Whatever comes of it, Bloomington RootsCamp is officially underway at 9a today. We got a plug in the campus newspaper this morning, so hopefully that will encourage some participation.
Drop by the local library today, the School of Informatics building tonight, or drive out to Ivy Tech Saturday for some political conversation.
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Friday, November 17
SESSION 1: “Campaigns” SESSION 2: “Legislation” SESSION 3: “Activism” |
Saturday, November 18
SESSION 4: “Local Politics” SESSION 5: “What’s Next?” See the full schedule for more detail. |
3 replies on “RootsCamp is underway!”
Session 1 Update
Hooray. It didn’t just turn out to be myself and Steve, who was extremely helpful in getting the word out this week. We also had six other people, including those with campaign and candidate experiences (even a former mayor).
Discussed were voting issues, social welfare as it impacts voting and information channels. The group surprised me by (a) writing on the board before I could make a grid, and (b) insisting that we don’t break up into groups for the first discussion. That’s the advantage to self-organization.
Session 2&3 Update
With a smaller group, we discussed a few more issues … Electoral College, Minimum Wage, Media Issues and Organization X (a placeholder name for a permanent organization that might arise from this forum). Only three people made the evening session at the School of Informatics, so we continued the discussion on Organization X, stopping about an hour earlier than scheduled.
The weak attendance for these two sessions didn’t take anything away from the great morning conversations and the sense that this idea has potential traction in the community. There are a lot of lessons learned from this first experience, however, that need to be addressed before taking this up again.
In a few hours, it is off to Ivy Tech to see who awaits us there.
2nd Day Update
Although the size never got as big as the first session, we had a mix of returnees and fresh voices on the second day sessions. No students, from either campus, though (including my Informatics colleagues … [insert guilt trip here]). Our conversations ranged from history of Bloomington politics to improving economic well-being to continued discussion about organizing a local group.
We closed the conference by making a short list of lessons learned and calls to action.
It proved to be a lot of time, a little investment in what turned out to be unnecessary resources, and a lot of anxiety. However, I got a foothold into the local activist scene, and some positive responses to this idea of diverse dialogue. Well worth the effort.