d_r_o_w_s_e's Friends

Life has been interesting lately. The only way I can really define it is growth. Inherently, when you create something and watch it grow, your creation in turn affects you, as you realize that the ways in which it evolves often match (or bring out) traits that you never knew existed.

When I first moved out to San Francisco, I started an event called "Five Minutes of Fame" (5MoF) at Noisebridge. There are a number of inspirations, like lightning talks, the law of Fives, etc, but there were a few other reasons I started it. I had just gone through a period of getting laid off, my lease ending, and my wallet getting stolen, and suddenly needing to move across the country in hopes of a better economy. Being unemployed and effectively homeless (eg monthly sublets), I found that if I wanted to be sane, I needed stability. If I wanted stability, I had to create it for myself.

Establishing a monthly event did this. It gave me a motivation to meet people, to promote, put together a lot of ideas that I'd left on the backburner after leaving the rave scene, and just do stuff. Further, because it was an event on a specific recurring date, this gave me a deadline, setting a boundary. When you have limits set, you have two points and can form a line; from there, you can build upon it. It was a personal challenge: either do stuff within these parameters, or let it slide away and let myself slip into the ether.

The early months were moonlit. We (Noisebridge) were still a small community, and everyone knew each other. On hindsight, I think Noisebridge was a similar point, or goal, or meeting space that satisfied an unknown desire many of us had. It began a lot of networking, and a really great "scene" started to develop. I feel very fortunate that I had the pleasure of being part of it as a larval state and watching/helping it grow.

And now, it's been nearly a year. A lot of flux has gone through Noisebridge. People have arrived, adapted, or left. There's been one debacle after another, some very funny, some really kind of awful. People say we're currently dealing with growing pains, but the truth is that we've always been. Are growing pains an issue in themselves, something which needs to be fixed and made better, or are they the social cracks of imperfections as new people learn why things are the way they are?

Noisebridge has no written rules, but many social rules. They are of a dynamic nature, and change based on the situation. They prevent us from being tied to our mistakes, and prevent people with agendas from creating problems in the future.

Many of these events and debacles have reflected themselves in 5MoF talks. I recall two interesting talks relevant to this point, one outlining the basic tenets of social capital, and one exploring different types of pedagogy/education systems. Both were a response to issues going on at the time, and both equally stand out as highly relevant to other situations, and therefore are independently meaningful.

As an event grows, it gets a following, and a reputation. I'm now seeing 5MoF in a situation where it has kind of hit critical mass. Do people expect to see certain things? What happens if they don't? Naturally, we compare the present to the past, so will next month be ranked against this month, or previous months? What if I/we fail to meet the hype, and people leave disgruntled because it wasn't all they'd hoped for?

When I started it, I decided that those issues were irrelevant. I wanted to help people share their cool ideas and projects, and maybe everyone would like it, maybe not. Whenever someone asks me what they should submit, I always respond "Whatever you're passionate about." It is my firm belief that if people focus on sharing their passions rather than pleasing others, everyone will be happy. Given, there are boundaries which must be set, but that's where the social rules come into play.

I think this event is easier to run keeping that in mind. Rather than trying to please everyone and one-up the previous month, I have instead explored what the event *is*, how it relates to other events, and what kind of variations we can do. Some will work, some won't, and many will not work without the critical mass. Last month, we ended by installing swings on the BART. This month (tonight), we turned the event into a giant Bingo game. Do we do anything special next month? Who knows? As long as the core structure is there, where people can share their passions, I'm open to a lot.

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