This is the fourth post of a new blog by Matt Porubsky called “satisfactual,” which will be updated weekly, discussing odds and ends about Topeka history and culture, with a little opinion thrown in for good measure.

 My ears are still ringing from that 6 hour-long atom bomb that was dropped on downtown Topeka yesterday.

Last year, Justin and Bailey Marable asked my wife, Leah, and I to help them with a project they conceived and were bringing into action called ReThink Topeka. ReThink Topeka would be a series of smaller events that led to the huge exhibition throughout downtown Topeka 9 months from then…meaning yesterday. It would showcase art and artists of Topeka from music to poetry to paintings. Needless to say, Leah and I were in and it has been a trip packed full of momentum since the first event at Warehouse 414 last September.

So, let me clear some things up. ReThink Topeka is not Think Big Topeka. I know there has been some confusion out there. Think Big Topeka blossomed from the possibility of the Google Fiber Project setting up shop in our fine Capital City and grew into a continuing community bolstering and change focused group that intends to push on with its mission of city love whether Google comes here or not. ReThink Topeka may seem mostly art-centered, but it is more than that. It is a doctrine. It is a way of thinking that helps everyone to realize the importance to everything surrounding us in Topeka. It asks us to step out of our everyday humdrum ride home from work or walk with the dog and find value in what is here. Like the possibilities that are at home in our home. Like the idea that you could have possibly 1,500 people hanging out in downtown Topeka on a Saturday afternoon listening to live music on the corner and saying hello to everyone they pass with a camaraderie of shared feelings of appreciation for what we have. This last image is exactly what the Marables proposed to all those listening at the original ReThink Topeka event that I mentioned earlier.

 

Okay. Last September. It was an early Saturday morning at Warehouse 414. Leah and I walked in to find over 60 other artists, organizers and interested folks from the community in groups of conversations around the large room decorated in styles varying from vintage to postmodern. This was the mingling of the minds to make yesterday happen. These 60 some people who had been rethinking Topeka for years were ready to follow the Marables’ lead. After a few poems, videos and speeches, we were all given maps and asked to tour the city, our city, allowing our minds to be freed by the mantra, “ReThink” “ReThink” ReThink.” One of the locations for “ReThink” was Porubsky’s, so I went down there and freed my mind with a few 3.2 oat sodas.

Since that day, the mantra has continued. Those original few who were struck with the contagion spread it to others and they spread it to other others. Some of us even went on tour with ReThink Topeka. We took Topeka poetry and music to surrounding cities. Some people treated us like they treat Topeka: ignored us. Justin and Bailey were prepared for that and ran with it. Never once did they seem to doubt their mission. I’m sure there were times were they thought about rethinking ReThink Topeka, but to all involved and effected, this whole idea was a Christmas present. Personally, I was as excited as a squirrel in a nut-cracking factory.

It wasn’t just the Marables that made this event and way of thinking happen. This city has been ready for it and Justin and Bailey had the bravery and the gumption to stand up first and say, “Listen up people!”  Maybe it could have been the commercial by GIZMO Pictures that was running at least twice a day on WIBW in the last few weeks and maybe it was the ads in the Topeka Capital-Journal or the word that we spread here at seveneightfive magazine…or maybe Topekans were ready. Hungry.

ReThink Topeka, from day one, has been about the buttons. Genius. Now, they are collector’s items. The originals were silver dollar sized and the ones for the event yesterday were quarter sized. The reason I bring this up is that I heard they hand pressed about 650 buttons for yesterday’s event. A person would receive one with a donation of admittance to the festivities that started at 1pm. They were all out of buttons by 3. It was beyond imagination. People were downtown on a Saturday in masses loving Topeka for what it is.

 

I cannot tell you everything I saw and certainly did not see anywhere close to everything. I saw one of my favorite Stella Robbins paintings at the Jayhawk Tower. I saw so many families walking with ReThink Topeka maps in hand as they strolled through the whole of downtown. I saw fantastic live music in front of Supersonic Music. I saw groups of first-time gazers in awe at the Jayhawk Theatre tours. I saw folks waiting in lines to have a taste of what will be offered at the Blue Planet Café before heading up to see the art and hear the Billen Brothers play at Nexlynx. It made me think of the title to my favorite jazz musician’s biography. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

The ReThink Topeka event lasted until 6. I finished my ReThink day walking with Barbara Waterman-Peters and Larry Peters from the Breakroom to the Jayhawk Tower. We had a wonderful conversation about the positive energy on that day and how proud we were of our city for coming together and appreciating who and what is here to enjoy. They have believed in and supported this town for many years and it filled them with so much joy to experience the day with people they knew and didn’t know. I told them that from the onset of the day’s festivities, I kept thinking about the title of my favorite jazz musician, the pianist Bill Evans’, biography.  The book is called, “How my Heart Sings.” That title kept coming up in my mind all day. That’s how I felt.

Thank you Bailey and Justin and all the artists and volunteers and attendees of ReThink Topeka April 17, 2010. How my heart sings. I know yours do, too.

Matt Porubsky is not a licensed therapist, statistician, historian or medical professional. But he is the 2009 Distinguished Kansan of the Year in arts and entertainment. Take that! Most of the time he just makes stuff up. But all of these stories are based on actual events.

[April 2010]