The Sunday morning conversations these past two weeks have been a bit different than usual, as they fell on a certain December 25 and a certain January 1!
But we at the Red Vic have peaceful conversations every day, and in these holiday weeks our guests have really been in the spirit to talk about what good they see in the world and how to help it grow. On Christmas Eve, we had guests from around the world, who were all excited to sit at one of our big, round tables for an impromptu conversation. Guests from Yorkshire, England, Seoul, Korea, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Alberta, Canada met and shared their stories- one woman from Atlanta, Georgia was surprised that she was the only
American in the café! She never would have known if we hadn’t introduced the guests to each other to talk.
On Christmas Day, we celebrated with friends and family from the Haight St community. Staff, and the few guests who came in, enjoyed a delicious home cooked traditional pork and sauerkraut meal made by the our night duty host Donna, and prayers from Dolma, our beloved neighbor and owner of the Tibet Store a few doors down the street.
New Years also brought the love to the Red Vic. Our Bed & Breakfast was completely booked full the night of New Years Eve, in part because of the Furthur concert that was in town that night. With all the Grateful Dead fans staying in the hotel, the history and culture of the sixties was even more present than usual in our Peace Center.
Many of the guests were also peace builders. One young woman has started the first chapter of the National Organization of Women at her college, and she’s only a freshmen! Another woman has been teaching middle school math to underserved students in Georgia for thirty years- and also found the time to run 50 marathons, one in each state!
We made sure to bestow upon her a peace poster, which the founder Sami Sunchild loves to give as gifts of acknowledgement and appreciation.
The poster is here:
We’re always so inspired by the people we meet here, and pleased that, with our focus on conversation, we know them as more than just customers.
We wish all of our peace community out there a blessed 2012! Make this the year that you give all your heart to making a better world in whatever way you feel most passionately.
Yael Chanoff, Red Vic Host and Tour Guide
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