Things I Can’t Stop Thinking About: Neighboring
“In a democracy, the fundamental civic unit is neighbor.”
– Jelani Cobb on Assembly Required with Stacy Abrams
This sentence has been playing on repeat in my mind. It is one of the most profound things I’ve heard recently and yet, once I thought about it, perhaps among the most obvious. It’s like Cobb just lifted the decades-long fog that AP Government placed over my eyes, that made me believe that the core of democracy was something grandiose, something emanating from the top – the elected officials, the flowery language of our governing documents, the imposing buildings.
It’s not. Those things are symbols of democracy, but democracy isn’t built on them. People, and more specifically groups of people in immediate proximity to one another, build democracy from the ground up. If we’re concerned about democracy right now (and it’s safe to say we should be), the solution won’t necessarily be found in listening to Senator X or newspaper Y. It’s in us, as Kate Baer so beautifully writes,
“there comes a time when you stop hoping for
One American Hero
and realize there is only you—
picking trash from the neighbor’s yard,
hauling jars to the recycle bin,
calling your great-aunt Susan even though
she is not just your aunt Susan and
this is not just your godforsaken earth.”
- Kate Bear, "And Yet" (2022)
Democracy begins with shoveling your elderly neighbor’s sidewalk, even if he voted for someone else, or making a casserole for a new mom, even if she believes in a different God. These baseline relationships make most other democratic activities possible - running for office, demonstrating, canvassing, lobbying, even voting (especially at the local level).
I realized some of the other things that have also been taking an inordinate amount of space in my mind are simply neighboring as civic engagement embodied in different ways:
These SEPTA bus signs that street artist Make It Weird put up in South Philly sharing real-time arrival times with waiting passengers. I both ADORE public transit and spend a lot of time complaining about it. I contact representatives to share my opinions and nag my friends and acquaintances to join me. Never have I just FIXED something. (Note to self: learn more about tactical urbanism 😊)
Club fairs for grown-ups. A community group I’m a part of recently held an activities fair. Someone described it as reminding them of a “college freshman fair, just without the Red Bull sponsorship” (spot-on, in terms of the vibe we were aiming for). Our little event though was tiny compared to the work that some truly phenomenal groups are doing across PA (see events in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Lancaster). Though different in scope and structure, the purpose is quite similar: make it easy for people to be together.
Serenbe, a community started from scratch outside Atlanta to prioritize connection, nature, and well-being. I recently read Steve Nygren’s book about this strange, beautiful place. While it sometimes reads a bit like an ad (and admittedly glosses over some important issues), the overall sentiment is fascinating. Nygren tangible ways to make our neighborhoods into the life-affirming, connected places that we deserve. Nothing is stopping us from starting right in our backyard.
So, yes, I’ve been thinking nonstop about neighbors lately. How we relate to one another, how we support each other, how we build together, how we find joy together. If neighbors are as important as I’ve built them up to be in my mind for democracy, then neighboring becomes a, if not the, critical action in 2026.
Thanks for reading,
Shannon