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On the final day of the 2012 Conference (Monday, September 3rd), we’re excited to offer a full-day workshop on the decision-making model Dynamic Governance (also known as sociocracy) at nearby retreat center Sophia House. This intensive, titled “Organizing How We Live and Work: An Introduction to Sociocracy,” will be hosted by Sheella Mierson and Ron Czecholinski of The Sociocracy Consulting Group and will go from 9:00am until 4:00pm. (Those who attend this event will miss the final conference site events of “Mock-upy”, lunch and our Closing Circle ceremony. A separate lunch will be provided at Sophia House.)
For conference attendees, this workshop is being offered on a sliding scale of $30-$60. For non-conference attendees who are simply interested in learning about DG, we are asking for between $115 and $145. Please pay what you can in this price range for this incredible opportunity to hone the communication and decision-making style of your group. We will accept payment via Paypal or check.

“Can i ask you a question?” a well meaning communard or guests will say to me.

“You can always ask me a question, and you never need to ask.” is my regular reply

Because we live, work and socialize in this tight little hyper village, we have a number of agreements as to how we will protect peoples personal space.  One of the most foundational is “Asking to ask”.   Let’s say you have had a hard day, you are at line for dinner, someone who has been trying to find you sees you there and approaches.  If they use this protocol, it makes it relatively easy for you to repulse their inquiry.  They are anticipating that you might not be wanting, in this particular moment, to talk with them about what ever it is that is so important to them.

I dislike this norm.

Ignoring for a moment that the person is already presuming they can ask you a question, by asking this first one.  It is inefficient and formulaic and it is basically never the case that i personally want someone to check in about talking with me.  And despite me repeatedly exempting everyone on the commune from this agreement in my particular case, almost everyone keeps doing it to me, despite repeated reminders.

And it is not a big deal.  i get why it  is important to some people i live with and i am happy that we take care of them in this way.i get to make my little speech about how i am special and dont need this form of care taking and then they get to remember that i have told them this perhaps a dozen times before.

Electricity production is not simple.  There are myriad factors which affect price, fuel choice, local versus remote generation, feed-in-tariffs and more.  But there are some things we do know by watching what is happening in the major European power producers.

As i mentioned in an earlier post, the closure of 8 reactors in Germany has already lead to renewable energy and especially solar  taking up the slack and especially on hot days producing over 50% of the countries electricity.

What pro-nuclear critics have historically pointed out is that Germany has the highest electricity prices in Europe, driven in large part by taxes and government regulations.  Turns out this is no longer true.  France (often touted as the nuclear model for the world) now has higher baseload electricity prices,  Please remember baseload is what nuclear is supposed to be good at.

But what is more interesting, is that the market is expecting German electricity prices to continue to decrease, because of the high renenwables component and for the near term French prices to rise because of reactor outages.

One of the hardest things for me when i was learning to be a ZEGG forum facilitator was to avoid the temptation to use this powerful introspective tool for therapeutic purposes.  It seemed like a natural.  This dynamic theater tool used for symbolic and direct self expression was a powerful force in looking into yourself and if you could see into yourself why wouldn’t you want to tweak yourself to improve yourself.  Like most white males i like to think of myself as a problem solving get stuff done kind of guy.  So if you have tools and you can see things are messed up, then you are somewhat obligated to try to improve things.

open

What it is supposed to be used for is self expression and self reflection.  These are quite different things.  Self expression can be all manner of transparent revelation,  What i learned to the forum and now thru its evolving sister group Not Forum is that being transparent has tremendous value in and of itself and this is why it makes sense to practice, even if you do not have a goal towards self improvement work.

At the top of the list is self knowledge and trust building.  IF you are doing these exercises you are looking in and trying to figure out what it is that you are doing and how you show up, even if you cant fully capture the whys.  And by going thru this work with others, you are learning how to be open to sharing aspects and elements of yourself which are generally kept secret oft even from yourself.  The honesty in these groups weave trust and deepens relationships.

When I arrived at Independence Mall in Philadelphia this afternoon looking for the Occupy Nat Gat, instead I found many police and paramilitary units from many different different city, state and federal agencie.s. The first perhaps local officer I asked where the gather said:

“I think they have dispersed, I dont think they are anywhere.”

One hundred feet away another officer in a more exotic uniform started talking to me as I approached.

“You dont want to ask me anything.”

“Could you tell me where the occupy national gathering is.”

“No I can not tell you.” His expression was stoney cold.

“Thank you for being so helpful”, i replied in an earnest tone

I asked a younger bicycle riding cop another 200 feet away the same question.

“I really dont know, I have not seen them.” he said earnestly.

A couple of blocks later a park ranger said

“They are at 5th and Market.” Said in a dismissive knowledgeable way.  This address was where this series of questions had started.

Philly police putting on riot helmets, when there are no protesters anywhere near by.

I returned to 5th and Market and spoke the to vets who were there and they said “Occupy is at 6th and Race.” It was common knowledge they had been their all day, since they did not get the permit for Washington Park.

Every cop knew this was true. Everyone knowingly lied to me. My taxes pay for them to lie to me. Something is wrong here.

So part of the adventure was just getting here.  The traffic was pretty bad, but what was weird about it was that there were traffic jams at odd times.  We (Emily X, Claire, Sara and myself) stopped outside Baltimore to avoid the rush hour traffic, we got back on the road around 7 PM and it was still jammed.

When we made ti to Philly several sets of housing for us fell apart, but ex-student Ian is a great organizer and as one place to stay feel apart or did not work he found another.  After sleeping ont he roof of the warehouse did not work out because of the rain, he housed us at his fellow organizer Cat’s place, which was great.

But as we were driving to Cat’s at twenty minutes to 1 AM, i was struck by the full on traffic jam going on on  I95.  So this is two lanes, no lights, after midnight, stop and go, largely stop.  And it did not appear like any accident causing the slow down, so it remains a mystery.

Rad Con’s organizers come from Sara’s pedigree.  They worked with Occupy, they were disillusioned with the groups unwillingness to work on internal issues of class and privilege and they continued to work with like minded folx on post Occupy events.  The following essay is the intro to the heretical fingerbook on “why not one big Occupy”

Fingerbook Cover art by Diana

“Why not one big Occupy Movement?”

When I told my friend i was going to the counter convergence in Philly, she was disappointed “Why can’t everyone be under the big Occupy tent?  Why do we always have to be divided?”

National Rainbow Gathering
A dozen East Winders spent nearly two weeks in the Cherokee National Forest in northeastern Tennessee during the National Rainbow Gathering this year.  East Wind donated over 1,000 pounds of organic peanut butter, cashew butter, and almond butter to help feed thousands of people free of charge.  East Winders also set up a free kitchen in the woods, and cooked and served delicious free food to the masses day and night.  East Wind Community Kitchen offered a free 24-7 self-serve peanut butter & jelly bar and handed out sweet gooey nutbutter treats after dark, in addition to serving wholesome, tasty, mostly vegan meals throughout the day.  The East Winders in attendence already understood what communal living is about, and everyone lent a hand by helping to build our earthern kitchen, haul water and supplies, wash pots, tend to the fire, and cook food to share with our larger human family.  This year, East Wind teamed up with a neighboring kitchen, Green & Purple, to serve dinner at Main Circle, where hundreds to thousands of people gather to share a meal every evening.

Occasionally, people get upset at the way i run naming parties.  I use a facilitation technique which has been called “Florida Style” after the voter fraud that got Bush II elected.  Let’s just say being precise is not always my priority.  Presumably because i am entertaining in my presentation (and i cant really influence the decision process) i get asked back to run naming parties again.

Over 10 years ago, after we installed the new rope machine we realized we needed a name for it.  We had gone over 20 years without a name for the old rope machine, because there was no need to distinguish it from anything.  But with two side by side, we threw a naming party for both and they were ultimately called “God” and “the State”.  As Marx predicted, the State has withered away and only God is running these days, but the name lingers even tho there is nothing to be comparing it to locally.

Joanna, Kristen, Luuk, Ridgely, Zadek, Sami and Anja are Unicorns School the day this photo was shot

And if you start something new, you can name it, so when Rick and Joanna started the current awesome child care, basic education program in the community (which now meets 5 mornings a week), they decided to call it Unicorns school.

“Dont you just sometimes want to shake them and tell them how stupid they are?” Aubby said as we were driving home from Louisa the other day.  i certainly understood the sentiment.

And living in community is in this way different from mainstream society.  Many people, including myself mostly, adopt a “no unnecessary enemies” policy. Because there are so many points of contact, because you can never tell when you social, work or living environment might change to put you in close orbit with someone who you were not paying much attention to before, we tend towards diplomacy.

And i certainly fail in some cases.  I push for things i want here, and sometimes this means people feel run over.  And in at least one case i have co-created an adversary.  Sky was challenging me about it today, which is daring because i have quite some charge about this member.  Sky claimed i was not doing the work of getting unstuck and thus depowering myself.

Annoyingly, i had to admit he was right.

Clever co-dad

If Contagion is:

Disease transmission by direct or indirect contact.

Then Protagion would be:

Ease or joy transmitted by direct or indirect contact.

Turns out i know people like this.  Joan is one of them.  She occasionally storms into my life and regularly into anyone’s who is around her and is so positive and so energetic you become convinced, however briefly, that a much better world is possible, if people could be just be more like this.  This is a protagous effect.  She writes recently on FB:

The banner to Joan’s beautiful blog joanjr.blogspot.com

recent highlights: Rejoice and i made ink out of walnut hulls and it writes so well and is so Pretty and doesn’t fade in the sun or too much when wet. Nightshade and i started putting battens on the summer house and i am getting the windows ready to go in. i have enjoyed Excellent massage trades lately, and am painting an awesome school desk that i got at the dog and gun a beautiful Blue. i caulked the leak in the shed roof and fixed part of the floor so we’re ready for the finish layer now. and my friends are still here and still wonderful. in other words, my life contains ALL THE GOOD THINGS ?

Reblogged from Residents Organized for a Safe Environment:

SEPTEMBER NO NUKES convergence on Washington D.C.
JOIN THE COALITION AGAINST NUKES FOR A NUCLEAR FREE CONVERGENCE ON OUR NATION’S CAPITOL

It’s time to really FOCUS on nuclear power issues BEFORE the 2012 presidential election! The Coalition Against Nukes is organizing an anti-nuclear convergence in Washington, DC, Sept. 20-22, 2012 to FULLY EXPOSE the nuclear crisis in Japan and its relevance to the insidious nuclear industry in the United States.

Read more… 830 more words

i wont be around, but if you are you should consider going to this.

There is a deliberate architecture to the residential spaces here in the commune. Private spaces tend to be smaller and public spaces larger and nicer. The math is clear, there are over 100 bedrooms, but only a few dozen public spaces of all types. If your public spaces work well than you serve the collective well, and individuals will choose to spend much of their time in public spaces.

But we also have intensely (and occasionally comic) personal experiences in public space. Until recently i had a laptop and i oft plugged it in to the Ta Chia State Room extension cord beside the big couch. The other day when i pulled the cord out to get power for my late laptop, i found this note.

Which says: “Paxus, don’t pull this cord out. Use the one behind the right chair arm.” This card is laminated to the extension cord. I nearly feel over laughing when i first pulled out this card and read it when i was doing exactly what it did not want me to do.

And it is for me the perfect personal touch to a public space, and a gentle reminder to anyone who might want to do the same silly things i have tried to.

The reason Facebook is important to me is that it shows me what type of propaganda works from a memetic perspective.  What images and ideas are so catchy and infectious that the person who ingests them then wants to serve them up to everyone else they know.  In short: reposted.

Here is this months winner:

There are lots of problems with this piece.

So for starters, there is no graphic content.  Given that FB and other social media will share this effortlessly, there is no reason not to put some graphic stronger than your web address in.  The author is a Presbyterian Minister in Austin Texas and a blogger.

Second, item 3 is off the hook incomprehensible.  I play fantasy role playing games and Magic : The Gathering – both use manna, neither like this.  Nor am i familiar with this kind of manna – tho it sounds interesting.  But wrong place for exotic ideas.

What clearly works is the overall tight logic and powerful critique of the (mostly US fundamentalist Christian) religious arguments against gay marriage.    Esp point 1, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10.  Demonstrating  the logical/ethical case against a same sex marriage ban is quite weak.

The memetic metrics are worth inspecting.  This is a screen shot, which became a FB post.  At the point i got it, it had 6K shares on 9K likes (that is a high reposting rate and it got 550 comments, which is also high).

In another life, i lived in San Francisco, i worked for an oil company in the financial district, i lived one block from the corner of Haight and Ashbury and i had a morning ritual.

My alarm clock would go off at 7 AM, i would throw on some clothes, grab a quick breakfast, hop on the excellent mass transit (the number 6 Parnassus bus if you must know) and arrive at my 24th floor office at 7 AM.  This particular magic was done by setting my home alarm clock half an hour fast and having a highly abbreviated morning routine.

Truth told, i loved working for the oil company (it was Sohio, which was basically a subsidiary of British Petroleum).  i had a brilliant boss, who treated me well, let me do fun things, gave me three promotions and four raises in 2 years.  i got to travel a bunch, play with super computers, run exotic projects and hire some curious people.  And i did not have the political consciousness i have today, which would make such work completely unthinkable.

Here on the commune, i dont have an alarm clock (except on Thursdays, i use my phone to get me up early for tofu).  It represents one of the subtle, but quite important changes in quality of life that exist here.  If you sleep until you naturally wake up, or until Willow flops has hand in your face, or Sara spoons me early in the day, it is a completely different experience than being roused by a time piece telling you your day has started.

If you are really lucky you have have amazing friends who you have historically not made enuf time for but now are figuring out how to do that.  So it is with Sky.  My co-dad is an epic organizer, a gifted DJ, amusing and charming in the extreme and we both feel like we have not built our relationship int he way we would like to.  So now he and his partner Kassia are visiting Twin Oaks with the intention of applying for membership and joining in early 2013.  This is great news actually.  All the Star family will be in the same place at the same time for the first time in a while.

Other wonderful news is that Sky will work with me on posting on the Elephant Journal site which i did the one Wunderlust review on and have abandoned since then.  And we talked about Sky working on with me on the business plan for Chubby Squirrels, including all the various Seed business expansions, which is also exciting.  At the current moment what i am developing for affiliated business with Acorn includes:

Two exciting developments regarding the 2012 conference:
This just in! Paula James, a transition town founder in Colorado, will be coming to Twin Oaks this Labor Day weekend as a representative of the movement. Click here to learn more about transition towns in the meantime.
Also, Sheella Mierson of the Sociocracy Consulting Group will not only be leading a traditional conference workshop on sociocracy–also known as dynamic governance (DG)–but will also lead a FULL DAY event on Monday, September 3rd during which conference attendees and others can fully delve into D.G. This event will be held in the conference room at nearby Sophia House for an additional fee (TBD).
More updates coming soon…

Every Thursday night i have Not Forum, my Twin Oaks transparency group.  We are playing with a several different tools and my current favorite is what is being affectionately (and slightly mockingly) being called “The emotional flip”  This is a borrowed from Emotional Brain Training and the first part of it is you cycle thru  more difficult emotions: anger, sadness, guilt and fear.

So for example last night i said

“I am angry that Rainbow and this anti-occupy gathering are happening at the same time so i cant go to both.”

“I am sad i will miss out on the national rainbow gathering with Shal, who i would love to go with.”

“I am afraid this anti-occupy event in Philly will be poorly organized and there wont be enuf people there to network with effectively and the trip will have been a mistake, and then i will be even more sad about not going to rainbow with Shal and company.”*

“I feel guilty that i am prioritizing this political thing over the cultural/fun thing.  i feel like a bad funologist.”

I heard on the radio that Virginia has 30% of the nations vanity plates.  The reason for this huge fraction must be because they are free only in this state.

Vanity Plates fro Krista Laffoon 2012

Story goes that quite some years ago someone drove one our cars to a big shopping center and after they completed their shopping they realized they had locked their keys in their car.  They called the commune, whihc then called Triple A (which we dont use any more) and the tow truck guy came out and broke into the car and then left.

Shortly after he left, the drivers of the Twin Oaks car realized they had broken into someone else’s car.  And if you have 17 cars, you would have trouble keeping track of them also.

So we started using the vanity plates and our incidence of breaking into other peoples cars by mistake is way down.

Date: Friday June 22nd, 2012

The Midden’s Spring Update

Community

In March we had the chance to host a prospective member named Shawn for a month and are currently going through the process of new membership with Cole. If you wanna live here too, let us know! We continue to try and work against development in the neighborhood.

Us and Spring Changes

At a recent pot luck, there was a question about what ‘who you were 5 yrs ago’ would think of ‘who you are now.’ People’s answers to that question highlight just how much happens with time, how everyone is constantly creating variations of who they are. So, here are some things that we’re up to these days that will make us someone else in 5 years:

Wes has given up screen printing for farm work, Mattie has started his own business called Living Wage Lending and Alex is beginning to get a Masonry business off the ground. Meanwhile, Neb is continuing to develop music and make small fires for audiences on High Street. Death row prisoners receive support from Ben and RedBird Prison Abolition. And last but not least, Kate quit her job and is spending time this summer writing and working around the house.

Mattie also continues to play a mentoring role for students organizing around environmental justice, and in April, Kate, Wes and Ben returned from a month long tour with their play In the Belly. Here’s a picture of us celebrating Student Move Out with a trash cake.

i am one of 4 general managers for the communities hammocks business.  And if we were a case study for an MBA class, the students would go a bit nuts.

Right now we have told our biggest customer that we will not supply them with 12 out of 18 models – including the best sellers, because we are out of stock and we are not likely to catch up, despite this being the hammocks high season.  We have all the materials to make these hammocks, all our production facilities are operational. We will likely loose about $50K in sales for this failure produce.  And we are probably just fine with this.

Sometimes i feel like this

We make most of our hammocks in the winter.  We guess what it is we will need and produce that mostly between November and March.  When the spring comes we want to be planting things and being outside.  We are a farm more than we are a factory.

We did open a  couple of small satellite hammock shops using ex-members and local communities.  But this has not really covered that much of our increased demand.

We simply can not hire locals to come into our shop and make hammocks and we are unwilling to pull our members from the fields and require them to make hammocks.

So we just loose the sales and try to calm our upset customers.

[Dont worry, we will raise prices next year.]