The Valleyist Papers
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF STEPHENS VALLEY
Author – William Ray
Edition 3. Issue 07.
Alley Organization for Fun and Safety Using Slack
We’ve discussed this before, but maybe it is time to cover this again, as a lot of new owners have come to SV, but no new Slack channels have been created. There is a lot to be gained from using Slack to keep up with SV information, and there is even more to be gained from creating sub-community channels within the SV Slack Community. These communities within the SV community can jump-start interaction among neighbors and help those relationships flourish.
Regardless of where your home is in SV, you have a special relationship with those who are geographically closest to you. From social gatherings to watching out for each other’s well-being, a special channel for you and those in your immediate area is a way to create a virtual conversation pit. This is easy and valuable, so let’s discuss how to create such a channel and point out the success we’ve had since creating the first such channel.
First of all, someone in each SV residence needs to download Slack, then set up an account which can be easily accessed via your phone, tablet, or laptop. Sage Nozko is happy to help walk you through this process. It is really essential because, even when our ancestors were living in caves, there was always great interest in what was happening outside the cave entrance. Things really haven’t changed much on that front!
Once you are set up on Slack, there are already many channels you might want to join and monitor, but this issue is all about creating another channel to benefit you and your nearest neighbors. The first such channel was created a couple of years ago. We named it the Webster-street-alley channel, because we wanted to stay in touch with our neighbors who have one thing in common – they all share an alley whose entrances come off Webster Street.
After we chose a name, we just used the command in the Slack main menu, under add channels, we selected “create channel” and that was that. After a channel is created for your new proximity group, there is little work to do. You only need to meet everyone in the alley, or mailbox group, or however you might want to define your proximity group, collect their names (hey, this is a good way to meet your neighbors regardless of whether you create a new channel or not!), then go back into Slack and send those folks a message inviting them to join the new channel. That’s it. Hopefully, everyone will be anxious to join.
We have found many reasons for our alley group to join the channel. We can easily notify everyone when we are going to be out of town or have something unusual happening at our respective homes. This is exactly what the Williamson County Sheriff advised us a couple of years ago when we asked them how to set up a Neighborhood Watch. We use it socially to invite neighbors to gatherings. Most recently, we used our channel extensively to warn each other about the coming dust storms associated with the “alley cleaning” work. We know there are many other uses for our channel that we haven’t even discovered yet. We also know that your results would be similar to ours.
So, we need at least one person in every proximity group to take on this initiative. It really is beneficial! It seems certain that each group will include a widely diverse age group that hails from a similarly diverse area. Assimilating these groups into a close-knit family is at the very heart of what we hope to accomplish here is SV. As we’ve discussed before, we all want to be seen and known and understood. We have the power to do that.
Now that we know more about creating a new Slack channel, here is the updated list of upcoming cool regional events:
July 13 Simon and Garfunkel Tribute Group Williamson County Performing Arts Center
July 13 Murfreesboro Hot Chicken Festival
July 19 Full Moon Picking Party https://warnerparks.org/events/category/benefit-events/full-moon-pickin-party/
July 20 SV Dive-In Movie Night
July 27 Heartshakers – Tom Petty Tribute Franklin Theater
July 27 Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show Williamson County Performing Arts Center
August 10 Peach Cobbler Festival https://allevents.in/murfreesboro/3rd-annual-peach-cobbler-festival/200026120118621?ref=eventlist-cat
August 10 Chattanooga Margarita Festival Chattanooga Margarita Festival — Chattanooga Festivals
August 16 Full Moon Picking Party https://warnerparks.org/events/category/benefit-events/full-moon-pickin-party/
August 24 Apple Pie Festival At The Little Red Orchard Apple Pie Festival - Rickman, TN (stepoutside.org)
August 24 SV Songwriter Night
August 31 Monroe County (Kentucky) Watermelon Festival Tompkinsville, KY
September 7 Middle Tennessee Fried Pickle Festival https://allevents.in/murfreesboro/200025664344834?ref=sharer
There are a lot more, but the links get a little iffy, further out than this. Stay tuned to upcoming issues of The Valleyist for updates to the list of entertainment opportunities right here in our state and neighborhood!
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