Hi Omni friends,
I feel like I have had a hard morning and I wanted to take
Lynice Pinkard’s advice from her BAPS class “Training Spiritual Warriors” and tell
what is difficult to tell.
I will let you know up front that one of my
expectations of the Omni community is one of mutual support, both of
individuals and of participating groups. What does that mean? TBD for us as a
group (I think we should discuss it!). For me, I'm hoping the rest of this email will come close to shedding light on this - it's hard to figure out on my own what the answer would be.
So here goes:
I feel like ever since I put up the Backspace proposal
yesterday, there was flurry of email activity that I personally found both stressful and
demoralizing. I feel like email is not the best place for this conversation,
and that proposals should be simply taken back to groups for discussion, not
vetted on email. That would be my wish. I know that there are others who disagree.
A few emails let me know, ahead of an in-person discussion, that they were against the proposal. I heard Helen from FNB say in the last meeting (or one before?) that she felt that a certain FNB proposal was dead before it even came to the meeting, due to the email response. I feel very similar, and I feel exhausted by this. My stress levels are through the roof, and despite the fact that I have many other non-Omni things on my plate, I feel pre-occupied with this conversation. I actually had a BACK SPASM while emailing all of you last night. That’s really not a good sign. The irony of this in light of the fact that it’s all about starting a wellness collective should not go by any of us.
Why should I (and others, I assume) feel this way? I feel like I need to express that I don't feel like this promotes a community of mutual care. This kind of stress and feeling of hopelessness is NOT what this project is about. It's not mutual aid.
I can hear imaginary responses to this in my mind and they go something like this: Sara, this is just you. It's your problem, not the problem of the email lists or the Omni.
If that is akin to a response any of you might put forward, I would wholeheartedly disagree ahead of time. And I would say that as a community project we are compelled to look head-on at issues and feelings such as these, even if the issues are murky, raised by members.
I’m calling this out with all due respect to the Omni as whole. I have great love for all of you and for this project. But great love requires honesty, trust, and the willingness to move through difficulty. That is the spirit of this email.
Walking in a daze to work this morning, I asked myself, why do I even want to teach yoga at the Omni? Is this feeling I’m feeling worth it? Here is what I came up with. Some reasons are political, some personal, others general:
a)
* I believe in community wellness that is
AFFORDABLE. As someone who herself cannot afford much of the wellness services
in Oakland, this has become increasingly important to me. This is my connection
to Backspace and it’s mission.
I pre * I prefer to work communally with others, in a way that "one that privileges a more equitable commoning of resources and meeting of human needs over private interests or corporate profit."
b) * I have a skill that I can offer, and have not yet offered at the Omni, via yoga. Yoga is really important to me, which many of my Omni friends might not realize. It is a moving meditation, allows for release of emotional and psychological stress, allows the body to both strengthen and relax and increases immune function. It is a way that I have personally dealt with anxieties, fears, and weakness. It is one way to assist in survival in what can be an overwhelming and difficult world. That is, it helps me to be able to do my work in the world and my hope is that I can extend that to others.
c)
* I believe in the Omni as a radical community
space. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just keep it basic. I’ve been
working towards this kind of space in my life for years. I love it with all of my heart.
d)
* On a personal level, I need a second source of income so that I can send myself
back to school in the Spring. I have no financial miracles on my horizon, and
plan to use any money I make teaching yoga to return to school. I'd like to support our community and also be able to support myself, my aspirations and dreams, which I will then in turn return back into enriching the community.
I’m looking forward to tonight’s discussion of “what is a
commons”. To me, a commons is a space for dialogue, learning and mutual care.
It’s not just a space that can be occupied. It’s not just for sitting in a nearly
empty room with a computer or having a space to sleep on the couch, although those
things can happen there too. More-so, I believe “commoning” means ACTIVE
PARTICIPATION, a going-towards togetherness, a breathing organism that is
attentive to its own collective breath, in other words, attentive to itself as
an organism. It is attentive to itself as “offering”. “Commons” is the space in
which that participation and going-towards togetherness becomes material. It
answers where.
And this is our question as a culture. Where can these things happen?
To me, the use of the den as part-time Backspace / part-time Commons offers the best of all worlds. Backspace will be able to do its work towards community wellness and care with classes, herbs, massages, meditative practices, martial arts, and much more. Backspace needs to know that we have a significant amount of ACCESS (different than USE) to that room. The sharing of a room with Backspace and Commons IS RADICAL. My “offering” is yoga. I would like to see my Omni friends be able to offer as well.
I know that I haven’t answered many of the questions that have come up on this thread. The reason for that is
a) I feel overwhelmed by them
b) I’m fighting feeling defensive since that is not how I want to engage with this conversation
c) I’m fighting feeling disappointment and some anger about responses (and this is before we even sit together to talk in person)
d) it would be easier, faster, more productive and likely more mutually supportive to each other to answer these questions in person
I’m looking forward to seeing you all tonight, and to talking in person.
Solidarity, love,
Sara
Sara, I want to acknowledge and thank you for your work to arrive at an agreement that meets everyone's needs. It can be challenging!LauraScott,I agree that that is a good idea.However, I feel like your suggestion is exactly what I was trying to move forward with the BAPS backspace proposal that BAPS recently voted against moving forward with!I personally believe it can still work, but would like to acknowledge that I already proposed this to BAPS 2 weeks ago and it was not supported.I also attended the Commons wg on Saturday in part to build a working relationship with the Commons wg and Backspace. I ran our current proposal by the group and met with support.Jenny, I can say more tonight at the meeting re: your questions, which are good ones (gotta go to work right now!).Backspace is currently:MargarethaMyselfAndrewNaomiDonWe have interest from other folks but no commitments until space is resolved.Sara
On Thursday, October 16, 2014, Scott Nanos <scott.nanos@gmail.com> wrote:Crazy idea but I'm also a little worried that BAPS and commonsWg don't have the labor power to handle all this commoning (pragmatically speaking, in the form of scheduling and organizing)...What if Baps, backspace, and commons wg all teamed up on these common spaces, granting *x* amount of privileged hours in specific areas for collectives?Ex: Baps could take privileged hours in basement reading room/library directly related to classes on the schedule, backspace could take privilege hours in upstairs den or disco room for booked classes?it seems much more likely to be successful if we unite? Baps and commons wg have already been discussing a mesh situation...Ps jenny that last email warmed my <3XoScott[geek segue how do we go from a CSMA --> TDMA mode of sharing space? :) ]It's a good thing we're dedicating a 20 whole minutes of tomorrow's meeting to a better understanding of this word ;P Perhaps it would be productive and timely to organize an Omni-wide unconference on the subject!Hi!I am excited by the revival of Backspace but would love a bit more context. Who's currently involved these days? What kind of services would the public clinics offer? Apologies if this is a barrage of questions - just trying to get a more complete narrative in my mind :)This sentence really confused me - can you explain what it means?
:We have concerns about how much time backspace will have to do its work in the commons; and recognize that with commons there can be no guarantees about the amount of time, which can dramatically stymie our work.Would Backspace members be interested in helping the Commons WG with scheduling as part of their contribution to the functioning of the Omni as a whole? I am confused about the interchange of 'commons' in this sentence and then how it's used in the next:There are other collectives at the omni who have a lot of dedicated, non-shared space to do their necessary work. Part of our proposal is to offer the den in part as a commons, which is a new way of using space in the Omni, and an important moment to model how this can be done. I really hope that this radical sharing is not being overlooked
Other than TIL, I can't think of a single member-group in the Omni that has "a lot of dedicated, non-shared space to do their necessary work." What collective(s) are you referring to?Like, this past weekend sudo was hosting a BACH unconference all over the building, and whoever was around Friday night from a bunch of collectives or whatever, unaffiliated, helped manage a plumbing emergency with a backed up drain in the basement kitchen (joe had accidentally dropped a rag down the drain! and he totally admitted it and is going to pay for the emergency plumber we called in! mad love!) - fast-forward to Sunday morning cooking pots of food for lunch while La Commune folks were cooking brunch side-by-side, Scott was making music in the cafe and FNB-Chris was making mad delicious salsas for BACH folks and the rest of the FNB crew was working on the kitchen in the basement, sudo shared some eggs w/ la commune and they had exactly the same number we lent them left over by the end of the brunch! and we had tacos for all the brunchlings who were too busy making food to eat it! radical sharing fuck yeah!!!Ahem! So, if I grok you correctly, I think this is similar to the reasoning behind BAPS' proposal for dedicated space that it would steward for common, shared use - that's great! My only concern is that there may not be enough Backspace members to take on such a responsibility, while the Commons WG also needs support. I'd like to echo Niki's request for clarity on how you intend to 'commons' the space, and ask how we as a community can help your needs be met.Much love,JennyJenny
http://jennyryan.net
http://thepyre.org
http://thevirtualcampfire.org
http://technomadic.tumblr.com
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
-Hannah Arendt
"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 11:24 PM, yar <yardenack@gmail.com> wrote:At tonight's Sudoroom meeting, there were no major objections to BDRM2
("the eyeball room") becoming dedicated and lockable for Backspace, or
to the DEN and STORAGE1 being schedulable commons where Backspace gets
priority. The biggest concern is that the Public School would still
have room for its evening classes, but we don't have enough info to
speak for them obviously.
Just curious - even though we all seem to be converging on a pattern
of scheduled multi-use space, there's still this distinction between
these rooms being "administered by Backspace" and "administered by the
commons working group." I know Backspace prefers the former, but can
you say a little about why, and what is the meaningful difference for
you? Is it the worry about being scheduled out? Is it the desire for
veto power over the layout and aesthetic of the spaces? Thanks.
Lastly, Matt pointed out some issues with how the money is being framed:
> We would pay $1000 per month starting in October.
Is this a typo? It seems to contradict the next section.
> Backspace founder Andrew Lowe put forward $6000 to the Omni for Backspace in May 2014. This money was paid ahead as a commitment by Backspace to the Omni and vice versa. We would like to allocate that money in the following way:
>
> $3000 for July Rent (first month, last month, deposit)
> $1000 for Septemer
> $1000 for October
> $1000 for November
Except what actually happened, was Backspace paid $2k for first month,
$2k for last month, and $2k for deposit, and then realized later that
they couldn't continue paying that much per month. It's not just a
semantic problem - that $2k deposit went to the landlord, and not to
the Omni. This pretends that Omni saw $1k that we didn't actually see.
Also, IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer) but it's a scary legal grey area for a
landlord to redefine deposit money as rent money. It might be better
to be honest about what happened instead of retconning it, and just
say that Omni is now giving Backspace a second chance to exist at Omni
with a grace period and a new "lease on life." Just a thought.
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