Pop Voxx, Comic Relief and the Kardashian Family

Had another glorious music session today (actually, last Friday) with the recording crew from Nightsound Studios. Today was spent mostly with Sequence/Production Star, Adrianna Villa, as we recorded 'Maestro' Dylan Alexzander Turner doing the bass for 'Caribbean Sunrise.'

Chris Wimberley (Ober-everything-no-that-button) joined us later. Along with Studio Manager Maven/Co-Editing Elf Princess, Meghan Puryear - who does not like having her picture taken; I snuck one through the glass, of almost half her face (yay!).

Fellow Co-Editing Elf Princess, Geneva Walata, was not with us today. Hope she's ok. One or two of the rest of us were not having our bestest day.

So. We have drums almost edited on all six tracks (drumming courtesy of 'Pyro' Rob J. DiMauro). Keys tracked on three and a half songs ('Harpsicord?!' Gabriel Reynolds). Bass on four. And guitar (Hugh Swaso, also apparently known as 'The Swasinator') yet to begin.

Few bits and pieces, bit more percussion, some digital instrumentation, mixing and mastering, and we should be ready for the Grand EP Release/Showcase Party in June or July, when Pop Voxx / Geoff Gilson [Mark II] will feature a full band.

The session today was dedicated to Pharrell Williams. I will be sending him a completed version of the EP, and inviting him to steal whatever he likes.

In the meantime, I have a song going round in my head, where the lyrics go:

"I feel happy,
When you blur the lines,
I get lucky,
When you blur the lines."

The working title of the song is: "He's Dead; Won't Notice." Or is it too soon ... ??

You will notice that, in all of the pictures in the collage above, I am wearing a silly red nose. My lovely twin sister, Maggi, sent me this, along with other assorted goodies, to celebrate UK Comic Relief. I am especially proud of the fact that I have now mastered the bathroom selfie. I am the Kardashian!

Worker Input, Elections and Ownership

I know that my fellow WSM co-worker buddies can always find something more useful to do with the WSM employee Market Messenger other than actually reading it.

But this time, this week, please read your MM. It is full of ways for workers to make a difference in the co-op we half-own.

First up, the survey inviting us (finally) to design how we workers want to be included in decision-making in our co-op is here. Details in the MM.

The best part is that your manager has to make time for you, on the clock, to complete the survey online.

You have to fill it in before March 23. And peeps. If you don't offer your views, then you're going to get an input process designed by someone else.

Next up, invitation for folks to become a Worker-Owner Director. Oh, but I'm not qualified. Bollocks. If you spend more than five minutes a week thinking you know how to make WSM work better, then you're as qualified as anyone on the Board. That's the beauty of co-operatives: we're all equal.

If you're not yet a Worker-Owner, and you want to share in the profits you earn, to vote or even, one day, to stand for the Board, ask your manager how to become a Worker-Owner.

We say we want fairness, to be involved, to have a say. Some of us worked really hard to make The Weave more of a co-op, where workers can have a voice. But you have to take part to exercise that voice.

Read the Market Messenger this week to find out how ...

Who Is A Hero?

I worry a lot. I worry that loved ones will die, and leave me alone. I worry I'll lose facility. I worry I won't have enough money to survive. I worry about what happens after death. Heck, I worry if I'll have a job on Monday. A girlfriend on Tuesday. And a hit single next Friday (that I didn't copy from Marvin Gaye).

But then I find an iconic corner of my apartment, which is full of iconic corners (note the gaudy pic!). Or, I step outside. Breathe the air. Gaze up at the sky. Remind myself that the universe is now estimated to be some 17 billion light years across. That I am at one and the same time infinitesimally microscopic and impossibly unique. That I am fragile and irreplaceable. Have not the first clue who I am or how I got here. But that I am here. Life is beautiful. I am magical. And all I can do is marvel and enjoy.

I have no control over what was, what is or what will be. I had no choice about the gifts I was given. My health. My family. Or the dimension in which I find myself. The only control I have is whether or not I choose to be grateful, to laugh and to enjoy life.

We are conditioned to believe that heroes are people who achieve greatly. Who are what we envy. Who do what we can only dream about.

But life's greatest challenge. And perhaps the reason for this mortal coil. Is to put aside envy. Overcome fear. Accept the hand we have been dealt. Own it. Love it. Laugh about it. And fully enjoy it. For when we do that, we have truly become our own hero.

Look. I've got a heavy spring cold, and eight hours of washing dishes to look forward to. It was either this little bit of inspiration or another rerun of Alien 3 ...

'Maggie's Hammer' - The Cover Design (Update)

We made a few changes today to the cover design for The Book. To make Maggie more evil. My name a little more prominent. And the whole design a tad more professional. What d'ya think?

Communication, Decisions, Employees - Yay!!

Thank you Ruffin Slater, General Manager of Weaver Street Market Co-op. Never thought you'd hear me say that, eh?

Ruffin very kindly took time out of his Sunday to bring to me an advance copy of an employee questionnaire, notice of which will likely be thudding into WSM employee's mailboxes later this week.

Please pay attention!

This questionnaire offers all WSM employees the opportunity to help design the very communication and input processes I have been campaigning for the past couple of years.

But, this is not about me. This is about you. The designing will only happen if you get involved. If you go online (I do believe it will be an online questionnaire), if you actually answer the questions.

Don't look to me. My involvement was to help create the space to allow you good folks to have your say about what you want to see by way of better communication and more inclusion in decision-making in your co-op.

Having achieved that, I now stand back, make no suggestions of my own, and leave it to you. If you do nothing, then nothing will happen.

I have ideas. If you want to know them, write to me privately on Facebook, or at geoffgilson@hotmail.com. I'll share. But not publicly. Not for any sinister reason. But because I'm not going to hog the space that has been created.

So. Banging the drum does pay off. But it takes two to tango. So, a huge thank you to Ruffin, and to those who have helped him create this questionnaire. Actually, just to keep on, this is a three-person dance, and you good people are the third dancer.

I'm really excited. And for good reason. So excited, I'm going to share two of the questionnaire's stated goals which most reflect what we've been trying to do:

"GOAL: There is an effective, resilient, and user-friendly communication framework that serves as a foundation for improving communication."

And,

"GOAL: There is an on-going employee feedback process that solicits input and ideas, processes it effectively, and implements suggestions that further our goals."

I repeat. I'm thrilled. Now, it's over to you fellow co-workers. Keep a look-out. Read the Market Messenger this Thursday.

[You will notice the continuing Charlie Chaplin theme with the attached pic. He is happy. And he's giving a flower to a lady, to celebrate International Women's Day. A huge thank you to all the lovely women who make my life more glorious. For your compassion and your support.]

Extended Hot Bar - Employee Inclusion

The decision to double the size of the Hot Bar in all Weaver Street Market Co-op outlets is precisely why we have a WSM co-op policy demanding the inclusion of Weave employees in decision-making. Why I am advocating so strenuously for its implementation. And why our General Manager is resisting.

Because the people who are making the decisions at the moment are not the grunts who are busting ass to do twice as much work.

Price Rises - Employee Inclusion

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. And then sigh. A letter to the WSM General Manager, which is self-explanatory:

"Hey Ruffin,

It never rains when it pours. Contrary to popular misconception, I don't like to rant, I don't like confrontation. But sometimes, you and WSM management make it very difficult.

We had a great store meeting in Southern Village at the end of last year. Communication. Two-way. And promise of more. I've had a couple of good meetings with you. When I thought we had understanding about the very clear WSM Board Policy demanding that employees be involved in decision-making that affects their workplace. You talk about Slack in the last Market Messenger. I wasn't happy there was no discussion with employees before its implementation. But it is at least some form of better operational communication.

And then, a box of new price tags for bakery is dumped in the store this Sunday afternoon, without any warning or discussion. Nothing on Slack. Nothing in the Market Messenger. No department or store meeting. No memo of explanation, let alone inclusion in decision-making. It's as if the word 'communication' had been translated into Sanskrit and tossed in the trash can.

With price rises of pastries and bread some as high as 25%, there is no way this can be classed simply as an operational decision. It affects the very business plan of our co-op, and becomes policy. Frankly, that doesn't make any difference. It is clearly a decision that affects our workplace, and we were not involved. And that is in contravention of WSM co-op policy.

Not giving us any information is just counter-productive. Much is made of our providing good customer service. How can we do that when you do not give us the tools? Moreover, asking your employees to face customers tomorrow with no information, no explanation and no support is not merely undemocratic, un-cooperative and counter-productive, it is just plain rude.

I can't tell you what to do. But in your shoes, I would seriously be considering a full apology in the next Market Messenger. What I can do is, once again, point out that this decision was in contravention of WSM Board Policy requiring that WSM employees be included in decisions which affect their workplace.

I would be grateful if there could be a very full invitation to all employees in the next Market Messenger, in accordance with the full terms of the said Board Policy, asking employees to offer their input in designing the means by which this Policy will be properly implemented throughout the co-op.

If such an invitation is not in the next Market Messenger, then I formally request that my Formal Complaint in this matter be moved to Appeal, and that it be placed on the agenda for the WSM Board Meeting in March, where I should be allowed to address the Appeal in person, and request that the Board comply with the provisions of the Board Policy in question, and instruct you immediately to put in place a process to consult formally with employees in designing the manner in which the Board Policy will be implemented.

All the best,
Geoff"

[Don't even have a funny. Just the caveat. These are my views. And I'm allowed to present them publicly.]

Slack Is As Slack Does

The continuing saga of digital communication (Slack) and employee inclusion within Weaver Street Market Co-operative.

In our most recent WSM employee Market Messenger, we employees were finally told what this new digital communication within WSM is all about. Good thing. Since we were not involved in the decision to implement it. Occasion for a further missive to our General Manager:

"Hey Ruffin,

Thank you for the explanation about Slack in the WSM employee 'Market Messenger' today. I get that it is a communication tool to help relay WSM operational information. My department manager very kindly took the time to explain that to me after the e-mail I sent to you on January 27. The explanation from you both still does little to allay my concern that it was yet one more decision taken without involving employees, in contravention of WSM co-op policy.

That said, while I remain grateful for being told what Slack is for, I want us to be clear about is what it is not. It is not a tool of accountability for decisions taken by WSM management. It is not a policy-making forum. It is not a substitute for department meetings and store meetings. And it is not a substitute for implementation of the WSM co-op policy that demands that all employees be involved in the making of decisions which affect their workplace and employment.

In regards to the latter, I am a little disappointed not to have seen any indication of what I thought we had agreed at our meeting, namely, some effort to invite employees to offer their input on what implementing that co-op policy should should look like, in terms of processes and structures. Are we going to see something soon?

All the best,
Geoff"

We chip away. Sigh. We chip away ...

[Usual caveats: I am not responsible for the groundhog declaring six more weeks of winter. It's not my fault WSM is not planning to build a new outlet in Havana. And these are my views, no-one else's.]

The Chapel Hill Killings - Lessons

I'm sorry, but it is never too early to be discussing lessons. Especially not in the current world of ADD, where folks move on as soon as the headlines disappear. For me, the two primary lessons to learn are: own responsibility and get involved.

What. No rant about Muslim-haters, police cover-up, irresponsible media reporting? No. Well, some about the latter a bit later. But, no. Why? Because you can't change what you can't change. What you have to do is own responsibility for what you can change, and get involved to change it.

No-one has, or will ever have, the slightest notion of what goes on or was going on in the head of Craig Stephen Hicks. Almost nothing is served by trying to find out now. Of course it was a hate crime. The man hated. Does it really change one dot, tittle or iota of anything to have a long. unseemly, pointless debate about whether it was parking he hated, or Muslims?

You can not legislate the way people feel, including hatred. What you can do is legislate the way they demonstrate their feelings. And this man had been demonstrating feelings for yonks.

I have only the greatest of compassion for Deah, Yusor and Razan. But their deaths should never have occurred. They should have reported Hicks to the police long before the evening of February 10. This man was banging on the doors of all the neighbors, complaining about parking, with a gun on his hip. That is creating a fracas. Call the police.

It doesn't matter whether he hated this neighbor more than another. The moment his hatred took a form that was breaking the law, or just causing disruption and fear, the police should have been called. And the awful events of February 10 likely would never have occurred. For sure, the police are reporting that they never received any complaints about Hicks.

By the same token, if Hicks was concerned about parking, he should have spoken with the apartment office or called the police himself. I live in an apartment complex. We are under strict instructions from our office and the police not to have discussions with neighbors about matters of conflict. But instead to call the police and report the matter to the office. Precisely so as to avoid confrontation.

What if you fear the police? Ok. Not a stupid question. I am one in the town neighboring Chapel Hill (Carrboro, NC), along with others, who are trying to implement a process of citizen design of policing, specifically because of concerns, locally and nationally, with the nature of some policing approach.

Ok. But, if you want less of a police presence in your neighborhood, then you have to engage in community self-policing. I read that a community meeting was held to discuss Hicks. What happened? Nothing. Why? Because folks don't follow through. We need to.

To digress for a moment, the moves in Carrboro, NC have come to a bit of a halt, because the next community meeting with our local police chief is not due until June. I know it is not going to be possible simply to turn up in June and expect people to pick up where we left off from the last community forum. One can not be passive in one's interest. I know that one or more of us will have to work assiduously for the month before that community forum in June to re-interest folk, get some control of the agenda and the like. Advocacy, change, improvement takes work and vigilance, not just a post or two on Facebook.

I said I'd come back to the media. I specifically want to address the earlier article, talking about Hicks's obsession with parking. You can't change people. Can't make them less weird. But journalists can stop writing self-evident nonsense.

The article itself reads stupidly. Even if Hicks turns out to be the most complicated individual in history, it is incumbent on journalists actually to read what they write. I know a bit about this. My book is currently undergoing what my publisher calls editing for consistency. I call it destroying a work of timeless art. Yes. We are having a parking dispute. But, the point is, he won't let me write crap.

How on earth can a journalist write that Hicks was a champion for the rights of individuals, when he is also described as lacking any compassion? How can he be a liberal, who turns up on neighbor's doorsteps, toting a gun?

It's not good enough to say, well, that is what folks said to the journalist. Just because people talk nonsense does not mean a journalist has to write it. Journalism of this low quality merely causes confusion and misunderstanding.

Of course there is some question as to the mental balance of Hicks himself. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a journalist saying, whoa, either I report that Hicks was a likely schizophrenic, and report the inconsistencies, or I say, I can't blithely accept these contradictory reports.

Why should a journalist get that involved, I hear you ask? He's just a journalist. And I respond, he's a journalist, in a position of some authority, contributing to analysis and understanding. We need all of us to own responsibility for what we say, and do, and what we do not do.

Again, I know a bit about this. My book results from one thing. I saw stuff around me that did not make sense. I investigated. I asked questions. If we all stand by passively, then bad stuff will go on happening. If something does not make sense, the chances are, it does not make sense. Get stuck in, and find out why. And it starts with people like journalists. So, I do not let the writer of this article off the hook that lightly.

There are lessons to be learned from the tragedy of the Chapel Hill killings. The first is that it was a crime. A heinous crime. But a crime. Not a religious war. It was a crime that could have been avoided. And that can be avoided again. Not with grand protests, marches, or new legislation. But by ordinary folk, you and I, taking an interest, giving a damn, owning responsibility and getting involved, in a purposeful way.

#IamDeah #IamYusor #IamRazan

Murder In Chapel Hill, NC - Who Are We?

Three Muslim college students shot dead in Chapel Hill, NC. This is not who we are. Not in Chapel Hill. Not in North Carolina. Not in the United States.

Back in 2006, I interviewed a Muslim college student from UNC on my radio show, on WCOM, Carrboro and Chapel Hill's community radio station. She was part of a movement to promote understanding between Jewish and Muslim students on campus.

There we were, a Muslim girl, a lapsed Catholic and my two Jewish co-hosts, laughing, being irreverent with each other, and seeing the world through rose-tinted spectacles.

That is who we are. But is it?

For we are the same North Carolina where, just recently, Duke University refused a request to permit a Muslim call to prayer from its chapel tower. The same North Carolina that so condones murder that we permit state murder as restitution for individual capital crime.

We are the same United States that witnesses some 32,000 gun deaths a year. And that has tens of thousands of its military personnel camped out in the Middle East.

There will be many calls today and in the coming weeks for calm, for peace, for Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the United States to renew and reflect our shared values. But precisely what are the values that we are sharing with our own citizens, and with the rest of the world?

Deah Shaddy Barakat came to UNC to learn how to be a dentist. So that he could help to look after fellow human beings. His wife, Yusor Mohammad, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, were also at university; not to learn how to hate, but as part of a process of making the world a better place.

And we killed them. We may not have pulled the trigger. But we are part of an American society that nurtured their death, every bit as much as their actual killer, Craig Stephen Hicks, nursed some perverse hatred in his heart, whether over a parking dispute or something more sinister, it really doesn't matter.

This is who we are. As Chapel Hill residents. As North Carolinians. As Americans. Until we make it different.

Today, I am Deah. I am Yusor. I am Razan. But I am also Craig Stephen Hicks. And I am ashamed.

#IamDeah #IamYusor #IamRazan

[The attached pic is of a vigil organized at short notice, and attended by students and faculty of UNC and townspeople of Chapel Hill. The Facebook Event Page for the vigil stated that some 5,500 people would be attending. This is a true indication of the spirit of those townspeople and of UNC itself.]

#IamDeah #IamYusor #IamRazan

Today, I am not Charlie. Today, I am Deah. And Yusor. And Razan.

#‎IamDeah‬ ‪#‎IamYusor‬ ‪#‎IamRazan‬

Poverty: The Human Equivalent of Climate Change?

The attached article caught my eye, especially the sections set out below, for the reasons stated afterwards:

Doctor Sir Harry Burns was the Scottish government’s chief medical officer for nine years until 2014 and he has made the study of health inequalities in society the defining characteristic of his lifetime of work. He wants governments to underpin their approach to meeting the challenge of deprivation with science. “The seeds of deprivation are sown very early in life. Chaos and uncertainty and poor parenting produce a range of biochemical processes that lead to a reduced ability to learn, to engage socially, and to an increased exposure to acquiring chronic disease in later life. We’re seeing this in some parts of Glasgow,” he says.

“Studies have shown that the brains of young animals which are neglected or exposed to threat develop differently. The parts of the brain connected to learning and empathy don’t develop properly. In the field of genetics it’s been shown that the lower down the social scale you are, the faster your DNA ages. All around the world where people have looked at this there is a consistent story. Difficult circumstances in early life lead to bad outcomes, and not just in health.

“There is nothing special about Glasgow. We’ve just had a bigger dose of this. When people lose their traditional ways of living, when they are disconnected from their traditional structures, they take drugs and start fighting. When you talk to young men of 17 and 18 in places like Polmont Young Offenders Institution, they consider their lives finished.”

It is a part of my narrative that we correct social dysfunction by finding solution to the immediate problem, without emotive reference to and the granting of exceptions due to historical disadvantage and prejudice.

For example, I believe the answer to the bad relationship in some parts of the US between police and the communities they serve is best addressed by notions such as citizen design of policing. And, if we improve the behavior of police towards all, then no special exemptions need to be entertained with respect to a community which talks of 400 years of oppression, risk and prejudice.

But, what if I’m wrong? What if disadvantage causes not merely an immediate emotional dysfunction, but a long-term medical one? Is it the case that exceptions should be made? Or, that I am still right (so that we do not create new inequalities)? But that any addressing of social justice inequality counts for nothing if not accompanied by dramatic improvement in economic circumstance and opportunity? Can I truly divorce the two?