About that one story a week thing…
Many thanks to those who read and reacted to my first story. I seem to be picking up subscribers slowly, but steadily. To be honest, getting subscribers at all is a bit of a surprise, but it’s nice to see, even if it does add a bit to my sense of urgency. Which brings me to my first point this week…
As I work on writing these pieces I am coming to realize that a full piece a week is too ambitious a pace. Yes, it is true that I'm no longer working a regular job, what you might call "retired", but I don't want to be writing all the time. For one thing, getting away from a daily grind is one of the reasons I retired, and for another, I have stuff to do, dammit.
So my current plan, totally open to modification going forward, is that I'll move to producing a new story every 2 weeks, and on the off weeks, I'll share some easier bits and pieces - reactions to previous stories, reflections, and administrivia (like this).
Reactions
Fortunately for me this week, my story about my first community got some interesting reactions. Many of those came from old friends who were a part of CCAOS and had shared those experiences. Some others came from people who had experiences that contrasted with ours.
One of the original kids in the club went on to a career in experimental science, and his reaction was that "flying by the seats of our pants (both organizationally and financially)" had been key in equipping him to handle the many challenges of perpetually underfunded research projects, both in terms of constructing apparatus and in dealing with shaky organization.
I hadn't considered that, but it rings true to me. I have also made my way professionally by being able to handle "a high degree of ambiguity" as one boss put it, and by being able to pull various resources together to solve problems. No doubt that that early experience and its eventual success played a big part in preparing all of us for our future challenges.
Another old friend recalled how the club had had a feeling of community and home, where geeky interests were welcomed, not bullied. To me that's the best testimony to what that tiny community meant to me, and what is essential when I think of a true "community".
Another friend, who was not part of our CCAOS community, told of the opposite experience in her youth, of moving from a church community where she felt some connection, to a different church where there was no one her age and feeling isolated. I find that perspective particularly intriguing. If we as kids had a positive community and have felt its positive influences in the decades since, what sort of challenges do people face if their early experiences with community are not affirming? Or if what one recalls includes a sense of loss?
It seems to me that a consideration of negative experiences of community and their ramifications would be worth discussing in one of these stories, so if anyone would like to share anything about that, either leave me a comment or send me an email at naomi DOT ceder AT gmail DOT com.
As always, feel free to subscribe if you want to get this in an email:
And if you feel inclined to share this, well, that would be lovely:
And with that, I'll get back to work on my next story. Cheers.