– written by Hearth Ember, Matthew Reese I’ve heard academics use the term “contact zone” to describe forums for discussion. Contact zones are not comfortable. They are not environments where the participants should expect to be coddled. Contact zones are spaces where discussion can flow freely and participants are held accountable for what they say,… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Blog
Making Magic
–written by Hearth Member, Jaclyn Wood The Harry Potter Hearth Dinner is approaching. Do you have your costumes ready? It’s easy to put together a house uniform, but unfortunately there is no wand shop in Harvard Square. That’s no problem for a community of makers. To make this most important magical tool all you need… Continue Reading
Hearth Highlights – October 2016
Over the past three years, Miranda’s Hearth has grown from a sporadic group of mostly strangers meeting in random apartments to an active, creative community throughout the Greater Boston area. The array of events being offered this October is a perfect example of how far we’ve come and how much we enjoy it. We’re kicking off… Continue Reading
Getting Bach into Folk Dancing
-written by Hearth Member, Matthew Reese I grew up on classical music. To say I was a snob or “that guy” with headphones who air conducts on the bus is an understatement. I barely even knew there were other genres until I was a sophomore in high school. My parents exposed me to other kinds… Continue Reading
Community: An Inconvenience
In the past two weekends, I have been reminded exactly why I spend so many of my waking hours organizing events, posting on social media, worrying about whether anyone is going to show up at said events, and obsessing over the best ways of facilitating authentic communication between the people who show up. It’s not… Continue Reading
The Privilege of Choice
I was eight years old the day the towers fell. The one memory I hold from that day is when my mum told us what had happened. She picked me up from my classroom, where the teachers had kept the news to themselves, and we had just gone to get my older sister. It was a beautiful… Continue Reading
CALL FOR MUSICIANS WITH WALTZ MUSIC
Every fourth Sunday, Miranda’s Hearth hosts Waltzdays, an evening of live music and dancing at The Democracy Center in Harvard Square We’re looking for musicians who can play about two and a half hours worth of waltzes. These don’t have to be traditional waltzes: as long as you can play in 3/4, we can dance… Continue Reading
The Beauty of Building Your Own Home
I was working the Boston Tumbleweed Tiny House Workshop this weekend and as always I found it encouraging to be in a room of 60+ people who are all interested in carefully crafting their lives. While I listened to the attendees talk about their plans and dreams, the normal tiny house aspirations came up: economic freedom, environmental… Continue Reading
From Falcon Ridge to the Democracy Center
-written by Hearth Member, Matthew Reese Earlier this month, I attended the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for the first time. Over the course of the weekend, I observed how integral this event is for so many of its attendees. Many of the thousands who attend go every year, some of them, like Hearth Founder Miranda Aisling,… Continue Reading
Just Roll With It: Behind the Tiny House
Building my own house is not a dream that I’ve harbored since my childhood like some of my tiny house fellows. Instead, I came to it through a series of economic and logistic considerations. After much budget-crunching and soul-searching, I realized that building my own tiny house was a way to start my life at… Continue Reading