I’m gonna get a little too honest with you for a minute.

The bread and butter of what AltDaily does will always be our editorial content. It’s fantastic–we have some serious national-publication level talent on board–and I’m terribly proud of it.

That said, the stories aren’t enough for me. It’s not enough for our contributors, either.

Nobody involved does it for the money. Our people don’t get paid, and Hannah and I are more or less month-to-month. The reason we, as a collective group, spend insane amounts of hours-we-could-be-napping working on this thing is because some part of us believes that AltDaily has the potential to be a catalyst for real change around here.

Street performance at Art | Everywhere closing night.

We’ll start with things like movie series, public art projects, bike culture and infrastructure, street performance, concerts, and community gardening. In the future, we will (nakedly) try to be a serious force when it comes to gay rights, homeless rights, and pushing our cities to have more comprehensive and forward-thinking recycling plans.

The reason we are here… The reason that we stay… The reason that we shut people the hell up when they talk too much crap about Norfolk (even when it’s us)… The reason that we are willing to fight is because we unequivocally believe that while Norfolk is a good city, there are no barriers between this and greatness, and whenever a man or a city has a chance to be great, it must seize that chance or be judged by a history that forgets them.

I want national magazines to have cover stories about Norfolk with headlines like, “How to be a Mid-Sized City the Right Way.”

I want us to be where innovation meets history.

I want Ivy League kids to dream about moving down to the funkiest little military city you’ll ever find.

But first, I want ODU and TCC and NSU kids to graduate here and keep their talents here, explaining, “I just couldn’t find a good reason to leave.”

I want us all to live here like we’ll never leave, even if we know that some of us might, eventually.

As Jim Morrison said, I want the world, and I want it now.

***

All that strutting around brings us to Thursday, the second installment of Norfology Nights. While Norfology is an AltMarketing thing, this event is too dead on with my values for me not to be involved. There will be drinking and fun, yeah, but I also want us to talk about the real issues affecting our community, and what we, as empowered and visionary citizens, can do about them.

I’m calling what we’re doing Passion Pits. The philosophy is this:

When you take smart, driven people with common passions, and you give them the forum to identify problems and brainstorm solutions, the aspects of society they are passionate about will necessarily be better for it.

Order of Operations

1. The crowd determines the passion pits based on what they care about.
2. We talk in small groups and fill out the ‘Getting Actual Stuff Done’ Worksheet
   • Identify problems. (Problems can be positive aspects that call to be enhanced or better marketed.)
   • Agree on what ‘better’ looks like. (Set goals.)
   • Ask yourself, Why isn’t it already better? (Identify obstacles.)
   • Make a plan with tangible steps.
   • Assign specific people specific action plans with specific due dates. Set next meeting date.
   • Identify civic and community leaders that should be allies, and make them so. Find natural partners, including existing groups with the same mission. Consider, at some point, just helping them rather than doing your own thing.
   • Never forget, you are a citizen, which means you are a part owner in this city/region/state/country. This place is ours to better, and it is our God-given responsibility to better it.

It’s all pretty simple, really.

If you’re on board, come on Thursday. Bring a pen and a notebook. Let’s be great.

Norfology Nights takes place from 6-8, this Thursday, at Crackers, which is located at 4226 Granby Street in Norfolk. Click here for the Facebook event page.

Below check out video from our first Norfology Nights meeting at The Boot.