It’s great when you can grow a community online, share ideas, and even inspire.
Yet most online communities (and connections, for that matter) don’t grow beyond “Accept” and “Like.”
So why build an engine for action without giving it some traction?
It’s Not Just Lunch
Over a year ago, Stacey Hood put together what became Birmingham’s Lunch Bunch. It’s a random and odd assortment of people who just like getting together to eat and talk. And sometimes eat while talking. What began as a dozen or so people mushroomed into a Facebook group with 156 members. We don’t even get close to “meeting together,” but the Moveable Feast has a rotating cast, and you’re guaranteed to meet and talk with interesting new people.
Jamie Sandford wondered how to take this group to the next level, and get involved with something bigger. He organized a recent Lunch Bunch to start with a detour to the historic Lyric Theater, which once housed legendary Vaudeville era acts, yet has sat dormant for far too long.
It was a short tour, but one that impressed the two-dozen participants with simultaneous senses of grand history and untapped potential.
A renovated Lyric Theater would provide an additional downtown venue for the arts and events, and would provide a wonderful complement to the larger Alabama Theater just a block away. Maybe, just maybe, a few people might write about it, and draw attention to the resource it could be, and the need for additional support…
A Halloween Hero Story
The drive to save the Lyric has a long way to go, but the Lunch Bunch has spawned a more attainable effort. Angela Turner and a few of her posse heard about cuts at the Birmingham Public L
ibrary, which would have a severe impact on the amount of new material it could add to the stacks. Books, magazines, you name it… there would be little new coming in for the year.
That scary prospect led to the Boo Ball project. 
Boo Ball is a costume party which will be held Saturday night, October 30th, in the stacks of the Birmingham Library. (I think the “Frank N. Draper” character is hysterical, even if I don’t watch Mad Men.) Proceeds go to buy those new books and periodicals and DVDs that Grim Accountant sheared away with that red-ink-stained scythe of his.
Tickets are $45, but if you don’t want to pay to play, I’m giving a pair away.
Here’s the deal. You leave a comment to this post that has two things:
First, a link to something you’ve done to raise awareness about the Lyric. Write something about it, by posting it on your site or your Facebook Wall. Just link me to it. (Here’s the Lyric’s Facebook page.)
Second, in your comment, tell me the book that’s had the most impact on your outlook, and a paragraph telling me why you would recommend it to others.
Next Tuesday, I’ll pick the winner of the pair of tickets to Boo Ball. (All entries that meet my standard of Quality will go into the random drawing.)
Fair enough?
Good luck, and Happy Haunting.
great work Ike. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of you in this last year. I cannot believe it’s been a year!!
Hey Ike,
We’re not Facebook friends, so I can’t tag you in my wall post, but I have posted about the Lyric’s efforts to raise funds for renovation. I’m also really excited that BOO Ball will raise money for the Birmingham Public Library. I’m a big fan.
How to Be Good, by Nick Hornby, is one of many books that has challenged the way I view the world. There’s a passage in there–really just a line or two–about how so many of our efforts to help others are really making ourselves feel good about doing something for others. And doesn’t that just make you stop and think? I don’t think that’s ALWAYS the case, but I know the thought certainly challenges me.
Boo Ball is going to be amazing! So thankful to be part of this community of creatives who are passionate about our city. Of course, dishing at lunch is fun too š
Living in Iowa, I’m an unlikely contender for the prize. I’m sure you’ll find the perfect person to enjoy them.
But I *am* enjoying a book I’d like to share, one by Alan Fine titled “You Already Know How to Be Great.” It’s a book about creating – developing – high performance by removing common interference often mistakenly seen as “help.” Ā Some tightly held teaching beliefs about consistently reinforcing knowledge can actually distract you from cementing your faith in your own abilities and fueling your fire to produce.
I often steer away from self-help books like this, but after diving in I’m really glad I did. Mine is an advance copy I plan to share with a friend.
I tweeted about it…
My Name is Asher Lev had a big impact on me, how I think about vocation and compulsion.Ā It’s a book everyone with an artist’s soul ought to read.