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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">You don't like day spas do you Greg? <br>
<br>
On 01/18/2013 04:01 PM, Greg McGuire wrote:<br>
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Listen, this conversation is just going to go round and round and
round and round and round. Our inboxes are going to get filled up
until people are tired of talking. And then a day or two later
someone is going to bring it up again and it's going to start the
cycle over.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We're approaching 100 emails (98 including this one) about
women in hackerspaces, makerspaces, feminism, bullying, and
knitting. And I'm not looking to say that women do or don't
belong, feminists are good or evil, and that knitting does or
doesn't blow. Basically, what I'm looking to say is that no one
person, or group of people, can or should decide. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The world is a very diverse place. What makes sense to me
isn't necessarily going to make since to someone in another
country than mine, let alone another part of my country, let
another part of my state. If you want to start a space, than
more power to you. I hope that you have a good base group of
people that get along with each other and that you can find the
money to get a space that suits your groups needs. But the X
factor is really what happens after you get going, and nobody on
this mailing list can tell you what that is. If you started a
space and you're not about to shutter your doors, than more
power to you. Clearly, what you're doing is working for you.
This is one of the reasons why there are multiple spaces in the
same cities and towns, and in the same country/state within an
hour of each other. What works for your space isn't always going
to work for the space down the road.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As for the women thing, if you're a woman and you want to
join or participate at a space, than do it. Whether there are a
hundred men there or three. They're idiots if they, "scare you
away," and you're an idiot if you're, "scared away." Hackers,
makers, engineers, geeks, and nerds, aren't cookie cutter
people. They think and act differently than, "mainstream
people," let alone people in their own categories. Give them
time to get to know them before you either run away screaming or
you run them out on a rail because you don't like them. Also, if
you witness something happening or think that something might be
about to happen that is questionable, than talk to somebody
about it. Not only does, "if you see something say something,"
work for fighting the terrorists of the world, it works for
problems in communities around the world and has been for
thousands of years. I personally would love to have women
working on things at the space I'm a part of, unfortunately for
me my space is 100% men. Aside from making up events based on
stereotypes like pie baking, book clubs, sewing circles,
Twilight, et cetera, I don't know how to do that.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There are organizations that are dedicated to women in
technology, but they're not everywhere and I don't hear of them
doing events in our spaces. Maybe we should find a way to court
them?</div>
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<div>--Greg--</div>
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<div>--</div>
<div>---</div>
<div>Greg McGuire</div>
<div>Chief Administrative Officer and Executive
Director - NESIT</div>
<div>Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:greg@nesit.org">greg@nesit.org</a></div>
<div>Office: 203-514-2257</div>
<div>Cell: 860-501-9428</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nesit.org">www.nesit.org</a></div>
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<div>On Jan 18, 2013, at 2:17 PM, Ron Bean <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:makerspace@rbean.users.panix.com">makerspace@rbean.users.panix.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">Pete Prodoehl <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:raster@gmail.com">raster@gmail.com</a>>
writes:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">The location of your space is also
key... we<br>
were in a old industrial complex one member called
"Assault Town"<br>
(though we never experienced any assaults) it was not a
place that<br>
most women would feel comfortable going to alone at
night. (I know,<br>
because I asked one.)<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Also, it was a former grinding shop, in a 100 year old
building, and it<br>
was inherently filthy. Black dust constantly filtered out
of the ceiling<br>
beams, and we could never keep anything really clean.
Anything related<br>
to textiles was a non-starter. This wasn't just a problem
for women, it<br>
was a problem for any activity that needed a clean surface
to work on.<br>
Fortunately that's not a problem at our new space.<br>
<br>
On the upside, we started with a very diverse set of
interests (not just <br>
computers & electronics, although we have those also),
and we generally <br>
welcome anyone who brings any kind of skills to share, or
who wants to <br>
learn.<br>
<br>
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