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Inspiration for our SudoRoom writers group: a RPS Collective Scene Report

by Romy Ilano

I thought this would be inspiring for our SudoRoom writers! This is a scene report about our neighbors down the street, the RPS Collective. They're also the ones who worked with Max and a few others to paint our cool new clapboard sign that we put out on the street! http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/post/44088110529/scene-report-rock-paper-s… <http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/post/44088110529/scene-report-rock-paper-s…> *Words and photos by Itoro Udofia<http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/tagged/Itoro-Udofia> , Legacy Series Intern<http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/post/41868602951/meet-poczps-first-legacy-…> * [image: Rock Paper Scissors Collective Feb 2013]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511298932/> The Rock Paper Scissors Collective (RPS)<http://rock%20paper%20scissors%20collective/> is located in the heart of downtown Oakland’s cultural district. RPS holds one of the largest zine libraries on the West Coast and, as its mission statement says, it *“fosters creativity and collaboration in order to strengthen local communities and encourage sustainable practices and alternative models.”* RPS uses its space to hold many different aspects of creativity - from zines; to visual art; to performances; to art making workshops and (most importantly) forming collaborative relationships with the community. During my visit I immediately noticed the friendly and open atmosphere. I was able to connect with Kristi, a collective member at RPS. [image: EDIT: POCZP intern Itoro Udofia & RPS collective member]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8510217039/> Kristi does a lot of community work and coordinates the youth intern program. I observed several young women of color at RPC making zines as part of their internship. [image: Teen zinester of color at RPS, February 2013]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511309124/> [image: RPS Collective 20]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511354170/> Kristi informed me that RPS is in the middle of cataloging all their zines. This made finding zines by POC during my visit challenging - but not impossible, and we understand their constraints as a grassroots, volunteer entity. Kristi was able to help me locate some zines by POC, which are listed at the bottom of this post. RPS is an example of what a thriving, deeply grassroots alternative space can look like. This alone made the visit worth it, and I will be back again. Here are five more things that you should know about Rock Paper Scissors Collective’s community space: *It’s a YOUTH SPACE* Part of what makes RPS so vital to the community is that it creates a safe and inclusive space for youth - specifically, I saw youth of color making zines and coming in for the youth intern programing. RPS is known for its youth programming, and thankfully it’s free or low cost. To see youth coming in on a Thursday afternoon and having a free space to hang out was a sight to behold. *POCZP:* How does RPS serve the community? *Kristi:* Everyone’s welcome here. It doesn’t matter who you are. We’re not a museum/hands off gallery…We only showcase emerging artists, we do open calls, group shows…everything is free and affordable…Anyone can teach classes. Community collaborations are a major component here. We also run programs at high schools and have a zine fest (East Bay Alternative Express and Zine Expo). RPS focuses on the need for art within the community. Zines are a facet of that as, it is super alternative and accessible. *BAY AREA COMMUNITY: RPS is **looking for volunteers to help catalog the zine library on Sunday. Contact them if you’re interested in helping out! <3 * *It’s an ACCESSIBLE SPACE* The classes offered at RPS’s are free or low cost. Anyone can teach a class, volunteer, and access the zine library. Its store sells clothing, artwork and zines from local artists. It also gives an open call to artists for exhibits. When inquiring further about zines, the staff member on site spoke of zines being “alternative” and “a way for anyone to get their voice out.” I was struck most by its accessibility in making art that responds to the*community’s need* and fostering dialogue. That was my biggest take away while being there. *It’s a COLLABORATIVE SPACE* RPS thrives most when it can collaborate and form relationships within the community. They do work with schools, offer free workshops to the public, and work with local artists (just to name a few of their collaborations). Also, they can be seen at the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest where they are showcased every year! *It’s a COMMUNITY SPACE* A community space in the sense that it seeks to be a non-hierarchal, inclusive organization, that turns no one who wants to volunteer or become a member away. From speaking with some of the staff, the energy of wanting to build and form a sustaining community was present. A volunteer came in to paint the steps and there was an overall sense of camaraderie and joy for the work. *It’s a STRUGGLING AND OPEN SPACE* I am always aware of the need for a space where there can be love and struggle. And I would be remiss if I acted like everything is always *“a walk in the park”* within the movement. Or more importantly, that our spaces of struggle and those deep places where we need to decolonize cannot be openly talked about. So here it is: RPS is a grassroots collective trying to do a lot with a little. Its zine library needs a lot of love and cataloguing. It also needs to have a space where zines by POC can be easily accessed, located and shared. Within our movement, this is a struggle, and I was happy at the level of openness and receptiveness to having support in that. If you’re on the West Coast and in the Bay area, walking around in Oakland, check out the Rock Paper Scissors Collective. They are open on Wednesday-Sunday, from 12-7 and located at 2278 Telegraph Avenue. See for yourself and make your own assessment. Also, they are looking for Sunday volunteers to help catalogue with the zine library. If you’re looking for a place to support that is doing much needed community work, consider going to RPS. In the meantime, here are five zines by or about POC that I would recommend. If you are ever at RPS please check them out. 1. *The Combination b*y Ashley Nelson<http://www.amazon.com/The-Combination-Neighborhood-Story-Project/dp/1933368…> in collaboration with the Neighborhood Story Project A moving personal-political soul trip of one of the oldest housing complexes in New Orleans. [image: RPS zine library item: The Combination by Ashley Nelson]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511432754/> 2.* Polarity* <http://www.endlesscanvas.bigcartel.com/product/polarity> by Ras Terms A metaphysical mind trip that explores the duality of spirituality and its metaphysical roots. [image: Polarity by Ras Terms]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8510478441/> Ras Terms was born and raised in Miami. As part of the BSK and FS crews, he was a pivotal figure in the Miami graffiti scene. Terms is a gifted illustrator and painter who has provided many images for the Rastafarian community. Since his arrival in the Bay Area he has established himself as a character graffiti artist and has lent his talents to serve the community. 3. *EZLN Communiques: Memory from Below*<https://secure.leftwingbooks.net/index.php?l=product_detail&p=246> A zine about the Zapatista movement in Chiapas Mexico. Zapatista thought and knowledge on the struggle against neoliberalism and predatory financial institutions. Published by Agit Press (formerly known as Porcupine Press) [image: EZLN Comminques: Memory from Below]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8510438421/> 4. *ML* <http://marcoslafarga.com/> A zine featuring the distinctive artwork and design from West Coast based visual artist Marcus La Farga. http://marcoslafarga.com [image: RPS 44] <http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511494812/> 5. *Murder Dollhouse* <http://murderdollhouse.com/> by Teppei Ando Based in the 1920s, a beautifully illustrated comic book thriller about a man who lives in an attic. Published by Volcano Productions. http://murderdollhouse.com [image: Murder Dollhouse by Teppei Ando]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511453630/> ——————————————————— [image: Rock Paper Scissors Collective]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/poczineproject/8511315660/> “*rock paper scissors collective* <http://rpscollective.org/> is a volunteer-run organization that fosters creativity and collaboration in order to strengthen local communities and encourage sustainable practices and alternative models. We promote the sharing of ideas, skills, and resources through the celebration of art, craft, education, and performance.” questions -[at]- rpscollective -[dot]- org 510.238.9171 2278 Telegraph ave., Oakland, CA 94612 Hours: 12 - 7pm, Wednesday - Sunday. Closed Monday and Tuesday. *ABOUT ITORO UDOFIA* *Itoro *is the first dedicated intern for the POC Zine Project’s Legacy Series<http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/post/37042077000/legacy-zine-series-announ…> . Itoro’s excited to support POCZP because ”it is *a collective that uplifts and cares about what people of color have to say and acknowledges what they have always said.” *Learn more about her here<http://poczineproject.tumblr.com/post/41868602951/meet-poczps-first-legacy-…> . *ABOUT ‘SCENE REPORTS’ * *Would you like to help us create Scene Reports for every state? Contact us: poczineproject(a)gmail.com.* If you would like to invite POC Zine Project to your upcoming event, or collaborate on a joint event, let us know! *Editor’s Note: Itoro will be creating weekly Scene Report round ups. Make sure to send us your zine event details so we can share! If it’s not zine-related but possibly of interest to zinesters of color, we will share that as well.*

11 years, 7 months

Fwd: Marina, registration for Workshop Weekend, June 22 and 23, is now open!

by Marina Kukso

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Workshop Weekend Updates <updates(a)workshopweekend.net> Date: Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 8:07 PM Subject: Marina, registration for Workshop Weekend, June 22 and 23, is now open! To: marina.kukso(a)gmail.com Hi Marina, Workshop Weekend Oakland registration is now open! Join us on June 22 & 23 to solder, craft, program, build, make and explore. At Workshop Weekend, a flat $40 admission gets you as many workshops as you can handle! Register online by Wednesday, June 12 and get $10 off with code EARLYBIRD0613. Select your workshops at https://workshopweekend.net/oakland/catalog<http://workshopweekend.net/er?url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkshopweekend.net%2Foakla…> For families coming to Workshop Weekend together, we're keeping our $10 discount for all parent admissions with the purchase of two or more admissions for children (under 18). Sign up on the same account and the discount will be automatically applied. We have over 30 workshops to choose from at this Workshop Weekend -- a few old favorites coming back alongside new crafts, computer, and music workshops -- and more! Join us for: - Hands-on Genetic Engineering - Robots: Build a Beetlebot - DIY Doll-making - Taste Hacking - Computer Dissection - Arduino Automation Basics - Hands-on Nutrition - Exploring Electronics: Speakers from Scratch - DIY Coffee Roasting - Hands-on Anatomy - Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream - Arduino Programming ...and many more! Register and select workshops online at https://workshopweekend.net/oakland/catalog<http://workshopweekend.net/er?url=https%3A%2F%2Fworkshopweekend.net%2Foakla…> I hope we'll see you in just a few weeks! Cheers, Gil, J.D., and the rest of the team at Workshop Weekend To unsubscribe from future mailings, visit http://workshopweekend.net/learn/unsub?id=bWFyaW5hLmt1a3NvQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ

11 years, 7 months

more on sudo kids - interest in after-school activities?

by Marina Kukso

hi all, ray and i are very happy doing sudo kids tuesday nights, but as i'm sure many of you can guess, the holy grail of child participation involves the dreaded "after school" hours which are characterized by terrible tv programming and many of us being at work. are there any sudoers who would be interested and/or available in doing lightly structured kids activities on a weekday in the 3-6PM range? tuesdays would be best, but really any weekday will do. - marina

11 years, 7 months

Anyone going near San Jose soon?

by Marc Juul

The mesh networking group is buying a small piece of gear from Craiglist and it needs to be picked up in San Jose. Is anyone driving by San Jose next week and would you be willing to pick this up for us? -- Marc Juul

11 years, 7 months

Oakland nighs live cleaned.

by Max Klein

Let it be known that ONL just played and the living room is fully cleaned by my inspection. Max

11 years, 7 months

SudoRoom discussion on class portrayal in tv

by Romy Ilano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJENf-s6r4 http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=411 Class Dismissed How TV Frames the Working Class Narrated by *Ed Asner* Based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, *Class Dismissed* navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows. Featuring interviews with media analysts and cultural historians, this documentary examines the patterns inherent in TV's disturbing depictions of working class people as either clowns or social deviants -- stereotypical portrayals that reinforce the myth of meritocracy. *Class Dismissed* breaks important new ground in exploring the ways in which race, gender, and sexuality intersect with class, offering a more complex reading of television's often one-dimensional representations. The video also links television portrayals to negative cultural attitudes and public policies that directly affect the lives of working class people. Featuring interviews with Stanley Aronowitz, (City University of New York); *Nickel and Dimed* author, Barbara Ehrenreich; Herman Gray (University of California-Santa Cruz); Robin Kelley (Columbia University); Pepi Leistyna (University of Massachusetts-Boston) and Michael Zweig (State University of New York-Stony Brook). Also with Arlene Davila, Susan Douglas, Bambi Haggins, Lisa Henderson, and Andrea Press.

11 years, 7 months

assume good faith - lessons for collaboration from the collective wisdom of wikipedia

by Marina Kukso

hi everyone, i love the perspective in these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Assume_good_faith http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Etiquette and my own addendum: do your part to ensure that the space remains usable for everyone and remains a place where people feel welcome. i find these to be helpful perspectives to keep in mind as we all work together to ensure that sudo room continues to exist as a shared resource for all of us to enjoy the fruits of! - marina

11 years, 7 months

Do any of you want to write a political opinion email that a public officer has to read?

by Sonja Trauss

http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2013/news20130605.aspx The federal transportation administration released new, slightly different guidelines for public transportation providers. Basically what they say is that the civil rights office of each Public Transit Agency has to make up some criteria to test whether proposed route changes or fare increases disproportionally affect minority riders. For instance, if a transit agency were to cancel a bus line (and replace it with nothing) where 35% of the riders were black, but the overall ridership of the transit system was 12% black, then that service change would be have a disproportionate impact on black riders by 35-12=23% NOW, if the public wanted to sue the agency to stop the discontinuation of the bus line, but the agency's guidelines said the disproportionate impact had to be greater than, say, 25%, then the lawsuit would fail. The FTA mandates the creation of some guidelines, but doesn't say what should be in them. Another example would be fare increases. If a transit agency increases regular fare by 10%, but senior fares by 50%, and 21% of seniors are some certain race, as opposed to 6% of the general population being that race, that would be a disproportionate impact of 15%. The FTA notes that low-income people are not a protected class for the federal civil rights laws, but, (progressively) it encourages Transit Agencies to include low-income populations as a protected class in their guidelines because minorities are generally over represented in the lower incomes. In the fare raising example above therefore, if seniors are not disproportionately some particular race, but if they are disproportionally poor, a transit agency could create guidelines that would recognize that. So if 13% of the general transit population earns 200% or less of the national poverty level, but 20% of the senior population earns that or less, than that would be a disproportionate impact of 7%. If the transit agency prohibited disparate impacts of more than 5% (for instance) that change would be a no go. So, maybe stupidly, I submitted the following comment to officeofcivilrights(a)bart.gov and copied boardofdirectors(a)bart.gov: First of all, the policy needs more examples of how to find disparate impacts, like the example on pg 45 of FTA C 4702.1B, or the examples in appendix K. Second of all, the BART DIDB Policy should explicitly take into account the relative nature of the price of a fare (relative, that is, to the rider's overall income) and therefore the relative nature of a fare increase. For instance, if you earn $10/ hour, then a dollar is equivalent to 6 minutes. If you earn $30/ hour, than a dollar is 2 minutes. That means if fares increase by, say, $10/ month, (5% of a monthly BART bill of $200) and you earn $10/ hour, then your fare increase is equivalent to an hour of your time. If you earn $30/ hour, the fare increase is 20 minutes. Measured in dollars, the increases appear to be the same for the two riders, but measured in man-hours, the poorer rider is facing an increase that is 300% bigger than the fare increase for the less poor rider. That is a disparate impact, so the policy should reflect that. Thanks for your attn in this matter. The number of people submitting comments on this policy will be very small. Like under 30, maybe 10 people. There will be a couple of legal services attys, some law students, some BART staff members ... basically no one. So every letter will be read. If there is anyone in the organization that has the opinion you have, they will cite your letter many times in trying to get their (and your) opinion heard. That is why I write letters like this, just in case there is some staff member who has my same thought. :/

11 years, 7 months

popcorn machine

by Jake

http://spaz.org/~jake/pix/popcorn.gif my friend is selling this popcorn machine. if you think sudoroom should have it, make an offer. it's like 2 or 3 feet tall but apparently it makes really good popcorn, continuously. -jake

11 years, 7 months

Give us $$ for decent shelving

by Yardena Cohen

Sudoroom is a mess and one solution is more efficient use of vertical space in our closet. After some research I've concluded the ideal fit for Sudoroom's walk-in closet area are the 5-shelf 36x18x72 heavy duty units which are $67 at Home Depot. I believe these can be stacked (hacked) to turn, for example, three of them into two 36x18x108 towers. 36 inches is just the right width to reach from the wall to the edges of the doors. A hypothetical array of 8 towers would still leave a clear path to the radio room. I'm not saying we need that many (yet) but I'd like to try a few. This is a humble request for your cash. I will put $50 towards this, and Romy has pledged $50. If we can raise a matching $100, we can buy three of them! In fact, if we can raise it today, Romy's offered her car to get them today. Three units would be enough to A) significantly improve our storage/mess situation and B) test my stackability hypothesis. We'll be here all afternoon, accepting cash :)

11 years, 7 months

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