Comments on: Staying on Message: It’s all about Community

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:29:40 +0000

Yeah, the competition is always secondary in these things. And yet, like you say, from the outside taht's what it appears to be about. For the second time reading this post, I'm left thinking of Wittgenstein. It really IS all about community – and that's exactly why some people just don't get “it”, whatever “it” is. If you don't hold your breath, close your eyes, and dive into the conversation, it will always appear to be something very strange. Take that step and you might just find a whole world opens up. I've only just come to this blog, but it's great to hear you've been going seven years, and I hope you're going at least seven more.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:27:26 +0000

I'll keep an eye on NPS, though this is the first year my old series (http://louderarts.com) isn't sending a team, so I won't be nearly as engaged. If you're not there in person, it's mainly about the competition, with is the least interesting part of the week.

I'm not surprised that slam poets have embraced Free-E-Day; they're typically early adopters of cultural movements, for better or worse! Happily, your initiative is the former.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:07:03 +0000

You were definitely an influential player in getting me back on the blogging train, and continue to be a perfect example of how to build a community around quality content. I bow in your direction!

By: Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:53:33 +0000

Guy, I'm going to go back and have a really thorough read. I just wanted to say how cool to see where you got the blog name, and I hope you'll be following the National Poetry Slam this week (http://www.nps2009.com/). I owe a big debt to the slam poetry community. Just when I was beginning to wonder how long it would be before the numbers joining up for Free-e-day (http://www.facebook.com/edittopic.php?uid=13711...) started to swell at more than a trickle, along came a whole host of slam poets from all across the States, and the whole event started to come to life. So I have a huge affection - and gratitude - to that community. That, and they are, of course, the most obvious example of literature as performance, another cause close to my heart.

By: mariaschneider

mariaschneider — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:35:25 +0000

Hey Guy,
I've really been enjoying your renewed focus on your blog. I know I can count on you to read between the lines of what's really going on in the volatile publishing world. Keep the posts coming.

By: Will Hindmarch

Will Hindmarch — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:50:17 +0000

People brought up Godin's Tribes all throughout the camp, and I still haven't read it. For sure, I will do so now.

You're absolutely right about the lack of pretense with the age group. It came up a few times how much more focused they were on the work, rather than defining or enforcing individual identities. I have some half-formed notion, now, of how work is valued more when one's career is not at stake — but I'm sure this idea is full of loaded specifics that may not actually support the general conclusion. I need to back away and look again. For sure, though, it reminded me that undermining communities is a learned behavior, as I saw plenty of kids who didn't yet have the instinct to step on the community for their individual benefit.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:24:10 +0000

Shared Worlds is intriguing; thanks for pointing it out. Working with teens in the poetry scene was always a highlight for me, because there were rarely any pretensions, and they tended to be a lot more honest in their own writing and their reactions to the work of others.

Have you read Seth Godin's Tribes? I highly recommend it; it's a quick read, and he really gets to the heart of how communities are built and develop over time, and what it takes to “lead” one.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:19:42 +0000

I never see relevant links as opportunism — not in a negative context, at least — and that was a great one. Thanks for pointing it out. I had a similar experience a couple of weekends back when we took a family trip out to Lancaster, PA. No matter what business you're in, it's ultimately all about people, and there are valuable, applicable lessons to be learned in almost every situation; in publishing, exponentially so.

By: Will Hindmarch

Will Hindmarch — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:59:15 +0000

Guy, I just spent a week with teenage creative-writing students at a camp on collaborate world-building and individual writing (Shared Worlds: http://sharedworlds.wofford.edu ), and picked up a lot of inspiration on how communities build and guide themselves, at least around short-term goals and projects.

You can bet I'll be pairing that inspiration with the lessons I'm picking up here, in the hopes of forming actual ideas out of it all. So keep the posts coming.

By: DanBlank

DanBlank — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:30:11 +0000

Guy - Like you, I find it essential to consider lesson's learned in OTHER communities to help shape what we are trying to build on the web. Please don't consider this opportunism, but I shared some thoughts about this in a recent blog post, as I tried to find inspiration during my vacation:

http://danblank.com/blog/2009/07/27/looking-to-...

And thank you for building a community that we can be a part of.
Have a great day.
-Dan