What is TheOM365?
TheOM365 is a community blog project where each day a different person contributes a short post about their lives, memories, or small daily moments. Part written history, part art, the goal of this project is to connect members of the Oakland Mills community across age groups and neighborhoods (and out into the broader HoCo community) through the simplicity of a brief glimpse into someone else's life, one entry for each day of the year (which is technically 366 since we have a Leap Day in 2024).
Similar to the Scorpion Speaker Series at OMHS, this is an opportunity for neighbors to connect and learn from each other. Describe your world for the rest of us. Tell us about how walking makes your day better or talk about your chronic illness or tell us about what the weather is like today. Take a moment to express frustration about a stereotypical viewpoint or share why your chosen breakfast is the best way to start the day.
Guidelines for Submissions:
Similar to the Scorpion Speaker Series at OMHS, this is an opportunity for neighbors to connect and learn from each other. Describe your world for the rest of us. Tell us about how walking makes your day better or talk about your chronic illness or tell us about what the weather is like today. Take a moment to express frustration about a stereotypical viewpoint or share why your chosen breakfast is the best way to start the day.
Guidelines for Submissions:
- Each entry should be less than 365 words, and must be at least one sentence long
- Photos may be included (no faces visible, please, for privacy)
- This project is intended for people of all ages to read and to contribute to
- No bashing or bad-mouthing
- Suggested topics:
- Day in the Life - 365 words isn't a lot, but it's enough to give the reader a glimpse at how you spend your time. People in Oakland Mills come from variety of cultural backgrounds and each street/neighborhood has its own vibe so sharing a glimpse at our daily lives connects us through our similarities and through our differences.
- Nature Around Us - tell us about the birds, foxes, or plants you came across during your walk through the OM greenspaces
- Favorite Memory - this can be OM-specific, such as your favorite Oakland Mills tradition, or can be something more personal that you'd like to share about a loved one or a beloved place or a family tradition
- For our youngest contributors - if they handwrite an entry, share a photo of their work that we can post. Please also transcribe their words so we know what they're saying.
- Names - anonymity is allowed, but it's preferred that you use at least a first name or initials
- This is public. Only share things you won't mind the neighborhood reading/viewing.
- This may not last the full 366 days. Maybe it will click with people. Maybe it won't. Time is finite, so we'll spend time working with what's working.
Background on the Project
363 words written by Jessica Mahajan
In 2011, I was selected as an editor for the The3six5 Project, a crowdsourced blog started in 2010 by Len Kendall and Daniel Honingman in Chicago. I don’t remember when I first discovered the project, but I loved the concept. Each day brought a new snippet of someone else’s life in some other place far from where I lived.
Some of these contributors were amazing writers, but all of these daily posts, from the heartfelt to the simpler observations, made me consider my life from different perspectives. How would I tell the story of my life, especially in its small moments? How do people survive and succeed with the troubles and tragedies they've lived through?
As an editor, I got to use the two aspects of my college education–the business/marketing part of my brain was needed for management of the contributors and publishing on time, while the anthropological side of my brain processed how most of human history is in the small daily tasks of caring for yourself and your family group and not in the loud historical-record sort of events.
The3six5 lasted for three years. The founders went on to other projects. The blog is no longer published so I don’t even have a copy of my entry. I’ve not become the wildly popular writer I dreamed of being during the time I worked on the project, those long, cold winter months in northeastern Pennsylvania while I raised small humans, but I have continued using my skills to support community-building projects (while continuing to raise less-small humans).
I was inspired to try this project again on a local level by a conversation I had with the new Community Schools Strategy liaison at SFES. Her role is to collect feedback about the experiences/perceptions of SFES and the broader community then use that to ask for what resources we need. OM is a dynamic community, and not everyone experiences it the same. I hope TheOM365 will be a way for us to connect on a simple level as individuals, here and now, just like we did in 2020 when OMO started. Our community thrives through togetherness and shared values. cOMmunity. hOMe.
In 2011, I was selected as an editor for the The3six5 Project, a crowdsourced blog started in 2010 by Len Kendall and Daniel Honingman in Chicago. I don’t remember when I first discovered the project, but I loved the concept. Each day brought a new snippet of someone else’s life in some other place far from where I lived.
Some of these contributors were amazing writers, but all of these daily posts, from the heartfelt to the simpler observations, made me consider my life from different perspectives. How would I tell the story of my life, especially in its small moments? How do people survive and succeed with the troubles and tragedies they've lived through?
As an editor, I got to use the two aspects of my college education–the business/marketing part of my brain was needed for management of the contributors and publishing on time, while the anthropological side of my brain processed how most of human history is in the small daily tasks of caring for yourself and your family group and not in the loud historical-record sort of events.
The3six5 lasted for three years. The founders went on to other projects. The blog is no longer published so I don’t even have a copy of my entry. I’ve not become the wildly popular writer I dreamed of being during the time I worked on the project, those long, cold winter months in northeastern Pennsylvania while I raised small humans, but I have continued using my skills to support community-building projects (while continuing to raise less-small humans).
I was inspired to try this project again on a local level by a conversation I had with the new Community Schools Strategy liaison at SFES. Her role is to collect feedback about the experiences/perceptions of SFES and the broader community then use that to ask for what resources we need. OM is a dynamic community, and not everyone experiences it the same. I hope TheOM365 will be a way for us to connect on a simple level as individuals, here and now, just like we did in 2020 when OMO started. Our community thrives through togetherness and shared values. cOMmunity. hOMe.
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