[sudo-discuss] [BAPS-Organizing] Re: Backspace Space proposal

[D. Scott Nanos]

as always, niki, you say everything i want to say, only more logical and
concise :)


sorry for my long emails, i don't know any other way to write them! Trying
to learn!

xo

Scott

On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 1:49 PM, niki <niki.shelley at gmail.com> wrote:

> I wanna keep this short and communicate more in-person (I agree the emails
> can be overwhelming).
>
> I just want to say that I FULLY support and love the Wellness Collective!!
> I am so impressed by all of the incredible work that has gone into
> organizing and putting forth these proposals. I have no doubt that the Omni
> community really wants to see this project succeed beyond anyone's wildest
> imagination.
>
> We're also very overwhelmed with all of the intersecting questions and
> concerns that are arising around multiple concurrent proposals. We're
> really trying incredibly hard to ensure that the whole community has the
> ability to thrive. That involves asking and being open to receiving lots of
> questions.
>
> Please don't interpret these questions as a lack of support but rather in
> response to what we have already learned, over these few short months
> trying to figure out how to share space not just with each other but with
> the larger community. Poor Gabriella's been through months of back and
> forth!!
>
> There's no question that this is all very stressful!! I am really hopeful
> that we can all learn better, healthier ways of doing all of this work.
>
> I love you all very much and can't wait to have Backspace up and running
> at the Omni!
>
> <3
>
> N
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Sara Larsen <saralarsenyoga at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Yar,
>>
>> Thanks so much for your email. I hope my email didn't sound like I think
>> anyone at the omni is acting in bad faith, because I don't. Everyone is
>> working hard to pull pieces together in a complex situation.
>>
>> I agree it's a complicated fog. My email was sent in the spirit of
>> openness, honesty and I hope, healing. I took a risk in saying a lot of
>> what I said in the hopes that others will also express the underlying
>> feelings coming up around this project. Dealing openly with these things is
>> one of the ways we can keep
>> the culture of the Omni healthy.
>>
>> Yar, I appreciate your work as well, which I know is vast and not always
>> easy!
>>
>> Re: my email about Scott's suggestion - I really just wanted to point out
>> that we had already suggested what he suggested, and it was not a new idea.
>> In my opinion, however, it is a good idea. My take away from that BAPS mtg
>> was that BAPS members were not ready to commit then or likely later to this
>> idea. I was encouraged to move forward with backspace on our own, which is
>> what I brought back to Backspace and is what we did.
>>
>> BAPS has since changed their idea and relationship to space due to a push
>> forward from some members who are worried about not having space. This is
>> in progress. But that change happened AFTER our meeting and after backspace
>> had taken the advice to move on. Being members of both groups at this time
>> is challenging for me, for obvious reasons.
>>
>> Backspace's rush is that we need space to open so that we can make money
>> so that we can pay rent and utilities to the Omni. If we can't do that, my
>> guess is that we will have to disband and then the Omni would lose
>> another member group, which I and I think no one else would like to see
>> happen.
>>
>> Xo
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, October 16, 2014, yar <yardenack at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thursday, October 16, 2014, Scott Nanos <scott.nanos at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >> Crazy idea but I'm also a little worried that BAPS and commons
>>> >> Wg 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?
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 8:18 AM, Sara Larsen <saralarsenyoga at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > 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!
>>>
>>> Is that what happened? I didn't go to every single meeting but my
>>> understanding was that BAPS were still open to it but needed more time
>>> to talk about it and make up their minds, and Backspace just doesn't
>>> want to wait any longer. It seemed (from the outside) like this
>>> urgency and time pressure for Backspace was the biggest reason why
>>> things didn't work out that way.
>>>
>>> It's not that I blame you. I can imagine how frustrating it is to try
>>> to organize a bunch of skeptical bodyworkers to do their work at Omni,
>>> this weird building full of construction debris, contentious politics,
>>> dysfunctional processes and so on. Trying to create a wellness
>>> collective at Omni at this time is an ambitious goal and I fully
>>> recognize and respect all the emotional labor that I've seen you and
>>> other Backspace folks put into it, Sara, and I want it to succeed too.
>>> I think the new energy and people you guys bring in will be an
>>> especially valuable thing for all of us and our communities.
>>>
>>> I only hope that you can try not to blame the rest of us either for
>>> the difficult situation. We've all been working very hard with what we
>>> have. I feel like we're reaching at each other through a fog of fear,
>>> uncertainty and doubt, trying to make high-stakes decisions that might
>>> affect us all years into the future, when we only have a few months or
>>> even weeks of experience being in some of our spaces and learning to
>>> know and trust all the people.
>>>
>>> There are so many rooms with different names. It's been 24 hours since
>>> your proposal and it's taken us this long just to be sure exactly
>>> which rooms you're talking about. There's confusion over what
>>> commoning means (the commons wg only started meeting 2 weeks ago),
>>> what scheduling will feel like (we're still developing the calendar
>>> system), what the rooms will look and feel like, whether people will
>>> clean up their messes like they say they will, and any number of
>>> hypothetical scarcities and disasters that we have no idea if the
>>> future might bring.
>>>
>>> It's not your fault, it's not anybody else's fault either. I really
>>> hope the confusion isn't interpreted as bad faith or a lack of
>>> support. We all need to get better at that, of course, but also get
>>> better at forgiving each others' mistakes, in the spirit of jubilee.
>>>
>>> Sorry for the rant, but thanks for listening. <3
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Let us be together,
>> Let us eat together,
>> Let us be vital together,
>> Let us be radiating truth,
>> radiating the light of life,
>> Never shall we denounce anyone,
>> never entertain negativity.                                          --
>> The Upanishads
>>
>>
>
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