The past two days I've worn my new SSA button on campus, hoping that people will recognize it and talk to me about it. The good news is that it has worked: I have had two people ask me about it, and we exchanged contact information and it looks like I'll have more than enough student signatures. This is what I have come to think of as fishing: wearing, doing, or saying something that will elicit a response from the kind of people I want to talk to.
For example, fishing for friends might involve wearing a nerdy t-shirt. Only nerdy people will get it, and by wearing it, I am signalling to them that I am also a nerdy person. They can therefore smile at or comment on my shirt, signalling to me that they got it and are nerdy. In this fashion I can find nerdy people with whom I might want to be friends. Other such strategies would involve listening to a certain kind of music, having a book on a table next to me or an image on my desktop that they might comment on. Or, for the more outgoing type, saying strange things loudly and in public, hoping people will comment. A favorite of ours, when there is a group of us, is to have one of us say "All together now," and for all of us to chime in with the word "Lesbian!" ... we haven't made any new friends this way, come to think, but we have gotten a lot of entertaining reactions, so it works out.
Anyway, I've been wearing the button as a sort of fishing. It's not exactly good manners to walk up to random people and ask if they're an atheist, or whatever other label you want to put on it. Hell, it's not even good manners to ask your friends, though I suppose with your close friends you probably already know. This is part of what had me stalling a bit on getting those student signatures-- how do you go about FINDING these people? The only reason I had any idea who to apprach for a faculty adviser is that I knew one of the physics professors had published a few books that were, at the very least, sympathetic.
So I've found two people, and by extension, probably enough charter members. Of course, it can't be that easy: both of these people have told me they had a friend who was "trying" to start an SSA group, and neither of those friends was the elusive Matt who initially ordered a group starting packet from the SSA. I, it seems, am the only one of the now FOUR people "trying to start" such a group that has been in contact with the SSA. Did I say it was like herding cats? And of course I know each of these four people will have a different vision of what this group ought to be, so I am hoping that the people I am bringing on board will, at least, be willing to be flexible, if not simply accept my leadership because I'm the one actually DOING something.
I'll be meeting again with Nate, the SSA board member, on friday, and I've invited the two I've found to join us. It is my hope that if we are meeting together from the beginning, there will be fewer clashes over differing visions down the road.
For example, fishing for friends might involve wearing a nerdy t-shirt. Only nerdy people will get it, and by wearing it, I am signalling to them that I am also a nerdy person. They can therefore smile at or comment on my shirt, signalling to me that they got it and are nerdy. In this fashion I can find nerdy people with whom I might want to be friends. Other such strategies would involve listening to a certain kind of music, having a book on a table next to me or an image on my desktop that they might comment on. Or, for the more outgoing type, saying strange things loudly and in public, hoping people will comment. A favorite of ours, when there is a group of us, is to have one of us say "All together now," and for all of us to chime in with the word "Lesbian!" ... we haven't made any new friends this way, come to think, but we have gotten a lot of entertaining reactions, so it works out.
Anyway, I've been wearing the button as a sort of fishing. It's not exactly good manners to walk up to random people and ask if they're an atheist, or whatever other label you want to put on it. Hell, it's not even good manners to ask your friends, though I suppose with your close friends you probably already know. This is part of what had me stalling a bit on getting those student signatures-- how do you go about FINDING these people? The only reason I had any idea who to apprach for a faculty adviser is that I knew one of the physics professors had published a few books that were, at the very least, sympathetic.
So I've found two people, and by extension, probably enough charter members. Of course, it can't be that easy: both of these people have told me they had a friend who was "trying" to start an SSA group, and neither of those friends was the elusive Matt who initially ordered a group starting packet from the SSA. I, it seems, am the only one of the now FOUR people "trying to start" such a group that has been in contact with the SSA. Did I say it was like herding cats? And of course I know each of these four people will have a different vision of what this group ought to be, so I am hoping that the people I am bringing on board will, at least, be willing to be flexible, if not simply accept my leadership because I'm the one actually DOING something.
I'll be meeting again with Nate, the SSA board member, on friday, and I've invited the two I've found to join us. It is my hope that if we are meeting together from the beginning, there will be fewer clashes over differing visions down the road.
No comments:
Post a Comment