[Imc-makerspace] Mitch Altman Visit in Feb/March?

Fri Feb 17 22:15:43 CST 2012

Hi Stewart, Mitch, and everyone else,

I have been ears for a long time, but I would now like to chime in.

Firs, I would like to ask whether Mitch might be inclined to do something at the ECE department.  I am an instructor for the RF lab here, and I it seems that that our lab space can be used for some student workshops, if desired.  Also, some student societies might be excited to have Mitch as a guest speaker.  After all, he is pretty well known here.  If a rep from MakerspaceU comes along, it would be even better.  There is a lot of synergy that is possible.

Also, I am involved somewhat in k-12 outreach.  Perhaps I could help set up something with school kids?  The libraries might be good in terms of space.

I was wondering if the week of March 5th is still somewhat open for Mitch.  Incidentally, the Engineering Open House is on the 9th, if that is of any interest.  

Anyhow, if any of this sounds agreeable, I would love to put in some effort to work out the logistics.

Thank you very much,

Serge

P.S.  Stewart, I only know you as the very informative eVoice on the list, but I would really enjoy meeting you in person.

--- On Wed, 2/15/12, Mitch Altman <mitch at CornfieldElectronics.com> wrote:

From: Mitch Altman <mitch at CornfieldElectronics.com>
Subject: Re: [Imc-makerspace] Mitch Altman Visit in Feb/March?
To: "Stewart Dickson" <MathArt at emsh.calarts.edu>
Cc: "Koen Martens" <gmc at sonologic.nl>, imc-makerspace at lists.chambana.net, "MakerSpace Urbana" <makerspaceu at gmail.com>, "Suzanne Linder" <suzanne.linder at gmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 7:18 PM

    On 2/15/2012 4:29 PM, Stewart Dickson wrote:

      On 2/15/12 3:28 PM, Mitch Altman wrote:

        And I'm ready for TechKnowledge on 1-March (though 8am is *not*
        my usual time of day)!

      Yeah, that's 6:00AM San Francisco time, but it's in the middle of
      the afternoon Paris time.  :)

      You will actually be here on Thursday, 23-Feb, too -- although I
      suppose you'll be resting up from your trip?   =)   I'll be doing
      the radio show that morning, too.   Every Thursday from 8 to 9.

    I may be too tired to be conscious at 6am SF time after flying in
    the night before (and taking the train directly from Chicago to
    Champaign).  So, I better not commit.  Let's talk the night of the
    22nd and see how things are.  I get into Champaign on the train at
    about 10:30pm.

    Here's my cell phone:

         415-377-5993

       If gmc survived staying with you, then I'm sure I
        can too.  (Hi gmc!  Cool that you've visited my old home town. 
        :)

        I am booked nights from 26-Feb through 2-March, for Unit One. 
        But am open for giving a talk any day or night after that.  And
        if I can stay at your place, Stewart, then I can stay till the
        date we choose.  What day is cool? 

      So, your return trip is open-ended?  6-March-...  How many days
      did you have in mind? 

    I fly home from Chicago on 13-March.  But I'd like to visit with
    some family and friends up there for a few days.  I have to leave
    the Unit One apartment on the morning of the 6th.  If I'll be going
    to the meeting at the Urbana Free Library on the 7th, I'll need to
    stay at least till that night.  The last train leaves at 6:49pm each
    night, so I could leave on the 8th or 9th, depending on if I give an
    extra talk.  That cool?

       And what should I talk about?  Hackerspaces?  How
        to run your own small business?  How to manufacture your project
        (and make a living doing what you love)?  TV-B-Gone and media
        literacy?  Brain Machine?  Fuck the dominant paradigm (and
        create supportive community)?  How I went from a depressed blob
        of a kid to a jet-setting crazy-haired inventor who loves my
        life?  Something else (I take requests)?

      I, personally am fascinated to hear about HackerSpaces in
      Africa.   Geeks & Depression seems

      to be (for better or worse) unique to NoiseBridge?   Or is it?  
      I'd like to hear about that.

    I wish that geeks & depression was unique to Noisebridge.  But,
    unfortunately, a huge percentage of geeks are well acquainted with
    depression all over the world.  I haven't seen any studies, but it
    wouldn't surprise me if geeks suffered from depression more than
    society at large.  Growing up geek now isn't as bad as it used to
    be, now that almost everyone uses gadgets, and everyone knows that
    it is up to geeks to create all those cool gadgets.  But it's still
    not easy growing up geeky.  Being different is such a horrible thing
    as a kid.  And many of us were teased or bullied or brutalized.  And
    that makes us escape into our geeky realms, which keeps us from
    learning to effectively deal with others, which makes us more of a
    target for bullies, which makes us want to escape more into our
    geeky realms (and later in life, into other means of escape), and
    the vicious cycle continues.  And as we grow up, we bring our past
    with us.

    When I wrote the blog post after my friend Ilya killed himself
    <https://blog.noisebridge.net/2011/11/19/please-reach-out/> I
    was inundated with comments and emails.  This is when it became
    clear to me that starting a Geeks & Depression meetup might be
    worthwhile.  And now there are more Geeks & Depression meetups
    around the world.  The Geeks & Depression panel at 28C3 generate
    lots of discussions around the world.  All of this open talk about
    depression has been helpful for lots of people.  And maybe (who
    knows) it has encouraged someone to reach out rather than harm
    themselves, so that they may live another day.  

    People are still emailing me and others who've become involved and
    who've offered to be contacts whenever people want some support, or
    someone to talk or write to.

    I'm organizing a Geeks & Depression panel for the HOPE #9
    conference this July in NYC.

      All of those topics -- media literacy, Fuck the dominant paradigm
      (and create supportive community) -- are right up the IMC's alley.

      I have always described the MakerSpace as "an informal incubator
      for radical product design",

      and we have talked about what to do when a project takes on a life
      of its own, goes commercial

      and the Intellectual Property stops belonging to the MakerSpace
      Collective and starts belonging

      to the business.   It hasn't happened here yet (that we know of),
      but I think it's something that

      people would be interested in hearing about.

    I'd be happy to lead a discussion about this.  And/or give a talk on
    whatever people like.

       Also, is it still OK if I borrow soldering irons
        and stands for teaching at Unit One?

      Yes, we discussed it among the membership and everyone agreed that
      it was a good idea.

      I volunteered to transport them -- hence, the plastic bin.

    Awesome -- thanks!

    Cheers,

    Mitch.

-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Imc-makerspace mailing list
Imc-makerspace at lists.chambana.net
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/imc-makerspace
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/imc-makerspace/attachments/20120217/339611c1/attachment.html>