A Letter from Civic Science, written by Andrew Makohon-George. First read live at Science Talk 25 on April 4th during the panel session: “Defining Civic Science - Connecting Science and Society”

I am not a toolkit.

I am not a symposium panel.

I am not a new name for old habits.

You don’t know me just because you hosted a listening session.

You don’t speak for me because you co-authored a paper with a community partner.

You don’t get to wear me like a badge because you called your project “inclusive.”

I am slower than your timelines.

I am harder to fund.

I am built in the pauses between meetings,

in the trust that takes years to earn and a second to lose.

I don’t ask you to engage communities.

I ask you to belong to them

to recognize that you are always, already standing

on someone else’s ground.