A Synonym for Living

here's Terrance Hayes( an invaluable critic, excellent poet & an all around interesting person) on the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer, reading his work in the neighborhood I grew up in. The coffee shop he's filmed in, and outside of, is the The Union Project, which used to offer a weirdly delicious sandwich called something self-explanatory like 'The Cheesy Pickle,' but now also offers things like yoga classes, ceramics classes & a reading series...