UhhhDunkDunk [comrade/them]

I’d offer to clarify your goals for yourself and the group as a whole are as a first motion. What I mean is if the purpose of your group is to form connection it would probably look different than if it was to organize people. Do you think you’d like to try and get folks less knowledgeable about the cause or is this more for dedicated comrades who want to do more than 101 type introduction?

Technically, I started a leftist/communist book club like 2.5/ 3 years ago. it still exists, but has gone through several iterations and that had led me to varying levels of engagement throughout. Ours started cause I found out someone I loosely knew was a comrade, and I’m in a comrade deprived area- neither of us had read ‘state and revolution’, so we wanted to fix that- we’d meet weekly and go 25-40 pgs at a time, and met at a local bar and talk about the book, current events, life in general.

Sometimes it has been a small group of well read comrades with a clear ability to express what they are interested in and able to organize toward it spontaneously. Other times, me and some others have felt like nannies managing a conversation between libs or at least folks that have never heard the term ‘eco fascism’ for ex. Figuring out what you want it to be seems important because it will impact how you feel about it- is it a chore and a service that you are providing for the community or is it an escape and safe haven for comrades who are already active in the world?

I think the authentic connections are the starting point, at least have been for us. We spend 20+ min starting out by just talking about our weeks, normal humans supporting each other stuff and/or current events; then we bring up the book, talk about what we all got out of the chapters, and riff off each other’s ideas (we do not use structured guiding questions about the chapters or anything- but it is a word of mouth org. so a certain level of structure isnt needed); then we usually blend thoughts on the book and current events, before wrapping up generally 90-120 minutes after we started.

Hope something in there helps, I hope you keep us posted and have fun!

Oh wow, I haven’t seen this since I was a kid! Does Northern Exposure hold up? Worth another watch?

Just want to say so much solidarity and support I have for you as a fellow human being, such a relatable moment and still always such a big one. Already lots of great advise, so i’ll just piggy back on- What happened with my current partner and me(we were friends for 9-12 months at this point): one on one hang “Hey…I’m nervous to bring this up but its been on my mind recently…sometimes I think I have feelings for you that are beyond friendship. I don’t want to lose our friendship or make you uncomfortable and I still thought it was important that I bring that up with you.”

Fun fact- one of the single largest thing a person can do to calm their nervous system is to move slowly. Slow, intentional movements communicate to your brain that you are safe it can remain calm. When we move quickly, we are communicating urgency to our brain, which brain takes as- stay alert, something dangerous could be developing. Experimenting with your pace; and breathing patterns may be helpful also. I like the idea that if we want to change our internal state, we have to “seduce” ourselves into it. eg. I cannot go for a run at 10pm get home, jump into bed and command myself to ‘Sleep!’ and expect that to work. But I can ‘set the mood’, ‘curate a vibe’, whatever, I can put on soothing music or nature sounds, light candles, slow my breath, think about gratitudes, etc- all of these things are almost a form a self seduction. Hope something in there is helpful!

someone’s gotta be up at night, tho! Lots of theories around generational sleep patterns and teen-elderly sleep schedules leave very little time where someone isn’t just normally awake- teens naturally stay up late and prefer to sleep late, old folks naturally wake up early and sleep early.

Fun fact: Barter only seems to occur in human societies when a. markets were previously established b. those markets collapse. Check out David Graber’s ‘Debt: first 5000 yrs’ for more info. Most societies are debt based- as in people just do things for each other but keep basic accounts in there heads. Eg. You paid for dinner out last month, i’ll pay this month(doesn’t really matter how much was spent, the exactness isn’t very important) Or, my grandma makes the coolest knit socks, I’m gonna ask her to make some for me and then shes gonna have me do some yard work when i visit later.

Putin on the autism spectrum confirmed. Thanks libs!