I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou, Ph.D., (1928-1983) American memoirist, poet,
playwright, and civil rights activist.

“I chose this quote because it reminds me of when I first moved to the United States from Ireland in 1983. We were in the household about 10 days and one or two doors down the road our 92-year old neighbor knocked on the door and gave us an angel food cake that she had baked and said ‘welcome to the neighborhood.’ That was such a touching gesture that had an amazing impact on and how I, in turn, treated the neighborhood. She had been through the Great Depression and had seen some quite serious poverty. But that simple small, and maybe not so small gesture, touched me. Ever since then, on my street whenever anybody moves in, I always make sure I go over and introduce myself and I’ll bring over a pot of jam and say, ‘Hi, my name is John, I live at that house over there, welcome to the neighborhood.’ In doing this my first interaction with my neighbor is a positive one. Many times our first contact with our neighbor might not be so positive. It might be my dog bites your cat, or my tree falls on your car, or your fence, or something like that. But at least when we’ve had a small introduction with maybe a pot of jam or with an angel food cake, we’ve at least started with something positive in the beginning of a relationship.”

John Crowley, Co-Owner Aqus Café,
and co-founder of Cool City Petaluma 2030

Honor and celebrate those who will humbly transform their communities.

Eve Ensler, American Playwright,
best known for her play The Vagina Monologues

“Ensler reminds us that we have so much beauty and complexity, as well as ingenuity and intelligence in us. It’s expressed in so many incredible ways, all of which I want to see succeed. I want to see us get past all of the forces that bring us down and bring us to the edge of feeling like maybe we’re not going to make it or that maybe we’re hopeless idiots here. This quote reminds me of all the hope that’s in this work of transforming our community and doing what we can do, where we can do it, when we can do it. I see it in my volunteering as a block leader in Cool City Petaluma 2030 and understanding the mission of New Dimensions Radio that reaches out to all sorts of people who are on the ground doing projects that come from a wish to improve the world, come from a wish to help their fellow human beings, come from a wish to further this wonderful experiment of human evolution. It is most especially needed these days with talk of extinction—which just breaks my heart.”

Leslie Curchack, Nature photographer and
block leader Cool Petaluma 2030