March 2018
How have you established yourself in our community?
Joel Weston
When I moved to town I realized it’s not as easy as you’d think to get rid of your trash. I came here to live with my best friend. She and I both had full sized trucks. I went to the landfill in Saguache, saw how easy it was for us to take our trash there, realized not everybody’s got a 4-weel drive truck to drive down in there, so I offered assistance to people in town. That’s how I integrated myself into the community: by fulfilling a need. I also saw how some of my other talents could help. I volunteered to do a voice-over for the library, which I went to school for in Ohio. I was able to record and assist others in doing voiceovers and recording their professional endeavors, too. With my trash business, I applied my graphic design, photography, and other skills to those endeavors, and picked up other work. I just recognized what skills I had in relation to what people needed and put myself out there. It’s not hard to integrate into our community as long as you offer what’s needed. Offer of yourself and people gravitate to you, manifesting what you need. They, in turn, manifest what they need through you.
Ralph Abrams
I bought land here in ’97, moved full time in ’98, built a cabin and spent a couple years doing intense Buddhist retreat. Every few months, I’d come into town to integrate my practices, so I began meeting people. After that, I went to school to become a psychotherapist but decided to get into real estate and build houses instead. In 2007, I started shamanic healing training down in the Amazon, and in 2008, I became mayor! Here’s the story: One night at a party, Kizzen plied me with drink and said, “You should be mayor.” So, I got on the ballot, then went off on my Amazon adventures. Returning from the jungle I found out I was mayor! Being mayor was fun. We got the Charter School built, and installed a new water system. But folks started moving away because Fairpoint wasn’t giving us adequate internet, which started the grassroots, bottom-up, community outreach – 58 investors – that became our own internet company (now Colorado Central Telecom). The Mayor’s term ended, but I’m still working at CCT. We’ve since expanded into four counties and are collaborating with SLV Rural Electric (it’s a win-win-win, especially for the customers!) I moved here because of my interest in doing Buddhism retreats, eventually becoming executive director of White Jewel Mountain, a Buddhist retreat center, and the Crestone dream group I helped start is building a shamanic healing center this year. So you see, when I retire from CCT, I’ll still have other interests in the community.
Deana Wilfong
When I moved here, I was told by someone who’d lived here a long time, “The best way to get involved in a small community is not to get involved in other people’s drama! If you do, you’ll soon find you don’t have any friends.” So, the first couple years I kept to myself. Then, I was offered a position with ScSeed, and working with a non-profit got me more involved. Soon after that, my now husband was doing EMT work and so I was encouraged to start in because if he was going to get up in the middle of the night, I might as well, too! Being on the ambulance service and Search and Rescue was the turning point. The first couple years, I was not involved, not a part of the community. I just lived here. Once in service to the community, I really started to get to know people, get more entrenched in the community. There’s nothing like with being with someone on their worst day to really create a bond, so that service really made a difference. Now, I see a lot of people doing community events for Shumei, which has been good since I’ve had my children. I couldn’t EMT anymore –didn’t have the time! I recently joined the Crestone Creative District (CCD) Board, so I’m starting to get back into service for the community. It feels really good!
Vivia Lawson
I moved to Crestone in 2012. Honestly, I was looking for something to do with my life more than looking for a place to be. In January, I started coming to Crestone from Alamosa every Sunday to go hiking. And I knew Crestone. I’d been visiting for years, but never so regularly. I met Cindy Pearson, who was moving on and it was a good fit for me to take over her Real Estate business. But the bottom line for me, establishing myself in Crestone has been getting involved with the community. I’ve volunteered with different organizations, learning who does what, areas of need, and getting to know people. Relationships are incredibly important to me, so being involved with meaningful organizations in the community was good for me personally. I established myself in the community with a lot of hard work. I arrived when the economy was really in the dumps here. Now that things look better, I feel that was a good time to get here. I was able to operate in difficult times, so when things are a little more upbeat, I’m sowing the seeds of that hard work early on. I’ve realized it’s important in the hard times to be really clear about who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Ramji
The biggest way I’ve established myself is through this restaurant (Ramji’s Indian Café). When I first came to Crestone, I came here to cook for Electrum and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing here; I just knew it was very easy to come here. Then I went to India. But I’ve had this dream of this place for like 20 years. I keep having a vision of this restaurant. So when I came back from India, I said, “I’m gonna pursue it, and see what happens!” And it happened fairly easy, fairly fast. Before, I wasn’t entrenched here. I mean, people knew where I cooked at. This is kind of a food-starved community, so if you can cook, people know who you are! But now, through this, I’m probably going to be here for a while. An Indian food restaurant in Crestone is a fantastic idea, because of the spiritual communities. There’s a lot of vegetarian and other dietary needs I cater to. I do this restaurant as a part of my spiritual practice, feeding people. I don’t care if I’m ever a millionaire. I’m not a business man. I’m not. I just like to feed people and pray. This is like a temple for me now. Everybody, come try the food – it’s fantastic!
Lori Nagel (aka Lori Sunflower)
I first visited Crestone 5 years before I moved here in May, 2010 with my partner, Tony, pregnant and practically penniless. I had left my 11-year job at IBM in 2008 to be a photographer, and was still establishing myself in that area. Then, I added to that establishing myself in a new town, then as a first time mama to my son, Ziggy, at the age of 38. I’ve worked many different “jobs” in Crestone, especially early on – whatever I needed to do to sustain while finding my niche. I took the route of being curious and humble. We lived free on my uncle’s land (12 miles north) for 2 years before getting a rental in the Baca. Times could get tight with my $233/month car payment, and once in the Baca, making rent was sometimes difficult, especially in the wintertime! I’ve created jobs for myself over the years. The Charter School didn’t do school photos, so I did them. The Crestone Eagle never had an official photographer, so I asked to be that. I started doing photography and web work for Darlene Yarbrough Real Estate in 2012. I’ve always trusted things would work out. Thankfully, they have. This intense place challenges us all in various ways – economically, emotionally, spiritually, and physically – but if we can humbly live in harmony with others, with nature, “happy coincidences” pop up all over the place. I feel like I’ve found my niche here now and am truly grateful!