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--- emerson:stone-soup:feed-the-hobo [2025/04/12 17:36] – naptastic
+++ emerson:stone-soup:feed-the-hobo [2025/07/06 06:07] (current) – [Goals] naptastic
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====What I Need====
+====Goals====
-I'm just putting this up top so it doesn't get lost.
+===Phase 1===
+  - A place of my own.
+    * It needs to be on a frequent bus route that takes me directly to church. Riding for an hour is fine; waiting 30 minutes is not.
+    * I need enough space that I can empty out my storage unit, hang up all my artwork, set up my lab and musical gear. A studio will not cut it. A one-bedroom would be adequate. I could make full use of a two-bedroom. More than that would be a waste.
+    * I need enough privacy that I can be awake or asleep at unusual hours and it's not going to bother anybody. I need to be able to play the accordion at 2:00 in the morning and it's not going to bother anybody. I need to be left alone almost all the time and people have to understand, solitude is part of the creative process. Forcing contact is just frustrating.
+    * I need to be able to have overnight guests.
+  - Health insurance. (Care //a la carte// is possible, but inadvisable.)
+  - Enough cash to pay bills, buy groceries, pay bus fare, and, generally, exercise basic agency.
+    * People are going to be **uptight** about this. There needs to be a single assigned person, and they are the only one who is allowed to tell me to be frugal. Otherwise, everyone and their dog are going to feel entitled to scrutinize and question my purchases.
+    * Honestly, I could do better in terms of being frugal. Someday I would like to do the entire Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, three different pies, and have it be the cheapest meal of the year. In the meantime I am practicing turning my computer off at night and reconfiguring things to use less electricity.
-This is a lot of plates to spin. There are some large parts that I simply have to do myself. I can't do it from Cypress.
+Salt Lake or Houston can satisfy this.
-I need a place of my own that is close enough to church I can get myself back and forth, preferably by a single bus ride. I need enough room that I don't have to have a storage unit anymore. I need enough room to set up two desks, one for audio work. I'm going to use that space to do some of the work I do for this church, so it's not optional.
+===Phase 2===
+Reinvesting our growth in helping more people.
-I need enough money that I can pay my bills, buy groceries, pay for medications. I'm not that expensive to keep around and you can trust me with cash. (Suggestions for other forms of assistance are going to meet with resistance from me. There's half a sermon about why, but for now, it's sufficient to say: **just give me my fucking agency**.)
+Covenant groups around:
+  * Empty bedrooms and getting people into them (temporary housing)
+  * Density, and the larger problem that **there isn't enough housing**
-How it gets structured matters. I have serious trust issues right now. Something needs to be in place that says the church can't change its mind and abandon me.
+At this point we're doing possibly three different things at the same time. That's okay as long as it's organized right.
+FUMC or Emerson can do this, though there would be substantially more friction at Emerson. (But FUMC has many fewer spare bedrooms.)
+===Phase 3===
+Scaling.
+**SCALING FAST IS NOT AS USEFUL AS GETTING COPIED.**
+Not gonna lie, Emerson kinda sucks at outreach. We would need, like, professional training for volunteers who are going to be liaisons to our partner organizations... FUMC already has most of that figured out.
+====Talking Points====
+(this is written kind of nastily. Sorry. That's just where I am right now.)
+  - Fixing the dysfunctional, car-dependent design of our cities is one of the biggest things we could do to fight climate change. But we're on the wrong side of basically all of it; why?
+  - Emerson dies if it does not feed the hobo. We all know the trajectory it's on. Are we brave enough to talk about why?
+    * No one wants to evangelize for a church with so little to recommend it.
+    * No one wants to be part of a church that calls itself a "community", but it's really everyone for themselves.
+    * No one is going to join a church that stood by, watched, and did nothing, while a long-time member, friend, and contributor, died in the streets.
+    * What's the point of the land acknowledgment every week if we're not going to pursue any kind of land justice?
+    * Is a person's worth really "inherent" if we put conditions on feeding and sheltering them?
+====Questions====
+  * How does this covenant (for lack of a better word) get structured? There is a LOT of trust to rebuild.
+  * Who is open to helping? There are multiple roles to play here: benefactor, advocate, organizer.
+  * Who would be more open to helping if they knew more people were on board?
+  * What talking points will reach which people?
+====Parameters====
+  * Structure, goddammit.
+  * Feedback and continuous course correction.
+  * Documentation of things as they happen.