[Noisebridge-discuss] Meeting notes for 16-Dec-2014, re: Rayce topic

[podinski]

Hi all,

re: Rayce topic

Thx to Lief for taking excellent notes ! ... i'm quite terrible at this,
so i am always sorta amazed when someone can do them so well.

Nevertheless, my comments regarding Rayce's situation were somewhat
condensed and reduced, and i'm not always the best public speaker either,
so i just wanted to elaborate here...

what i said was:

i have often witnessed w/ collective projects that there are people who
pour intense amount of work into a project, and then expect some love and
support in return, and instead, sadly, get the door shut in their face. It
would have been good ( and excellent ) had people from this community,
tried to come to his aid BEFORE he "snapped". That unfortunately didn't
happen, but wondering if people from this community can support him Now ?!

...

Additons :

I'm sure people have difficult busy schedules, myself included.
I am currently assisting with a good friend who is ill in the hospital...
And struggling to keep up with SF's demented rent inflation ( like the
rest of you no doubt). And keep my projects afloat. So i cannot claim to
be able to take much deeper action in this situation, but i hope that we
all will attempt to further discuss to understand the situation, and do
what they can to make it better.

So, i would like to elaborate...

I spoke with Rayce the night before the meeting... a coincidental random
encounter...

Explaining his being banned, his anger, resentment, and a high-speed rant
about the corrupt aspects/elements of the board and a hierarchical
structure. [ Debateable stuff, no doubt, as everyone usually gets this
unpleasant initiation at some point in a collective project's complex
evolution. Something one of the elder members at the noisebridge meeting
eloquently alluded to at the meeting about group/community dynamics. They
all have pretty much the same problems. ]

One of Rayce's issues, in addition to being banished, was that he was very
displeased with the fact that people would call into question his mental
health.

...

So my outside, limited perspective:

Rayce busted his ass to do things for the space and the community,
apparently in a crucial time for electrical inspection  ! He took on many,
too many, burdens. His resentment grew. Some of his logic may have gotten
very out of whack.

In addition, he more or less skillfully hacked his own personal housing
crisis.

That's definitely not excellent to the larger community, but he's also
getting punished for it, which is not so excellent either. (The "hack" was
also described as dangerous and endangering the NB lease.) I guess you
could say a break from the Noisebridge is in order, but banning has far
greater connotations.

Strangely this reminds me a little of something Brewster Kale recently
said about Aaron Swartz and his tragic encounters w/ MIT and the law.
Either Brewster himself or the recent documentary explained that it's deep
within the traditions at MIT to hack things, but in the case with Swartz,
he was left to fall, alone.

Not sure, maybe this is an inappropriate juxtaposition.

...

So Rayce kinda "snapped back", apparently. He led himself into that mess
by his own actions and decisions, true. Perhaps his own lack of borders,
and taking care of himself properly, and the ability to Balance his work
for community and work on his current personal situations.

But is there here an unpleasant over-the-top air of disciplining a
constructive, but perhaps overly attached, member ?! I don't know the full
details of his previous faults and transgressions. So that of course is
also important to this discussion.

But as an outsider, there also appears to be an element of crucifying and
sacrificing a member of the community.

And is bringing into this situation, accusations around mental health into
this, adding to Rayce's struggles to redeem himself within this community
?
A situation of getting overworked, angry and maybe a little paranoid,
something we might imagine could happen to all of us in various
challenging contexts in a complex and merciless city, which often discards
people after it has eaten them up  ?

...

Something tells me, it shouldn't be going down like this...

...

i don't claim to be correct in my analysis...
i cannot measure the severity of the problems Rayce may have caused for
making other members uncomfortable... the pain he may have already caused
others...

But as a friend, colleague and community hacker comrade, distraught by the
situation, and equally concerned for the sustainablitly of this excellent
hacker space for all, I would like to add this to the discussion.

Thanks for listening!

Pod


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 that i find it sad that people did not try to intervene w/ Rayce before
what looks
On Wed, December 17, 2014 5:38 pm, Mitch Altman wrote:
> Here are the meeting notes for last night's weekly Tuesday meeting:
>
>
> https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2014_12_16
>
>
>
> Summary:
>
>
> - Noisebridge is about to dip below 3 months of operating expenses in
> savings
>
> - Noisebridge passed Electrical inspection
>
>
> - Building inspection coming up
>
>
> - Sewing serger fixed -- money collected
>
>
> - Rayc banned from Noisebridge
>
>
> - Noisebridge as open as possible over the holidays, and beyond
>
>
> More details at above link.
>
>