What do you love about your community? What in your community has you concerned? How can we address these challenges? Those were some of the questions asked at a community conversation in Point Reyes Station last week, the first of four in West Marin. By the end of the conversation, the room had come up with concrete ideas about how to build community: create a bilingual conversation exchange, paint a mural downtown and be friendlier on the street. The event, put on by West Marin Community Services with a grant from the Marin Community Foundation, drew about 70 people who sat in a half-circle around Dana Depp, a bilingual facilitator who asked the crowd to sum up their feelings in one or two words. It started on a positive note, when she asked for words to describe community: trust, seguridad, friends and familia, the crowd responded. Then she asked people to specifically focus on West Marin; a multitude of answers were written and displayed on large sheets of paper. Once there was a long list of positives, Ms. Depp asked the crowd to tell her what they wish was different. People responded in both Spanish and English, and Ms. Depp translated. One woman said in Spanish that when she sees fellow Latinos, they are eager to greet her, but that doesn’t happen as readily with others she sees, even if they are familiar. Ms. Depp stressed an easy solution: for everyone to start smiling and saying hello to each other in public places. “Even just acknowledging people as part of your community, helping everyone to be seen equally, will go a long way to increasing the respect and connection we all have with each other,” she said. Many in the room echoed this desire for less separation between Latinos and Anglos, and the conversation turned to the language barrier. A couple of white residents said they feel shy about attempting to speak Spanish with people who are fluent, but the fluent speakers in the room were quick to point out that they can be patient. “People aren’t just being nice—they appreciate it,” Ms. Depp said. A solution was proposed for some kind of interchange, where English and Spanish speakers could come together, share languages and make friends. Socorro Romo, the executive director of West Marin Community Services, quickly volunteered to organize this, but Ms. Depp shot her down. “It’s not Socorro’s job to carry community,” she said, placing the onus on the rest of the room. About a dozen others expressed interest in an interchange. Already, the sharing of language has begun: after the event, a woman who wanted to learn Spanish met a woman who wanted to work on English, and they agreed to meet for coffee, Ms. Depp said. Another idea for bridging the culture gap was to host more multicultural events and parties. One woman pointed out that it is easier for people to make friends when there is a task at hand, and she proposed the idea of painting a mural downtown. A few volunteers said they would like to make that happen, including Rhonda Kutter, a Point Reyes Station resident and county aide who said she would explore using the post office as a location. The event ended with Madeline Hope, the director of the Tomales Bay Youth Center, handing out a paper with a cloud of words that people had used to describe community during the night. A similar meeting takes place at the Bolinas School this Thursday, followed by conversations at the Tomales Town Hall on March 12 and at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center on March 26. The conversations will culminate with a celebration at Toby’s Feed Barn on April 16; all events start at 5:30 p.m. Each conversation has the same agenda, but organizers anticipate different ideas arising. They encourage people to attend the event where they live, so the conversation will be specific to that area. “Creating a community where everyone is seen and feels a connection—I imagine that will be a common theme,” Ms. Depp told the Light. “What that looks like, and the strategies that come out of it, are very different.”