Assumptions and Agreements

Of course I am being forced to think about violence again as we all are if we use media and I find myself in the "numbed to it" category. I don't want to read the life stories and see the photos and especially don't want to hear the underpaid spokesmodels of the TV news ask people how they are feeling. Irrelevant and crappy! Yet violence is there as the subtext of modern life, levels of it present for me in just about all of the subjects I was journaling about this morning.

I notice the mention of the frustrated sense of belonging that is projected onto those disturbed enough to act out violently. There was a guy at the Market yesterday who was loudly being weird...asking everyone for a Sharpie and talking nonsense as he was moved to the perimeter by the constant pressure of the security guys. I wondered if I should give him my Sharpie to prove to him that I was listening. I didn't think that through, knowing I would probably not get the Sharpie back, but forgetting that the $2 or whatever I paid would be of much less value to me than the inclusive act might be to him. But I didn't want to include him in my world. He was stepping on my plans for the day, to quietly sell my goods, and he was scaring me with his lack of consent to the agreements of my community so I wasn't sure what he might do with my black magic marker.

Early attempt, 1985

I make stuff up, and have declared that on my shirt many times. I couldn't find the one upon which I screened a little Saturday Market basket over the word "up" so it neatly said "I make stuff." I dredged up a few of the other Market shirts I've made over the many years instead. I hope they illustrate how hard it is to describe or encapsulate Saturday Market. I've never been able to do it more successfully than "I make stuff." That's what we do, then we gather together to try to sell it to people. Seems simple until you add a few hundred and then thousands of people into the equation. As Beth used to say, "Welcome to my world." Things inside my eddy may be fairly calm, but all over the Market and surrounding blocks randomness is occuring and people are doing and feeling things about which I have not an inkling.

 I've been thinking a lot about unspoken and unwritten agreements and assumptions and how we tend to operate from them without noticing. I've been told several times lately that I am speaking as if everyone thought like I think, and even I can notice how sometimes I can be pontifical ( and not enlightened  Francis-y) and self-righteous. One of the OCF Board candidates (Terry Baxter) quoted someone as saying "Every community looks like a club from the outside; every club looks like a community from the inside." I found that extremely relevant to situations of anger and defensiveness. When people feel excluded they aren't usually happy to go. They generally are hurt, and feel the lack of justice, fairness, due process, or some such framing that left them on the outside when they wanted to be on the inside. Even when the distancing is unintentional or just hesitation like me with my Sharpie, it can come off as rejection and the less confidant tend to take the most offense. Sometimes a cascade of exclusion occurs: a closing of ranks, trauma-bonding of those most affected, or lots of complaints from lots of people tangentially affected by various aspects of the issue that have varying degrees of even being related to the main issue. Gossip happens, private or secretive discussions ensue, and a general feeling of being unsafe or simply fearful is put in place of the previously happy coexistence of the affected group. If that guy had been allowed to continue roaming the Market with his aberrant behavior, he had the potential of setting off that kind of cascade: angry customers and vendors whose plans were disturbed, fearful parents and children, accusations of kitty abuse (he had a cat in a carrier that he was telling to come out and fight...) and the calling of higher authorities. The Security people did what they do to remove him from our midst, and I assume he took his behavior to some different groups and gatherings to see if he could get his needs met, though they were far more complicated than his need for a black magic marker.

Front of Magic shirt.

I engaged in a mediation session this week, my first, and while all of the content is confidential, I can talk a little about the process. The first thing that warmed my heart was that the mediator at the Center for Dialogue and Resolution said that like Saturday Market, their group had roots in the counter-culture of the late 1960's-early 1970's. As a staunch advocate that the hippies were right, I was encouraged by this. Some of the values I learned during that time have served me well in life and I try to promote them. I also assume other people know them and operate by them, which is of course one of the flaws in my life that I continue to work on. I am often shocked by the mainstream world that doesn't get what I see as simple stuff. It made me want to think and write about some of the assumptions I carry about how Saturday Market (and to a degree, OCF) functions as an organization.

Back of 25th Anniversary shirt, 1994 or 1995

I think we are founded upon and promote equality. We each get an 8x8 space. We each pay the $10 plus 10%. This is not completely true for changes we've made like adding the 4x4s, which pay $5 plus 10%, and the food vendors, who are asked to contribute more to reflect the services they need and the higher potential income they attract. But generally we are all viewed by the organization as equals, with equal rights, responsibilities, access and opportunity. This state of balance is carefully tended, but often gives rise to disputes and accusations that some are "more equal" than others, when access to parking, decision-making, or other issues comes up. Assertive people can dominate the more docile, and people who have been volunteering a long time sometimes are more familiar with the workings and can have an easier time getting their needs met because of that knowledge. They know whom to ask what specific question to get a helpful answer. I'm guessing you can think of an example of this, particularly with an organization that is as large as OCF. If you ask on Facebook for someone to add you to a crew (I saw a recent request for the "Art Crew") you will likely get silence and no one willing to start to craft for you what will be a long answer. Go read the guidelines. If it isn't spelled out, read the members' website. Ask a dozen people and see if you get fewer than a dozen answers. It is easy to see why a complicated entity like a membership organization fails to enthusiastically welcome each person who knocks on the meeting room door. It's open, but you have to bring some things in with you.

If you come down to sell with me on the Park Blocks, as an individual I will be nice to you, but I have my own set of rules you could violate since there is no way to explain them all to you. I have a thing about musicians who use plastic containers to collect donations or otherwise show me they aren't putting any effort into their presentation. I will usually give them a hat instead of a dollar.  If they don't get the hint I kind of punish them by withholding my dollars. I'm not saying it's right, but I expect something of people who come to use the space I'm renting for their own purposes. At least put on a good show!

 Fortunately for me I don't bring a car so I don't have to engage much in the parking struggles, but for some of us with well-established routines, if you park in "my" parking space at the time I want it, I am capable of coming out of my tired and anxious mindspace to be angry with you. I might be in the habit of bending the policy to meet my needs and I won't enjoy you innocently pointing that out. Mostly at the beginning and end of the day we are stressed and have lots of details to juggle and we just want things to flow smoothly. It doesn't take much to innocently or selfishly disrupt the routines of everybody else in the neighborhood. Parking is just one part of the unspoken net of agreements: each neighborhood has probably established a workable sequence of use for the limited spots and people are more or less flexible about it. As a group we try hard to use signs and encouragement to get people to think of others but there are constants like people shopping at Farmers' Market (which opens at 9:00) and the shuffling of spaces that cause pretty continual potentially unpleasant interactions. Agreements around that get a little wambly, like "that is okay for that person since he gets out fast and opens up the space for everyone else but it isn't okay for you" and "he gets mean so we just let him do his thing" and other less-than-fair but fairly functional agreements. I'm not saying it's fair practice. The agreement that we all stay open until exactly 5:00 pm is related to that. Some people just don't. I tend to frown at them, but when it is my turn to have to try to get somewhere in a short time frame I might bend that policy too. It's a guideline, not a rule, right? We all are capable of rationalizing our choices about the many agreements and policies.

The thing with hawking comes up a lot, especially with products that make a noise or smell. Those have been recent issues that came up with a somewhat violent (I have a broad definition of violent) process, partly due, I believe, to some unwritten and unspoken agreements. If we are all equal in our 8x8s, it's the practice that you don't let the sleeve of your dress that you hung out front hang over into your neighbor's display space. There are probably about as many adjustments to those agreements as there are neighbor relationships. I made myself a rule when I moved into the space next to the shakers that I would not get annoyed at the sounds of the rattles or the little kids who have to try each one, or the way Raven plays along with whatever music we are hearing. That was already in place when I moved there, and I couldn't find a way that it hurt me. The same with Willy's drums. If someone is playing too loud or long, I know Willy will get a handle on it as I know him to be thoughtful of the neighbors over how much he wants to sell a drum. I trust him to take care of me. I willingly acceded to a bit of compromise of my equality (not much right to quiet in a public space) and made some agreements of my own, like keeping my bike and trailer in the space behind David and Cheryl's, space they might have wanted to use themselves, and using the open space next to me to project out a little with my tote bags, telling myself that putting my promotional Saturday Market materials out there (I sell the SM totes and give away postcards and maps) will help balance the use of that extra few inches. In all of these examples workable compromises were crafted with those immediately affected but I certainly didn't ask everyone if it was okay with them if I made those choices. That's pretty hard to do with the changing landscape down there and I'm not sure what I would do if there was violent disagreement. Most of the violent disagreement has the immediate result of one of the parties absenting themselves from the Market for some period of time, willingly or not. Selling privileges/rights are conditional. See page 8 of the Member Information Handbook.

Last attempt, not sure when, but I don't think I ever put them on sale

Trust is huge. There are as many as 300 artisans, hundreds of support people and staff, and thousands of customers and people-watchers trying to enjoy the same time and place together. That's not even the full size of our community, because we have an international public and everyone who has ever enjoyed Market feels a part of that. We even have people who make it a point to seek out Saturday Market just to experience it. So really we all ought to be thinking of all of these people with our actions and words, and that puts me as a participating individual right at the bottom of any hierarchy or flowchart you might want to draw about the community. Each individual has all the rights and all the responsibilities to that group experience. In the moment we vendors often feel the most vulnerable but we're solidly members of the club. Imagine how it feels to be a hesitant person coming for the first visit. We can be a scary place if you don't understand that safety is a really high priority for the organization, especially if you think that the FSP is part of our monitored area. Shit happens over there and on the surrounding blocks that is not under Saturday Market control. That marker guy (and people's dogs, friends, and second cousins from Oklahoma)--- not all that controllable.

Yet of course I am paying to be there. I am contracting for a certain set of services and conditions and it hurts me in the wallet when those are compromised. So my rights were maybe a half-step above the magic marker guy. He needed friends with pens; I needed and expected a lot of other things. It also lends a tone to my acceptance of the selling activities on the County land across the street at the Farmer's Market and the Courthouse Plaza. I love the farmers as they bring me food and customers and color and a connection I find vital. We generally share the same agreements, with a few sticky areas that lie in the background, but we have a long history and tend to support each other. I don't feel a lot of support from the Free Speech Plaza attendees, although I am one who likes the heartbeat of the drums.

I resent the Courthouse Plaza activities (with the exception of the drum circle) and really wish the County would step up and deal with it. We had to have millions of dollars of liability insurance to just have our 10x10 Info Booth there (we've moved it) and no one there is accepting any responsibility whatsoever that I can see. I have to admire a friend of mine who went over there last week to make his peace with it. He recognized his resentment and anger and thought he had better get to know what was really going on there.

Of course what he found was a more human experience than he had wanted when he thought he could dismiss them. We kind of see our younger selves in some people, when we were just starting out as craftspeople, desperate for sales, inexpert in our offerings, trying hard to find a place, broke and sometimes somewhat broken. There's a bit of a community over there, something more than random people taking advantage of a free zone. Saturday Market doesn't allow everything to be sold; we have strict guidelines about handmade and maker/seller issues, so some people are there because we exclude them. They want to be with us and that's as close as they can get. Some people are simply opportunists and don't want the responsibilities of our club. But few of them are bad people and mostly they are not out to hurt us. They mostly don't think about us and out needs, being focused on their own needs. They might end up joining us when they get the money together to advance their artistry and step up to our level of selling. They might be willing, or are already working within our agreements. It isn't any one thing.

We have some unspoken agreements, and a handbook full of written ones, which all members are asked to read and agree to. The handbook spells out a lot of things that shouldn't be in question or cause disagreement, including a Code of Ethics and Conduct. It offers the seed of dispute resolution and explains that Market operates on the honor system. Honor the system by learning what it is, participating in its refinement by serving on the policy-creating bodies of the Board and Committee structure, and then follow the policies: that's what's implied. Members are clearly asked to do these things and contract with their membership payment that they will. We've gotten that far. No one but members probably even knows about the Handbook and all of that policy written by dozens or hundreds of people over the years.

With those who are not members, we are asked to be patient and human. That is a big part of our challenge in trying to do our business by renting the public park. We're not in a vacuum. We have to respond to the needs of the marker guy and the guy selling across the street without a permit. It isn't a formula for an easy day and is part of the exhaustion we can feel on Sunday morning when some things did not go well the day before. Each individual who enters our club wants to be a part of it on their own terms. It is when we allow the boundaries of our club to be fluid and accepting that we truly act as a community. Individuals come and go, but the basket is always full and keeps getting bigger. We must coexist and we must invest the time and thought that takes. The elegant solutions will not be found unless everyone brings their piece of the truth and is willing to speak it, whether with words or behavior, whether with silent assent or sometimes violent disagreement.That's the stuff of human interaction and of constantly building and protecting community. We're doing it so the club will continue. To the members, it is our lives in the balance.

It's never the same club meeting twice, never the same community gathering. Each week brings high and low points while we learn how to live and work together. Each time we look at our actions and thoughts in light of our written and unwritten agreements, we get a little closer to the world we want to live in. We're creating it all the time. It's a good thing we're so good at being creative.