PDX Marks the Spot is a photo scavenger hunt that sends people around Portland to do challenges that are funny promote positive interactions between strangers.
From the bottom of our donation jar. Clearly, we have international support.
Patrick needed new Size 10 1/2 boots. Jason had boots he never used and gifted them!
Every other Tuesday we flashmob a different park to have a giant party. But we know not everyone wants to hear our music. So these parties are completely silent. Everyone has an FM radio, and headphones, so only we can hear the music we’re dancing to.
Find a radio and join in!
http://www.facebook.com/events/500074373369718
http://www.facebook.com/groups/254811777987823/
Community Supported Everything began back in April 2012, when a small group of activists and artists met at a coffee shop. We wanted to see what happened when we gave people unlimited time to tell us about what they are passionate about, what they enjoy doing, and what they would do if they were free to do anything with their time.
We noticed two simple things. The first thing we noticed, and we’ve done this with hundreds of people now, is that nearly everyone yearns to do something they are passionate about and share it with other people.
The second thing we noticed is that even in groups of 6 people, who all knew each other already, lay the resources we needed to make our dreams come true! “I want to do that too!”, “My brother has one of those!”, “Do you know about….” became common responses. We actually had to change our process so that people would hold their offers of support and knowledge until after the person was finished speaking.
Those two things together form the heart of CSE:
1. People are most valuable to the community when they are free to do the work they love for others.
2. Collectively, we often have everything we need to meet their needs.
On December 22nd, 2012, we kicked off our new space at 1626 NE Alberta by throwing a “Beginning of the World waffle brunch.” We successfully gave away several hundred free waffles. Our goal for this spaces is to be a conduit, a switchboard, and a microphone for our community.
We seek to use interactive art and multimedia storytelling to visualize the invisible wealth of our community. We have few resources to offer ourselves. We rely on community donations to be able to maintain this space.
Instead we create a space where people feel inspired to share their dreams, and we use the power of art and storytelling to share those dreams with the largest number of people possible, so we can find our common goals and work towards them together.
Cupcakes are a right, not a privilege!
The cupcake train is simple.
Step One: Make hundreds of cupcakes. Optionally dress up in crazy costumes.
Step Two: Hand them out for free on the MAX.
Check the calendar for upcoming Cupcake Trains!
We envision the bottom floor of our space as a maker space. We have about 500 sqft of open space. This will be a space for repair, rapid prototyping, and micro-industry. We have already been gifted a 3D printer (a RepRap Mendel) and are in the process of acquiring a sewing machine and 2 station, 4 color screenprinting press.
How to get involved:
Come to the next FabLab meeting is 12/28 2:30pm-4:30pm at 1626 NE Alberta St.
Wishlist:
-Vacuum Former
-Serger
-CNC router
-Laser Cutter (why not?)
-Any small tools
-Volunteers to help design and build space.
What is a community, and what is your need for one? Where is it, and what does it do?
These base questions are something that anyone moving away from the old paradigm has asked themselves in various forms. One of the products of the new approach to thinking is called Community Supported Everything. As the name suggests, it is an effort from the community to support everything that the people want. It may seem ambiguous, but a strong community vision and process has come to light in the exploration.
What’s emerging from where?
We first came together in public parks, Colonel Sumner’s Park to be exact. Sitting in a circle, each person is given a chance to introduce themselves, and possibly to share whatever is on their hearts. Whoever feels motivated to facilitate establishes the basic conversation structure, with emphasis on holding space for other people to talk until they feel fully heard. Participants are encouraged to have paper on hand, as that helps them to hold ideas until the floor is available to speak. The metric used in the individual process asks each person their passions, skills, offers, and requests—specifically focusing on what they would do if they could do anything.
Whatever brings you joy, whatever sparks your interest so much that it gets you out of bed in the morning, that is your passion in life, and the best thing for you to be working on. We all have various capabilities picked up through life, and those skills can only be utilized properly once they are made known. Whatever each person feels they can gift to the community at large is an offer that just feels good to throw out there. Every human has their own individual needs, and requests can be made to the community in the knowledge that the resources are out there and available.
How the process is evolving:
Tonight, we met in a space dedicated to the evolution of the community, and started on the next step in making everything happen! The direction of the conversation turned to invitations to actualize what we have been talking about. When given a space to talk about the affinities we all have, what types of actions would you undertake? The workgroups brainstormed to start are all volunteer opportunities in the community, chances to come together with like minds and make our shared world into what it needs to become. Each of us has our own vision of how that should come into being, and now is the time to reach consensus on how we want to create it.
