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"The resource center of the Boiling Point is something we have put a lot of effort and thought into," says Phillips. "I would guess that it's our most popular project. It's basically a swap shop or free store with books, clothes and food. Although this resource center isn't political at the surface, it does foster a sense of community.

"We feel we haven't compromised our personal politics at all," he continues. "Through all our projects we maintain a core commitment to personal empowerment. We feel that empowerment is the key to individual growth and community development."

To the Boiling Point, this process is more important than any political theory they can offer up. When people are empowered, the thinking goes, then they're more inclined to become political. Put another way, you can't fight someone else when you're fighting yourself.

The fight in question is everywhere. To the Boiling Point, there is no difference between thinking locally and acting globally. It's all about making connections, and about seeing that people are basically alike. It's more Martin Luther King than Malcolm X, more "act right" than "act up."

"We feel that issues we identify with, locally, are struggles you'll find all across the globe," Phillips says. "Aruna Roy, a speaker from India, came (recently) to speak with us about her struggle in Rajasthan. The struggles she told us about would sound very familiar to minority groups in America. It's a matter of making those connections and creating that need of solidarity in the minds of people here. And by staying here, we do feel that our struggle will be less transparent in our own communities. In that respect, our efforts are local."

This summer is crucial for the Boiling Point. They're working toward non-profit status, and also launching their fullest schedule of events to date. Something called the Liberation Skool is likely the biggest task. All events will be free and focused toward self-empowerment -- and thus, liberation. The series includes classes in things like guitar lessons, Spanish conversation nights, women's history classes, electronics repair, a radical film series, and an ongoing discussion on re-thinking the way we organize society, entitled My Journey with Aristotle. As a sideline, the arts and music portion of the space will host all manner of shows (the space is working on bringing in more acoustic acts), various speakers, art shows, circuses, puppet shows, and more. In May, the space had an open house/chili day that brought a large crowd out, an extension of some of the volunteers' former work with the Food Not Bombs project. The space hopes to make a similar plan viable for later this year, which would feed folks for free every Sunday. First, however, the space must continue to matter, something the Boiling Point crew feel very confident about.

"What isn't paid through shows," says Phillips, "is mostly paid through our pockets. However, we have received, with incredible appreciation, large donations from certain individuals in the past. But overall, we find that our constituencies have little time and money to give. Making a space like the Boiling Point take root in a city such as Charlotte takes strong community outreach."

And commitment from folks who are willing to do all of this for free, just because it's a good idea. It's a collective in the strictest sense of the word: a number of people acting as a group in support of an undertaking. "It's hard to digest the collective into key people," says Phillips, speaking, along with friend Leanne Finnigan, on behalf of the group. "Really, some people just have more time than others. But folks like Ben Webster, Jackson Gilman, Ben Sawyer and Mark Lewis are some I'd be happy to plug."

Phillips says becoming a part of the collective is easy: "Other than no sexism, racism, homophobia, or ageism, people just need an earnest desire to recognize and change the things they are concerned with," he continues. "We welcome and encourage anyone to get involved in what we have going, and make it better."

While we were visiting the Boiling Point for this story, two different folks wandered in from the street, one with a Julius Erving-like afro and sweats, and the other seemingly straight from the mold of the of Dickies-wearing, factory working kind of folk that work and wait and live in this section of town. Both are greeted by name as they walk in, and the younger fellow with the combed-out hair brings Dave and collective member Ben Webster a CD of some forgettable alterna-rock band that he found or bought or was given. They thank him, and he lazily takes a seat in a chair, picking all sorts of atonal notes and rhythms on a guitar standing nearby. It's downright awful, but the guy doesn't seem to care. Webster asks him if he'd like to learn to play the guitar, and mentions the upcoming guitar lessons he'll be teaching.