Marion's Ledge ~ Community Commons and Café

16 questions answered

Marion’s Ledge is dedicated to fostering a rich community of affirmative engagement within which to grow in mind and spirit through our shared experiences of discovery and working together. Additionally, we seek to enhance our greater community of Houston by creating and stewarding an exemplary sustainable space of activity and vision, and to use that as a base to further experience Houston.

What do you mean by a “community of affirmative engagement”?
“Community of affirmative engagement” (or sometimes, “Culture of engagement”) is to reference the synergistic result of fostering activity, discovery and engagement. It is about engaging with each other through the values of affirmation and respect - caring and being involved in the people and activity around us, in our community, in life.
Marion’s Ledge is foremost a place to engage you. The culture we nourish will determine the nature/quality of that engagement with each other. At Marion’s Ledge we want the hallmarks of that culture to be openness, affirmation and respect as we deal with each other. With that we believe it will be a very positive and productive experience.
• Activity, things going on - dancing, building, painting, conversing, contending, playing games, kids squealing and running in the back, visitors from around the country and around the world passing through. There are not only coffee sippers, but there are people working on their projects, conducting their classes, having their meetings, producing their plays, giving their presentations, playing their music, watching Saturday morning cartoons... whatever. People pursuing their interests, discovering the interests of others. Most importantly, by sharing in someone’s caring for an activity, to perhaps find where we care and to discover meaningful activity.
• Through this activity, and by following the spirit of a traveler, Discovery... about what we’re working on, about that which we converse, about the people we’re working with... about ourselves.
• Through caring about our activity and the people we’re working with, Engagement... in community, in life.

Facility mission: Marion’s Ledge will be housed in a model sustainable Houston facility combining, at its heart, the Marion’s Ledge Community Commons and Café, along with a spacious venue/work space, and hostel ~ together designed to foster a synergistic place of conversation, activity and discovery.

What do you mean by a “model sustainable facility”?
To create a model sustainable facility (or “exemplary sustainable space”), we will research and utilize the latest cost-effective technologies, designs and approaches to conserve and reuse energy and resources. We will be looking for not simply a collection of individual technologies, but for systemic answers and for technologies that contribute to a more effective holistic model of interconnectivity. This is not for the sake of pursuing an activist cause, but simply to pursue what ought to be considered basic good design - a better place for people.

This will include the latest energy efficient air-conditioning technologies such as placing the airflow in a raised floor that not only cuts down on energy waste, but also gives people more control over their personal environment. More importantly, it will include utilizing designs that do not begin by enforcing dependence on air-conditioning as many of our current buildings do. We will rather explore designs that include consideration of the prevailing breezes, uses eves & dog-runs, and in general utilizes natural as well as augmented air-flow before air-conditioning. We’ll also look to use effective natural insulation such as a Green Roof.
We will look to design using as much natural lighting (aka Day-lighting) as possible, hoping to effectively reduce or eliminate the need for artificial lighting during daytime. When artificial lighting is needed, we will of course use the latest energy efficient lighting and automatic systems for minimizing the use of that lighting when the space is not occupied, as well as explore a fresh evaluation of how much light is needed where and when.
We will also research, design and utilize systems to collect rainwater as well as reduce, filter and reuse water throughout the facility.
Where energy is needed we’ll look to cost-effective alternative sources such as wind and solar, of which there is an abundance in Houston. As a small example in support of this spirit, we will have bike racks and air pumps, not presented as an afterthought, but prominently available for our guests.
We will of course also recycle thoroughly and look to be a center for recycling.
These measures, of which I have only named a few, will firstly enhance the facility’s economy and contribute to fulfilling our community responsibility. In addition it will provide their own attraction to the facility. By creatively displaying and explaining the measures we’ve taken throughout the building it will provide a model and educate about what can be done in an environment such as Houston’s.

In the course of researching what it takes to design an environmentally responsible, “green” facility, we discovered a fuller meaning to “sustainability” that relates to more than just the design of our building but also to our entire vision. This Philosophy of Sustainability was found to be very much in concert with our own beliefs and to express many of the principles behind our vision and implementation of Marion’s Ledge.
The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, written by Jason McLennan, explains that sustainability extends beyond just architecture and product design, but can actually be a philosophy to be lived by. According to McLennan, Sustainability focuses on respect. It combines Respect for the Wisdom of Nature; Respect for People; Respect for Place; Respect for the Cycle of Life; Respect for Energy and Natural Resources; and Respect for the Holistic Process.
• Respect for the Wisdom of Nature - Nature is sustainable. It does not waste. We should encourage a respect for these natural systems and act to preserve and protect them so we can learn from their example. This is also referred to a Biomimicry.
• Respect for People - People are happier and more productive when they are comfortable, healthy and connected with others and nature.
• Respect for Place - We should take our surroundings into account when we act. The idea of an eco-system is that the actions of one affects the environment of many, natural and man-made.
• Respect for the Cycle of Life - We are all part of a life cycle. We should realize that our actions today affect all of the generations to come. I have heard this referred to as “Respect for all children, of all species, of all times.”
• Respect for Energy and Natural Resources - Natural Resources are not things to be owned and destroyed, but to be partnered with. One way of doing this is to focus on renewable resources and creating zero waste.
• Respect for the Holistic Process - Holistic Thinking is when you endeavor to think of everything as connected. People of all areas must work together to create lasting change. Sometimes the best solutions can come when you are looking at the whole instead of just the part (e.g. when selecting a product to use we look at not only at the price, but also at how it was created, if it can be recycled and how much energy it uses over it’s life). And not only must you look at the whole picture in different lights, you must also do things in the correct order, putting the correct things first (e.g. you should look at ways to use free energy, like the breeze created from a dog-run, before choosing an air conditioning system so you don’t purchase an overly powerful and wasteful one).
Holistic Thinking is probably one of the most important aspects of sustainable design. McLennan quotes a man named Don Miguel who states that for anyone to live sustainability, they must make four personal agreements which help foster true holistic thinking. The agreements are to always be affirmative in your word, to not take anything personally, to not make assumptions, and to always do your best.
At Marion’s Ledge we’ve recognized the fundamental importance of openness, affirmation and respect (An open mind/A respectful attitude/An affirmative approach) to what we’re trying to create. Through the philosophy of Sustainability, we’ve come to understand this even better and to be encouraged on the path we’ve chosen, in both the building and the community within.

What is the “Marion’s Ledge Community Commons & Café” and why is it the heart?
The Community Commons & Café is the original and core idea around which everything else was designed to enhance and serve. Tapping the benefits of Community is the foundation of Marion's Ledge. Such a dynamic place - where one might go for a particular activity, but more than that, where you can go and “find activity” that you never scheduled or anticipated - did not have a name that I knew of.
It was not mearly a “Community Center”, often government or church organized, where one goes for scheduled activities only, but I thought more of a “Community Commons”. A commons is a space that is shared, and with luck, much more. A place where you may come for a particular event, or a place you might just engage time and perhaps discover your own event. I hope Café (or perhaps “Coffee Bar”) further implies that invitation to spend time.

What is the “venue/work space” for?
Marion’s Ledge is an open place for the conception of ideas and initiatives. The venue/work space in particular is a large “blank canvas” within which such plans can be worked on and staged. We want to foster the engaged creative process and the venue/work space is an integral component to letting that process come to fruition.

What is a Hostel?
Hostels, also called youth hostels, provide short-term accommodation to travelers or backpackers, particularly encouraging outdoor activities and cultural exchange.
In a hostel guests often rent a bed (sometimes a bunk bed) in a dormitory and share common bathroom, kitchen, and lounge rooms. Private rooms are often available.
The main benefits of a hostel are firstly the low cost of the accommodation compared to alternatives such as hotels, and that one gets to meet other travelers from all over the world, as well as, at least in the case of Marion’s Ledge, local residents, providing opportunities for multicultural enlightenment. Hostels are usually less formal and less expensive than hotels. There is more interaction between guests than in traditional hotels, and many hostels provide activities to their guests for free or at low cost. They are most frequently used by young travelers. In the past many hostels imposed age limits, but today it is more common for hostels to accept guests of all ages.
~Most of the text above taken from this Wikipedia article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel

Why do you say Marion’s Ledge is “designed” to foster conversation, activity and discovery?
Most spaces are less “designed” than “decorated”. Very nice spaces are created to be attractive or interesting or just comfortable while patrons enjoy the food or beverage that the establishment offers.
In contrast, Marion’s Ledge is most interested in the culture of engagement that it wishes to create and, in that sense, is not unlike the engagement that a teacher designs for a child’s open classroom. Though this is an establishment primarily for adults, it will still benefit from conscience design to foster those dynamics.
That design will include consideration of the furniture and it’s arrangement not just for aesthetics, but further for how they effect social space and interaction. The placement of the counter, for instance, will be designed to bring a guest through the space and in the proximity of the Production Area so that the barrier of social space is breeched and a guest, rather than feeling like they are trespassing, can more easily choose to sit close to a gathering or anywhere in the space they’ve already traversed.
Marion’s Ledge will be designed to greatly optimize the potential for serendipity and contact with a very rich environment of space and activity.

What do you mean by a synergistic place?
In our effort to foster activity, discovery and engagement, our guests together create a richer stage for possibilities than any could do alone.
We have Traveling Visitors here with an eye to experience and discover Houston - and who are eager to meet actual Houstonians.
We also have Houston Groups who are comprised of active neighbors pursuing their interests/passions and hospitable to the curiosity and interest of others.
Then finally our walk-in Houston Guests provide the key ingredient to make the mixture active - with the potential to be engaged by the visitors, engaged by their active neighbors, and then ultimately by each other.
None of these three types of guests could create alone what they can create together. Without the individual walk-in guests the hostel would be like any other hostel, and the groups may meet in any other meeting space.

Houston groups mission: We will reach out and invite active groups of Houstonians to be further discovered by their community and to use our very affordable, capable and active facility to meet, produce and interest others.

Who are these Houston groups?
The prototypical group that I first became aware of is VBB-Voices Breaking Boundaries (http://www.vbbarts.org/index.shtml) which I saw doing a program in the auditorium at the Museum of Fine Arts several years ago. They do a number of programs a year in various venues including bookstores and school auditoriums.
I need to do a lot of research in this area but I have little doubt that such groups are numerous in Houston. They may be interested in enlightenment or just entertainment but they are working on something they care about and they need a facility to host their meetings and events.
It is my plan that once arrangements for the building are in place, to then spend a lot of my time seeking out and interviewing these groups - finding out their needs and actively inviting them to make use of the facility both informally and formally.

What can these groups do there?
Such groups can hold their planning meetings in this populated public space so that others are even more likely to be aware of their efforts and able to explore an interest.
They can also use this well situated space on very economically affordable terms to host their productions and events.

Traveling guests mission: We will make the investment of serving young-at-heart travelers comfortable, safe and inexpensive accommodations while offering a rich experience of Houston at it’s best.

Why do you call the hostel part an “investment”?
In visiting a city, we certainly look to see it’s spaces and sights, but what really impresses and remains with us is our experience of it’s people.
Experiencing Houston through the doors of Marion’s Ledge will impress these travelers with Houston as an exceptionally friendly, creative and vibrant city. There is hardly any better impression that we could wish for than to be described to others in those terms. Anyone hearing of such a place would definitely be interested in adding Houston to their list of places to visit.
When they explore beyond our walls they will start from it’s proposed location (as described in more detail below) with an exceptionally beautiful walking approach to downtown and have easy access beyond downtown’s sights and activities to the Museum District and Medical Center.
Through its culture and people, along with this access to downtown and beyond, Marion’s Ledge is showing Houston at it’s best to travelers who regularly exchange stories and recommendations and will be left with these positive impressions for their entire lives as they enter other ventures.
Having these travelers so positively impressed could greatly enhance our national and international reputation and have uncalculated benefits returned to us. In Marion's Ledge we will be sowing the right seeds.

As beneficial as sowing these seeds can be, given that we are interested in enhancing our reputation and the way we are perceived nationally and internationally, even more important is the investment in ourselves that these interactions represent. Beyond sightseeing, the major way we benefit from traveling is to realize that there are actually myriad answers and approaches to problems and endeavors to which we thought there only one or few. By having the opportunity to visit with these travelers as we pursue our endeavors, we can gain these valuable perspectives without ever having to leave our backyard.

How will you offer these travelers “a rich experience of Houston at it’s best”?
As described above, in visiting a city we certainly look to see it’s spaces and sights, but what really impresses and remains with us is our experience of it’s people.
Houston is rich in the arts and in Marion’s Ledge, the visiting traveler will stay in a dorm decorated by a local artist (or team of artists) giving our guests a personal experience of Houstonians immediately upon settling in. This aspect of the hostel will be overseen by a committee and will most likely be changed out and rotated for new designs every 2 to 4 years.
When our hostel guest goes downstairs to where she usually finds the hostel lobby populated with other travelers, she will also find active and interested Houstonians. Hostel guests are used to more interaction among their fellow guests than in a typical hotel and this culture of expectation will nurture the expectations of our local guests. As Houstonians they are already thought of as “friendly” by visitors and this will only provide them with a new opportunity to reach-out.
Through not only it’s uniquely rich bulletin boards, but more importantly it’s local guests, Marion’s Ledge will offer an exceptional guide to Houston sights and events. This is as any good hostel should be, and it is a benefit that will spill over to it’s local guests and be greatly enhanced by them.
We will be looking for property within a half-mile of the intersection of Washington and Houston Avenues and with this exceptional location for Marion’s Ledge, our hostel guests will be within a 15-20 minute walk of downtown and even more importantly, will enter downtown by a remarkably beautiful approach that looks over the bayou (where a lot of wonderful work has been done) with a view of the Wortham, it’s associated outdoor art, and the skyline just beyond. This is easily the most impressive approach to downtown and can be particularly appreciated when walking.
Once downtown there is a wealth of activity and sights and they can easily connect to the rail to get to the Museum District or Medical Center - or even by bus to other areas and shopping districts such as The Galleria.
In Marion's Ledge there is a unique combination of Houston’s art, Houston’s people and Houston’s sights, spaces and activities to show-off Houston at it’s best.

Houston guests mission: We will endow our key beneficiaries, our Houston guests, with an inspiring space filled by active neighbors and interesting travelers in order to prime a rich and affirmative culture of engagement and the open inquisitive spirit of a traveler.

How are the Houston guests the key beneficiaries?
While we hope visiting travelers will have their own reasons for coming to Marion’s Ledge, and Houston Groups will welcome a great venue for their meetings and productions, our real goal is to foster a place of activity, discovery and engagement for the walk-in guest. We seek, in effect, to have stocked the pond.
As we described above: We have Traveling Visitors here with an eye to experience and discover Houston - and who are eager to meet actual Houstonians.
We also have Houston Groups who are comprised of active neighbors pursuing their interests and hospitable to the interest of others.
Then finally our walk-in Houston Guests provide the key ingredient to make the mixture active - beneficiaries of a space to be engaged by the visitors, engaged by their active neighbors, and then ultimately by each other.

What do you mean by the “spirit of a traveler”?
The “spirit of a traveler” (or sometimes, “eye of a traveler”) is the awareness and openness that allows one to see, absorb and engage their surroundings.
I’ve observed when traveling to new places that we often have a fresher, more open eye to our surroundings than when we are home. I’ll even notice the silhouette of the buildings and trees above eye level. When traveling we tend to be more willing to engage the people and spaces around us. We’re more eager to explore and less anxious to judge.
At home we come to believe that everything is familiar and known but we can nurture this spirit of a traveler and perceive our own town with a more open eye and engaging attitude. When we do, especially in a city as active and rich as Houston, we can find that there is still a wealth of discoveries to be made and that there is a lot more to explore and engage us than we’d imagined.

Overarching community mission: We will provide an environment, a culture, that aspires...
• to affirm that every life is better when it looks for the positive in and around them ~
• to encourage that respect of other perspectives and cultures is healthier than believing only ours is worthy ~
• to embrace that we are all travelers, not only through geography and cultures, but inherently on a finite journey through time and life ~
• and in all this, to be an open and enabling community that will focus not only on this rich and active environment within our walls, but also act as a guide and gateway to explore Houston’s vibrant life of enrichment and entertainment beyond our walls... for all of us, travelers from away and Houston alike.

You seem to have an agenda. Does Marion’s Ledge have an underlying mission of trying to promote certain values?
After living with Marion’s Ledge for a while I came to a realization that these above elements are being gathered because of certain values I hold, and for me, that is what Marion’s Ledge is really all about.
These particular values have to do with community and what we bring to a community.

The community provides a forum or stage for people to grow and use their gifts. It brings people and experiences to that forum so we can continue to learn and discover - because we believe that continuing to learn and broaden our lives is as essential to living as exercise or eating well and not to be left behind at the end of formal school.
Hopefully, community then further provides opportunities to work, to create, to contribute - to feel we’ve spent a worthwhile day.

I want to encourage our guests to bring is openness, affirmation and respect.
This is the openness that comes from living the spirit of a traveler, both in realizing that “we are all travelers...”, and also from appreciating that our lives and growth as human beings are enhanced by a knowledge, understanding and appreciation of other perspectives and cultures. That is the openness of mind that further recognizes the practical tenet that all our knowledge is incomplete. Even in those things that we are most informed, we can speak in ways that leaves room for other peoples’ perspective and knowledge.
This is the affirmation “that every life is better when it looks for the positive in and around them”; when we have an eye for the possibilities not just the obstacles.
This is the respect that we all need to work beneficially together, whose prerequisite is the openness of mind referred to above. In spite of the way we may feel sometimes, none of us represent the sole meaning of creation nor are actually the center of the Universe. None of us have an intelligent or fair right to be self-righteous or disrespectful. All of us wish for respect and all of us benefit from giving respect.

How is Marion’s Ledge going to be a guide or gateway to discovering Houston?
Any good hostel has it’s bulletin board(s) as a featured piece of their foyer or lobby. They are managed differently but they are all intended as a place to exchange messages and as a place to find information about local navigation, resources, sights and events. While most places (cafes etc.) have their bulletin board (if they have one at all) stuck back near the bathroom (or some similar out-of-the-way place) and of limited functionality, at Marion’s Ledge it’ll be given a prominent place and featured role as at a hostel and it’ll be intended for use by our traveling visitors and local guests alike. While this is an expected feature of hostels (though we hope to do a better job than most) it is a key benefit that will spill over to our local guests and be greatly enhanced by them.
We plan on accommodating the following categories of postings:
• personal messages
• transactions
• resources (including local navigation)
• It’s Happening in Here (Marion’s Ledge in-house events)
• Recommendations, aka It’s Happening out There (recommendations of out-&-about events)
• other bulletins and flyers
As you can see, among the other types of notices that might be posted, we’ll have a place where someone may post or lay out bulletins or flyers - however, the most compelling postings are going to come under Recommendations. Anything posted there must include a personal note. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, perhaps just that you’ve been looking to check this out and that you will be there. Maybe it’s a production of your own and it will be a note about how you’re hopeful people will come and enjoy it. Just something that amounts to the reason why you care to post it.
I remember this to be a very appealing feature of the old Whole Earth Catalog, that many, if not most, of the items weren’t merely listed, but had further information attached as to why that person listed it. There was someone’s personal experience shared.
I’d hope that in many cases a guest may be intrigued by a notice and I can say, “yeah, who posted that? Oh, Jenn, she’s over there.”
Beginning with a well designed and maintained bulletin board, nurturing the element of personal recommendations, and the resource of conversation with other guests which are all fellow participants in this exploration, plus some helpful guides, Marion's Ledge becomes an exceptional place from which to discover Houston.

And lastly, why is it named “Marion’s Ledge” and who the heck is Marion?
Marion, and the place “Marion’s Ledge”, comprise a story from early in my life that exemplifies much of the spirit of Marion's Ledge. The specific story is not important except that it has meaning to me and involved making a connection with someone.
I do like the sound of the name and I like that it suggests a story and leaves unanswered questions - and I hope to use it’s unanswered questions as fodder for some playful contributions to the culture of Marion's Ledge, so far now, they will remain unanswered