{"id":24298,"date":"2012-10-06T00:06:23","date_gmt":"2012-10-06T07:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=24298"},"modified":"2012-10-06T00:06:23","modified_gmt":"2012-10-06T07:06:23","slug":"mba-jane-each-other-public-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/24298","title":{"rendered":"Public Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> former life<\/a> \u2026<\/p>\n

Mr. Wonderful has a wonderful way of being involved in the community that I\u2019ve really sat up and taken notice of. I decided to take a page from his book, so to speak, and really up my connection to my hometown … and what do you know? There\u2019s a merit badge <\/a>for just such community spirit!<\/p>\n

I have to admit to being a little intimidated by going to a town council meeting, but on the other side of that nervous pancake, I have always kind of wondered what they talk about in there. I mean, were they discussing the length of my grass, the state of my favorite downtown restaurants, voting in a new Bed, Bath and Beyond? What was all the chatter about every third Wednesday?<\/p>\n

I resolved to find out by giving myself a new do and picking out an I-mean-business outfit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First, I figured I needed a reason for going; you know, in case they drilled me or quizzed me about my presence and\/or knowledge about the city itself. I’ve had this idea of starting a community garden for a while now. Well, ever since my herbs really took off and I found myself admiring my thumbs (greener by the day, wouldn’t you know), I knew I\u2019d need more than just a harebrained scheme, so I printed out some information on other city gardens (including photos), did a little crunching of the numbers, and even brought along my neighbor, who just so happens to own half a block and doesn\u2019t use most of it. He was more than happy to listen to my idea, and it was good practice giving him my spiel first.<\/p>\n

I wore my take-me-serious pencil skirt and sky-high heels, since suddenly my little project was becoming my baby and I really wanted to look like I knew what I was doing! Suddenly, it wasn\u2019t about earning a badge or impressing Mr. Wonderful; I really, really<\/strong> wanted that garden!<\/p>\n

I could picture it already: small urchins\u2014er, I mean, children\u2014digging up carrots and munching on strawberries, moms coming out to pick fresh lettuce for their green salads, dads taking fruit in their lunchboxes instead of a bag of chips \u2026 and the Date Nights! I could just imagine Mr. Wonderful and me, strolling through the beets, hand in hand, feeding each other Swiss chard \u2026<\/p>\n

Ahem. Sorry, got taken away by a romantic fantasy for a minute there!<\/p>\n

Back to business.<\/p>\n

I was surprised at how many people I knew at the meeting, and I was equally surprised at how many I didn\u2019t<\/strong> know! It was a very bonding experience, I must say. Though our opinions and priorities may have differed, we were all there for one reason:<\/p>\n

To improve our community.<\/p>\n

Well, except for Nude Dude who was trying to get a nudity law passed. Again. He tries this every year.\u00a0We were all very proud of him for wearing clothing to the meeting.<\/p>\n

At last, it was my turn. I was so nervous, I nearly crumpled like a lawn chair. But I took a good look at all my new friends and knew I\u2019d be okay. I even got a smattering of applause, which I took as a good sign.<\/p>\n

Will my community garden be a dream forever, or will it flower, blossom, and ripen? Stay tuned \u2026\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life \u2026 Mr. Wonderful has a wonderful way of being involved in the community that I\u2019ve really sat up and taken notice of. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[363,548,566],"class_list":["post-24298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters","tag-gladsome-sisters","tag-maryjanesfarm-farmgirl-sisterhood","tag-mba-jane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}