Robert Egger´s Piece of Mind

I really enjoy the countless opportunities I am afforded to meet with colleagues. I dig each and every gig I get…but if ANY stand out, it’s the ones that put me in front of young nonprofit leaders, or men and women who are in college, but who have already made up their mind about their future—they want to make CHANGE.

As an older dude, with tons of time and tenacious accomplishments under my belt, I am asked, more than any other thing, for advice on how to begin to journey-take up the standard-belly up the bar in order to be part of making the world better, stronger, more level and just. I treat it as a real honor when asked, as it suggests that folks  think I’ve got an angle I play…a secret tactic I employ.

I do. I listen.

As such, here’s the VERY first thing I always suggest—un-the-fuck-plug.

I take the subway to work all the time. I travel almost weekly, and then I take purposeful walks thru every city I visit. Whenever and wherever I am out, mixing it up and thinking/plotting/planning…I rely on my ears, my eyes, my nose and my brain to explore every corner of every communities where I’m at—including DC, where I have lived for over 40 years.

I listen. I hear. I probe with my ears. I hear language, words, inflexions, fears, challenges, ideas….and I process them to help me understand the mood of the city—the zeitgeist of the day, in order to better develop and then forward ideas.

Now, as many of you know…I grew up in nightclubs. My first love was for music (the first language) and its ability to transcend age, race, class and countless other barriers. I believe in its transformative powers. I still listen to Minor Threat just about every morning, and groove to Chuck Brown most nights….but I also think music has a time and place.

Too often, I see buses, subways and streets FULL of people all tuned out. Hear me on this—more often than not, those little white chords attached to those groovy little McMP3/McIpods are designed to shut you UP, zone you OUT and tell you, with a glorious beat, to buy more shit that YOU DO NOT NEED.

So…seriously….plug into your community. Listen to it. Learn its cadence. Feel its rhythm. Roll to its groove. Only when you KNOW your community will you truly be able to forward new ideas that people will stand behind.

As my friend Rev. Beecher Hicks says—“If you’re leading, but nobody is following, then you are just taking a walk.”

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Brothers and Sisters, Cats and Kittens, Colleagues and Critics alike, let me tell you this….from the lipstick kiss covered headstone of Dee Dee Ramones’ grave in Los Angeles, to the heights of the Beartooth Mountains of Montana—I have had one, amazing, two-week run.

 It all began with a dinner up in NYC a few years back with former Mickey Leland Hunger Fellow Azad Ooman. He and his amazing soul mate, Poorna were headed to LA, and over Mexican food in a cavernous sub-basement cantina we talked about the potential for a DC Central style kitchen out west.

Flash forward to late July, when we sat together with our friend (and former DCCK Board Chair) Jose Andres in the private dining room at The Bazaar, his highly acclaimed new restaurant in Beverly Hills. Between the three of us, we had assembled quite a roster of foodies, fighters and folks who joined us for lunch to think together and develop a vision of a program that would leverage produce and people to rock the City of Angels.

Here’s the deal. In CA, the Association of Food Banks distributes close to 50 million pounds of fruit and produce annually (which I am told, is but a drop in the proverbial bucket). However….as bold as they are, they have a one, unrelenting enemy….TIME. What we proposed was a reprocessing hub, where volunteers and trainees would work side by side to prep, cryo-vac and then freeze this bounty so that is is shelf stable and, temporarily at least, out of the reach of father time.

Now, we currently do this at DCCK, using shrink wrap bags to store tons of locally sourced fruits and veggies for later use, but the big addition to this current model would be a revenue-generating component, where we would employ grads of the training program. You see, while there is tons of free foods available (which cannot be re-sold)…right above that strata lies a HUGE reserve of foods you can purchase for .10 cents on the dollar. We plan on buying that food (and supporting local growers) and covert that into product we can sell (carrot sticks to schools) on a scale that is best described as “Godzilla”.

The money we make should allow us to pay employees a mighty wage while also covering the cost of providing food banks with cost-free food. Cool, right?!?! Everybody thought so. SO….look for more news on that project (and a similar program in DC) in the weeks ahead. The working title—the LA Central Kitchen.

 After that lunch, I met with folks to talk about an “on the road, nonprofits across America” TV show idea (which is in the works). Then I went with Jose to see him on the Craig Ferguson Show (Craig is cool, by the way). From there we met some groovy Hollywood types for an early supper at Street, a crazy fun celebration of the world’s street food, before heading back to the hotel for a new product, “launch” dinner That Jose had prepared….this one centered around my favorite food group–tequila. And, yes….I had seconds of everything.

The next morning I stopped by the grave of Dee Dee Ramone. He and Johnny are buried close together (with Faye Wray of King Kong fame between them)….but Dee Dee is who I try to pay my respects too whenever I have the opportunity. I probably saw them 10 times in the 70’s and 80’s and I say this with full confidence—The Ramones saved rock and roll. We owe them our souls. And while I loved them all….nothing beat Dee Dee’s legendary “1-2-3-4” callout before each songs sonic lift-off.

Then I rolled out to Rancho Cucamonga to speak with YNPN leaders of the Inland Empire, before rolling out for a visit to MY sacred center—Joshua Tree. I spent the weekend there (where a rainbow greeted my arrival to the park) and then rolled back to LA for a swim in the “mother” Pacific before lighting out for Rapid City, SD.

In the last year, I’ve had speaking gigs in Billings MT, Sheridan, WY, and then Fargo, ND…so I was plenty jazzed to be asked to speak in both RC and then, all the way across the state, in Sioux Falls. I went to see Mt Rushmore as a kid and all, but that was like 40 years ago, so this was another chance to really soak up the culture and topography of a new part of America (for me), while also piecing together a better understanding of what remains  to be, real frontier country.

I was asked to fly out to help local folks on either side of the state (and big states often have VERY different politics depending on which side you are on) understand the link between domestic violence, poverty and homelessness, which too many think are separate issues. They aren’t.

Still…this was a topic that, while I understand in the general sense, isn’t in my top 10 areas of knowledge. But I love the opportunity to s-t-r-e-t-c-h, so I happily agreed to do two sessions with locals (including native Lakota women). I studied hard, and really worked to develop a solid discussion–and I was was made to feel SO welcome!!!

I had a dynamic two days of travel, TV appearances (Gooooood Morning Sioux Falls) and time to learn from the people I met along the way. Not only that, but the 6 hour drive from side to side afforded me the opportunity to stop by the Badlands (one of those spots you hear about ALL your life and long to see) while also counting the ever increasing number of bikers on their way to their annual bacchanal in Sturgis.

How grateful was I for this opportunity!?!?!??

By the time I rolled back into DC after 6 days on the road (a record for me) I had done some MAJOR business, seen some serious sites and soothed my soul.

And while I had a few days to chill, I was pretty much right back out—this time back to Billings to help another colleague seal the deal with the numerous youth programs she has been helping to learn the fine art of collaboration.

Mary Hernandez runs a very cool program named Catapult, and she has been doing amazing work up here (I’m writing form the airport as I wait for the silver bird that will wing me home). Not only has she developed a really solid colaboration between rpograms that support young men and women in the area, she (like my new friends at the Nonprofit Center in Jacksonville, FL) has a real sense of the need for politicians to get a better handle on the role of programs like hers. She’s also ready to take to it to the next level, in advance of this fall’s race for Mayor.

Billings is one of about 400 cities that will be electing new leadership in November. I wish leaders in ALL those cities would pony UP like they are up here. Seriously…I cannot fathom why “leaders” in so many cities and states–places where providers are being crushed–are sitting on the hands. It just boggles my mind!!!! If you won’t LEAD, then please have to courtesy to STEP aside.

Anyway….after daytime meetings with SEVEN separate leaders of as many programs (including a team from the staggeringly effective Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch), we got a real gang together to talk that night—not only about how to unite their voices, but how to open their ears to the voices of those they serve—the youth of MT.

We had a ton on new AmeriCorp members joining the dialogue, and we asked all the young people who attended this pubic forum one BIG question—what would it take for them to stay in Billings?

You know…it was wild to hear their answers. Most wanted to be able to start a business. The fact that we had a City Councilmember in the audience (who SHOULD be running for mayor) really helped make this feel like we could do something powerful in the next year. We talked about micro-credit (and Yunus, who was receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom that very day), social enterprise, a new graffiti policy and their farmers markets. Like so many places I go, I hope they’ll ask me back to help.

 But….as if to cap off the most amazing two week journey I’ve had since last years romp thru Peru, Mary offered me the opportunity to see the state thru her eyes.

First up to what CBS journeyman Charles Karaldt once dubbed “the prettiest road in America” the Beartooth Highway. Dudes….trust me….drive this road someday!!! We passed through the glorious town o f Red Lodge, and rode all the way up to the 9,000(+) ft peaks and looked down on both MT and WY, where we stopped, got out of the car and sucked in that thin air and had lunch, while I kept BOTH eyes peeled for hungry bears (I kid you NOT…I haven’t worked this hard to be consumed).

FINALLY…we closed the adventure with a sunset visit to the Crow Indian reservation for the opening ceremonies of Crowfest 2009.

I tell you what—The Crow were VERY happy people that night. One of their most revered leaders, Joe Medicine Crow had just been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and he was headed back to join them. While I missed him, I was amazed to witness a young brother arrive, fresh from Iraq and still in is uniform to join the drumming circle and usher in the tribal dancers. One big thing—the fairgrounds (for lack of a better work) are situated right below the battle site where they had dropped Custer…so here I was, digging on the present while looking at the sun as it set over the site of a crazy past.

WHAT a life, Man….what a life.

So I’m headed home. My head is spinning. My soul is singing. My life, to be sure, is a fucking sweet gig.

Sorry for the fat writing. I had to get it all out before I do it all over again.

Next stop–Phoenix for a keynote at the annual gathering of the Western Arts Alliance and then breakfast with my crazy chums at YNPN.

See you down the road.

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