Comfort over Tradition

I couldn't talk myself into Tuesday Market this morning, even though I got up and intended to go, knowing the weather wouldn't be great but wanting to be loyal to my friends there and honor my commitment to participate. I knew it would be marginal weather at best and not really that wet, though after all the rain last night the town is soaked. I guess by not going I kind of cut my losses.

My booth, sides, and bags, and boots, were still damp from Saturday. Market was pitifully small, and we even consolidated on the east  block to look like more of a group, a decision which worked well. It made sense to lessen the setup and pull in the recycling stations, fences, and other infrastructure on the west block and it made sense to group us for better sales for the 25 or so members who did show up. It worked well for me! Customers came and I made a decent amount of sales although no one spoke up for the good-works discount of my last post. I gave it to someone who refused a plastic bag (I have some recycled ones for emergencies) and told about her efforts to bring no plastic home, and she was delighted. I gave away a few of the sale hats I ended up bringing. All of us who were there gifted each other and I came home with some wonderful things! (Photo doesn't show the pears, cake, pizza, etc.)

The farmers were also smaller in number and decided to pack and go two hours early, at 1:00 pm. They came over and told us, so our GM surveyed the members of our market about an early closure. Although it didn't rain on us during set-up, heavy rains started right about ten and didn't let up, and it was gusty too, although not at all as predicted. I knew the weather was going north as I had been tracking the weather on this wind map but even so it could have swung toward us and gotten as wild as people feared, and I was by then wet in parts and the customer flow was getting smaller. I was happy with the prospect of getting a few hours off to dry out and rest.

Ironically, of course right at two when we closed, it stopped raining and we all got to pack without a lot of extra trouble, and most people were off the lot quickly. I was the last. I have a lot of details in the way I display things and also tried to pack carefully so the wet things would not get other dryer things wet, though basically everything was damp enough that I'd have to spread all the bags and hats out in the shop for a couple of days to dry. I was still there when the zombies came.

They were so disappointed that their scheduled flash mob would have no audience. They were a little shocked at the unprecedented closure of both markets, as were the other few people who wandered down expecting to find booths. It wasn't enough economic power to support the three hours we missed, and it did start raining again right about five as I was finishing up with my labors at home, so to me the early closure was right on the fence of good/bad idea.

The process was handled well, with inclusion of member opinion and gaining of consensus, and really there was no one advocating to keep to our usual hours, although obviously all of us had taken the "Rain or Shine" maxim seriously. We were, however, about 5% of the total market members, and we were all acting in our personal self-interest for the day, as well as concern for our staff who also had to stay if we stayed. I don't think anyone second-guessed the moment too hard, although in retrospect, I wish we hadn't done it.

Saturday Market has always been so dependably there, 10-5, rain or shine. We've made such a point of that. Now we are going to add an "unless" to that. Yes, storms seem so much bigger and more destructive now, along with the access to media hype about weather. Yes, if there had been lightning with the force of the previous day, when thunder literally shook my house enough to knock things off shelves, we could have been in mortal danger. Yes, it doesn't really make sense to sell on a super wet day when no one wants to be out in the weather and we all take some losses of inventory or signs or something.

But darn it, now when people ask themselves if we will be there, they aren't going to be sure. Now it's qualified by "unless we aren't for some reason like extreme weather or ?" I guess we can make an effort to qualify it by "extreme weather only" and I do remember one other day when we closed for tons of snow (in the 1980s) and no one questioned that. I guess we do have to consider the safety of our staff and ourselves as more important than being consistent in our advertising. And with social media, we were able to announce the early closure (the zombies must not have been online) so we can notify at least a portion of the public.

But I feel like it is a slippery slope we stepped out upon. It makes me wary of decision-making for the current conditions when we don't know what will really happen. We were speculating that it was going to get way worse, but it didn't. Next summer when it is predicted to be super hot, will we forget that it is usually breezy on the blocks and can be fun? If it snows during HM, will we lose customers who will assume we will close for the day? No one can answer these questions.

Am I a traditionalist who dislikes change? Possibly in some ways. I admit it takes me awhile to embrace change and I'm suspicious of the need for it. When we talk about changing our hours (because the farmers did) I am against it; throwing out the many years we have advertised 10-5 doesn't seem smart. It took people a very long time to assimilate the 3:00 closing for farmers, even with the gradual change to 4:00 first. I still get people all the time buying bags near 3:00 who have to be advised they only have a short time to shop for produce. On the other hand, would we lose a lot if we trimmed one hour off our day's end? Would we gain more? Again, it's a gamble and we won't know the answer until we try it.

So we tried the extreme weather policy and the results are inconclusive, to my mind. About 40 people were happy, and about 40 people were not. We had to still pay for the bands we cancelled, and no doubt they were unhappy with the loss of a gig, even though not many fans would have showed, and it's dangerous to have electricity on a wet stage. There is probably not a final answer yet on how flexible our hours should be.

And while my loyalty was rewarded on Saturday, it didn't stretch to today and although it is not raining and I wouldn't be wet and maybe not even cold, my not showing up to Tuesday Market might mean Tuesdays in October might not fly next time the farmers decide to look at their cost-benefit ratio. Guess I should have gone since I am not actually getting much work done anyway (I am planning to, though, right after this...)

Last night at the City Council worksession, City Staff emphasized that one of the things coming out of the Placemaking process is that Eugene loves our historical and social traditions. They want the community gathering at the center of our downtown every Saturday. They want the spaces activated in the ways we are using them. So we had better not get any flakier. It's not just about my wet bags and hats but about holding the center for the people who need to gather. Maybe we do figure out some ways to keep us open on days when it is wet or hot: flexible covered spaces that can be used for shade or rain protection, storage or ways to limit the infrastructure we erect every week for our event, which requires so many hours of labor to set up and put away. Ways to improve our dependability, instead of get less predictable, should be part of our planning process for activating the spaces.

Planners have joked that they want us to do what we do every day of the week, to build on our success. Of course we know that if we give up the Saturday specialness, we lose a lot of what is attractive. We've tried Sunday markets. One of the reasons I am not as loyal to Tuesday is that it just doesn't draw the crowds needed for lots of booths to thrive. Still, there must be a way or two that the specialness of Saturday could be extended. A night market in August? Little pop-up markets of specialties, advertised as short events that don't need to include all of us? Let's keep thinking.

City staff said their number one trend from the process is to build on success. That's what we have to do, too, value our history and all that we are doing right, and see how we can build on that to involve more of the community. I am working to be flexible, open, and willing to test things out if they are not too high risk. Closing early was low risk, but I didn't think it was wholly successful. I'm worried about all those disappointed zombies. Maybe it will just make us all the more precious when we are there for them, though. I hope so.

Like sand through the hourglass...

I was out in the shop pouring the sand out of my weight bags and lining them with plastic bags, even though the nylon they are made of seems to be coated inside. Each one weighs 25 pounds and I guess I am committed to going to Market Saturday, because now that I spent two hours making a mess of the floor of my shop, I am going to take those bags down to the Park Blocks and strap them to my pop-up.

A rainy day when I won the haiku contest and the duct tape!

Whenever I do some task that takes a lot of focus but no smarts really, my lovely mind starts to build metaphors and write blog posts...and this one was rife. I'm doing this because of water. They are raving on the TV about all the water that is coming our way, with wind, and you know, I have plans on Saturday. I could stay home, but I like what I do and Saturday is the best day in the week for feeling powerful. I get to stand there with the things I made out of nothing but my imagination and skills, and trade them for other people's money so that I can buy my heat and food and all the necessary consumables of modern life. That direct relationship feels great and lots of people have smiles on their faces and walk away happier than they were. It's one of the sweetest parts of life to make someone's life better.

Even if it is a small thing, a hat that will keep the rain off their glasses on the bike trail or a bag so they won't drop their slippery bag of grapes. I'm out there today putting slippery sand into slippery plastic bags and thinking about how I won't have an extra fifteen pounds of water on the way home from my wet Saturday, making up stories and thinking about power.

And I realize all of a sudden that I am giddy, absolutely delighted, with what I see right now as the Fucking Death of the Fucking Patriarchy!  I'm sorry if you feel offense at my delight or my words, but you can choose amusement instead as I am choosing amusement with the utterly ridiculous throes of the taking down of the ultimate symbol of the abuse of power. The whole world is watching with disgust, horror, and like me, delight, as that orange person learns the hard lesson that despite what he says, no one likes him. He can't even get a hug or kiss without having to use his power to take them from people unwilling to give.

Yes, this is not about sex and it is not about gender, and if you never got this before, get it now. This is about power. And remember what we learned: there are three kinds of power. There is power from within, that which we have carefully cultivated for so many decades and taught with the word "empowerment." We have done our jobs, parents and teachers. We now have lots of people who feel power from within. They are sure of it. Thank you to our young people who are so brave and fearless! You are using your gifts well.

And then there is power with. You know that one, when you stand in a line where people call out the person who cut in, or even all the time now on Facebook when people like and share, read and discuss, and we all get on the same page with the concepts and events that are changing the dynamics. We know what this feels like so well! Thank you to our elders and all those who stood together and taught us this with all of the liberation movements, with our heroes like Harriet Tubman, like all of our heroes, like Bernie. What we can do together is so much more powerful than standing alone with all of our internal conviction. We are using this, around the world, so much better these days with this internet thingy. Kids get heard, women tell their stories, people get helped, life gets better. I am so happy with the internet today.

And then, my friends and neighbors, there is power over. That is the tool of the patriarchy that is being dismantled as I write. We saw old Puddinghead Cosby fall from grace, we saw over and over how men who used power to dominate oppressed peoples fell to their disgrace. It's not over, not at all, but the winds did shift and the waters did run over the lands. Trumpy is done. Oh sure, he will dangle and dip and dance and he will always have a few syncophants, but his day is over. And as soon as Hillary takes the oath of office, as soon as she gets into the White House, I hope she looks at her philandering husband and says to him, as she locks her door, I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee. Now maybe you should go and learn to bake cookies if you want to keep busy for the next eight years.

I know, she will use power and we all will still use power over. It is in our DNA to dominate and it will still play out in so many ways, but everyone knows now that rape culture is power culture. He is such a wonderful symbol and this campaign has been such a terrific illustration of all the ways that it is a bankrupt way to be and we the people do not accept it. Even my 90-year old mother is being a rebel in her old folks hotel and thanks to the media we all are watching the squirming and apologizing of the people who still cling to the past. The people have moved on. We are looking within and talking with each other and we will work together until the vestiges of the abuse of power are put on plaques and become the historical past and not the present. I'm giddy about this today.

Of course it is going to rain on me and this parade and I know I will not be able to hold onto this feeling and I might go back to the disgust and horror but I don't think I'm going back to fear. People are smart, more than ignorant, and just like nature is going to humble us a little for the next couple of weeks, the people are going to humble the unworthy and take away their power. I know this.

So later for the ways we are still going to try to humiliate Hillary when she has worked so hard in the halls of power to do better. Later for the work we will have to do to stand with women in all areas of our lives as the power-hungry thrash their last. Later for the complicated self-examinations that we will have to do to eradicate the ways we capitulate and fail to protect the powerless and don't follow our gut feelings. Later for the fine points.

Today we celebrate locked doors and careful consent. We pat ourselves on the back for raising good boys who get this stuff. We stand proud of our young and old women who don't put up with unwanted hugs and unremarked insults. We stand proud for all the new opportunities we will get to use our wit and wisdom to make these changes last. Take him down. Take down all the symbols of abuse and all the perpetrators of it. Bring up the real powerful and stop the DAP and all the rest of the things that are unjust. Let's have justice for awhile and see how we like it.

And quit using so much oil, people. If I can bike to the market in the rain with my 75 pounds of sand, you can do without one plastic thing or take one less car trip for a corporate cup of coffee. Come down to the Market and talk to an independent artist or farmer and share the abundance and bounty that we are so fortunate to have right here in the town we love. Walk down in your rain gear.

We're having the Market-wide sale this week. I have thought a lot about this as it does not work for me to take more stuff on a rainy day; I have to take less, at least 75 pounds less. So I don't want to bring a basket of old stuff and sell it for cheap. I don't actually want to sell anything for cheap.

If you know me you might have heard my little rant about people who ask for discounts. This is a good example of a subtle power-over relationship that gets my gut feelings to simmer. Someone wants me to give up my hard-earned profit, my reward, so that they can use their money to buy something else that is more valuable to them. They spent all their money on organic tomatoes and they want a hat, but for less than the very reasonable prices I have set. Or they are just used to cheaping out, which is something I have certainly done for most of my life and have no defense about...it's easy to use being "thrifty" as an excuse to try to get something for less than it is marked or valued by someone else.

But it is one thing to be given a discount and another thing to ask for it. Mostly my customers do not ask, and sometimes I give it, and happily, because I am happy about the transaction or like them a lot or am in a giving mood. So I do want to participate in the sale in some fashion, without begrudging it, and without allowing someone to dominate me against my will. And we all know what happens on rainy days at the Market: lots of people don't come. Lots of people don't sell and lots don't buy, so for those who do brave the weather, the pickins are slim and you might go home with wet shoes. So I think I will offer a discount. If you read this, and you come and tell me one thing you did to help smash the power, I will give you a dollar off anything you buy. I'll be generous about what that means: maybe you became a parent even though you were scared. Maybe you bought a car with better mileage or passed up the Starbucks for Dave or Colleen's coffee. Maybe you did a big thing you are kind of embarrassed to take credit for. Maybe all you did was read this, knowing that you might have an uncomfortable feeling or two.

And we'll have to have a little conversation about it. It might be kind of intimate or we might have a guffaw. I reserve the right to refuse your dollar off if I have something I can't settle with you about our power dynamics. Maybe we'll have time to settle it. We all know that one of the good things about the rainy Markets is that there is so much more time. We'll see. And for every dollar that I give off one of my products in this little campaign for justice and compassion, I will give a dollar to the Kareng Fund. I hope it is my biggest donation ever.

And I hope we have some fun. Because oh dear, that weather forecast is grim. We are all going to have to dip into our power reserves for sure. No guilt if you can't. It's not a judgement to admit where you have to protect yourself from harm. That is part of accessing your power within, to set your boundaries and take care of what you need. I need to go to Market. I need to stand on my spot on the west block and be my strongest self. I want to do it for my community and for myself. I even want to do it for the City and the damn placemaking in downtown and the lovely people who came from NYC and want to get to know us. I want them to know the real us, the creatives and the intrepid and the endlessly delightful. 

So I guess I have sealed my deal. Now when the alarm goes off at 5:30 am on Saturday, I won't be able to second-guess myself. I'm going. See you there.

Back in the 70s on the Butterfly with my little paper things.

Downtown Spaces Mean More Than Markets

Of course when I hear Park Blocks I hear Saturday Market but next week the Project for Public Spaces will be back in town to talk about what our whole community sees as a vision for using our open spaces more safely, creatively, and to meet more of the needs of our growing community. As a major stakeholder, we of Saturday Market know that this is not about us, but about the town we live in, so while we have a lot of ideas coming from our place at the center, we're excited about the chance to take that vision to the rest of our community and see how it aligns and can be informed by what everyone wants.

I don't expect this to be a painless process because I know not everyone loves what I love or agrees with what I think to be true. I have been trying hard throughout this process to enlarge my vision and take in the full reality of how all of us use our city and what the future might be, starting with now.

Our market task force met yesterday and came up with some great ideas and I took photos of our work.


We're nowhere near finished but wanted to refine our long wish list to see what surfaced as really important, so we can take that to the discussions knowing it would have wide support. We recognize that limited funds will likely preclude many of the projects we'd like to see, and as renters of the Park, however successful and desired, we do "live" there only as long and as well as we provide added value to the spaces. So here is what we think at the moment:

Rough draft of a visual for it

A new stage to replace the awkward and not-very-functional covered space on the Southeast block would serve all community groups who want to hold events there. To not have to rent, own, or erect a stage structure with lights, tent weights, and a sound system might make it possible for many events to have performances there, large or small. If it could include storage for a number of chairs, tables, and the necessary signs, cones, or other safety items to have these events, this would be grand in so many ways. It would also be cool to have some kind of a kiosk to use as an info booth, with electricity (we now run with batteries in the info booth) and other services. It could be used by other groups as well and maybe have an employee in it during the week to track tourism, give out information to visitors, be the connection for services, and do lots of tasks not currently be covered in the center of our city, except by the EPD and the downtown guides who don't have a place to be consistently found and might benefit from that.

It must be widely known by now that public restrooms are needed downtown. There will increasingly be excellent innovative designs for these and there have to be some that will work. I found a cool photo yesterday:that might show up here, not sure. The slats on the side make bike racks! If it doesn't show you can see more at this link:http://www.designcurial.com/news/public-toilet-architecture---10-of-the-best-4210193/3.

And of course that is not all of our ideas but the ones that floated to the top right away. There seems to be no shortage of ideas but part of the problem is bigger than the infrastructure and this is the challenge that seems to be the hardest for people: we have to work within the current reality. Like my thoughts on the FSP, my thoughts on the people who are currently using our parks for shelter are evolving. I want a lot of tiny houses in our town for people to use for permanent or temporary homes, so that they feel safe, have places to sleep and store their belongings, have privacy, and have support for their basic needs. I want support for Occupy Medical and White Bird for the kinds of health services that traveling or houseless people need. I want it to be normal that you might need and seek help or have problems you can't solve yourself, that are covered by social services. There seem to be plenty of resources to meet these needs and plenty of compassionate people to help set things in place. The Reagan years and other times when people lost that support are over. Let's have support systems that work. Let's enlarge our hearts and compassion to speak frankly and really work together to ease the impacts of people whose needs spill over until they become desperate and hopeless. This does not seem impossible, but it will take a lot of us working together to get there.

I understand why it is hard to talk about these things, but they will be part of the placemaking discussions and it would be great if we could speak without the ironic doublespeak when we say "all citizens of our community" and "the public." This does mean all of us, not just those of us who have found ways to be comfortable in our lives. It includes children and the elderly, and even that guy who likes to use the Park Blocks to smoke cigars that he probably can't smoke at home (though he is kind of out of luck now with the smoking ban.) We all have to keep in mind that we have to speak for all of us. I know our Market and our Task Force are full of compassionate people who think of others (just giving up time to come to a meeting shows that much) so I am looking forward to the opportunities for dialogue and new ideas that will come next week. I hope to see you there!

Politics Unusual

I am not very interested in the national presidential race, except as a cynical observer and a woman. It is way past time the US got past their ridiculous lack of trust for women and let Hillary lead, and I think she is already winning the election, because you can't get real news from the usual outlets. They always say the election is neck-and-neck, they always spin it as an exciting race to the finish. I really do not believe people are as ignorant and crazy as you might think if you watch TV or social media. People want safety and stability. They want progressive change. The stupid will not prevail. That said, you had better vote for the establishment, just because. We have to have a government and if you have forgotten that we all lost 25% of our wealth the last time Republicans were in power, that they looted and pillaged right to the last day, even trashing the White House offices in their meanness, then refresh your memory.

Hillary won't save us, just as Obama couldn't, but just as he pulled away the veil on racism, she will pull it on sexism. Bernie would have been attacked as he pulled the veil on anti-Semitism, but let's get this gender thing done. Good heavens. I would like to finish my life thinking that we got somewhere with this centuries-long process of seeing women as equals and hearing what we all have to say. The people are ready. The power-mongers may not be, but there is another reason why we need to support Hillary so she can help them get it.

I do prefer our local politics. Anyone (except a classic businessman of the archaic model perhaps) can see all that Kitty Piercy has done for our city and state. Her compassion and deep understanding of the needs and beliefs of human beings has held ground and helped thousands of people gain some purchase on living lives that empower them and meet their ideas of the "American Dream" on what's left of the commons. She works for the people in the ways the people want her to work. I have similar confidence in Lucy Vinis, and I am proud to say I know Emily Semple, who is running for the Ward One Council position, and I am placing that confidence in her as well.

It's about priorities, mostly. People over profits has always been my guide as I have navigated society since my political awakening in 1969 when I was in college in Washington DC. If you are a guy in a suit you have a few barriers to overcome with me before I will automatically trust you, anyway one less than if you are a woman in a suit. Of course this is not a clear gender division but I know as a woman that being a nurturer and supporter comes early in life and informs the ways we use power that simply do not become the experiences of all men the way they do for almost all women. There are lots of great compassionate men! I know many and have complete confidence in them for having found their compassionate and caring inner strengths, in many cases much more so than I have found my own. I'm not saying all women politicians are better than all men politicos. Sometimes it is so much easier for men in power that they can be super effective, but bringing that privilege as so many do is more of a detriment than an asset.

I don't know Emily's opponent and I'm not studying him very closely, but for the issues I'm passionate about right now, which are mostly about downtown developments and the future physical and emotional landscape of our city, I think Emily is going to align more closely with my values. There are no easy solutions to the real problems that are the subtext of the downtown development picture. We need people who really see people, understand their needs, and really care about inclusivity.

I wrote to Emily today to see if, in the midst of her last intense push to get elected next month, she and I can craft some statements or work out some knots in the Saturday Market positions on what is coming up for us in this Placemaking process about Open Spaces downtown. This is huge for Saturday Market and no politicians have asked me, as the head of our Task Force, what we are thinking, outside of the meetings of the Joint Elected Officials Task Force who are mostly working through our GM as our spokesperson. Our GM is doing her job, going to many meetings and giving the information about our organization that they want to know, but there is so much more to think and talk about than comes up at that type of meeting. Specific city and county staff have specific concerns related to their job descriptions, as does our GM. They ask and answer the questions that come up as they do their jobs, and while they encompass many or even most of the issues involved in making these plans, there are other levels of the conversations that sometimes don't come up. Some of the things are tricky to talk about. People can't always speak frankly in those situations, and assumptions are frequently made without time to check in on the details of them.

I see the bigger pictures of what is happening in our city, our lives, and our futures. We need Democrats in office because their values support human lives over the businesses of capitalism. Perhaps marginally so, in the cynical analysis, but much more so than what is Republican or right or transcends the political in forces like the Koch Bros, and the other anti-human corporations taking power from the people. People need progressive leadership to fight for our lives and those of our fellows, human and otherwise. Don't think this is not important. Your vote is a tiny tool but it is one you hold in your hand and must use. You have other tools, and if you are not too distracted working for survival and a little time off, you have your mind and heart to apply as well.

Vote for Emily. Vote for Hillary. Vote for Kate Brown. Let women lead. You've watched the Obamas. You've seen how Michelle has fought to be seen as beautiful, strong, supportive at the same time as being equally powerful, equally smart, and perfectly capable of leading and working together to change the national and world landscape of racism and power. Things are so bad right now because this is the last throes of the forces of exploitation and greed. We are winning these fights. We just don't believe in it. Believe in it. Put your whole heart there.

The people united will never be defeated. You know this. Act upon it.