Knowledge is needed

I'm just going to post my letter to the Board since it wasn't put into the Board packet as I requested. 

 8-13-25

Dear Board of Directors,

I am writing to request that access to the digital Board Packet materials be returned to me for archiving purposes. The importance of a digital archive in this time period does not need to be explained. As paper archives become less complete, I have been carefully saving member email notifications and all documents shared digitally to paper, at my own expense, but to not be able to save and make available digital files takes away a great amount of usefulness from any archive.

For those who do not know me personally, I have been a trusted, solid volunteer for nearly all of my fifty years of membership. From serving in many roles, including as Secretary and Board Chair beginning in the early 1980’s, I have been involved with and contributed greatly to most of the organizational efforts to date. I’ve supported every administration, including this one, with my skills. I’ve often been the person to explain concepts such as confidentiality, most of the parliamentary procedures and structures we use, and most importantly I’ve been able to find and share historical information that has been vital in decision-making. I am committed to the archives and would like to continue to be.

However, I am not asking strictly for myself. As a mutual benefit organization or even as a hybrid c-corp and not-for-profit, our members are shareholders and must be active participants in the decisions made with their assets and in their interests. They keep informed by reading the minutes of the Board and Committees, the newsletters, discussions on social media, and by networking with their fellow members. Many more people stay informed than can be served by the newsletters alone, which are curated by staff with selected details in limited space. It isn’t possible for all of us to attend meetings, even with zoom, which provides only partial understanding due to the technical difficulties. It’s imperfect to just listen to neighbors during the busy day at the Park Blocks. Members need all the available sources of information, sometimes repeatedly, and in context, to perform our own Duty of Care. Gatekeeping and controlling the primary sources of information keeps people in the dark and does not encourage participation.

We are experiencing a drop in volunteer energy and part of the reason is the lack of trust and open communication from the power structure to the members. Not being able to see financial reports, discussions of vital changes in policy and operations, and complete reports of actions erodes interest and trust and creates dissension. Board minutes have always been comprehensive to include discussion points so interested members can know if their particular concerns were part of the decisions made. Communications with the members have traditionally been more inclusive of detail than those of other types of businesses. It’s a tremendous waste of staff time to have to explain things repeatedly one-on-one when our newsletters and board packets can convey information to many members at once.

The analogy I found most useful in group decision-making was that there is an elegant solution in the middle of the table, which can only be revealed by the careful crafting of individual members contributing without reservations to the whole. Members have to feel safe, welcomed, and important to the group process. An atmosphere of trust has always been operating in our organization, which sometimes does require courage but is always worth working on.

Restricting the Board Packet and free access to the business of the organization is shutting down the possibility of the elegant solutions we need. We can’t stay current, we can’t be helpful, and we can’t participate when we can’t freely access the details and have the opportunity to make informed feedback before decisions are made. Please restore transparency and trust to our organizational operations. We would not have survived this long without this vital aspect of our culture.

Sincerely,

Diane McWhorter

The reply (not from the Board itself...):  

Hi Diane,

I am sending you the digital copy of the Board packet from the August meeting. I understand as the archivist, it can be frustrating as this new Board settles in and finds their footing. The information was not being withheld from you, the Board just needed to figure out the direction in which they wanted to distribute the information electronically. I was always planning on getting the documents to you after a decision had been made by the Board.

I am sure you remember a time when if you wanted to see the P&L or the Policies and Procedures Document you had to come into the office to view it. It was not distributed and copied like it has been. I still aim for transparency but also must temper that with the organization’s safety in mind. I apologize if this caused any inconvenience to you.

The packet was sent a month later, so it was withheld. I do not know if it was restored to anyone else. As far as I know, the issue was not discussed although the minutes might show some discussion...I'll have to wait for the minutes like everyone else. For the record, there was never a time when the intent was not to share the P&P document with the members...there was just no staff expertise on google documents for a couple of years. An editable version was shared and of course that had to be restricted...anyone could change anything in there. When we didn't have a GM it was not widely available to anyone, because of that edit aspect. It took a long, long time after Kirsten left to keep our policies and procedures safe. There was a link in every agenda for members to go and look at it, going back to when it was created, but of course you had to see the agenda to find it. Now the digital versions are in a format that isn't copyable and the link doesn't work. You have to ask for it. Gatekeeping.

The willingness to share financial documents changed with GMs, according to their feelings of trust and the surety of accuracy. There were times when dozens of copies were made so that anyone who wanted one could have one, and when the financial statements were offered monthly in every Board packet. Generally out of respect individual staff salaries were not shared, but the total staff wages and benefits was in there. There are some number of us who do understand how to read and analyze financial statements, and every new Board got a tutorial on how to read them at an open meeting so everyone could learn.

And the whole discussion of what our legal status is was part of every Board Orientation. If people believed me, there would not have had to be months of  confusion and anxiety about it. It's public record. I used this template for a few years to orient the new Board members.

Just go to https://data.oregon.gov/business/Active-Nonprofit-Corporations and search for Saturday Market.

Drama and panic that didn't have to happen. It is so important to keep our experienced members in the organization. 

I did notice that a Board Orientation document was finally created, which I hope is accompanied by some discussions about the things that aren't easily documented but more about experience with Board and group process. I hope that will be one of the tasks of the Governance Committee. Knowledge is power. 

 

A seasonal lull

 This past Saturday was by far the lowest sales of the season for me, one-fourth of my usual level of sales. I spent more at the farmers than I made, and also bought food from our members because we are all in this same boat. The financial crisis got to us right away this time I think, when in the past we have seen a lag in how quickly we were affected. 

It's so expensive to come to a football game now, with the increases in tickets, travel, lodging and food, that football fans who do make it to market before the 12:30 start time generally don't spend much. They don't need produce, they eat the continental breakfasts at their hotels, and they eat some overpriced hot dog at the stadium. We had our regulars, but plenty of people had next to zero sales and the market wasn't full. So we're seemingly on a downward income trend that is much more severe than last year. None of my high sales days have been as high, and my lows are lower. The hopeful news is that last year by the middle of September my sales inched back up as the students returned, but then I had to miss October due to my broken wrist so I don't know what would have happened. A lot depends on the time of the game, and on the schedule I have, none of the upcoming games have a listed time, so I don't have much prediction accuracy. Next week is an away game but it starts at 9:00 am, so that might not affect us much. But the pandemic high sales have fallen off. So I fervently hope the Board does not put another fee increase on us. We're just getting hit from every financial side and we need our market to be on our side and find ways to reduce spending instead.

I guess not having a promotions manager will save some money...I hope that this Board also remembers all the ways we have learned to do promotions that don't cost money. I was talking to one member and we agreed that partnering with other arts organizations is one way to do that. Bring members of the symphony or the ballet down to perform and fundraise. Let groups use our platform for our mutual benefit. Network like crazy to make sure people remember us and don't allow ourselves to become part of the Eugene wallpaper. Of course that will be hard without someone to channel those opportunities with skill and professionalism. Setting up those interviews with members who have interesting things to say, doing the work of going to community groups and meetings to bring Market energy in, all those types of things need skilled professionals with the training to show us in our most authentic, loveable way, and not fall into that old, same tie-dye and macrame market image that some people still hold of us. I hope some people step up.

Raising fees just isn't going to be sustainable as we close out the opportunity for the new, maybe inexperienced members to build their businesses. There isn't an endless supply of crafters out there for us to draw from. If there were, you would see Whiteaker and the farmers bursting at the seams and that is not what we are seeing. 

But the market seems to be continuing in this contraction mode where people are feeling shut out and lied to and dismissed. I wrote to the Board and asked that my letter be in the Board packet, but it wasn't so my message wasn't received. I was on the agenda and because I don't attend Board meetings there was no effort to read the letter, and my issue was only addressed for me, not for everyone as I had requested. Whatever, requests are not demands and they said no with their inaction, and I have again been dismissed. I have learned to expect that. Many of us have. Trends like this have happened before, and they won't last forever, but they are damaging. We've seen it before, when membership declines, people get mad, market becomes less important to the community, and we have a slump. 

When we don't have transparency it is hard to work out what the false narratives are and what is the truth that will be helpful in building community back up. Many of us have our opinions but many others believe the opposite, and we don't move forward. Watching from the sidelines is painful but it would be more painful for me to submit to more manipulation and gaslighting so that's how I'm handling it. There are plenty of people capable of fixing these things and some of them are working on it. Some of them are breaking it into pieces that will never come back together, but that is what happens in group process. It's important to remember that things are not really binaries: right or wrong, me or you, us or them, now or never. It's way more vague and open than that when things are this complex. 

 Friendships seem to be what gets lost, but sometimes only for awhile. The routines and necessities of the selling day seem to level things out to a great degree and the community rolls along. We have seen a few people drop out though, when their situations became cruel and too much to set aside. If you support these victims you get labeled and sidelined like they were. We don't have an atmosphere where disagreement is possible yet. I think it's going to be awhile before we get back to reasonable discussions with openness and heart, but surely there are people who will bring that. I'm trusting in it.

Meanwhile, it rained today and I have a lot to do here at home. My porch and steps need a rebuild, which I am not ready to tackle, and I have to paint the south side and finish the summer pruning. The weeds are healthy and seeding everywhere. I got my bandana display working but now I have to decide now much more to invest in them, or if I should minimize the efforts and concentrate on things that sell better. I don't really need to get ready for HM but that is also on the radar. I'm sad to see summer go, as always. We should have some more of it yet, though. Maye later this week.  

 

Doing our jobs on Labor Day weekend

 This week at market we saw the return of the 1:00 football games, which have not really worked for us, to my mind because people who come to attend the game have to spend SO much on tickets, lodging, and food and travel, that they really can't buy crafts or things that they don't absolutely need. And between the incessant supply of free tote bags being given at farmers via On Point and Kaiser Permanente, and the clear bag policy at the games, tote bag sales have tanked. It's a bit of a dilemma, because of course people need tote bags for shopping at both markets, but several farmers booths sell them (it's allowed) and the free ones are showing up every week now. So sure, people need to carry things, but it's not neighborly to give away free products. I mean, what if I give away produce? That wouldn't last long without some protests from across the street, where few farms are able to sell everything they bring. Growth and success are just as challenging as other factors and farmers have chosen to use corporate sponsors and growth to pay their bills which has pushed many small farms out the door and caused a lot of food waste, which I hope is making its way to hungry people. 

Our management decided that LCFM will do their jobs on the two weeks of November between the last outdoor market and the HM, so we can sell, if we want to do it on the farmers terms. I haven't pinned down all the details, and I'm likely to consider it seriously, but just for hats. I expect there would be a very short set-up time with the 9:00 opening time and sorting out how to get a booth with no Tuesday points, but trying to sell tote bags would probably be useless. Yet I really don't want two weeks off in the buildup to holiday shopping. People who mail hats are a significant part of my sales, and they'll just go online if they can't find me.

I personally had my best day at market in a long time...not sales-wise. It was by far my lowest sales day of the season, and it wasn't because I was slacking on my job. I made a new banner for my bandanas and it slowed my set-up a bit, but people just weren't buying. I know two people who had zero or close to zero sales. I guess there's another early game next week, 12:30 this time, against Oklahoma State. Not sure how many travelers we will get from there. Guess we'll find out. But between the weather and competing events, we're seeing a 5-week drop in sales, which I hope is not true for everyone. 

I had such a good day because my faith in myself and my life with market was restored by a counseling session I had which reset my ability to handle all of the vulnerability and challenge of what has been going on. I felt cleared of oppressive thoughts and the actions of others, and way more able to be open and strong with the many things I juggle. I realized I care too much about too many people and since I can be of little help with most of their concerns and challenges (and it isn't my job to do) I need to let go of that deep love to the point where I allow them to pick up their own strengths and challenges and step up themselves. This was part of stepping back, letting others rise, and it takes time of course. 

It seems to be counter-productive for me to even encourage people to participate because of the many false narratives being spread. I'm not trusted by the new people like I am by people who have watched and heard me working for the common good all these decades. People don't really think there are unselfish givers in the world any more. We've been told everything is a transaction and those who can dominate are more important than those who want to collaborate. Destroying the old hippie history is a goal so those of us who carry it must be pushed out to serve this narrative that new is good and old is tired and over. Those of us who still carry the old values have been silenced but we are still there so it won't succeed entirely. Still, lies and manipulation are powerful.

The false narrative that members hate staff is super powerful and you would think no one would support that story...it is demonstrably false every day. We are a team that needs each other. But staff is defensive and has been told that members are after their jobs and don't value them, so every interaction can easily take a negative turn. One happened at the end of the day this week that was shocking and essentially violent and it is not over and is ugly. The people spreading this narrative need to think again at what they are saying and why. Yes of course not all of us like or support every single staff person or the things they do, but that is not something that can be simplified into a "mean members" narrative. I know all the past staff and the reasons they left, and while there were incidents in every term, there were no clear incidences of mean members making staff quit. There were members doing their duty of care to keep the market alive and get the professional staff we are paying for. 

I did get the digital Board packet access returned to me after writing to the Board. However, I no longer trust that it is the full complement of materials that the archives require. I asked that my letter be included in the packet, but it was not. And I asked for everyone's access to be restored, not just mine. So...  

I was really glad I had the increased capacity this week so I could stop packing up to counsel my fellow member who really couldn't grasp everything that had just happened to him in his interaction with a staff member. What I saw was that with the false beliefs and no support for either party, neither of them had the skills to work through the situation to any healthy outcomes and no one felt it was their job to intervene. I tried to prevent it from getting much bigger, but I could only advise a cool-down period and the ugliness that was revealed is not going to be forgotten by those who witnessed or engaged in it. I don't see it playing out well. It has already become part of the story that won't just go away.

There are so many cracks in the facade that everything is fine that I know people are falling into those cracks. I was able to counteract my own fears and re-engage with people I have unresolved issues with, because we all value that Saturday experience where we sell next to each other as companionable equals, setting aside the issues that have to be sorted through in the long term and just doing our simple jobs of bringing our wares to the center of town and creating a magical space for others to enjoy. 

It's never all about money so when my sales are low I just hope that means other people are having good sales and it's a continuum that extends long past one day. There are always enjoyable encounters that don't result in a sale and I have plenty of those, particularly when I feel safe and open to what comes to my space. I like my banner, which got me to sew something for a change, and it changed how things work in my space, so now I have to rearrange again and get a better balance of display so my more expensive products aren't hidden by my lovely but not as valuable bandanas. I like evolving, especially now when it is tempting to do things the same every week and minimize effort. I am doing the opposite and have to keep leaving earlier every week to make these changes work. I am sure it will settle into something workable.

But this is what is called the shoulder season, past the peak of tourism and summer vacations, into school days but not quite to the return of the student traffic we enjoy. It has generally been our practice to advertise more heavily during that time but we're not seeing that. The advertising budget was cut to accommodate other types of spending and respond to the shocking shortfall of $30,000 last year which was still not fully dealt with as far as I can see. We're still spending more and now will be the months that determine how solvent we can get. There are a lot of factors in play. We only have Saturdays and HM fees to make that money we will need. I'm grateful we have a diligent Budget Committee and I hope that's enough to get us through.

I will work hard to hang onto my increased capacity and reclaim my joy in Saturdays and how full of life they are. Nobody gets to ruin that for me. We've endured a lot as a membership and I will always work for that common good as I have been doing, regardless of people's knowledge of it or appreciation for it. It can't matter what other people think unless it helps fortify what is actually the common good, which of course I am not in charge of and can't fully know. Somehow, I do still have faith in it.  

An Unlikely Type of Perfection

 I'm well aware that people who don't like me read this, and I won't speculate about their motives, but I hope they find it boring. I write this for me, to work out the coherency of my thoughts, articulate my observations, record what I experience. I guess I hope people who love me read it, and I know some of them do, but lately my readership has increased and I think I know why.

It's naive to think I won't be targeted in the punishment era, whether for my politics, what I've earned, what I've been lucky enough to acquire, what I've taken joy from. Punishing kinds of people need their targets, and the more naive the better. I have for a long time cultivated building trust, trying to practice peace, trying to limit fear and enlarge the safety and functionality I will need for these next years as I age faster than I am ready to handle.

Yesterday was one of those unlikely, kind of perfect days I love at the market. It was too hot, so I put up 3 umbrellas for me and my neighbors, and with the help of the fountain breezes, made it pretty tolerable in our sunny location. We get shade around 2:30, but we'd be fried by then if we didn't work on a system. We were bored at times with the low traffic flow, but the morning was packed with the kind of relaxed, meaningful encounters it is always nice to have time to fully enjoy.

A friend with probably terminal cancer came by to humble me with his learned wisdom and left me with intense dreams last night and a deeper understanding of what the hell I am doing on this spot on the planet. I did not recognize him, to my dismay, as he was so changed in appearance. We weren't close friends, just the type of market friends who share a mutual enjoyment of each other and don't need to protect ourselves. One useful thing he told me was the things he learned from 30 years of sobriety are also super helpful in enduring the ravages of the ungraceful ends some of us will experience. His body is suffering but he has that inner glow of certainty that whatever happens, he has the skills and tools to work with it. I felt it a gift that he shared that tool kit with me. 

I tried to keep working and smiling and live up to his expectation that I could also handle what he is going through, and what will happen to man of us, and me in some form or other. I mean, I have health challenges. Like him, I will probably not want to talk about them with everyone. I prefer handling my grief in private, so you might see me limp but you probably won't know why. You might watch me simplify, but you won't know my motives. I might ask for something, but hopefully I won't overshare.

I asked for the Thursday HM load in, not for extra help but just for extra time. I am a person who enjoys doing my own work, and like many artisans, I would not want someone else unloading my stuff, undoing my organization and process, and "helping me." I refused it when I broke my wrist and when I can't do market, I might not say goodbye. It's my 50th year, but I don't want a damn medal. I just want to be able to make my own choices and have my efforts respected. That seems logical to me but we are in the punishment era.

There's a false narrative that change is necessary and the founding generation is holding that back, but speaking for myself, it is not change we want to hold back. We just want to retain the important values we have brought forward, for good reasons. We want to be inclusive, transparent, collaborative, open, affirming, empowering and of course, solvent. We want the market to endure long past our own presence there, to continue to serve the wonderful artisan life we have made possible here in Eugene by our hard work and many years of dedicated service to our collective needs and ambitions. We want younger people to feel welcomed to step up, to keep building, to keep enjoying the deep satisfaction of an art-driven, independent life working with like-minded contemporaries. We appreciate each other.

Many of us are not perfect humans and we have always been happy to work around our flaws or mistakes or trespasses, learn to get past them, which can take years, and keep selling next to each other in grace and abundance. We feel pettiness sometimes, we acknowledge our painful encounters and parts, and we still show up and do our best. It's the deep stuff of life to be in a community that chooses each other in this way that is suffused with humility. I may not agree with you, but I support your right to membership in this precious and amazing organization we are trying to shepherd through the years.

We can see and appreciate authenticity and honesty, goodwill and an open heart. That's what keeps people coming back to see us, to work with us, to be us. We can also see duplicity, manipulation, selfishness and people who try to take advantage of us. We have our subtle ways of dealing with those things, generally quietly. We sometimes put people on hold in a way, while we get over our problems and come around to a compassionate place again. We've kept people in place despite some pretty large mistakes, welcomed them back when they have left in anger or despair, learned to forgive them or just stay out of their way until things are okay or good again. I'm in the process of trying to forgive someone who bullied me for ten years. She keeps asking for forgiveness by acting like it never happened, but my memories are too strong for that, so I'm just trying to stay in the present and give her the chance to be kind, now. 

It's not easy to do this, so we need people with skills in leadership so we don't give in to the easier choices of  complete rejection, banishment, egregious punishments meant to break people. Much of the training we have done to keep people in has been to refer to history to see how we worked things out before, to see what we learned when we made the mistakes of banishment, or pushing people until they break. We've waited for a lot of people to figure it out and find other places they fit better. It's more gentle, and fits better with our status as independent businesses to have that membership in our community be up to the member. When it stops working for you, you can leave. It's not the choice of one member to remove another member. Just not built in to the membership system, on purpose.

Which is part of why the punishment era feels so strange. I noticed some subtle changes in the rules in the HM publications, tighter penalties for whatever infractions or creative solutions people come up with to get their needs met. I've seen an intentional build-up of ways to give people in power more power to just eliminate the "problem people" and when that power is in policy revisions, it is often not noticed until it is used against members. The lists of evidence I have seen have convinced me that even being a pretty strict rule-follower will not protect me when it is my turn to be punished.

It's coming. Taking away my ability to keep the digital archive did not come as a personal communication to me...and my appeals for it to be restored have not been responded to by any person. It was just taken, after 16 years of the investment of my time and efforts, including the vast amounts of time I have spent searching it to answer research questions from many people. You would think that some of those people who got the benefit of my research time would value that enough to communicate with me, but so far, crickets. While it didn't seem aimed at me, it hurt me, and continues to hurt me everytime someone asks me to do research. Yesterday I was blithely asked to document one of our cultural nuances and even write a newsletter article about it. It took me all day to process that and I'm still not sure what to do. Obviously to me no newsletter submissions from me will be welcomed, since my direct requests get no response, and I've been misrepresented and even bullied by people who are in charge of newsletter content. That wouldn't be apparent to everyone who asks for research time. I generally like to be asked, and generally enjoy the process and the results. Obviously I enjoy writing and have written many archival articles about various subjects, and would like to continue to provide that rich cultural and organizational resource.

But when things hurt I tend to want to make it stop. I'd like to not think about it. I don't want to spread my hurt feelings to the people who ask me, who aren't aware it hurts. I do hope that people who are taking the actions of the punishment era will notice the hurt they are creating, and do something about it. Find that compassion. See that bigger picture. Think about those values.

I've stood there for fifty years adding my joy and my spirit to the marketplace, freely sharing it as much as I can. I don't want to understand a power structure that wants to destroy joy and spirit. I don't want to have to endure an era where I have to be watching over my shoulder for something to hurt me, as I have been enduring for the last two years. I'm in this community by choice, and I've more than paid my share of its dues. I'm hanging onto that joy that I was reminded of yesterday in that oppressive heat and chaotic creativity. We're bigger than we can see, more powerful than we can know. Even me.

Cooler days, more silence

What seems to be evident this week is the lost opportunities we are experiencing because of the absence of information and communication between the power structure and the membership. For instance, LCFM is advertising that SM members are co-selling with them at the Night Market this Thursday night. Yet there has been nothing in our newsletters, it's not on the market calendar, and no one has offered the sales opportunity to our membership. Or, possibly, it has been offered to some portion of our membership based on their proximity to the inner circle? I don't know. I expect if I asked staff about it directly I would find out that I could sell there, if there is time to attend a farmers' market orientation. I don't know anything about it personally, and I am not planning on selling there, I just think in a better situation we would have heard about this and all had an equal chance to participate. 

I guess there will be skating inside the pavilion so spaces are no doubt limited, but then announce that, and take the first however many applicants in some type of order, point order or "first come/ first served." Maybe that was done, and I just didn't hear about it. I suppose it could have been in the Admin report that none of us got unless we attended the Board meeting.

There has been no official response to a discussion of adding back in the November 8th Market  so we don't have two weeks off between the PB and HM. I saw a quick ad repeating the November 1st last outdoor market, so I take that as a NO. A good management would recognize the member interest in having a sales day, our only paydays, and find a way to make it happen. Instead we got someone with no authority speaking up to tell us that we as members could organize and fund a plan to make it happen and submit that to management. Which they could just say no to. We as members already are organized and have a plan, which is selling on the Park Blocks every Saturday rain or shine until HM starts. But management decided that we can't have that.

I see from the HM schedule that we got extended loading hours which are of course welcome but will be needed since our entire load-in plan was jettisoned last year and we will get a new, untried plan that sounds really problematic to me. Adding open hours for load-in costs us money, of course, unless they are minimally staffed which I am guessing is not going to be possible with this new load-in plan, which sounds like it will involve a lot of staff control. So we go from doing something ourselves, which we were always fine with and great at accomplishing, to paying staff to control the process, something we did not ask for and do not need. But it's job security for someone.

I got no response so far to my letter to the Board, well, one response thanking me for stating the obvious but none in the mode of solutions. I have patience. I know how reluctant Board members always are in responding to individual concerns, as they can't speak for the group and don't want to give false assurances that solutions will be found. I am aware that a lot of Board members don't know me personally and don't remember that I was Volunteer of the Year for 2023. It was the quietest announcement ever when it was awarded at the tail end of the Annual Meeting that year. There was no photo...I had to ask for one to be taken. No flowers or anything, no celebration of it, but that was okay with me really. I have never volunteered for the recognition. There were never any photos shared of the merch I made and sold and donated to the market with, either. Four years and no promotion. I've now given most of it away. 

Obviously I am not all settled about how to make contributions to the common good at this point. I still enjoy the market day, which is pretty hard to spoil, and which is why we are still apparently thriving on the surface. It didn't really rain, was just kind of showery for the first hour or so, but market wasn't all the way full. Next week is the State Fair and we will lose a few members to that, and to hot weather, but we are still getting a lot of tourists from everywhere. It should be a good fall depending on how the football games are scheduled. And the weather of course. People want to move here. 

The cool weather has been delightful. I'm going to get started on the painting any day now...after I finish up the OCF stuff I am still putting away. I really want to get into the neighborhood research again after seeing inside the next-door walls when she had the siding removed. There were the wide boards just like in my house! They were horizontal on the outside instead of vertical, but there was this cool curved something and lath and plaster and knob-and-tube traces as well as the old fir boards. I think the house might be closer to the age of mine than I thought, so I want to look at the maps again and see what I can find out that I had missed before. Maybe I can research the original owners of it a little more. 

Gotta do something with all these apples first though. So many apples.  

Little Things Mean More Than You Know

 Extra hot today so will be catching up on things like cleaning and food processing. Spent all last week making a new Jell-O crown to wear at the Slug Queen Coronation which came and went with some frustration and I didn't get a single photo from it so far. I'll take some today before I put all the Jell-O away again. I've been practicing not making things about me (kind of a lifetime pursuit of equality) and I didn't call a lot of attention to myself on purpose. I was there to serve the Queens and my huge debt to Kim Still for her own service and I was properly thanked by a number of Queens who noticed. This year was particularly frustrating as we stood around with nothing to do for about an hour as SM people failed to show up to provide the chairs so we could get set up in time. I had to tell numerous people they couldn't sit in the first two rows which weren't even there except for a few privately owned chairs some of the Queens had left. Two of my helper buddies faithfully showed up but we couldn't do our work. I don't know how much SM gets paid or spends on the Coronation but it has now been fully perverted by the passive-aggressive (and even aggressive) need for attention by the SM power people who demand to be a part of it. I put their chairs directly behind mine so I could most effectively not let them spoil my fun. 

I try hard to remember that everyone gets to make their own contributions in life and it is not my right or job to control those, just to make my own choices about how they affect me, but it's harder with some people than others. I have these very tender feelings about things I value, like the relationship I have with the Slug Queens, with former SM friends and with current SM friends and it's so hard to watch them be ruined by selfish and clueless people who don't even see me living my values. Trying to, I should say. But I will still continue trying and attempting to clarify and improve my social presentation and living out my values and managing my expectations about how that actually works in an increasingly hostile and dismaying world that I'm trying to thrive in. Thriving may not be on the table without a lot of selfishness and tough boundary-setting. I suppose thriving is not easy for anyone and we do all need the support of each other, committed to all of us getting what we need. 

I'm quite flummoxed on what to do about the restriction of the Board packet done by the Board Chair  this month. I let the Board know that it effectively ended my 16-year volunteer task of compiling the digital archive for Market, but got no response specifically to that. Ironically in my envelope this week was the volunteer brochure I helped develop, a gut punch first thing in the morning. Yes, I know how to volunteer for Market. I've spent years working on that and doing that. A lifetime in fact. I feel completely blocked from that now.

I haven't changed. I still deeply love what we built as a community and are building every week, and have still been trying to make my contribution by archiving and caretaking the business of the org, but my efforts are being set aside and my history is unknown by the people currently making the decisions. I don't know who to appeal to about it or how to appeal it. I'm in shock and am seeing many people being damaged by this, some damaging others as they thrash through their emotions, and some just disappearing from our community in their pain and dismay. Many of course are completely unaware of those struggling, and it's impossible for me to see a way to introduce them to it. When the Board members don't respond, repeatedly, a person does not know how to keep up the conversation. I don't know why they are so afraid of me, in particular, and all of the concerned members, in general. I suppose it is because they are uncertain of their own actions and values and need guidance. 

My role as guide was an important one that I always tried to hold with humility and grace and repeat that I was not an authority but just trying to bring things forward that I had learned. I suppose some of those things were inconvenient, and it is not a widely shared skill to sit with uncomfortable thoughts and find ways through them to solutions. I don't understand even a little bit how restricting member access to the business of the organization can be viewed as acceptable, even for a day, an hour. I don't know how it could even be considered. 

Except in a world of people who view control and dominance as a desirable condition, with the competition to be on top the highest value. It's the opposite of any way the Market has ever been. It has always been a model of collaboration, equal access, value for everyone's contributions to the whole. I have really not experienced this type of control and exclusion in the community. I fear for our survival as an organization. It hits me hard and I have to back away and not spend every day shaken to my core. 

The external world is hard enough. Market has always been a refuge for us, and many of us still feel that every week in intense gratitude. Most of our members do not want to see anything different and are not seeing what has changed.

But at this point, selling days have been taken from us with nothing in return. Our fees have been raised to cover overspending and irresponsible financial management. And now our ability to know the details of what is being done with our money and our vital resources is taken from us. We can't engage in the business without access to the details. It's the opposite of transparency and since we have always worked with a lot of mutual trust, it's the destruction of our basic operating system. 

Trust is carefully built and easily destroyed. That's why we have always tried hard to maintain a close watch and an open, encouraging way in the workings between members and staff, the public and our internal relationships. Trust has always paid off for us. It just took one person with the willingness to lie and dominate the culture to divide us up and destroy what we carefully tended together. 

One of the things I'm experiencing is grief. This shit is hard to watch. Things are broken.  

Last week was not great

 I'm seriously disturbed about the latest actions by the power structure. It's unclear if the whole Board was involved in this or just the Chair at the direction of the GM (yes, this is backwards regarding who is the Director) but access to the Board packet was revoked except for the agenda and minutes of the last meeting. No Admin report, no Advertising update, no Member Concern letters, no Membership Report, no Committee reports, and no financial documents. I don't know if it was restricted for everyone, or just selected members, although I assume the Board members got the full packet. I'll just mention that this is the end of the digital archive I have been keeping since 2009 of the Board Packets, policy documents, and publications of the Market. I have no Secretary to appeal to in this matter. As digital archives are going to be the future of archiving, this is a loss that can not be estimated. It's tragic. 

The Bylaws state:   Section 9. Secretary: Powers and Duties. The secretary shall attend all meetings of the board of directors and shall keep and distribute or cause to be kept and distributed a true and complete record of the proceedings of those meetings. The Secretary shall give or cause to be given notice of all meetings of the directors and perform whatever additional duties the board of directors and the chairperson may from time to time prescribe.

If I were Secretary I would view this as an ethical breach of my duties and would be forced to resign, but of course I already did that and now there is no Secretary or even a designated acting Secretary. The minutes are stripped of most of the content except for the new addition of  everyone's role (such as Board member:,) and there is no discussion included of any of the issues. This creates an additional class of membership, taking away the equal members status of anyone who wants to speak at the meeting. Identifying the person's role adds (or subtracts) weight to their comments and instead of clarifying the discussion, masks the appearance of a discussion and leads to the assumption that much is being left out and dismissed.

Traditionally our minutes, like those of any membership organization, have been comprehensive and detailed to serve as an information conduit to members who for whatever reason choose not to attend the meetings, so that they can keep up with issues and be assured that points they feel should be included in the discussion are brought up. Without the discussion points, members wonder if their perspective is being considered. For instance, when the fee increase was discussed, I asked a Board member if anyone had mentioned that it was a regressive method of increase, as that is a point I always tried to make when increases were considered. Being assured that it was brought up, I had no need to communicate that perspective in person: my views were being represented. Without those discussion points, members have no idea whether or not they are being represented by those people the membership elected to serve.

Serve is an important operating word: directors and officers are elected to serve the organization and the members. Not to rule. Not to just "support staff" as the election campaign code words indicated. All of us support staff. We make the money to pay them. We carefully consider our impacts on them so that all members can be served. This is why I have never felt that everyone should be calling the office or going in person to ask all of our many questions and to get the information and details we need to feel properly led. We ask our friendly Board member representatives, we read the newsletters, we read the Board packets and we read the policies and documents supplied by the staff so that they can do their operational jobs and not be overwhelmed by having to serve individual member needs and interrupt their work with concerns that the members could satisfy themselves. Somewhere this went out the window. I submit that staff costs could be greatly reduced if members were not continually encouraged to call the office but instead be pointed to the ways they could get the needed information. 

Gatekeeping is the control tactic that withholds access to information and requires permission, insider status, or some kind of loyalty pledge to get what should be commonly shared information to all members. We need to see committee reports to know if we should go to the committee meeting or work through one if its members to share our concerns or ideas. We need the staff reports to know if our staff is doing what we need them to be doing. We absolutely need the financial data to know how healthy our organization is, as it is our money, it determines our present and future livability, and we as members are still as directly responsible for the health and legality of our organization as anyone is. Most of us take this seriously and do our share, many times more than our share. In return we expect information, and more than that, we expect trust.

Gatekeeping the Board packet in a letter just told all members that we are not trusted by the power structure to have access to information about our money, our plans, our operations, or our governance. We are not trusted. Yet we are still asked to trust, but that is just not going to be possible. Trust is continually built through openness and honesty. The letter made the thin argument that it is not required by law to share information with the members. However, we have had a 55-year agreement with our members that all information would be shared (with some small protections for legal and personnel details that should be kept confidential for reasons of respect.) Our members have been trusted for over five decades to have the best interests of Market at heart. With that trust, we are able to extend a trust relationship to our representatives, staff, and each other. That trust is now broken.

From the membership agreement we all signed:  all members have equal access to the
same benefits, rights and services. From the information for new members: Getting Involved with Your Market: Saturday Market is a Member run organization that relies on Member input for guidance and inspiration. The Board of Directors, Standards, Holiday Market, and Sustainability meet monthly, and Food Committees meet as scheduled. Market Members are always welcome to join committees or just sit in to see how the Market works behind the scenes. Committee meetings are listed in each week’s Market newsletter, and on the Market Calendar on our website.

These duties and responsibilities for members can not be done without access to the current information as previously been freely given via the Board packets, minutes, and open discussions.This action to restrict packet access is in direct violation of the principles we have operated by for 55 years.

I have invested my life in this market, with service and responsibility that has operated for the 50 years I have been involved. A list of the accomplishments I have been able to make because of the mutual trust would fill pages. Some significant ones include writing many policies and updates as Secretary, in service to the Board, launching the archives project, securing grant funds to support it, creating promotional materials, merchandise, supplying screenprinting services for many fundraising campaigns, operational needs, and extras we couldn't afford, and bringing forward Lotte's legacy and the early history that our founders recorded for us. I helped as a member of the 3-person team who negotiated with the city and architects regarding the redesign project, and took on the additional role of emailing members weekly about details they needed to know. It has been possible for me to work as unpaid staff to get us through the pandemic, the management crises after we lost our GM in 2021, and support for staff throughout our history as a Board Chair, Secretary, and regular volunteer all along. At times this was a full-time job, at no cost to the market. I have always given more than I have gained. 

I am now treated in a hostile manner by staff, fellow members, Board members and officers. The loss of the trust relationship has been more demoralizing than I can express, and if this has not happened to you, if you have not extended decades of dedicated and principled service, and then been marginalized and maligned, I am happy for you. It has been the most discouraging experience of my lifetime and I carry it every day. I resigned a year ago for ethical reasons and I have not put down responsibility and service during this year, though it has been clear that my service is unwanted and unappreciated. 

However, I do not feel I have any influence or shared respect to help correct this current crisis that is a monumental change to our membership understanding and our basis of existence as a mutual benefit organization. I implore anyone reading this to take action to convey to the Board what has just been excised in another instance of the end justifying the means. Being afraid or suspicious of one, a few, or even a group of members who hold different opinions about an issue or policy or situation can not justify taking away the access of all of us to informed participation in our organization. Punishing all for the perceived and misunderstood actions of a few is a recurring solution to problems that has crippled our organization during the current administration. 

We are in financial peril, with many members experiencing lost payments, restricted access to methods of payment, and the use of our funds for purposes in which we have no opportunity for input. In addition, members are being personally attacked with anger at committee meetings, with no intervention by the staff in the room, and via the Notice of Concern system, being disciplined in humiliating ways by staff, with membership revocation being used as a solution to members who complain or make mistakes. Our selling opportunities have been cancelled without our input.  

Our longstanding commitment to empathy and mutual trust is gone. Our members are afraid to speak up, to speak with each other, and volunteers are disappearing to the point where we will lose our committee system as well as the viability of Holiday Market. New volunteers do not bring the institutional knowledge that seasoned volunteers hold, yet such members are being pushed out as "privileged" or irrelevant while unneeded reconstructions are made of things that were not broken. 

Our organization depends on member contribution, dialogue, shared problem-solving, and trust. Ask yourself who is destroying this, and why. Please do what you can and support others who are working in the best interests of the membership.