RedCeltic
1st February 2003, 00:20
*Story Reprinted from Albany City Voice*
It’s Not Simple to define the Ironweed Collective. Part activist center, part performance space, part community haven; it doesn’t function with membership, presidents or dues. In fact, hierarchy is counter to the whole idea.
On Grand Street, two blocks off of Madison Ave. stands a bright blue house with a small sign out front reading “Ironweed collective.” It is the only house on the block with a porch.
Just beyond the front door, two cats and a friendly black dog names Butch affectionately saunter over to available laps in a sitting area by the front door. Attending open mic nights, one of the many events at Ironweed, are a variety of people. Some sit, another plays guitar and sings to herself, others pass around poetry of the famous Allen Ginsberg and take turns reading passages.
The trim around the door is in a state of disrepair, with tools and wood shards scattered in the entrance. In the spirit of self-sufficiency, they will repair the door themselves. If they didn’t know how, they’d learn. Just like everything at the Ironweed Collective, the emphasis is on self reliance.
Ironweed considers self-reliance to be an essential part of their vision: self-reliance without education, health, and the care of their future children. Ironweed moved into the Grand Street house in early summer of 2001 after months of Sunday dinners discussing ideologies and practical plans.
Ironweed Collective believes that resisting the parts of society they disagree with does not have to mean alienation or secession from the community. There is an important distinction between resistance and non participation. On the contrary, Ironweed’s door is open. They host potluck dinners, open mic nights, and Skill Shares, where volunteers teach any one who wants to learn anything from nutrition to fixing a faucet.
The name of the Ironweed Collective is inspired both by the William Kennedy novel about Albany in the 1930’s and the indigenous plant of the same name. As participant Dylan Boyce explained, “Ironweed is a plant that is capable of growing in adverse conditions, and its flowers are small but together make up a larger flower. We thought it was symbolic of our feeling that we’re trying to create something positive in harsh conditions and in that way we may be small as individuals but working together we can get a lot done. “
They extend their efforts into the community by starting with themselves. Ironweed’s most important focus for the year ahead emphasizes deeper adherence to their values in order to promote a positive alternative, by example of another way of life. It wasn’t as simple as asking Ironweed to offer a general overview of vision for the year to come. They had to reach a consensus on what they as a group, would consider an appropriate, accurate, and truly representative statement about who they are and where they are going. This is the statement they gave to the City Voice.
It’s Not Simple to define the Ironweed Collective. Part activist center, part performance space, part community haven; it doesn’t function with membership, presidents or dues. In fact, hierarchy is counter to the whole idea.
On Grand Street, two blocks off of Madison Ave. stands a bright blue house with a small sign out front reading “Ironweed collective.” It is the only house on the block with a porch.
Just beyond the front door, two cats and a friendly black dog names Butch affectionately saunter over to available laps in a sitting area by the front door. Attending open mic nights, one of the many events at Ironweed, are a variety of people. Some sit, another plays guitar and sings to herself, others pass around poetry of the famous Allen Ginsberg and take turns reading passages.
The trim around the door is in a state of disrepair, with tools and wood shards scattered in the entrance. In the spirit of self-sufficiency, they will repair the door themselves. If they didn’t know how, they’d learn. Just like everything at the Ironweed Collective, the emphasis is on self reliance.
Ironweed considers self-reliance to be an essential part of their vision: self-reliance without education, health, and the care of their future children. Ironweed moved into the Grand Street house in early summer of 2001 after months of Sunday dinners discussing ideologies and practical plans.
Ironweed Collective believes that resisting the parts of society they disagree with does not have to mean alienation or secession from the community. There is an important distinction between resistance and non participation. On the contrary, Ironweed’s door is open. They host potluck dinners, open mic nights, and Skill Shares, where volunteers teach any one who wants to learn anything from nutrition to fixing a faucet.
The name of the Ironweed Collective is inspired both by the William Kennedy novel about Albany in the 1930’s and the indigenous plant of the same name. As participant Dylan Boyce explained, “Ironweed is a plant that is capable of growing in adverse conditions, and its flowers are small but together make up a larger flower. We thought it was symbolic of our feeling that we’re trying to create something positive in harsh conditions and in that way we may be small as individuals but working together we can get a lot done. “
They extend their efforts into the community by starting with themselves. Ironweed’s most important focus for the year ahead emphasizes deeper adherence to their values in order to promote a positive alternative, by example of another way of life. It wasn’t as simple as asking Ironweed to offer a general overview of vision for the year to come. They had to reach a consensus on what they as a group, would consider an appropriate, accurate, and truly representative statement about who they are and where they are going. This is the statement they gave to the City Voice.