Christine Nolf and Caryn Blanton

[00:05] CARYN BLANTON: My name is Karen Blanton. It is May 17, 2024. We are at the San Diego Public Library in downtown San Diego, and my interview partner is Christine Brooks Knolf. She is a dear friend and mentor to me.

[00:25] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: That's so sweet. My name is Christine Brooks Knolf. I am 49 years old, and today is May 17, 2024. And we are at the San Diego Public Library, and I am here with Karen Blanton, who is my dear, dear friend. And I'm really excited to be doing this with you. Did you want to share your age?

[00:50] CARYN BLANTON: I heard a. Oh, I can. I just. I just. It's the first time I'm going to say it out loud. I'm 60, 64 years old.

[00:57] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I didn't even know that my birthday.

[01:01] CARYN BLANTON: Was yesterday, May 16, 2024.

[01:05] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I feel like this is a wonderful present to both of us to be.

[01:08] CARYN BLANTON: Here doing this together.

[01:09] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I agree, because I just really love being with you and reflecting on our friendship. So why don't you share with me how you remember our first meeting?

[01:22] CARYN BLANTON: I remember. Well, we were introduced by a mutual friend who I met on an airplane, actually, and she was telling me all about the work that you were doing in Costa Mesa. And she kept saying, these are the real. These are the real deal. These girls are doing the real work out there. They've got their feet on the ground and they're just really getting into all of this community development work. And I was so intrigued. And she said, I'll have to introduce you. You have to meet this person. And usually when people say that, nothing happens, but indeed, she did connect us. And I feel that our first meeting, we maybe did some emails or texting, but our first meeting was on Balboa island at the Starbucks in my neighborhood. And it was, I think you and Mark, I'm not sure Lindsey was there, but the three of us got together again to hear more about the work that you were doing. And as I recall, you were looking for an office manager.

[02:31] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: We were desperate for an officer.

[02:33] CARYN BLANTON: You were desperate for an office manager. And of course, I can do anything. I said, I'm your girl. I can be an office manager, but I was willing to do anything to be part of the work that you were doing. I remember my first impressions of you was just the intensity level was really high. The young Christine Brooks at that point. Yeah, the intensity level is really high, but, you know, I can match that. So it was like two peas in a pod. And I thought that was really awesome. I also was just incredibly impressed by the knowledge of the work that you were doing and the training you had had and how you were implementing knowledge into the work, which I thought was really, really impressive. And also just the passion that you had for what you were doing. And that was overriding everything. And then I also remember just that feeling that I grew to know about you over the next 1213, 1415, however many years, just the way your ability to be present with people. And that I only got to know that better and better and better. But that's my first remembrance of our being together. What about you?

[04:03] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Well, what I remember about that meeting was you rode your bike and you rode a beach cruiser that had a basket on the front. And I remember watching you ride off and you had really good posture, and I found you very whimsical and not as intense as I came to find out that you are. But I remember thinking, who is this woman who rides her bike to an interview? In my mind, it was a job interview. We desperately needed office manager. Our friend had said, okay, let's take.

[04:35] CARYN BLANTON: A little break here. The reason I rode my bike probably was because I didn't have a car at that time.

[04:40] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: That's true.

[04:41] CARYN BLANTON: That's true.

[04:42] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Well, that's good. Let's get into that a little bit. Because there was other things going on then in your life, I think it is. I mean, we're both laughing about you being an office manager because now we know that any sort of, like, administration spreadsheets, situations like that, we're probably not your first forte, but you were so willing to do whatever, and we really needed someone because we were trying to get this community development work off the ground, working in west side, Costa Mesa, in the neighborhoods with young people and their parents and, you know, trying to get some action committees going. But what else was going on in your life at that time? Like, what else was, like, shaping you, right?

[05:31] CARYN BLANTON: Which, of course, at a job interview, I never would have shown my cards at that point. But, yeah, at that point, my family was unraveling and I probably didn't have a car because maybe it had been repossessed or who knows of all of the things that have happened over those years. But due to, as you know, my former spouse's mental illness and substance use, the marriage was falling apart. And so you were with me through that whole thing. I mean, that took years. I mean, probably, what, maybe three years after I started working with you. So, I mean, you hit a front row seat to all of it falling apart. And it did. I mean, you know, I went from being the Orange county mom who drove carpool and entertained guests at my beautiful big Balboa island house and traveled around the world with my children and took them to soccer games and tennis, sports, whatever we were playing at the time and music lessons. And then all of a sudden, the rugs, like, torn out from under us and we're moving into a back house of somebody else's house. And I've got two, two small children staring at me, wondering what we're gonna be doing for the next however long. And I didn't really have answers to that, but I ended up working. What? At one point, I had three jobs. I was working to just keep food on the table. And, yeah, it was messy. And like I said, you had a front row seat. And how grateful I am for that. Do you remember the half day at a time program?

[07:20] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah, even as you're talking, I remember going and sitting in the conference room.

[07:24] CARYN BLANTON: So. Because every morning we did it. So, like, instead of one day at a time, I couldn't do one day at a time. So you just said, we're going to do the half day at a time program. So you and I would meet at 830, and we would plan out the day until lunch, and then we'd get through that, and then we'd meet again at lunch, after lunch, and we'd plan up until the end of the day, and we did that for months. And then we got to the one day at a time program, just sit down and plan the day. Then we did the weekly meetings, and pretty soon you just said, you don't need me anymore. You're doing fine. But, yeah, that was. And what a gift that was to me, because, I mean, we've talked about this before. Like, I, however, who else would have hired that? Well, I mean, I think I kept up with my work. I don't think I was in.

[08:16] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah, I mean, I really didn't know what I hired you, what was going on with you, or even, I think that even looking back now, like, being a wife and mother, I don't think even when I was going through it, like, I understood what you were going through, like, I was trying to be there for you. But even those meetings, like, I feel a little remorse even talking about it because you've shared how much that meant to you, where I was coming at from. Like, a very practical, like, how do I just keep you moving forward and not falling apart in the office? So I'm glad that it was helpful.

[08:54] CARYN BLANTON: And there were very few falling apart days.

[08:57] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: No, I mean, in all the years I've known you. There have been very few falling apart days.

[09:01] CARYN BLANTON: But, I mean, but to, you know, to our community, that's what that's about, right? I realized I couldn't do it alone. And there's a point where you think you can that, like, oh, I'm gonna just do this, we're gonna power through, and I'm gonna. And then it becomes very clear early on that you can't do it by yourself. And you're gonna have to let people in, especially in the business that we're in, where, you know, we're serving people, quote unquote. All of a sudden, I'm the one who needs to be served, right? And people are stepping up and filling those gaps that I had, and there were a lot of gaps. And like I said, what a gift that was. But that was something I learned early on, and something awful happened to me. It was a horrible season of life, and yet it shaped me into the person that I am. And the way that I approach people and the way I approach my work, the way I approach my life, I mean, it changed everything for the better, but it was an awful thing that I wouldn't wish on anybody. But, I mean, I attribute our community in helping me through that. Couldn't have done it without.

[10:21] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Well, and I think as much as we didn't want you to have to experience that, I'm grateful that it happened early on in, like, forming our community, because it became clear to me, like, we can't do the work of community development without being a community. We have to learn how to be a community and care for one another if we're going to say, oh, and this is how we develop a community. It was like a. We were always flying the plane as we were building it, but I think there was this sense of, like, we have to know what it is to be a community if we're going to be able to develop the community around us. And it gave us your vulnerability, gave us the opportunity to do that, and showed us, like, how to. How to say when we weren't okay. And then we needed help, and that so much of what we learned from our own community was mutuality.

[11:15] CARYN BLANTON: That's my phone. I'm just gonna. I'm very sorry.

[11:19] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I told you to try that.

[11:22] CARYN BLANTON: That was one thing you didn't tell us. Unless you have to take it, we can. I do not.

[11:26] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: All right, cool.

[11:27] CARYN BLANTON: I'm very sorry.

[11:28] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: No, no worries. It's going so well so far. I'm curious, Karen. Like, it sounds like you were in a place as we were talking, like, where things were really hard, but it sounds like in the work that you were doing, you were doing, you were helping so many people. I'm just curious, like, what that must be, like, did that help you to.

[11:50] CARYN BLANTON: Be able to help other people?

[11:51] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Did it?

[11:52] CARYN BLANTON: Was there a capacity to do that?

[11:54] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: And then I'd love to hear more about what the work was that you all were doing, because I feel like it's kind of the backdrop to your relationship.

[12:04] CARYN BLANTON: Yeah. So let's go back a little bit, and can you talk a little bit about the work that we were doing at Mica Community Development Corporation?

[12:20] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Sure. Yeah. So this was in 2004, is when we really launched the Community Development Corporation, which we called Micah, which was from a passage in the Bible, what does God require of you to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God? And really, we thought it grew out of the founders. There's a few of us, our own understanding of what was going on in our community and in our neighborhood, of a lot of service organizations being there or coming in, trying to, like, help the neighborhood, but not a lot of space where neighbors themselves were, like, shaping their own reality in the community. And so we were modeling ourselves after a methodology where neighbors would get together and identify their own assets and gifts, and then I start building their own programs and capacities. And so we were just trying to facilitate this process. And so we called them neighborhood action committees. And, you know, in all of that, a big part of it was people wanted us to do things with their children and wanted their kids to have a better life and a better future. And so we were helping with some after school programs, and the arts had come up as a big thing, and we had this dance teacher because kids were just literally dancing in the alleys. And so we were like, oh, how do we fan that flame? It was kind of like, where is already things happening in the community that we could cheer on, build some capacity around? And so when our hip hop dance teacher was leaving, you were the office manager. I remember you were at the computer, and Lindsey, our other co founder, and I were like, where are we ever gonna find a dance teacher? And I just remember you just turning around, going, I danced ballet with the. Was it Madison?

[14:17] CARYN BLANTON: Milwaukee ballet.

[14:18] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Milwaukee ballet. And we're like, what? Like, we had no idea that you were, like, a trained professional dancer. And here we're just like, where are we ever gonna find a dance teacher? And you just pipe up out of the blue. And that's why I laugh about you being the office manager, because you're such an artiste every way. And that's what I love about you. I mean, like, that was our whole friendship for, like, the first ten years. It was like, some other thing we would find out about you. Like, oh, she's a black belt. Oh, she trained for the Olympics. Like, there was always. We're like, is this a joke? It was like, well, when I was in Russia training for the Olympics for, like, what? I literally thought you were joking when you would bring this stuff up, and it's all true, but, yeah. So I think that was you stepping in and really building an art program, like, in a holistic way that was beautiful and huge in the community. I mean, it was.

[15:11] CARYN BLANTON: You know, it's funny because I just. I mean, Mother's Day was last week, and then my birthday, and I will say I probably got 15 or 16 texts or messages or posts on my social media from kids. Kids. They're not from our kids, right. Who are, like, parents themselves now, just wishing me happy Mother's Day or happy birthday. And, I mean, how powerful and meaningful that is that we have kept those relationships over the years. Yeah, I had lunch with one of them, you know, a couple of weeks ago, who I had known since she was six years old, and it just feels like no time has passed when we're together. But those were the really strong bonds. And, you know, not, of course, me with the children, but I built relationships with their parents, so that was like a whole family unit that we were supporting and, you know, encouraging all over those years. So that was really important.

[16:15] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Okay, well, I have to tell you, then I got it. Eric Jimenez was on the original dance team, and he's 30 something now. And he texted me last week, and he just shared. He said, is having a broken heart a spiritual experience? Because that's how it feels. And then he starts telling me about all these spiritual awakenings that he's having. And then yesterday, he texted me a poem, and he was saying, like, creating art is healing me. And I just think he was one of the original kids in the art program.

[16:50] CARYN BLANTON: I know.

[16:52] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah. I'm really, really grateful for those not only ongoing relationships, which is the gift, but those things that you taught them in that program are, like. It is like, getting them through, I think, of Paco and running and Aria and running and how. I mean, those are things that continue to be ways that they're working out their own, like, healing and passions and, like, which.

[17:18] CARYN BLANTON: So in that time when things were hard for me, it was a great diversion. Of course, you know, to be able to be working with other families who had different sorts of issues that we were, you know, big kind of issues like deportation and immigration, like, you know, big issues that we were dealing with on a daily basis was a great diversion for me. But in getting to know the families and them getting to know me and thinking, oh, I'm this white woman from the suburbs, you know, when I'm in their barrio neighborhood. But it ended up how we. I'm much more related to them than I did to the people in the neighborhood that I lived in because I was. My life was much more like theirs than it was the people who I lived around. So that was really healing for me, having them and to be vulnerable with them, to say, like, I know what you're thinking. Like when I drive up in this big black car full of gifts for under your tree that came from a church or something, this isn't even my car. The reason I'm driving this car is because I don't have a car. And my neighbor let me bring his car because I don't have a car. And they're like, what? You don't have a car? And it's like, yeah, I don't have a car. Just like you don't have a car. I don't have a car either. So. And I'm trying to figure out carpool, so tell me how that works. But so there was a gift in that, you know, but I think if I wouldn't. If I would have chosen to stay remote, emotionally remote, and not shared what was going on with me, with many of the family, I mean, in the end, everybody know what was going on with me, and they helped me with my children, right? So we were all helping each other. And that's exactly what is supposed to happen. I mean, that is the work, right? I mean, that is the work.

[19:17] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: And that was always, the whole point was to, like, build a unified community.

[19:22] CARYN BLANTON: So I think, which is interesting, maybe I'm jumping ahead a little bit. But I think what this gift that for me, that came out of this was, I've always seemed to be a great bridge between the haves and the have nots because I've been on both sides and I can hear and see both sides, and I feel that's an easy bridge for me to say, like, hey, I hear what you're saying, and I understand what you're thinking about the other side because they're both othering.

[19:58] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Right, right.

[19:59] CARYN BLANTON: Those people over there and those people over there. I've been both of those people. And just being able to navigate that, I think was kind of a gift that came out of a really hard situation. And, I mean, still to this day, in the work, you know, I'm doing very similar work now. It supports me in that work, too.

[20:25] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit. Because we don't get to live by each other or work together in the everyday anymore. How long ago was it that you moved to San Diego?

[20:36] CARYN BLANTON: So it's been eight years.

[20:38] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I say, really?

[20:38] CARYN BLANTON: Yeah, it's been eight years.

[20:41] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah.

[20:41] CARYN BLANTON: So you. So when I left Micah after ten.

[20:47] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Years.

[20:49] CARYN BLANTON: You know, the big thing always, you gotta live in the neighborhood where you're working. And when I finally decided we had kind of come to the end of my era, I had remarried at that point, and I said, we don't have to be here anymore. And he said, I never thought this day would come. I just always thought we would be in Costa Mesa. I always thought you would be working here. And so we sort of had the family meeting of where else we could go. My boys were still in Costa Mesa, and I said, you know, because they already don't have one parent. Like, I wanted to stay in their orbit. I didn't need to be right next door, but I said within a two hour drive, and we wanted to be in a big city. And so that sort of left Long beach or San Diego on a coast. We needed the water. Listen, we needed the water. And he had lived in Long beach for 20 years. And he said, you know, I'd do that again. But he said, I always wanted to live in San Diego. And I was like, let's do it. You know, we knew one person here, and so we came out on, I think it was Labor Day weekend, which is. That's September, and we ended up selling the house in a weekend. And by middle of October, we were here in San Diego.

[22:05] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: And where did you move to? Tell us about your neighborhood.

[22:07] CARYN BLANTON: Well, we moved to Pacific beach, which was sort of central. It was a place where a. It was kind of like a little small. It felt small, like we could get to know it and get to know the people. It was super walkable or bike rideable. Like, you could park your car and not have to get in the car and go anywhere, which was really appealing to both of us. You on your beach cruiser, me on my beach cruiser. Mostly we walk, though. But I. Yeah, so we just kind of settled in and have never looked back. I mean, you know, I have. I always say going back to Orange county is like, it's one of my happy places for sure. But we have grown to love this place and care about it, you know, as much as we did when we were in Orange county. And then little by little, I started worming my way.

[23:02] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Yeah, I was gonna ask you. I don't think I even totally know the origin story of how you started the work here. So when you came here, were you like, I'm gonna do community development work. I'm gonna get really involved, or were you more like, that was my past life. I'm starting something.

[23:18] CARYN BLANTON: No, I mean, it was part of me by then. You can't help yourself after a while, right? It's just who we are. And the one thing that. Not one thing I learned, a thing that I learned when I was going through my separation and the divorce and all of that transition was my life was very compartmentalized. You know, I had, like, my church people here and my school people here, and the people in our neighborhood here and his work people over there, like, everybody. Everybody. It was like this big compartment, and it was exhausting trying to keep all these little pockets of people. And finally, when I was on my own, it was like, I'm done. Like, I'm not doing that anymore. Like, it's my life is just my life, and all y'all need to get along. It's one whole life is one whole life. And work is the same as, like, work was just part of life. It wasn't separate. It didn't happen between these hours and these hours, especially in the work that we do. It was. You're kind of on 24/7 with boundaries. I mean, I thought we did a really good job of being healthy about that, but it's not something. It's not a nine to five job. So, you know, my kids being in Costa Mesa and then. But also, you know, being on Balboa island, where they. That's where we lived. And so, I don't know, I just threw it all together. And when I got here, it was very much that, that, you know, it was just a life. And I had a friend who here and that I met through some others who was doing work in city Heights with the refugee community, and she kind of roped me into that. And I started doing after school art programming for that community. And I, in the meantime, I'm getting to know my own community at the beach and started meeting a lot of unsheltered folks and talking to them. The one thing I asked was, what would it take to end your homelessness? And everybody said, jobs oh, if we only had work, we could end this. I just need to get to work. So I took about, I don't know, six grand and put it in the bank and started a little nonprofit. And we just got these little push carts and brooms and shirts that said Pacific beach street guardians on the back and started going around sweeping the streets. When we had no contracts, it was, like, just money out of the. I was just paying them out of the bank. And, you know, it was. Nobody hired us. No, but somebody saw us one day with our cool shirts on and came running up and was like, hey, like, who are you guys? What are you doing? And it was somebody from the town council. And from then on, it was just like, the word got out, and it's like, we've been waiting for a group like you. We want to hire you. And so then we got a contract. So that kind of rolled into me being a part of the community in that sense of working with our unsheltered neighbors, offering them work. And it was on literally a wing and a prayer. I mean, I don't even know how we hung on as long as we did, but one of the contracts, which was significant, ended up drying up. And we ran around to the community asking if they thought it was worth a, like, basically, did they want to pay into it? And everybody said no at that time, so we ended up folding. And then maybe a year or so later, the community came back to me and said, please, like, we need that program back. And I had just had an idea to start something else, and I said, I need to get this under my belt first. Like, give me another year, and I can probably do it starting next year. So there was another nonprofit that was in existence called Shoreline community services, which at that point was just a meal service. And then they had, on the campus, during the meal service, there was medical and dental services and acupuncture services going on. So it was just one day. And they separated the church and created the nonprofits so that other people who wanted to volunteer from the neighborhood didn't necessarily want to be volunteering at a church. So they started a nonprofit, but it was really just that Wednesday service on the campus. And then I came to them and said, I've got an idea. Like, I think, you know, this isn't solving the problem. And this was my community developer saying, like, these are relief services that we're offering, and they're important, but they go hand in hand with development services, and we need to tap in and see what else is going on here. But we need to get these folks off the street, and just feeding them a meal isn't, it's good. I'm not saying it's not needed, because it is, but we need to kind of reconfigure things. And they said yes. And so we started a whole bunch of things and started collaborating with a bunch of the churches who were also doing meal services. So we made sure there was a meal service every day of the week and then started bringing in services. There are no homeless services here at the beach. Everybody had to go downtown to get their services. So a lot of people were going without because they didn't want to go downtown to connect to the services. So we said, well, what if we brought the services to us? And little by little, I just started bringing some housing navigators or county benefits with me, and we would just kind of pop up a table at the meal services. And then it became very apparent that we just needed a physical space to have. So that bloomed into first we had a van, and we just started doing outreach to connect with, you know, see who was out there and what they needed. And that was about a year of that. And once we realized what everybody needed, we said, all right, we did find a place and put all the services in place that people were wishing for and did a $40,000 remodel on the site. And here we are. Like, we're doing it. So, you know, now people can get their mail, they can charge their phones, they get showers. They can see nurses. They can connect with the county, people with housing navigators, substance use providers, other healthcare, dentist vision. Did I say substance use counselors there? We have those available as well. So it's kind of a one stop shop at the beach now. And we are the only community in San Diego that has this other than downtown. So I'm really proud of the work that we've done in Mission Beach, Pacific beach, and La Jolla. That's kind of our little piece of the pie. But, you know, calling in the community of faith, calling in local businesses, other organizations, and just neighbors and saying, if we think this is a problem, we can't wait for people to come in and fix it for us because the problem is so massive. Their focus is downtown. It's not going to. They're not coming to us. We're going to have to figure this out. And we live in a wealthy community, mostly educated people, creative people, like, we can figure this out together. And so a lot of my work is out in the community just tapping the resources and figuring out, you know, what. What people have to offer, what organizations have to offer, and how can we bring that in, and how do they fit into the work that's already happening and giving them an opportunity to stand with us and support shoreline community services.

[30:52] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Now, you skipped over the part where you became executive director of Shoreline community services.

[30:56] CARYN BLANTON: Oh, yeah, I did. I am that now. Yeah. So then after, it's called the Compass station, the resource and service drop in center. So a year later, after it was open, I did go back to the community and say, I think I can start this employment program now. So last July, we started the employment program again. It's called the Community care crew. We have ten contracts right now, and they are doing street cleaning, light landscaping. We have a pressure washing service. They do some custodial and janitorial work, event setup, and takedown some groundskeeping.

[31:39] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: So, like, any local business or private resident couldn't hire them for their services.

[31:46] CARYN BLANTON: So it's a little social enterprise, and it's not supporting itself yet, but I think by next summer, we probably will be.

[31:52] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Oh, is that your projection?

[31:53] CARYN BLANTON: Yeah. And then the last little piece of that is, you know, they receive case management and life skills training as a piece of the, you know, being a part of the crew, but the one little piece that everyone's struggling with is the housing part.

[32:07] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I know.

[32:07] CARYN BLANTON: And, you know, so they're showing up for work at 630 in the morning after having slept on the concrete or under a bush or something. I mean, that's hard. So the county of San Diego offered a grant program, I guess it was around December, for sleeping cabins, and we are getting six of them in collaboration with the church where we're sitting. Homemade San Diego. Who else? Lucky Duck foundation. So we've kind of collaborated, and we're hoping by middle of August that we'll.

[32:45] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Soon.

[32:46] CARYN BLANTON: Yeah, we're pushing to get this done quickly, so. And it will. It's strictly workforce housing. So it's the people on the care crew who are working who will be inhabiting their little sleeping cabins.

[33:00] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Well, that's cool. That's cool.

[33:01] CARYN BLANTON: It's a big deal. It's a big deal.

[33:03] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: It's a really big deal.

[33:03] CARYN BLANTON: It is a big deal. So.

[33:06] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: As we're wrapping up this conversation, I'd love to hear from you. When I listen to you talk about it, it's obvious that you've been able to have a big impact in people's lives here. And I think not just the people that your organization serves, but, like, the work you've talked about of like inviting others into that, and then again, continuing to build community where we're all working on something together. How has that process, or how has being a part of Pacific beach community shaped you, changed you?

[33:51] CARYN BLANTON: I think I know so much more now than, you know, when I started a long time ago. And what I know is important, and the things I get frustrated with looking at now, which is how much we need to listen to each other. And often, as you well know, what happens is people show up offering their services that might not necessarily be needed in the community that they think needs them. Side story. I learned this quickly when I became the director of the art program in Orange county when I was a classically trained ballet dancer and was certain that everybody needed to have ballet lessons. And the classes were full. When I say full, I'll say, you know, there were eight to ten people in the three little classes that we had, and it was fine. The moms were really happy that their little darlings were taking ballet lessons, but the olders were continually coming to me saying, Karen, we just want to do hip hop. Just. And I would say, well, if you're trained as a classical dancer, you can do any kind of dance if you get the foundation under. Well, I did find a hip hop teacher, and, you know, there were 60 kids in the class, right? So lesson learned. Like, here's me telling them what they need, and then they're telling me what they need, and finally I give in, and it was, oh, okay, this is obviously a much better fit. So that's something that I think I continue to learn. But it's my greatest frustration in the work that I do now in the area that I do, because a lot of people want to come and offer the things that they want to offer, but it's not always necessarily what people need. So I'm not sure if I answered your total question, but, yeah, I mean.

[35:52] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: In some ways, I think it's back to that conversation of. Of mutuality, right? Of being open to being in relationship and sharing your own space of need and entering into people where their need is without necessarily knowing how to fix it in the moment.

[36:08] CARYN BLANTON: And I think if there was, you know, if I died tomorrow or, I don't know, wasn't here, what I would want people to remember me for would be that I did bring that little spark of togetherness that we can't like. These problems are huge, and there's no one person or one organization that's going to pull it all together and make it okay, that we have to do it together. We have to collaborate, we have to coordinate, and if we do it together, it can probably get done. I don't think that's some novel new concept, but it's. The thing that I talk about the most is, like, that we can do it together. And that would be what I would want people to remember that I brought here was that she's constantly saying that we have to do it together. But I think that is the thing that is most meaningful to me, that I want to share with this community that I love and care about.

[37:15] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I'm curious. Y'all came into each other's lives at such a fascinating moment, you know, where you're creating a new organization. A lot of things were happening in each other's lives, and now you two have had so much success in what you've done. So I'm curious who you are to each other now. Like, how. What is this relationship like now?

[37:43] CARYN BLANTON: We barely talk. Just kidding.

[37:47] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: What do you. What do you. Yeah, what do you happen to see in each other right now? It's interesting to be continuing to talk about the work of community development that I think we're both still very passionate about. But what I most value about our friendship is that we've in some ways, like, moved past the work to learning how to be with one another. And I, you know, I tell people that you were, like, my contemplative prayer guru. That's of all the things that I've learned from you, like, learning how to sit in the presence of God without needing to be anything or even needing anything but to just enjoy the stillness and the presence of love has been what's most transformed me. And I think it's probably telling about our friendship. That's what, when we get together, that's usually what we do, is, like, meet at a retreat center or in a garden and, like, talk for an hour and then not talk to each other for 2 hours and, you know, eat our lunch together in a garden. And it is kind of funny because it's, like, so removed from the city streets that we both love. But I think it is telling of our friendship that it's just become this really nurturing, beautiful space to just be myself.

[39:16] CARYN BLANTON: And I think, for me, there are very few people, I think, in everybody's lives that you come across that you can just be your absolute, authentic self with. To the. Like, I'm. You know, we'll say, like, I'm gonna say something, and you just, like, go with me on this one, and then we can edit it later. But I've. Just got to say there aren't very many people that I can do that with. And you are absolutely one of those people that it doesn't matter if I'm high or low. Like, you take me wherever I'm at. And maybe that is because of, I mean, I've seen you at some very low moments as well. Right? Like, it switched off somewhere along the way. But, I mean, we've gone through, you know, there was a point where with my kids that I said, if I die, like, will you and Keturah, will you take my kids? Like, will you raise my kids? And there was an agreement there. Like, that's a big deal. Like, you just don't hand over your kids to anybody. Right. But, yeah, just to have those authentic relationships that can go anywhere and the vulnerability to just be who we are in front of each other, good, bad, ugly, and we've seen it all. And, like, nothing's scary, right? Like, yeah, nothing's scary. So thanks. Thanks for being my people.

[40:45] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: I love you.

[40:45] CARYN BLANTON: I love you, too.

[40:48] CHRISTINE BROOKS NOLF: Give me 10 seconds.