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Yesterday a new Mexican restaurant had its grand opening in the neighborhood business district right near our house downtown Muskegon. We've been in Muskegon five years now and while noone can claim to have a real pulse on a community, we've been trying, and it's been a growing experience.

The interesting thing about the opening is that our neighborhood has some extremely fractured groups all sharing the same space and time. And when this small piece of real estate opened up again after years of being vacant, it was like all sides poured in eager to "claim it". Corner boys, racial healers, do gooders, small time investors, politicians, historic preservationists, welfare moms etc.

Usually, if these groups interact at all, it is from a distance and in passing. So it was interesting to see different groups at tables next to eachother, eyeing eachother, and not quite sure what to make of the new space.

That image came back to me today when I read the following blog posts from friends from a similar context in grand Rapids.

Lighthouse Dave
for original context of this blog entry read here

Livingston Steve

For me, everyday something comes up that reminds me of these divides that tear apart our, and I'm guessing all, communities. I'm pretty sure these feelings will never go away, but maybe there are things we can pick up that will allow us to possibly get better at sharing this time and space.