February 9
by Amy
I think I got it mixed up because the Induction Center event is tonight, not tomorrow night. I think I thought it was tomorrow night for some reason. I've spent the past few days thinking that today was actually tomorrow. Such has been the week.
Leslie might go. Coleman is definitely going. A few others from the group are going. There appears to be a mass consciousness thing that sometimes happens. Everyone is in agreement. We have to go tonight. There's excitement in the air about it.
Aside from the Spock thing, I'm going to start working on a position paper next week about the conventions. There's a core group of us, including Leslie... Five of us total... Which put together a statement by the group as to what we should do during the summer. I'm really excited about it. I feel like I've been lost over the past few weeks, smatterings here and there of different jobs... Keep your eye on this, get a consensus on that... I think the winter doldrums have hit most of us.
I suppose it's natural, after the success of last Fall, that things would ease off for a bit. Some of us didn't know what to do with it, I guess.
There's a certain dynamic I've noticed in my time in the Movement that loves the status of outsider. It's the difference between my earlier experiences in the Movement and what it's like now. Earlier, in that small group, they took a lot of pride in being outsiders, in knowing more than the "average person." They had a kind of group pride about it. They liked to think of themselves as being the common man, but you can't be a person among people and preach to them at the same time.
That's where the concept of rapping came from. Like, the time when my former friend came to talk to my Dad about philosophy. He didn't meet him on common ground. He wanted to preach to him, to tell him that his way of life and all that he stood for was wrong.
Now, when I talk to my Dad about politics, we talk like we're equals. He doesn't patronize me by stooping down to listen. Instead, we have an exchange. We meet eye to eye and talk about our observations.
I suspect that's what happens when rap sessions go wrong. No one wants to be preached at. Instead, it's got to be a simple thing, like this: "Hey, have you noticed that... is happening?" Let people come to their own conclusions. That kind of thing.
It'll be good to go tonight. Hope I see a few others I know. I don't plan on telling Coleman about the paper. He's been asking a lot of pesky questions lately. It's easy to forget that he's a journalist as well.
