June 06, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 17

June 06, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Support a business in your neighborhood.

Hello friend! We hope this neighboring tip finds you well.

This week, we’re thinking about how part of neighboring is simply supporting the various assets throughout our neighborhoods. We know that a lot of businesses have experienced hardship in the midst of this pandemic, so this week, we encourage you to support one of your neighborhood businesses.

Before experimenting with this tip, we encourage you to think through four questions:…

May 16, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 14

May 16, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Greetings on this fine Sunday, friend!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every eight weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every eight weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

May 02, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 12

May 02, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - If you see one of your neighbors outside, intentionally strike up a conversation with them.

Happy May, friend! We hope this neighboring tip finds you full of joy!

This week, we’re proposing a tip that may seem somewhat obvious for neighboring: If you see one of your neighbors outside, intentionally strike up a conversation with them.

Again, this tip may seem fairly obvious for neighboring; doesn’t neighboring imply having conversations with my neighbors? It does, but again, because so many of us have fallen out of touch with these neighboring practices, we often have to start with the basics, and these basics can be hard! There’s no denying that experimenting with this tip could feel really awkward. If you haven’t really intentionally struck up a conversation like this with your neighbors before, and/or you and your neighbors have lived on the block for a while, this could feel quite awkward indeed. But this kind of simple conversation is so human, and it’s so neighboring! And, we guarantee you, it’s also so worth it!…

April 18, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 10

April 18, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Plant a garden in your FRONT yard.

Hello friend!

We hope you are enjoying some spring weather, wherever you are! We know that the pandemic continues to change Spring plans for all of us, but one activity we can all continue to do throughout this time is gardening. Most of the time, folks plant gardens in their backyards because this offers more privacy. With this neighboring experiment, we’re turning that idea upside down. We propose you plant a garden in your FRONT yard! Planting a garden in your front yard is awesome for neighboring in the time of coronavirus for a variety of different reasons. Here are a few:…

April 11, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 9

April 11, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Make an intentional space on your calendar to be present with your neighbors.

Hello all! This week’s tip is a short and sweet one!

With neighboring, we sometimes have to learn to be instead of learn to do. In light of this, for this week’s tip, we propose that you simply be present with your neighbors and make an intentional space on your calendar to do so.

Being present with our neighbors first involves making an intentional choice to be in the same physical space as our neighbors….

April 04, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 8

April 04, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project.

Happy Easter!

We hope this tip finds you and yours enjoying the holiday!

Spring has sprung, and so have the spring projects! A couple of weeks ago, we encouraged you to offer to help a neighbor with a spring project. This week, we’re flipping that tip on its head and encouraging you to take part in a neighboring experiment that’s perhaps a little bit harder in the context of our often individualistic American culture; this week, we encourage you to ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project!…

March 28, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 7

March 28, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Happy Spring, all!

Spring is here and we at The Neighboring Movement couldn’t be more excited about it! Spring is beautiful and brings warmer temperatures - and along with those warmer temperatures...a whole new spectrum of neighboring tips to experiment with! Let’s go!

At the Neighboring Movement, we often talk about the importance of both visibility and availability when practicing neighboring. While these two concepts are related, and while both are helpful when neighboring, we think it is important to draw a distinction between them….

March 21, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 6

March 21, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy Sunday, friends!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every seven or eight weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every seven weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

March 17, 2021

I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge!

March 17, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge!

Hello friends!

kristopher here, and I hope this blog finds you well. Last week was a sunny and warm week here in Wichita, and I hadn’t yet done so, so I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge! The 8 Front Doors Challenge is, in simple terms, getting to know the neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own. I recently moved and had not yet met even my closest neighbors, so I figured this was it. This was the time. I took the challenge.

And…it was fantastic! So so so good! And so so simple. I baked some brownies with a brownie recipe I like….

March 14, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 5

March 14, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Offer to help a neighbor with a spring project.

Hello friends!

The Spring Equinox approaches, and with it, spring projects! Now that the temperatures are warming, neighbors are generally starting to come outside, and hang around outside, so much more. With this outdoor activity comes outdoor projects, and that’s what this neighboring tip is all about!

So, this week, our tip is pretty simple:…

March 07, 2021

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 4

March 07, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus.

Happy Sunday to you! We hope this email finds you healthy and well.

This week, we are again repeating a neighboring tip that we have been presenting every few months. As coronavirus cases remain so high around the world, this tip continues to feel incredibly important. This week, we encourage you to continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus. “How is this a neighboring tip?”, you may ask. This is a neighboring tip because what we know about coronavirus will help shape our conversations and interactions with neighbors.

As you are probably well aware,…

February 18, 2021

The Neighboring Snowball Effect

February 18, 2021/ Kristopher Swanson

The Neighboring Snowball Effect

Hello friends!

I hope this blog finds you all safe and warm. Cuddled in blankets. Holding hot cups of coffee. Well.

This morning, I experienced a fantastically simple way to neighbor in the midst of a pandemic and frigid, snowy weather. It’s called: The Neighboring Snowball Effect.

Not two hours ago, I was sitting outside with my house mate and another friend. Sitting far apart, in lawn chairs, holding cups of coffee, listening to music, chatting, in the 22 degrees Fahrenheit weather (which is balmy compared to most places, I know, and also balmy compared to how it’s been the last few days here in Wichita). But, you know, this is how friends hang out these days, and I’m thankful for it. As we were sitting and chatting,…

August 11, 2020

Neighboring Tip - Practice Physical Distancing

August 11, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Hello friends! This is our third and final week of spotlighting a few of our all-time favorite episodes of The Neighbor Next Door. Today, we re-release a neighboring tip episode from April, and starting next week, we'll be back with new episodes. Thanks for listening!

This week's episode was originally released on April 28, 2020. Like our other neighboring tip episodes, this one presents a simple experiment for connecting with your neighbors - even in the midst of a pandemic. We hope you not only enjoy listening to this episode but also experiment with the tip presented, and we hope these ideas might be helpful for doing so! As one final caveat, which is mentioned at the start of the episode, because things are changing so rapidly in the world due to the pandemic, this episode is already a bit outdated, and some of our language reflects this. Despite this, we think there are still helpful ideas present, and honestly, this was the most relevant neighboring tip we could re-release. We hope you still find it helpful, and don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for an original episode! Happy listening and happy neighboring!

August 02, 2020

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 25

August 02, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Spread the word about a business in your neighborhood with good coronavirus practices.

Happy August! We don’t know about you, but for us at the Neighboring Movement, it feels so crazy that it’s August! In some ways, it feels like it should just be April, as these past months seem like they’ve had a time-warping quality. In other ways, it feels like it should at least be November, as this year has just seemed so long. 2020 has been a doozy, but we’re excited to continue moving forward together! We hope this email finds you well.

Because the coronavirus has been affecting our communities in dramatic ways,…

July 19, 2020

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 23

July 19, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Join Nextdoor.com, or check out your neighborhood’s Facebook page.

If you need a little break from thinking about safely engaging in in-person interactions with your neighbors in the midst of this pandemic, then we’ve got a tip for you! This week, we encourage you to join Nextdoor.com, or check out your neighborhood’s Facebook page.

When it comes to social media, we often see polarizing opinions about its affect on personal interaction. On one hand,…

July 14, 2020

The Gappers, Our Coronavirus Response (Part 3)

July 14, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Hey friends! Two weeks ago, we had the first of the gapper calls, and it was so fantastic! So today, hosts Adam and Matt sit down with Kristopher, who helps facilitate the calls, to talk more about how it went. Tune in to hear what the call was like and learn more about the gappers!

We have a couple previous episodes on the gappers, and they are titled "The Gappers, Our Coronavirus Response (Parts 1 and 2)". You are welcome to go back and listen to those episodes first, but we hope this episode gives a good basic introduction to the gappers, as well!

Basically, at the Neighboring Movement, we don't want to go back to pre-coronavirus normal. Because we can do so much better than that! We believe a new normal is coming and that everyone on the planet has the opportunity to work together in order to create this new normal. So, we started the gappers! The gappers is an experimental community of people who are simply longing for a new normal and willing to work towards that new normal. This community gathers and shares stories and tips around this gapping work in order to encourage one another and learn from one another. Are you a gapper, and would you like to take part in this community? If so, that's awesome, and you can click here in order to learn more about the gappers and sign up! We also have a gappers Facebook page that you can join by clicking here.

Go forth and continue to stand in the gap between what is coming and what has been!

July 12, 2020

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 22

July 12, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - At some point this week, slow down and notice something new about your neighborhood.

A couple of weeks ago, we presented a neighboring tip on making a list of some of your favorite things in your neighborhood. Now, this week, we encourage you to discover some new things about your neighborhood. Who knows, maybe these newly discovered things will become some of your favorite things in your neighborhood, too!

We think this tip is a fantastic one to experiment with in the midst of this pandemic, as…

July 05, 2020

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 21

July 05, 2020/ Kristopher Swanson

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy July, friends!

Fourteen weeks ago, we presented a neighboring tip on checking in with your neighbors. Then, seven weeks ago, we presented a tip on checking in again with your neighbors. Well, we really want to emphasize the importance of this tip, so this week, we’re presenting it again! If you haven’t checked in with your neighbors for a while,…