Event:2015/11/07 Building Bloc

Building Bloc Meeting #3 Saturday November 7, 2015

Poems
Read all the poems: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Building_Bloc

Who's Here?

 * julio
 * mary
 * yar
 * francisco - part of sudoroom, needs to go soon to make vinegars for tomorrow's farmers market
 * joe

what is this?

 * julio's still not sure what it is
 * yar: right now i'm trying to collect people from WGs who aren't in collectives, be a functional collective in itself with membership process & meeting cultures, then eventually double as a welcoming session for omni with potlucks etc, a place where new people can come to learn more
 * mary: thinks it's a great idea - i fit into that category, and first friday would be an example of something we can do

meta-agenda

 * yar: talks about this process
 * julio: i like it being an orientation thing. have you heard the criticism of that?
 * yar: can you elaborate
 * julio: having a collective like this is different from that original plan though. wasn't perfect, this idea is new. hard-liners may disagree.
 * yar has no idea what we're talking about. we'll talk another time?
 * mary understands. how good for people who don't fit in otherwise.
 * julio: yeah. we need people. applying to be a collective isn't easy, straightforward, accessible. this is an improvement. not how i would have envisioned, better than not having it
 * francisco thought this was the building WG

30 Minute Work Party

 * a healthy culture starts here!

Mary

 * Why are you at omni? I like it here!
 * what do you do here? Anything I can
 * joe: she was a great bunny tour guide for halloween. brought people through the haunted house. helped .. she does anything that's needed. with gusto.
 * what struggles do you face?
 * fitting in places
 * what do omni's values mean to you?
 * kind of the other side of the coin. fitting in. it's a place for everyone to fit
 * what do you need from us?
 * acceptance
 * what do you have to offer?
 * time, energy, a different perspective
 * yar: what is your different perspective?
 * mary: i guess ... good question! because i'm new here, you all know each other for a while. i'm new to the bay area, new to ... not this kind of thinking, but being around so much of it. i can offer that. might be something others have also.
 * what are you grateful for?
 * what am i NOT grateful for!
 * do you consent to being in photographs?
 * yes
 * will you follow & share with omni on social media?
 * yes!
 * helpful things we can do on twitter
 * do you want yar to add you to any mailing lists?
 * i think i'm on so many...
 * what's the best way to contact you?
 * phone or email
 * what's your schedule like? when are you usually available for volunteer hours?
 * usually weekends or evenings. unfortunate enough to have a day job
 * how far away do you live?
 * san frnacisco, outer sunset. drives.
 * costs $5 every time. very efficient car.
 * yar & joe are in favor of mary being a member! yay!

julio

 * why?
 * likes what omni can become and all the poeple trying to make it happen collectively
 * what do?
 * mostly commons wg like hosting events like today's vegan mac down. i like that name
 * what struggles do you face?
 * in life or at omni! sometimes people aren't nice to each other. i know they want to be, they don't know how. mostly it's not me. but i do that too.
 * values
 * was hoping we'd have a clear statement after becoming but i subscribe to ideas in SOS & SSP
 * marina walks in. is ok not being a member for now
 * need?
 * need bb to serve as a welcoming force for people who aren't sure what omni is yet
 * offer?
 * not a lot of time, but time and ... knowledge? energy? ENTHUSIASM funlor idea of this group, or at least some of goals, specifically welcoming aspect
 * julio was mary's first welcoming experience. back in the day
 * grateful?
 * the people of oakland and radical culture that exists
 * photos? yes, even in glasses
 * social media? SURE!
 * no mailing lists thanks
 * email is best. you have it
 * schedule? has a normal job, but 2-5 weekdays is a good time
 * 7 minute bike ride away
 * yar & mary think julio is great. he's a member now. yay!
 * joe comes back & consents. "congrats! you'll never have to pay dues!"

name badges

 * should we start a culture of people wearing name badges and hang them all by the front door?

membership drive

 * Yar wants to shoot for a major campaign in JANUARY to bring in more people. In the meantime, create intake structures so those people will have a good experience. test & experiment with them on a smaller scale now.
 * Needs at least 2 other bottom-liners to commit to working over the next few months
 * joe: helping with what though?
 * yar: volunteering for events?
 * joe: yeah that's good, i'm concerned people will be there one time, there another time. maybe that's a better way to do it than having "this is the working group that hosts events"? though i guess that's probably how we'll function until we have a big project and they'll be the labor supply
 * mary: they could be at first friday handing out information. i think it would help me learn, if i had to explain it to others!
 * yar: i think it's asking people to come and do things here, add life to the building. and all sliding scale.
 * joe: yes. and they'll have a key. i mean my original point was WGs are impoverished but ... we could have lists that people could go to, do stuff off of.
 * somebody offers a poisonous soda
 * mary: cleaning out the book room is a good project
 * yar wants the shelves to go against sound wall when the wall's done

meeting culture

 * yar wonders if we should agree on some values now for how we want our meetings to go
 * joe likes culture, talking about things. circles to talk about what we've seen happen, who we've been interacting with. see what that brings up, in terms of how we see the culture. if we have some guiding principles and values, if our weekly interactions have been against those
 * yar is worried about the interaction with jake - she says we give what we can and take what we need, and value the cultural work they're doing. but jake asked for evidence, where is that written down?
 * joe thinks yar is taking him too seriously. who is he to demand evidence? it's written in our mission statement
 * for instance, what if someone in 6 months insists on mandatory membership dues to BB?
 * joe: no, not now while we're so embryonic
 * mary: seems like we're providing a service to the omni
 * joe: we'll be the only collective without their own individual fish to fry...
 * yar: what about BAPS?
 * mary: they have a purpose outside omni, but our purpose is the omni
 * yar: what about saying we don't EVER want to have mandatory membership dues for BB?
 * mary: i'm ok with that!
 * joe: well, i'm ok with the word want or hope. "ever" is scary. if we wanted to do something that requires money we couldn't petition omni for... let's say sending someone to reeducation camp
 * yar: i was hopign we'd BE the education camp
 * joe: well we'd need materials...
 * food not bombs doesn't charge membership dues!
 * everybody who's a member here is probably doing work anyway
 * yar: it's really important to me that we dont' charge mandatory dues because otherwise a lot of people won't be members
 * julio: doesn't sudoroom do that?
 * yar: no, sudo has a minimum of $10 and asks for work trade. i want to be more radical than that. still turns some people away
 * talking about a particular person. would we want him to be a member?
 * yar: i don't know him. right now we have naive consensus.
 * yar: ok. it's not that i don't think people shouldn't contribute anything, it's that i think we shoudl value emotional, cultural and socail labor as much as money and as much as electrical skills, putting up drywall or cooking food. if you're here contributing your positive energy, holding space for other people, that is important work that contributes to omni all by itself!
 * julio thinks i should write this down. mary likes the idea, people are drawn to this.

stranger walks in

 * stranger: what is the status of this place?
 * joe: we're trying to open to the public
 * stranger: what is your service?
 * joe explains different collectives. sounds promising.
 * he's a sound engineer. joe's gonna give a tour
 * most places the customer is always right. in this place the stranger is always right
 * joe finishes the tour, he leaves
 * yar talks about nonprofit membership databases and how that's most of the overhead of NPs
 * as part of meeting culture we decided to collectively write him a welcoming email right now inviting him to sudoroom and the building wg
 * maybe we should have a sign-in system too. a sheet to sign?
 * some people might react negatively to name badges. that's how they know everybody's cool. privacy implications.
 * yar thinks it's not corporate, it's about having an intentional community

Next Few Meetings

 * when will they be?
 * what food are you going to bring?
 * Yar will be gone Nov 20-29 and Dec
 * Next two meetings will be Wednesday November 11 at 5pm and Sunday November 15 at 2pm

Collectively Composed Poem About This Meeting

 * Third person decisions happen including everyone!

secret handshake

 * we'll think of it later and tell libbie somehow

kids

 * also at the end of the meeting some kids wandered in and mary and judith got their info, and a stern lesson on safety and responsibility. IT WAS GREAT