[Noisebridge-discuss] asked james to leave

Brink Of Complexity brink.0x3f at gmail.com
Thu Jun 20 19:25:58 UTC 2013


Is there a photo of this person somewhere?

I still don't know the name of the awesomely obnoxious older fellow who
physically assaulted me with a fluorescent light tube, followed by verbally
assaulting me when I firmly demanded space to clean the toxic
mercury/phosphor dust off my skin, laptop and electronics I was working on,
at Noisebridge a couple of years ago. The reason he cited for giving me
trouble was that I was "using too much light for one person" (ie, the
lights were on) while working alone at a table in the main space. Since he
physically prevented me from cleaning up as well as screamed in my face
"Take your bitching outside you stupid cunt", I took my bike back to
Berkeley with tiny glass particles still in my eyelashes and vowed never to
return to Noisebridge again, as it was my impression that this man was a
regular who felt like he owned the place.

I broke that promise to myself and came by about 3 more times in the last 2
years. One time I saw him there, was completely terrified and filled with
rage, and immediately left the space.

Before the incident, I had seen (and heard him stomping) around the space
many times, and had interfaced with him exactly once, while discussing some
sciencey topic with Jake next to the mushroom colonies. My part in the
conversation had quickly ended when Mr. Charming brusquely cut me off with
something like "what do *you* know?" (apparently an actual academic degree
in science is insufficient to overcome gender inadequacy in approaching the
topic? o.0). Needless to say, I didn't get his name.

Whoever that man is, he is the top reason I largely refrain from visiting
NB when I'm in SF.  I would love to discover whether this James character
might be the same person, since "loud obnoxious older man" totally fits the
bill.

- Brink



On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 10:27 PM, Leif Ryge <leif at synthesize.us> wrote:

> This afternoon I asked an older man named James to leave Noisebridge.
>
> This is loud obnoxious James who used to wear a cowboy hat and be around
> frequently. Today was the first time I've seen him in several months; I
> heard he has been in southen california.
>
> Based on conversations I've had with him and with people who know him
> better than I do, I believe he harasses women on the street and responds
> poorly to suggestions that he should stop doing that.
>
> I told him that I would prefer that he *not* return to the weekly
> meeting, but that if he wants to see if the rest of the community agrees
> with my assessment that he should not be at Noisebridge he could attend.
> He said he will stay away until the meeting and will come to "stand
> trial".
>
> I think James epitomizes the truism that by including some people we are
> actually exlcuding others. I hope we don't need to spend too much time
> discussing him at the meeting.
>
> ~leif
>
> ps: Thank you to the 3 people who agreed to join me in having this
> difficult conversation!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>
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