pad

3_Collective_Writing_Exercise

***HEY EVERYONE - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT IT SEEMS THERE’S SOME TROUBLE WITH TOO MANY PEOPLE WRITING AT ONCE IN THIS PAD. SO ARE GOING TO MOVE OVER TO A DIFFERENT PAD:

** https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/SoC_Writing_Exercise**

SO PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR WRITING OVER HERE: https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/SoC_Writing_Exercise

Let me know if you have any trouble moving over :-)***

[Please note. Everything from the above linked VariaPad has been copied and pasted below, so is all centralised in this document. You can find the copied and pasted answers in the same colour of blue that you ar reading this in.

Enjoy reading!

hello everyone

Today we will use this pad as a space to think, to write, to annotate, and to hopefully start building a resource that collects thoughts, ideas, wishes, and skills from all of you. I will start posting a question at a time, to which you can respond freely directly into the pad. If you are joining us for the second year in a row, use this space to reflect upon how your answers may have changed due to your experience of the previous year.

You are welcome to respond in a different language than English. You can respond with your own answers, but you can also respond, agree, second, or counter the responses of your peers. To start getting used to this format, let’s start with something simple. Please write your name, pronoun, and how you are feeling below (if you aren’t sure of your pronoun or don’t want to share your pronoun you don’t have to share it). We’ll take a minute here:

christopher – The Frank Chu Archive

he/him

i’m feeling good, but a little jetlagged

Cassie she/they The Hologram Research Crew

I am feeling like I got blasted through a cannon and I am trying to glue all the different pieces together

Maya

She/her

I am a bit stressed todaylet us know if we c

dylan (he/they/any).

project: listening to the unconscious of collective practice

i’m recovering from a cold and feeling a little carsick 🙃 (travelling today)take your breaks if needed<3ty :)

laura

she/her

feeling good bc a 🍳 is right in front of me

Amy

she/her

mariam

she/her

bit low on energy unfortunately (where I’m at its evening time)sending lots of energy over

Tasnim

She/her

Im feeling alright! Its an abnormally chilly morning. I’m excited for the rest of the kick off!

Dan

He/Him/Otgerwise

Feeling orange. And somewhere between relaxed and overwhelmed.let us know if you need any assistance <3 thanks! <3 I think what I need is assistants ))

Chi

She/her

I only slept for 3 hours so a bit malfunctioning rn, but still excited for the 2nd day of kick off! let us know if you need a break! thanks Marea, i will!

Marea- She/Her

Feeling ok, a bit exhausted but very happy about yestredays sesion

Viviane (she/her) -

Uli (he/him)

exited about the session today, ucouldn’t be here yesterday

Darya (she/her)

feeling excited about today (couldn’t join yesterday so happy to meet everyone)

julian he/him

im fine and happy to be here.

Ana T. ella,

anne here! - she/they

excited for today <3

samirah (she/they) - i’m alright! catsitting for the next few days. i’m a bit confused about my colour on here? but not a big deal.

Thanks everyone!

Hi, Annie here. She/ her/ they /them Pattern Greens

maybe it is good if we say our Project names too?+1hurray!+1

The first question we would like to ask you, and that we would like you to ask yourselves, is: ‘Why am I participating in School of Commons?’ (10 mins)

Space for reflection, evaluation, feedback and analysis. Community of peers. Collating of insight and sharing/publication

I can’t do anything if there isn’t a group to be in touch with, accountable to. I needed a container and a community who would give me the energy and social pressure to do the project I have been wanting to do for a few years. I also wanted to meet new people and support other people’s projects. Somehow, because I have been working on one project for so many years, where I called in for help from everyone I know, I lost touch with how much I love to know and support other people’s work. It gives me so much energy.

i have been overwhelme

I missed Zurich. I also needed an outside structure and community to support somehow the first steps of our project. to force us making it even when the circumstances are very complex. I really like alternative educational platforms and to learn how other people do things together differently. Adding my comments: I feel like Maya and mine’s project (Fictioning Lab) could really benefit from an exterior view, as it is so local in its nature. Excited to hear your reflections on it.
I didn’t know that before apllying, but SoC has this “Come as you are” attitude which is exactly what I need now. (feel comfortable but still do things)

[the pad is saying i’ve sent too many messages and has disconnected me a couple of times]same for me! refrannoying!!! sameyeahh

hi 👋 this is chris / The Frank Chu Archive.

I think that it’s great to have a community where we can share our projects across various disciplines. It opens up opportunity for collaboration and peer-learning experiences.

Hello!! David from common views … i feel great bubbling in parrale

mostly i am here to share experiences , tools and to learn from others…to listen mostly. I feel I am practicing commoning in an ongoing improvised way, and I am wondering if everybody else is doing the same, or there is some kind of structure that one can follow....

We will have a few sessions about commoning practices and self organized processes on these thursday evenings

Great!!!

I h

mariam (lost in conversation: tacit knowledge in interdisciplinary collaborations): I think its great to meet like-minded people and potential collaborators, who will give you feedback on your work and offer perspectives that you wouldn’t have thought of. I work at a university, but would really like to step out of the traditional framing of education
Actually I am kind of searching for flexible but supportive frameworks in which you are allowed to try out and especially - collaboratively TAKE ACTION. Also feeling your sort of impact to your personal topic is a rare possibility in our daily life.

I’m uli (he/him) and part of the ‘house’ it going’ team: After studying it’s a great opportunity to get in contact with a network based on common knowledge that motivates you to go for the themes you are interested in.

anne from poetic tactics: i was looking for structure, accountability, cotionllabora and a way of exploring methods that were outside of academic social science. i’m a part of the open knowledge/digital commons network, and wanted to s

I have been overwlIemed with the amount of references I have collected, and how to organise. When I learned about SofCommons i saw a chance for collaboration wi the medium is the message kind of thing, a collaborative process hill

*HEY EVERYONE - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT IT SEEMS THERE’S SOME TROUBLE WITH TOO MANY PEOPLE WRITING AT ONCE IN THIS PAD. SO ARE GOING TO MOVE OVER TO A DIFFERENT PAD:

** https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/SoC_Writing_Exercise**

SO PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR WRITING OVER HERE: https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/SoC_Writing_Exercise

Let me know if you have any trouble moving over :-)***

to share and create new knowledge in a non-hierarchical way, I think it is a beautiful thing and we are very interested in learning and seeing new ways of facilitating and coordinate structures that work like this.

Me permite recopilar otras formas de “sentipensar” sentir y pensar, el mundo en temas de educación, arte y cooperar para ejercer acciones horizontales entre las personas, cuestionar las estructuras de poder y fomentar espacios de desarrollo para pensamientos más plurales.

Hello wonderful people typing, just to let you know we’ve moved to a different pad that can be accessed here: https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/SoC_Writing_Exercise so you can move your writing over there :-)

HELLO EVERYONE - THIS IS THE PAD WE ARE MOVING TO :-) WELCOME AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE HERE

Thanks for the move amy! This works better now agreed :)<3 are we allowed to respond to people’s notes? :D

Annie here.

SofCommons interested me because the Medium is the Message kind of thing– the collaboration of the process is what I was seeking in the collaboration in the creation of the “product”— I didn’t want to be “authoritative”over the material.I wanted many voices, experiences. I also made a personal committment years ago that “Food Commons” as a shift in paradigm would be something I put forward/ used as a lens in my communications about food/ cooking/ systems of growing and distribution… So the idea of Commons really felt right. Also on a personal level, my life circumstances shifted and I need more conviviality and sharing and time with people. I also felt inspired by the idea of being a part of other people’s projects, learning through and with. Now that we are all here I feel moved by how interesting everyone is! Plus, at this time in history and the enunciations of how undoing coloniality is also undoing individuality, collectivity seems more important. Because I write about food and cooking,and “collect” practices and dishes from around the world, there is also often arising the issue of “appropriation” in the context of “the commons” –lots to learn Also love the idea of Collective Imagination.

i love connecting mcluhan to the process of how something is made == to what you make! what a beautiful idea, and takes that quote in a more hopeful direction. Thank you! I guess it’s the thing of Starting as you mean to go, or whatever that phrase is – Walk the talk....

is this better? samirah from proj in/visibility here. so why did i - (speaking for myself as i’m part of a collective!) - i joined because i’m feeling disillusioned by all the institutions that have said that they represent and stand for us - academic institutions, government, the UN lol, NGOs, etc etc etc. audre lorde did say the masters tools won’t dismantle the masters house… and here we are. at SOC i saw there were collectives and interdependent individuals collaborating, experimenting, imagining, dreaming, visioning, journeying, dismantling, recycling, rebuilding, practicing. it seemed like an appropriate container and still rooted in the grim realities of Real Life (tm)

dylan here: being in conversation with (and challenged by) others engaged in collective practice, specifically in non-institutional contexts, where it’s possible to imagine new and other ways of relating & collaborating. i’m based in germany and any work with institutions feels quite hopeless atm. also feel like i broke up with zurich when i left age 18 and i’m finally ready to give it a second chance :)

Dan from CV: This is a pretty accurate representation of my current troubles dealing with a profusion of digital platforms :/ It’s like a contemporary tower of Babel. I mean in general, the overwhelming profusion of platforms, not this particular conversation.<3

anne from poetic tactics here! accountability, structure, and experimenting with methods (artistic research, tacit knowledge) that i’m just starting to learn about in a collective space. after years of being academia-adjacent (which talked a lot about ‘being against extraction’ but also stewarded a lot of burnout), i challenged myself in 2024 (after reading ‘deschooling’ by ivan illich) to seek anti-schools, to separate the process of building and collecting knowledge from a kind of institutional life that just seemed to re-inforce the status quo. weirdly enough, that’s led to joining a few different “schools” this year, like school of commons with you all, school of poetic computation, and school of machines!

Hi I am here! (Viviane)

Mariam (tacit knowledge in interdisciplinary collaborations): I think its great to meet like-minded people and potential collaborators, who will give you feedback on your work and offer perspectives that you wouldn’t have thought of. I work at a university, but would really like to step out of the traditional framing of education
Hi everyone! Tasnim (she/her) I’m excited to join SoC. I was really motivated by the learning and exchange model. The concepts of commons, reciprocity, shared resources, community have been really central to my motivation to work in environmental justice and beyond academic/professional interest in it’s connection to heritage. My partner Samirah and I are trying to build our project respecting our principles and embracing decolonial approach in a grounded and qualitative way, not just superficially.

laura from house’ it going? Actually I am kind of searching for flexible but supportive frameworks in which you are allowed to try out and especially - collaboratively TAKE ACTION. Also feeling your sort of impact to your personal topic is a rare possibility in our daily life. What is also very special in this framework is the huge transdisciplinary approach we are facing now for the next months. That opens up a great variety on input und opinions on the different research topics.

hi 👋 this is chris / The Frank Chu Archive.

I’ve been thinking about this project for several years, but haven’t been able to both motivate myself to follow through on it. Part of that was a challenge in articulating what I’m trying to say with the project, and some mental blocks that have occured in the process. I’m interested in conspiracy theories, and in particular a “serial protestor” I’d see everywhere growing up in the Bay Area. I’ve wanted to make a project about him, but think conspiracy theories have such a loaded reputation, it’s a bit hard to talk about the topic in a thoughtful way. And this individual, Frank Chu, seems to be pretty precarious. So, I’ve been looking for a peer / friend / teacher group to help me navigate these nuances and help drive the project somewhere positive and responsible. From what I’ve learned about the group, they are very mindful and support experimental work, so I feel lucky to get the SoC’s support (including support from this cohort!). realy love your project. I am reading Doppelganger and really feeling something about the miasma of social thought and project Also a long time ago I had the idea of thinking about CTs in the context of “folklore” — what truths emerge.
**Thank you for your thoughts everyone! Next, we would like to make space for needs & wishes. Do you have any specific (or less specific) needs or wishes to make your participation in School of Commons as pleasant, fruitful, comfortable, or exciting as possible? **

Mariam: i really enjoyed yesterday’s speed dating because it gave an opportunity to just chat with someone else about their project and get to know each other.. seems like a great way to meet your peers.. so more of those fantastic and thought out opportunities :)

maybe a whatsapp group or similar..+1

I’m open to exploring new forms of communication and interfacing. This pad form seems a bit narrow bandwidth though. I guess it’s a case of reviewing the conversation after the fact, because I can’t really follow people’s responses in real time.Yes that’s challenging - the pad will exist forever so we all have time to review it after the kick o Continuing from this point, I guess what I’d appreciate is other than text/ verbal forms of interaction. Challenging in an online space.

I feel like a bit of a narcissist (bc i am wanting to share my own project w ppl) but I just want to teach everyone the hologram so we all have some kind of support going on in the background, and we know each other a bit more deeply

I wish for new friends and new projects to arrive out of collaborations

I would love help developing better outreach/social media for the projects I work on

I wish for honest feedback from people and depth

I would like to be asked for help!

I would love to meet up with people in person, to have a map of where people are so I can find them in Berlin or when I travel i’m in berlin, lets meet up! (samirah)Yay I am Cassie

I would like some new jokes, or to find ways to laugh even if it is maybe ww3 perdón, creo que borre, una palabra de arriba, intentaba colocar en el traductor, lo siento, me está ganando la tecnología.

I would love to have a discussion about finding the right tools and methods for certain topics - eg: which formats are working good in groups/with people you know/online etc

I wish to learn more about collective imagination and explore how art and digital tools can facilitate this process, and apply it in combating climate change. I also love to hear more about other projects and gain insights from different culture and professional backgrounds. Also want to spread our project to wider community.

new friends, new co-conspirators, to shape SoC and be shaped by it in return, to collectively create an environment that fosters growth and change and action, that blends work and life, that doesn’t place too much faith in rational forms of knowledge

I wish to share my project space Co-Making Matters with you all, offering the platform as a physical extension in Berlin to what you are doing elsewhere, making together.

In general, because I don’t have funding for the project nor from SoC, I wonder if SoC could support me in reaching out to other institutions to have finantial support.yes of course! We will write letters of recommondation and i can help you find funding opportunities Thank you so much <3+1 to possible funding support+1ok great i’ll make an email list so we can set up a meeting

We (project in/visibility) would also love to share/extend our digital space as it grows! yes! we would love to create a ‘digital commons’ housing socio-environmental grassroots-led Work.

hello im Julian he/him (shaking barriers) im here because in this project you/we share and create new knowledge in a horizontal way, I think it is a beautiful thing and we are very interested in learning and seeing new ways of facilitating and coordinate structures that work like this. Also i want to learn more about radical/popular education applied in the context of art and art education.

i wish to connect and build friendships.

iDdavid from common views..I wish to dialogue about environmental challenges and the promise that commoning has for helping to mold a change direction

i wish to get to know new tools and methods of collective knowledge, learning from all of you and together fruitfully discussing on solutions for today’s crisis’. I also hope that through the collaborations we can see beyond the narrow-minded bubbles we are in and explore diverse themes, topics from different backgrounds and contexts.

I hope to see open and friendly eyes when we present our aims and challenges. I also hope that the group can help us diversify the perspectives about what we are working on. I want to feel like I learn and do, without the pressure of it to be the “right” thing. I hope to learn new communication strategies and technologies (like this one) to be used in our group.
Soy Ana de Shaking Barriers, creo que SoC nos permite recopilar otras formas de “sentipensar” sentir y pensar, el mundo en temas de educación, arte y cooperar para ejercer acciones horizontales entre las personas, cuestionar las estructuras de poder y fomentar espacios de desarrollo para pensamientos más plurales. Como andina y latinoamericana, creo que también es una oportunidad para hacer de mediadora entre la pluralidad propia de mi contexto y la gran pluralidad del contexto externo. �💪🔥✊

Ana, eso me encantayo también<3

<3<3<3

This is a pretty vague wish… my day-to-day job is teaching, and I feel like at the end of the semester it’s a total reset (for myself and the students). I think the school format is great because you can focus and learn a lot of in a short time (and maybe make a prototype), but it’s very rare a project will continue on after the end of the semester. I wish I can figure out a way to keep the momentum of the project(s) up post SoC

I’m really intrgiued by this! Is the wish to do some kind of “sprint” at the end of a semester so we can gather the knowledge we have created?˿⃪that sounds great!is this the kind of thing you were referring to, or is it something different? i’m super interested by what you wrote :-) I don’t think i have something in particular in mind as an outcome… i think collecting at the end would be part of it. and maybe also having some post-SoC exercises? Like check-ins, workshops to write grant apps, another group exhibition of some kind. Something more conceptual I think about is there’s a perceived barrier between school and the “real world” but it’s not clear to me why school isn’t “real”. Yet things seem to most often stay contained in a school, and mainly get out through academic conferences, etc. (on on instagram)

To give & receive support, laughs, collaboration, learnings, perspectives, ways of working & thinking, honesty, feedbakc
To complete a prototype (and learn by doing)!
To build & maintain with gentleness, quiet, slowness

Support group for social-environmental challengesshall we do an email list and ask all pople if they want to sign up to it - we could organize a few gatherings aro

YES PLEASE!!!ok will do!<3yes!!<3<3+1

love everyone’s responses. plus one to all of it. i’ve already had one book recommendation (deschooling)<3<3!<3

I would love to create a shared reading list?!yes!! that would be so cool <3+1!!+1+1!+1!

an arena group? anyone use are.na?<3we can set one up for sure!would be amazing!<3!!+1love this idea :-) will set this up today!

Next, we would like to address any fears or doubts you might have with regards to the programme. Is there anything you have doubts about, or are there things you fear might happen (or not happen)?

My hope is that SoC will support and facilitate our work as a collective, and my related worry is that it would add to what is already a pretty substantial workload. It’s a balance I’m hoping to strike between these two.+1+!

Getting overwelmed, overcommitted, burning out, losing steam, getting lostYes. Also t

i fear things might stay too much in cerebral/brainy realms (YES!!+1) (rather than embodied), that a fetish for discourse might hinder actual action, that connecting digitally will be frustrating at times, that time/money constraints won’t allow for enough time for us to relate on a human level (centering rest, pleasure, connection). tho tbh i’m loving this session/format :)<3This is funny as I worry my project is too practical and based on embodied practices (cooking and eating) and that I am not brainy enough!big yay for cooking and eating :)nomnomnom

(i agree! I’d be afraid of this as well - hoping we will have lots of practical and embodied experiences as well)

The next 10 month are really critical for our project and I worry about the timeline/pressure we’ve put on it. I am trying to infuse as much positive and optimistic energy. I keep envisioning a ‘sling shot’ metaphor where we have been chipping away at our project steadily and this is a moment for us to spring forward.

+1 with my collaborator! we want to move from dreaming to doing, but in a way that honours the intention of the work.

a couple of fears - me getting in my own way as i’m recovering from burn out and chronic health issues. and in general about our project - got a fear about accidentally/unintentionally reproducing or perpetuating harm to marginalised folks. i’m thinking about positionality a lot as someone in the diaspora. and have fears/doubts about work being tokenised, appropriated, coopted. but also… when one puts something out there we control the direction it takes? i don’t know. <3 thats so interesting what you say, i have similar fears.

I fear people stop showing up in the nice weather and lose steam

I also wish long term partnerships<3+1<3<3<3

Fears and Doubts:

I fear that I am not academic enough in my thinking!  I fear I will forget words publically.  I fear being old among all you young whippersnappers. i also feel a little worried about Zurich as an upscale city in which it is hard

Now I am thinking how fun it

Not being in academia is a bless!!!+1!!!indeed!! SoC is not about classic academia at all

And also on the other end - fears of being too academic to be accessible! this is such an interesting topic - maybe we coul have a session about it would love to discuss this together!+1

We could definitely do a dedicated session. I also wanted to share a pu

I had a bit of an imposter syndrome yesterday because your projects are so interesting and there are a lot of people with PhDs and Master degrees and I don’t even have an academic education, or a Highschool degree.

I worry about the timezone, I’m in South Korea so the meetings will be pretty late here… I will do my best to participtate. Along those lines, I’m worried about losing steam at some pointI’m making it one of my priorities this year to think about alternative documentation, and how to enable participate outside “zoom” and “live event settings”.love this! This could be making small publication, transcriptions etc. I’d love to hear what would be most useful/engaging/accessible<3

Great, thank you! Next question; if you had the chance to shape your own education; what would that look like? And how would it differ from the education you have had so far?

Labbing. Raising questions collectively and focusing more on the process of exploration and reflection than on the imparting of knowledge. Less “I know, I will tell you” and more “let’s not know together”.(!)<3 huge <3 for not knowing together<3

Always combining a practice/ project that I am working on and enthusiastic about with reading and thinking theoretically. <3 Learn to think with my body, learn to think with my emotions. Learn to connect these different realms together and in relation to my surroundings. Learn to do it together. Learn to do it alone. <3

I would like an education that is affordable, community oriented, and with time to develop relationships with my peers and teachers(love this teachers part especially!). I’ve had education experiences that embody one or two of these things, but not all three… More generally, I’d like an environment that feels like a lab or studio, where we’re just testing and itterating as a group

i wish my education hadn’t trained me in unhealthy, self-extractive work habits (+1!! yessss)🙌🏾, wish there had been more space for somatic and movement practices, wish it hadn’t been steeped in western values and perspectives, wish it had been more neuro/access-friendly, would have loved to have more education in radical history

I would have learned languages in many different places, through political movements. If only I knew that was possible when I was young!

The education system in my country has always been vertical and top-down, but if possible, I want to transform it into a more horizontal and collaborative approach. In my ideal education model, knowledge wouldnt be dictated from a single authority figure or institution, but rather shared and co-created among peers, mentors, and communities. and its important to decolonise the production of knowledge and incorporate more the epistemology of the global south in education. Paulo Freire por siempre !✊🔥

more creativity, less testing

more trust, less hierarchy

more languages & pluriverses of thought, less anglophone & broadly western centric (even in geneva it was like this!)

more making and being (alongside thinking)

honestly i just wish i could have attended black mountain school!!!

or maybe coming from the trad social sciences - i fetishise the art school ? (which i know also has it’s problems)

love and echo everyones responses. with the elements, nature, embodiment, less theory, more practice.

Great, this is all really helpful. With regards to the above, what practical ideas do you have that could make your experience within SoC as good as possible, both as an individual and as a group? What structures or practices could be useful or engaging? Reading groups? Collective decision-making processes? A Discord channel? What are things that seem good or helpful to you for the upcoming year? Would you like to be added to SoC 2024 WhatsApp Group?

Emancipatory pedagogy

I would start with 2 or 3 years of studying philosophy and political science....then go for an art degree…then go out for actions!!

I had a really great experience within the MFA - we worked on projects that interested us and met for feedback and critique with the group.. my peers were super interesting people and I thought the format was small and intimate.. I would have loved more collaborations among each other rather than everyone doing their own projects but other than that it was a great experience

a signal group? idk if that works for others i could see signal, whatsapp, discord - though of course worried as everyone else is about being overloaded! but i would join all, maybe not to be as active, but the very possibility of being able to chat in real time would be important

small working groups for people who can support one another, like affinity or crit groups. maybe selected based on similar questions or tactics?

That’s a very good question. Overall, I would love to engage in conversation and exploration, however, my digital communication channels are already pretty swamped and my question would be about how to create effective, focussed channels for communication/connection/relating and how to use broader bandwidth (by which I mean the opposite of the reductive quality of text-based interactions - which tend to remove much of the emotional and embodied information). I don’t have any specific solutions right now, but would be open to explore these together.maybe asynchronous email-based feedback for small crit-groups?

I would like if we self-organize little workshops /maybe use our kitchen sessions for that/ in which we learn a certain method depending on a topic (maybe from another group), for example: How I use Go-Alongs for xyz. >and then three people share their approach

↓ I like this mapping idea!

I like mapping the individual/collective backgrounds, maybe miroboard would be useful for this. (sounds great! In class I have students write on a miro board their idea, what they r looking for and what they can offer and this is how collaborators find each other)absolutely yes mapping<3

I love the idea of a reading group so that the list doesn’t become an endless/aspirational thing but a reality. And all for us to think through new ideas together ( I love this too!)

i think knowing that the soc has active&open ears for concerns/things that aren’t working as they come up is very reassuring! ty for that. i find messaging group chats quite overwhelming but weirdly i’m finding this variapad format really accessible and fun. its giving early 2000s chat room/forum/msn messenger lol

I think a reading list would be a tangible and accessible thing to try

Setting up a couple post SoC 2024 meetings / goals after we see where our collective attentions are could help keep momentum

i would love to see how people’s work evolves in real time - like a version of their reading list as it changes – which is maybe what are.na is good at doing?

love the idea of a reading list but tbh, the piles and piles of unread books i have around me are all collectively screaming at me. so a reading group… or i dunno, like doing book reports/feeding back/summaries on things we’ve read?

How would previous education be different? I wish I had had physical education (“gym”) that wasn’t competitive. I wish I had had more art and music. I really value the wonderful teachers I had. Interdisciplinary. Embodiment, meditation, conflict resolution not disciplene, schools that let kids be kids (energetic, sociable).
↑ this idea of a non-gym phys-ed is very cool, i’m not sure what you have in mind, but meditation, learning about the microbiome, etc. all seem like htye could inform art practices love the idea of the microbiome in art practices

Collaborative modes of research (reading, topic discussions, critic on specific study cases)..

FYI - SoC are.na has been created: https://www.are.na/school-of-commons/school-of-commons-a-3rxeg9gz8 thanks <3. I still need to add everyone as “collaborators” so you can access it. But I will do this by the end of the daythank youu! should we drop our profile links or names anywhere?

And I wanted to share this SoC Participant create research on academic vs. non academic research: https://back.schoolofcommons.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ResearchingTheResearcher_SchoolOfCommonsREAD2021.pdf love this!

I think Discord and a reading group would be super cool. and i would like to be added to the whatsapp group. +++

plus one to everything

**Okay, before we head over to zoom for a little body exercise, there’s two more things which are easy and which you are also welcome to do later. **

**1. We’d like to make a skills list that collects the skills and talents of everybody in the group. Please list any skills you might be willing and able to share below, it can range from graphic design to cooking. Please enter your name again, so we can see who’s who: **

writing/editing: cassie

facilitation online/offline: cassie

absurd graphic design: cassie

undercover watercoloring: cassieooh what is this?I solve all my problems and do all my thinking through watercolors early in the morning and late at night, and i have a method for how to use it for interpersonal difficultness or working through other rough spotsCassie Cassie Cassie

kundalini yoga instruction: cassie

julian: sculpturing, carpentry stuff, drawing, painting, illustration, translating in (es,it,de) graphic design.
Ana: escultora, pintora, directora de arte (cine), escenógrafa (teatro), dibujante, cantante, compositora, EDUCADORA POPULAR ✊, ilustradora, y nefelibata (persona que vive en las nubes) muy lindo!

basic html/css/js: chris

some graphic design: chris

Dan: somatic practice, awareness practice,yes yes yes

Annie: Fermenting (vegetables, scrap vinegars, fizzy drinks , kitchen witchery in general

, dream collage, (love the fermenting!!) yes!!!<3<3

laura: preparing tasteful drinks<3; decorating settings for workshops, trash photoshop collages, reading astrology chart

uli: graphic stuff on figma, 2d-3d-drawing (rhino, etc.), some building (wood, reused material etc.)

David: drawing, wood structures:O!!, Qi Gong, Chamber music (Cello), cooking, contact improooooocontact improv has been on my to try wish for so long! wish for a jam?

viviane: curating, educational methodologies, writing, building (with clay specially), thinking together (developing ideas) / to create, production (although it’s not my favorite thing, I do because it has to be done)- same! I hate it but someone’s got to do it, and some of us are just good at it

Maya: Writing, curating, talk with people about how they feel

VR/AR development, game/interaction design in Unity 3D .. emergent tech like volumetric video & VR (mariam)

didactics/pedagogy/coaching - I have taught courses and workshops + I’m a certified coach (mariam)

Startup coach - I’ve assisted tech startups (and some creative entrepreneurs) with their business plans and marketing strategies (mariam)

posture and exercise - I used to be a fitness coach with focus on posture correction in another life (mariam)<3

anne: website development (& some creative computing), writing, facilitation, map-making, open knowledge, deep listening, fixing bicycles, afficionado of the million tab club

Darya: writing, singing :)<3

dylan: website development, DE-EN translation, EN proofreading&copyediting, love sharing reading tips & music, <3i’m also v good at dancing like a crazy person and not caring<3

samirah: writing and editing. facilitation. being really honest. naughty aunty

pedagogy. grief work. cooking/feeding. community building in person. marine biology. ocean work. nature connection. listening. imagining. community herbalist-in-training.

2. And finally, we made Spotify playlist with our participants from last year, and we’d like to invite you all to contribute to it, allowing the playlist to grow over time. Please add any songs, podcasts, or other things you’d like to share with the group in this collaborative playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/415vcSwd0oLOoNRh4PRg6X?si=2c3e658b39794f3f <3I love the idea of a playlist!

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