[hackerspaces] Experiencing Democracy For The First Time

[Far McKon]

tetsu,
If you don't mind (and we can talk Asteria/Nick/Someone into it) I'd dig to
get this posted to the Hackerspaces.org blog.  I think it catches a great
spirit of things, and one of the things I personally worry about losing when
spaces become commercial and/or 'sponsored' instead of self-organized.

keen writing, and hack on,
- Far McKon



On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 12:18 AM, tetsu yatsu <tetsuharu at gmail.com> wrote:

> FAMiLab is still small. We're not incorporated yet, our open-house is
> scheduled for January, but we've been using a space that I am leasing, and I
> wanted to share this story.
>
>
> We've been around for about 3 weeks now. The first week was exciting, but I
> can't say we had a lot of good work space. I was worried that 800sqft wasn't
> going to be enough, but after the first day, I felt like we'd never fill it
> up :). We got some steel shelves, some ikea desk furniture, and folding
> tables. Recently, two of our members put up a nice long wall-bench.
>
> The first Red-Bull and Mountain Dew fueled Friday night, we took a ceiling
> tile off and hung a mannequin from the ceiling. That sounds like a pretty
> interesting thing to do, but it was obvious at the time. I was there for the
> mannequin hanging, but about 4 days later someone drew murder-scene chalk
> body outlines (with masking tape), and taped a saw to our Mannequin's hand.
> I thought this was just genius.
>
> A couple days later, I told the member (who I thought did it) that it was
> pretty awesome, and I asked if we could keep it. He said the tape was
> beginning to peel, but we could paint it. The question was then, can we
> paint this carpet in a space we lease month to month? Moreso, the question
> was 'who do we ask?'
>
> I assumed I'd ask the person who did it. He's a few years older than me,
> and better situated professionally. I guess I considered him a senior. I
> thought back to a few paragraphs ago, and remember that I am personally
> leasing the space, so, would it be my decision maybe? Should I talk to our
> landlords, or a lawyer?
>
> It wasn't the mannequin or the murder scene outlines that took me by
> surprise, (in fact no one has been surprised by the mannequin so far) it's
> that question. All these crazy and stupid things we do in normal society are
> based on a juxtaposition to the arbitrary heirarchical authorities around
> us. They own it, so we ask them for permission. We don't have a heirarchy.
> We own this. There's no one above me to 'check with'. There's also no one
> above me to take the fall.
>
> I was finally left with only my own sense of personal responsibility to
> make my decisions.
>
> I feel like many of my peers only engaging in corporate or academic
> environments are missing out on this important experience.
>
>
>
> I see now that the hacker ethic has a very real association with personal
> responsibility and restraint, something that most uneducated onlookers don't
> get right away when I talk to them.
>
> (hope that wasn't too long)
>
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>
>


-- 
----
http://www.Hive76.org  "Making things awesome,  making awesome things!"
http://www.FarMcKon.net "Creatively Maladjusted"
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