[Noisebridge-discuss] asked james to leave

Leif Ryge leif at synthesize.us
Thu Jun 20 21:36:26 UTC 2013


Brink,

I'm very sorry to hear about your experiences at Noisebridge. I would
like to believe that there are nearly always people present who would
intervene to stop an assault, but it sounds like in your case that
didn't happen. If such a thing ever happens again, please tell more
people about it asap so that we can remove people like that from the
space!

I am not aware of any photos of James, and have no way of knowing if he
is the person you're describing.

~leif

On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 02:25:58PM -0500, Brink Of Complexity wrote:
> 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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