Liv Wisely

Hi! I’m Liv Wisely, for The Good Table. And I have a very special lady with me. Could you introduce yourself please?

Ok, my name is Cheryl Land. I am 18 years old. I'm from St. Petersburg Florida, and I am your significant other. 

Cheryl Land

Can you describe your religious beliefs for us?

I am a Roman Catholic on paper, practicing as much as I can. 

I was not a cradle Catholic; I was raised in a Protestant church until my mother re-converted us to Catholicism. I was baptized in second grade, and we’ve been Catholic ever since. After figuring out I was not straight, and learning about the way the church treated gay people — not necessarily homophobic but restrictive — I had a lapse in the faith, but  after hearing lots of progressive Christians talk about their faith and their practice, it gave me incentive to do my own research and make a better educated decision to return to the faith. And I did!

And for the reference of the reader, I am a product of United Church Of Christ, I’m currently studying Judaism. I also dabble in the occult; all around spiritual but not always religious.

Now, at the time of reading, how long have we been together? 

On the 20th it’ll be five months. 

Knock on wood. 

Knock on wood. 

Superstitions are both things our religions have but also kind of condemn.  Jinxes aren’t things Christians sanction but I’ll STILL KNOCK ON WOOD. I may not believe it, but I don’t mess with it. 

Well, it hasn’t failed us yet… knock on wood. 

Knock on wood! STOP SAYING THAT!

Haha, okay okay. So, you and I are a queer couple of faith who met online during COVID. Throughout this time, we’ve had a lot to pray about because we care about social issues. How have we handled mutual grieving or spiritual worries together in the past? And how do we do that in a respectful way? 

Well, I definitely pray for you, and I pray for your family. Every mass on Sunday I say the Hail Mary Prayer for both my parents, my brother, and for you. So you have that with you. If you pray for me, I appreciate it — I take it as a firm compliment. 

Likewise! I pray for you. A lot of my prayer has to do with overcoming hurdles of my own so I can better help others. I actually got the concept from a Christian, let me be your hands, your feet, your heart, your mouth, etc. Kind of like: help me help others, which is helping you, which is helping me, which is helping others, haha.

It’s also because I don't know if I'm the one who can always help you; I don't know if you’ll go to me. If I ask God to be kinder, you might not even need that from me, so I ask the powers that be to soothe your anxiety and make you feel less alone. It's not that I believe god is someone that works for me. 

Me neither. I’ll ask you this: What do you think has made us work, spiritually? What is our advice for an “interfaith” relationship? That’s a fun one. We’ve had our ups and downs, suspension of disbelief.

I feel like the best you can do is listen. You don’t have to let them convince you they’re right; it’s not an argument. Talk about your faith a lot, learn about how specifically you practice and think. It’s important to reach common ground on your values, and you can do that while being interfaith. We have had our ups and downs — I have held beliefs you originally thought to be bonkers, and beliefs I take for granted. 

I think that's where the mutual respect and awareness of your own faith come in. The more confident you can be and the more flexible you can be with your own beliefs, the more you can ask yourself why you do or DON'T believe something.  That said, do you think our faith has brought us closer together or further apart?

Definitely closer together. I know so much more about Judaism than I knew months ago, and I'm so happy I do, because I want to learn. I enjoy learning about other cultures and other faiths. 

Being with someone you can learn from. Someone outside your comfort zone you have to keep up with, stimulating your mind. I believe we’ve both intellectual people, both very philosophical people, and we love talking about deep things. And it doesn’t exhaust us. It was scary at first, because there are lots of critics of Catholicism. I had to kind of get over my shock. You didn’t hate me for being Christian and didn’t just give Christianity a pass because you love me. 

Well, I’ve been lucky enough to have grown up with some pretty amazing Christians. Not only that, but amazing people who happen to be Christians. I hope we break the stereotype of both the faiths we’re involved in as being closed minded, because in many ways you’ve opened my mind.

And so have you.

I love you!

I love you too! 

by Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table

Brian Campbell-Miller wears a lot of hats: he’s the Moderator of The Good Table UCC (President of the Board of Directors), and recently was hired as a Contact Tracer for Contra Costa County.

Contact tracers are a very important resource in a multi-pronged approach to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.  Contact tracers need to quickly locate and talk with the patients, assist in arranging for patients to isolate themselves, and work with patients to identify people with whom the patients have been in close contact so the contact tracer can locate them.

I interviewed Brian to learn more about contact tracing, how it works, and the service it provides to our community.

How did you become a contact tracer, Brian?  This is something relatively new that we’ve not had to do a lot of before, so I’m curious.

It actually started because I got laid off from my county job — I’m pursuing a Masters in Library Science, so I was working as a Library Assistant in a county library.  When the pandemic started, the library changed its model to only be open for book pickup and dropoff, so a lot of the staff was laid off.

Fortunately, the county has a program that matches laid off county workers with hiring managers for other county jobs.  I had four or five interviews with hiring managers for different jobs before finding my contact tracing position.

How has the contact tracing program grown since COVID-19?

It’s interesting: it started with eight workers who were doing outreach for tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases originally.  But since the pandemic, the department has grown to over two hundred workers in Contra Costa County alone.

Wow!  So what was the training like to become a contact tracer?

UCLA has a two week training program that is mostly done via Zoom, and standardizes contact tracing all across the state.  We had lectures in the morning, then labs in the afternoon where we practiced interviewing and learned the skills and systems we’d need to be successful.

I really liked practicing interviewing — I enjoy acting, so pretending to be the interviewee was really fun for me.  It also taught me how to best disseminate the information we want our interviewees to hear: how they need to isolate, wear masks, and social distance.

Also, we use the FEMA framework, and that was really interesting: to see how FEMA handles emergency situations.  We did some job shadowing as well, to see how folks were doing this in the field. 

The last piece of training was in-person at the Public Health building in Concord.  Desks were 6 feet apart, and we all wore masks.  

What’s it like now that you’re working at this full-time?

I work from home, which is ideal of course.  There are 3-4 schedules you can work; mine is Sunday through Thursday, 8 am - 4:30 pm.  During that period, we make calls that can last from 2-30 minutes.  

How it works is that if there’s a confirmed case of COVID-19, a Case Investigator will call that person directly.  They will ask the person to identify their potential contacts during the infectious period.  Then Contact Tracers like me will follow up with those contacts, encourage them to get tested, then quarantine for fourteen days.  This can help stop the spread if people follow the protocols.

Got it.  So Brian, what has surprised you most about being a contact tracer?

So, most people are very friendly, but I got one interviewee that was really angry, because she’d gotten different, and inconsistent information from different sources.  It makes sense, honestly, because we’ve got a lot of information flying around right now, and she was frustrated because she didn’t know what to do.

Something else that surprised me was how easy working with a translator was.  We have a phone system where the interviewee can select the language they’d prefer, and it filters what I say to a translator to the interviewee, and what they say back through the translator to me.  And it’s quick!  I was honestly surprised at how fast it was.  Plus, all the different languages available: Spanish, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Aramaic, and several others.  It’s all just really cool.

That’s awesome!  What would you say is the most difficult part?

For me, it’s that I really like to follow things through until the end.  The problem with contact tracing is that you don’t get to find out how things worked out for the people you’ve interviewed.  It’s hard for me to let go sometimes.

That being said, the most rewarding part is educating folks about the county resources available to them.  I’ve helped connect people with food and rental assistance, and that feels really good.

That must feel really great, absolutely.  One last thing: what would you, as a contact tracer, want people to know?

That we’re just trying to keep our community safe and get through this together.  I think people are really worried when we call that they’re in trouble or something.  Contact tracers aren’t law enforcement — we’re public health.  It’s never punitive; we’re just trying to get you services you need.

And also, being part of a community means that you make sacrifices for the community, so please: wear a mask. 
The risk to other people that you’ll get them sick vs. the small discomfort for you is out of proportion.  Do your part to help keep our community safe.

By Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table

Gavin Raders

I sat down with Gavin Raders, Co-Founder of Planting Justice and Co-Manager of The Good Table, to discuss how the pandemic has affected his organization, what he’s looking forward to at the new Planting Justice Organic Nursery at The Good Table site, and his hopes for the community in the future.

Hey Gavin, thanks for meeting up with me.  So, can you tell me how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Planting Justice?

Yeah, it’s been interesting: in many ways, I feel like this is something Planting Justice has been preparing for.  We’ve been able to respond in a really strong way as an organization: we got a small business loan that allowed us to keep everyone on staff, for one thing, and we were also able to actually expand our staff with seven new hires!

That’s incredible!  How did that come about?

Well, in part, it happened because the pandemic got everyone refocused on gardening, food security, and creating sustainable food systems in local communities.  We saw how the pandemic impacted the food supply chain, with lots of items being unavailable, so everyone turned back to gardens as a way of creating that food security for themselves and their neighbors.  

The sales in our nursery more than doubled, and sales of our edible starts have been the highest ever.  That speaks to a real need in the community for gardens and accessible food.

So when it comes to the organic plant nursery at the new Good Table site, what will that space provide for the community?

We’ll have certified organic heirloom crops at the new site, including 1,200 varietals of fruit trees and perennial plants.  We’ll be able to offer things that other nurseries don’t have, which will contribute to the overall food diversity in the El Sobrante community.  

Another thing I’m excited about is the commercial kitchen on-site.  This will provide additional culinary value, with an offering of locally made foods.  We’ll have collaborative workshops on how to plant and care for edible starts, which will allow us to leverage the knowledge already in the El Sobrante community—we’ll encourage everyone to participate in community group sharing to all learn together.  

And lastly, but also important: we’ll be creating jobs, since this will be a brick and mortar location.  

What are your hopes for The Good Table and Planting Justice Organic Nursery site?  What will make this space so special?

I feel like the community really needs a place like this.  There are so few community gathering spaces in El Sobrante that don’t require a purchase or admission fee to get in.  The pay-as-you-can model is not widespread, and pretty unique for this area.  That allows folks to just come hang out, which is really valuable from a social isolation perspective.

Absolutely.  I’ve been reading a lot about the diminishing amount of “third space” in the United States — places you can go hang out that aren’t work or home.  America doesn’t have a lot of civic spaces for people to congregate that are free.

Yes, and that’s a huge issue!  You’re likely to get ticketed for trespassing or loitering, which is a social justice issue.  The Good Table and Planting Justice Organic Nursery can be that third space for the community; a place to gather and collaborate for communal sharing, knowledge and celebration.

We all hope that too—and that we’ll be able to open in 2021.  Thanks Gavin!

Note: if you’d like to help us open in 2021, please consider donating to our Go Fund Me campaign: Donate

About Gavin: Gavin Raders is a co-founder and co-director of Planting Justice, a father to two amazing daughters, a social justice activist, and a permaculture demonstrator/teacher. Rather than fighting against the things that we don't want and continuously reacting against the onslaught of oppressive systems, Gavin decided at a young age to build solutions that bring healing, health, peace, opportunity, and justice to those around him, using his privileges strategically for reparations and redistribution, and creating space for those most impacted by structural violence to live out their own dreams and enact the solutions they know to be necessary, while simultaneously supporting themselves and their families.