[hackerspaces] Experiencing Democracy For The First Time

[tetsu yatsu]

:)
Feel free to use it however you want. I wasn't sure if I worded it well
enough, I tried a couple times. Glad you appreciated it.

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 12:31 AM, Far McKon <farmckon at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
>> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> ----
> http://www.Hive76.org  "Making things awesome,  making awesome things!"
> http://www.FarMcKon.net "Creatively Maladjusted"
>
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