Please go read this very short book by Pete Leki: How to Disappear. I love it. I’ve also been working with Michael here: How to Disappear Wiki. We’re not sure yet what’ll come of the wiki project, but we’d really like to see this book widely read.

My conference impressions have been written all over the place on this network, mostly in other people's personal news. Seeing Meron's comment tonight about leaving some space for this conference to settle in before jumping in to organize the next one made me think of posting about what an impact this conference had on me and where I'm going at this point.

I had two goals for the conference:

• Face to face interactions between members will lead to a different kind of interaction online afterwards, and not just for those in attendance.

The connection was definitely there and strong in person, and I've seen evidence of difference happening online durring and afterwards so far. So part 1 is a definite sucess. The jury is of course still out on longer-term effects.

• My work in the world, with it's many currents, weaves a bit more together. I was thinking of my Humanist Movement, Julie's Gathering to Learn team, Gerry's Learning by Doing Labs, currencies, Michael Maranda and his varied interests, Eyeclectic and Brandon and how they both expressed interest in working together, and Phil Cubeta and his work on transforming giving. Hopefully I haven't left anything out.

Only the currencies had an actual session convened on them, interestingly, and several. I found Mickki to be a kindred spirit, for sure, and these currency ideas somehow seem to weave themselves in among all the others. And the way she and Arthur are organizing their companies around tech and currencies and openness is really exciting and can help in how we conceive of the connections between all these other areas.

So in the background of my mind all weekend was the question, "What is the future of my involvement with my team in Ghana? Will I continue?" I've been feeling a lot of failure around that at the same time that things in the US seem to be moving better and better. So while I didn't come to any resolution on the question, I am much more clear that this stuff happening in the US, under any name or no name (doesn't have to be called "The Humanist Movement") is where my focus is going to be for the time being. See next steps for Ted's team for more on the local question.

For a year I've been excited about Julie's ideas for building a commons and have been uncomfortable with my own inability to really see what she envisions. The 501(c)3 is at the center, with these 509s hanging off. I became very clear about how Laure's /conference/World council of grandmothers initiative can be one of those 509s (Laure will have to leave the board of Emerging Futures. Perhaps I'll replace her.). At the point I discovered this, I felt better. I'm still missing the "Why?" Dee Hock's book helped.

And as a result of all this cross-polination, I had a brainstorm about forming a Geek Kindergarten where I could learn to be a programmer. I did a lot of programming in college and none since. Never thought I'd pick it up again. It's time. Maybe simply to help Brandon with his openonet overlay project. Maybe to contribute something to Geek Gene or the Targeted Currencies projects at some point (surely that'll take lots of learning). Maybe to even earn enough money to go to part-time at my job? Maybe to go even further and give up the 8:30 to 5 altogether?

So, that's the big news. The only thing left would be to fix my mistake above and put in the people where there was really a connection: Anne Marie, Brandon, Christina, Evonne, Jean, Julie, Laure, Matt C, Matt K, Michael H, Michael M, Mickki, Norbert, Rose, Susan, Theresa, Thomas, Zoe and the others I intended to connect with and didn't.

And also to Meron's comment about leaving space. I haven't slept all that well since the Thursday before the conference. I feel fine during the day and have plenty of energy and at night feel like idea, emotions and possibilities are swirling around me, inside and out. Feels good. I could see these being quarterly, with different people organizing each time. Most of us couldn't attend each one in person. Some might go to several in a row. Others might attend once a year or less. Those that have the energy for the planning can do so. Those that need space can have it.

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have. Whoever shows up is the right people. Whenever it starts is the right time. When it's over, it's over.

My friend John and I each moved into the building owned by the Hub Housing Cooperative yesterday. That means that 2 (of 5) or 3 (of 7) of our units are now occupied and we are indeed a residential housing cooperative. Two couples move in next weekend which will bring us to 4 (of 5) or 6 (of 7) units will be occupied, and the final one in May.

There are currently 7 units in the building. The city knows about 6 of them. When we're finished with our remodeling, it will be a 5 unit building, with two vertically duplexed units.

If you'd like to visit us, we're at 2358 S. Marshall Blvd, Chicago, IL, 60623 USA.

On her news page Sue Braiden made a comment that references what she calls the "no mechanics" structure of the Humanist Movement. She goes on to observe that:

One of the hardest things to avoid, no matter how well intended an effort may be, is the inevitable insertion of ego, and the slow creeping back to hierarchial command and control structures. I am always intrigued to come across models that attempt to avoid these habitual pitfalls, and especially where there's been some success along the way.

The Humanist Movement started in 1969 in Argentina and Chile, initially organizing politically and non-violently against the dictatorships in those two countries. The ultimate aim of our work is to humanize the earth, creating a world with the human being as the central value. We do this by creating small teams of no more than 20-30 that engage in both personal and social change (see also: the omidyar group of the same name)

By the end of the 70s many members had been deported back to their countries of origin and thus the worldwide expansion began. We now number nearly 1 million committed volunteers and over 3 million adherents, supporters and collaborators. We have no staff, no board of directors, no president, boss or chief and no headquarters.

Our structure might be described morphologically as a pyramid, but the connections between team members are as important as those between orientor (person forming the team) and team members, creating a strong network of volunteers. As soon as a member joins, she can form her own team, without any special prior training or knowledge necessary. It's all "on the job!"

To get back to Sue's observations about ego and command and control, there is nothing structurally stopping an orientor from exhibiting controlling behaviour on his team except that there's nothing to gain. There's no way to speak for the entire movement and no elections to install a single "leader." It's true that there's more responsibility when one orients a team that each has their own team that each has their own teams, but still the same number of primary relationships and nothing to gain by controlling the process. It's also not physically possible to micromanage when the levels start to climb (10 is easy, 100 maybe possible, 1000 doesn't seem very likely).

So, what does this network DO, you ask? Each team has a weekly meeting. The first half of the weekly meeting is focused on personal work, often starting with one of the 12 Principles of Valid Action with the idea that the process of liberation from suffering is possible through intention and human effort. The second part of the meeting is then dedicated to organizing our social projects, be they a community newspaper, an all-volunteer school or health clinic, or anything else that the team decides is an important issue in their community.

There are of course those that are not able to or do not want to participate in the weekly meetings. Their involvement could range from reading a newsletter once every 6 months to distributing copies of the community newspaper to volunteering to set up a website for a local group or a larger project to send in a monthly financial donation to finance local activities or travel to another country to many other options that I can't think of at the moment. All contributions (human effort more than anything, but also material resources) are welcome.

This morning, after reading Tom Munneke's blog, I actually blogged about the connection between omidyar.net (Pierre wrote:

"It is my hope that more and more people will discover their own power to make good things happen, and at the same time, discover what they have in common with others -- namely, a shared belief in the value and potential contribution and impact of every individual; and a desire to help others discover that power.")

and the humanist ideas that "we all have something to give."

I welcome comments, questions or requests for clarifications as well as expressions of interest in getting involved in what we're doing or in simply staying connected with what we're doing and sharing with us what you're doing. Thanks!