JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

I’ve never seen the show but I first heard that ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition was working in our area this week through one of my homeschooling yahoogroups. Then I read Robert Scoble’s blog post coordinating contributions and community efforts, asking if anyone could help the family and donate technical equipment such as computers and printers.

Today though I heard the closest local connection yet. My neighbor Victoria Harrison sent out a message to her email list describing how one of her watercolor paintings may be in the master bedroom of the new home (“if all went as planned”). On Sunday she was displaying her work at a studio tour in Kingston when the Extreme Makeover Home Edition Crew stopped by. Victoria donated one of her paintings, a favorite one of mine, Geneva Stroll. She wrote that she was “encouraged by the community spirit brought about by this program”.

I too am encouraged. I confess that I don’t have any desire to get on one of the shuttle buses that have been driving past the house this week. I’m not curious to ask for an autograph or get a glimpse of celebrity.

But there’s power in the personal connection. Knowing that Scoble was involved got me interested. And now knowing that my neighbor’s art work, a painting I love to admire myself, will be hanging in their home, makes me curious.

Television seems to be a celebration of narcissm, everyone only seeking to help themselves. I’ve never seen the Extreme Makeover Home Edition and I’m not often tempted to turn on the TV. But watching my community this week and seeing how the show becomes catalyst and the crew works to weave local residents together has now made me want to watch the show….and I hope that the encouragement and relationships that are beginning will continue to be built long after the house is finished (tomorrow!).