynowyear when you comment on our Food for Thought social media posts.
Ask someone else what they about it. Think about it while you go about your day. You can even reply directly to this email!
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Send us your events!
If you'd like to share your event with CAFN, please send Erin Gallagher an email with all the details you see below by mid-month prior to the event.
Check the CAFN calendar for Circle meetings this month and other CAFN happenings (like our Progress Meetings and other gatherings!). You can also check our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for news, events and more.
1/8: A Place at the Table’s First Birthday Celebration!
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“Drop by the cafe from 7-2 for food specials, surprises, and giveaways. And from 4-6 for cake and drinks.”
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Where: 300 W. Hargett St., Suite 50
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When: 7 am - 2 pm and 4 - 6 pm
1/14-15: Value-Added Dairy Conference
1/15: Sustainable Spirits is back for 2019!
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“Sustainable Spirits is a casual monthly gathering for the sustainability community organized by the North Carolina Composting Council and other organizations.”
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Where: Naughty Penguin Tasting Room in Morrisville, NC
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When: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
By 1/16: Apply for a paid internship as a Youth Ambassadors for a Better Community Project Leader
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“Paid 10-week summer internship that provides hands-on opportunities to gain the skills and experiences necessary for a successful career.”
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Host: North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
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Where: Raleigh, NC
By 1/18: Order free seeds from URI Cooperative Extension
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“URI Cooperative Extension is pleased to offer FREE vegetable, flower and herb Burpee™ seed packets to schools, community and youth groups, 4-H clubs, community gardens, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, and individuals throughout the continental US!”
1/27: Ready Garden Grow: An Introduction to Vegetable Gardening
Apply now: Community Engagement Coordinator
Registration Open: National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference
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“Join 1,000+ of your fellow anti-hunger advocates in Washington, D.C., for two days of networking opportunities, content-rich sessions, interactive training, and the National CACFP Leadership track, followed by a day on Capitol Hill.”
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Hosts: Feeding America and FRAC
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Where: Washington, D.C.
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When: February 24-26
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CAFN wants YOU!
Want to volunteer or join a Circle?
Have ideas for CAFN, or just want to talk food systems?
Know someone whose knowledge, experience, or interest would help
us in our work toward an equitable, sustainable Wake food system?
Get involved, bring your friends and let us know what’s on your mind.
We welcome new voices and volunteers to help us #endhungerwake!
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