Opportunities to Create a Community

Birthdays and Facebook add up to a lot of reconnecting with friends all over the world and one of the hardest questions to answer is always the same, "How is living in St. Louis?"

Now, we have done our fair share of complaining about St. Louis here.

From commenting on incidences of anti-Semitism, to the lack of public transportation, to the horrors of dating in the STL, we can appear pretty down on St. Louis. And let's face it, it doesn't have the young (or Jewish) populations of New York, Boston, DC, or Chicago (LA is a sprawl, not a city).

But we have tried to be proactive in finding things that interest us and that make this city come alive.

As a combination of this attitude, some luck and timing, we find ourselves in the interesting position to create a space for use by the community.

Wednesday night, a lucky few of us will sit down with Rabbi Susan Talve, of the Central Reform Congregation, to discuss what we would do with a house to turn it into a place that people want to be. The timing is rather serendipitous due to the URJ's new 'Next Dor' initiative, which is aiming to engage us young Yids.

The question really is, how do we best take advantage of this opportunity?

Whether this includes studio space for artists in the basement, study space for grad students, a few treadmills for young professionals to use during lunch or after work, the possibilities may be limitless.

So we ask you, our friends and neighbors, casual readers, and accidental stumblers to tell us, if you could be in the room with us, or if you think that a dedicated space without a dedicated commitment sounds interesting to you. . . how would you want to use the space? What possibilities to see for a project of this nature?

We will take your ideas into the meeting with us, and will do our best to represent them well, but you have to make your voice heard. Post a comment, or email us, and we'll make sure that your input gets inputted.