Maison des jeunes et de la culture
le 7 juin 2022
It’s hard to believe another year has passed, walking the dog and traversing the streets of our small (if 3,000 people is small) cooperative wine farmworking village. During Covid, much of the town was essentially shut down, but I recall my neighbor promising us that she had chosen to live there because of all the community cultural events. I had yet to experience that, but this year I noticed a distinct lift to the air and energy around town that would suggest she was correct. To make things better, this sleepy town is located about 3 kilometers from the Canal du Midi — not far but far enough away from summer tourists who pass their holiday on lazy boats floating on the water. We have downtown — to be exact — one boulangerie, one butcher, a small supermarket, one bank, and two pharmacies. There are other local services, too (nail and hair salon), which is just enough offer the convenience of not needing a car to survive. I love waking up and walking to the boulangerie in the morning. So as the weather got warmer this summer, I noticed how the town began to waken with its first (post? Covid) music festival, a clementine festival, and local youth, sports, and cultural events.
Our town has a maison des jeunes et de la culture (or MJC, youth and culture house) that hosts many of the local events. The MJC consists of a skatepark, tennis courts, children’s playground, large soccer (futbol) field, and petanque area. There is a building at the MJC area that opens during the week, and on Wednesday afternoons, it seems especially busy with children. As I walked the dog tonight, we entered the MJC area with the cool arid breeze providing respite from the heavy afternoon heat.
The town’s professed values were written clearly on the back end of the MJC area. “Nos Valeurs” (our values) were drawn above a large globe, with roots spelling into the letters T-O-L-E-R-A-N-C-E. No need to translate that. Other values surrounding the globe were ‘live together’ (vivre ensemble), ‘secularism’ (laïcité), and friendliness (convivialité). Where and how these values came to characterize the MJC and our town is definitely on my list of wonderings.