Memories

What are your most favorite Omni memories, events, anecdotes?

• “After moving into the building, we had the seemingly-insurmountable task of discarding six tons of old law books no one would adopt. We all had great fun forming a 30-person human chain moving them in concert from the basement to the U-haul parked outside. Hive mind in action!” - Jenny

• “Many people working together into the wee hours of the night prior to the first Critical Resistance event to provide a wheelchair lift and ADA bathroom.” - David Keenan

• “The night we had a couple dozen people dropping by the Biohackers & Mad Scientists Social in Counter Culture Labs, and suddenly we heard Adam's giant Tesla coil playing chiptune music in the ballroom, so we all rushed over there instead. And then people started lightsaber sparring with the 8ft fluorescent bulbs, lit up by the Tesla coil nearby (and we only broke one bulb...).” - Patrik

• “The Oakland-based Afro-Haitian dance group, RaRa Tou Limen, hosted FET GEDE - Festival of the Ancestors - in the ballroom. It was the MOST amazing community dance festival I ever had the pleasure to witness and participate in!“ - Cere

• “One of my favorite things about the Omni is that, usually, if you start working on something or doing some kind of chore, pretty soon someone else will come along, ask what you're doing, and then join in to help.” - Laura

• “One night, after an ice cream social, curly-haired Sam of the wonderful piano playing and I had an incredibly long talk about philosophy that lasted until the middle of the night. Perhaps what made it so special was because of the openness of the space, others would pop in and out, adding some gem or another to our thoughts on identity, "free" will, and the possibility of existing more than once." - Ryan

• "Once, I gave someone a tour of the building and we were talking about Counter Culture Labs. I mentioned synthetic biology, and she was shocked. She thought we'd be against genetic engineering. And so as I talked to her about how many of the major issues with genetic engineering revolve around capitalism and not science, she actually came around a bit, and realized that projects like Vegan Cheese Project aren't inherently evil because of a technology they were using. This actually happened more than once, but the first time was magical. Of course, it doesn't always work." - Ryan

• "I've also had some great times at the biohacker book club. We've been able to look at the popular representation of science, especially bioscience, and talk about general problems in science fiction that aren't always taken well by non-feminists. I'm so used to not being able to bring up these subjects outside of specifically feminist book clubs, but at CCL, I didn't feel the need to pretend to not be upset from the beginning.” - Ryan

• "The Free Marissa Caravan brunch and reportback today was profoundly moving. I was humbled and inspired by the dedication and spirit behind this all-woman team, who travelled across the country in January conducting teach-ins, organizing direct actions, and speaking out in support of Marissa Alexander, a black woman criminalized for defending herself from an abusive partner. Check out the trailer of the documentary they're creating of their journey." - Jenny