While in Philadelophia for First Friday, I caught a few moments that were interestingly lit. In this case I took some of the harsh alley lights and tweaked them into a portal opening. Enjoy!
Category: curriculum vitae
This is my Curriculum Vitae. If it will help you to understand what I have accomplished, it’s in this list.
Categories
My recent work with Que Publishing
I made some videos earlier this year.
I had the great pleasure earlier this year of working with Que Publishing to develop and release several video how to products about WordPress and Raspberry Pi. You can see some samples here: I really enjoyed the experience of walking to the studio in San Francisco. The air was so warm, and the food was so very good and fresh. It made it a joy to work in the studio and come out into the bright sunshine.
I loved it. It wasn’t until recently that I had an opportunity to reflect on my experience, and it was really healing. Thanks to Que and Pearson for the professionalism and gratitude that I was shown in that process. It was a delight to get to know all of you.
“John LeMasney is a designer, artist, writer, poet, technologist, consultant, open web advocate and open source evangelist. He is most interested in helping people to use technology to make their lives, work, and world better.” found in John LeMasney | Que at http://goo.gl/dzID3i
Explain like I’m 5: is this library meeting room policy a reasonable representation of librarianship?
(Some) policies exist in (some) NJ libraries that prevent a patron from walking in and requesting a room because of the content of the meeting, e.g. the meeting is for the purpose of conducting business (defined as the exchange of money for services).
Under this policy, co-working in the library, for instance, is prohibited.
The reason: “if we were to allow anyone in to use our facilities for any purpose, we would be overwhelmed and inundated with people who were not paying for the service. Small businesses should support themselves elsewhere”.
Agree, or disagree, and why?
Contingency case details
Public Library system, municipal, large facility with many (at least 10) open, observed as generally unused meeting rooms, all of which fit between 10-50 people. I am interested in other cases.
The conflict
I would go to this library out of mutual convenience for a quiet, neutral, clean space to work with an elderly client. I have been meeting at least twice a month for months there. Surreptitiously.
We would meet quietly, in one of the vast, empty general community spaces (e.g. gallery) on a bench, I was chased from the bench twice, so started meeting in the empty meeting rooms, from which I was chased to sign up for the room, because someone might see people in the room and assume there was a conflict with their room reservation.
I explained that in that case I would simply relocate to one of the other huge empty rooms without bothering staff or patrons with paperwork or a request. I got a rolling-eyes response. They have heard this before.
And then, I complied. Well, really, I just lied.
I gave in and went thorough the multipage form, presenting identification, reasoning and content for the meeting (meeting with a friend to discuss technology), and time required. I came away from the process with serious philosophical reservations about the policy. After several sign-ups, essentially a initial signature in subsequent visits, I still was confronted with questions and doubts about my intentions.
My generalized response was “What business is it of yours, exactly, what I talk about in a private meeting?” I was told that it was a policy driven series of questions, and that I should not be offended or concerned unless I am doing something wrong. I was very clear that I was not doing anything wrong, but still breaking policy.
Money is exchanged in the meeting for consulting work, the key element of dismissal of the request: e.g. no meetings for the purposes of business.
I argued that everyone in the library at the time is there for the purposes of productivity and that the exchange of money has little influence on the use. I am a member of the library essentially for this purpose, co-working. It is a long standing tradition, as I understand it, in libraries. Providing space to do work safely and quietly. I was told that those people were not requesting rooms. This is when I rolled my eyes.
There is no cafe there. There is a quietude policy cast over most of the floor. You walk into the 1970s upon entering. I am not saying this to disparage the library, but rather to give you a feel for the atmosphere. Lots of stacks, a few old PCs, no windows to speak of.
I go for the free wifi and the (fairly uncomfortable) chairs.
Those exist elsewhere, including other libraries (problem solved), but also in any cafe, fast food restaurant, bookstore, many parking lots, and of course, at my office. However, those are not neutral, freely available spaces. Neutrality is a gift of libraries.
At the predictive idea that those interested in the use of the library for business could easily go to a McDonalds and get exactly the same service (or demonstrably better) without signatures and with cheap coffee, I was told by the director to go do that.
And so, I will. In particular, I will quickly go to other libraries as i do now in order to have these kinds of meetings.
Librarians, please explain like I’m 5. Am I overreacting, or is this a part of the death of libraries?
- Jedediah Higgins House, Princeton, NJ, Interior, Buddha and lotus wall piece, cc-by lemasney
A very good friend asked me, “Who are you, now?” She asks because I had a major life event this year, in February, that changed my life. I gained some clarity about the answer, and here it is.
I am a consciousness here.
I believe that I am a part of the universe, a part like any other, moving along, exchanging materials, nutrients, and other effects, as best I can. I work towards the end of my time, making notes of my insights and ideas, so that my experience and record can potentially further the rest of us, and their ancestry, and so on.
I am a part of a collective cooperative evolution.
Our experiences are a collective knowledge. We are just starting to see tools, like Google, whose effort is to collect and make available the knowledge of the whole. It is an exciting time in mental evolution. It is moving quickly, and becoming unstoppable. I am relieved by this. Now for the process to maintain or improve its ethics is my new concern.
What is the purpose of life?
The purpose of life is to make it better than it was. To grow what is here into something better than all of us could individually. If our society saw this, we would change what we know as education, and let people simply be and grow into whatever they would like. I did not get that realization until later in life:
I am not wrong; I am not right. I just am. I am not everything, nor nothing. I just am.
I feel like I am a good organism, as opposed to a virus. I feel like I leave my ecosystem better than I find it. It is the best aspiration I can think of: To be a good organism; I’m a beneficial part of a holistic system.
This helps me to make many decisions. For instance, I want to be cremated because I feel like that would be just one more thing I could do, quite literally: to fertilize and help grow that which comes after me. I want to do this in life, as well.
Who are you, now?
“After a few weeks off, John LeMasney and Brian Kelley return for another episode of Technology and the Arts, as they continue to take you behind the scenes of the creative process of a collaborative music project. Watch live starting at around 10:20 pm ET on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015.” found in Technology and the Arts – Ep. 78 (10.22.2015) – YouTube at
In this episode, John and Brian talk about updates in local arts, their adventures with Ardour, and their new plan to start bringing ideas together for the collaborative song project.
I loved this capture. I love this time of day, 4 or 5 pm in the afternoon, that magic hour of light. With the curtains being sunlight-proof, the sunlight has to be crafty to get in. I can always tell when it is 4:30 or so, because of that certain slant of light. Today, I caught it. Here, it’s for you. It wants you to have it. It’s yours.