The day before our event, a polite young man was admiring the flyer and asked, “What does ‘People Like Us’ mean?” I encouraged him to attend (he had other plans). I could answer that question with a never-ending supply of stories and people. Here’s one from Basement Show.

I asked Colette Katsikas, owner of Essentials and home to our first pop-up talk, to provide a question for the Q&A. She immediately offered, “If you were organizing a food festival and it had to revolve around one food, what would that food be?” I pulled that question out of the skull and asked the speaker farthest to my left.

Daniel Danger: Calzones.

Me: I didn’t know people still ate calzones!

Daniel Danger: Oh sure and they are wildly inconsistent (then he talked about calzones for a short bit)

I meant no disrespect to his answer, or food festival choice, but I haven’t thought about calzones this century. I doubt I would have ever thought about them, until, of course, that answer. You see, if Daniel Danger were organizing a Calzone Food Truck Festival (he’s way too busy so don’t get your hopes up) I would go. I can’t imagine a greater re-introduction to the calzone than attending a festival organized by diehard calzone people. When passionate people connect to build community, meaning and value, it can be transformative. Whether it be food, skateboarding, punk rock, pretty much anything.

People like us feel gratitude for the communities that inspired us. Everyone on the panel is an inspiration to me. Hugest Thanks to Julie Cafritz, Jon Bartlett, Sean Greene and Daniel Danger! Shout out to my shopkeepsister Colette for providing the space and talking biznet! Thank you and mad respect for Angela and Timothy St. John (Mill Town Deli & Catering) for the tasty food and being a complete pleasure to work with! Thanks to the awesome audience who filled the basement and lent us your time and attention! Love to my partner, Jim Shea, manning the merch table. Thank you to all the people who bought and shared the zine and support us in multitudes of ways. We couldn’t have done this without you!