Seems so simple to me, but who the heck am I?

So last night I went to my first ever Deep Ellum Enrichment Project (D.E.E.P.) meeting. Frank Campagnia was there. Hal Samples was there. There were other Ellum luminaries that I probably should have known, but did not. Maybe 30 people total. Frank and Hal alone had me all agog. Gosh, I love their work.

This meeting was held in The Prophet Bar. I couldn’t help but look at the dark, empty stage and think of the bands I’d seen play there. Sondre Lerche (twice). Stories of London. Anathallo. Lots of others. A part of me resides in that place.

Russell Hobbs was the moderator, and he spoke well. But evenutally the evening became a church meeting. The Southern Baptist ‘state of the church’ type meetings. Not the Sunday morning type. It was agreed that everyone with a vested interest in these few blocks of Dallas property were connected by their art-driven anarchy. Deep Ellum is Deep Ellum because it proudly gives a neon finger to the overwhelming pretention that pervades Dallas. It’s place of life and off-kilter beauty that requires a level of anarchy.

But… You can’t have a community of anarchists. I listened to idea after idea after idea that these beautiful weirdos had, and I was simutaneously encouraged and discouraged. All the building blocks for change were there- there was a guy from radio, a guy who did software, a lawyer, a guy who works for a state representative in Austin, a manger guy with expensive shoes, and everyone was absolutely brimming with passion to see things change. But there wasn’t a vision. There wasn’t picture that was so bright and so inspiring that it would cause the anarchists to put aside their own agendas and throw themselves into the task of bringing that picture into reality. As such there was just a lot of arguing. The pitch of voices grew more shrill as the night went on. One guy was so frustrated he was shaking.

If those thirty people could get so inspired that they could willingly put themselves into a form of government, Deep Ellum could be back on track within months. It would be as easy as sleep walking if they could just get some unity, maybe choose a leader to prioritize the ideas and get everyone to rally around one or two projects at a time. Heck, they could still do it without a leader if they could stop fussing long enough to VOTE on a few action items and then be willing to commit to the decision of the majority. It’s so close! SO CLOSE!

But what I saw last night is not going to change a darn thing. Everyone wants to go in different directions, and so they’re going to pull themselves apart.

I plan to go back though. It was fascinating to hear them talk. Passionate artsy people are always fun to be around, even when they are just spinning wheels and watching their community crumble.

C’est la vie.