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I mentioned in last night's post that I was going to coffee with someone I haven't seen in a while. BobBi Keppel probably doesn't mind me using her name online, since if you go a Google search on her name you get pages and pages of entries. She's a big bisexual activist, so of course most of the conversation was about this conference and that article and what her activist friend from New Zealand did with coalition building in a rural community, with a sort of "aren't these problems similar to what's facing binne...." (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eor's and my mailing list) and when she got on that topic I suddenly got the fear of "oh my god she wants me to do activist stuff again."
I've gotten caught on her coat-tails before, and it wasn't good for me. I'm not cut out for putting a lot of my energy into vague goals and making nice with people and being a coalition builder - or at least it didn't seem to work for me last time I tried. Maybe some day in the future, when I'm a responsible adult. I admire her all to hell for having that ability. And I'm sure if I said to her that I felt a little pressured she'd say that wasn't what she was aiming at, she wasn't trying to get me started on that road. But it IS true that binne needs something to stay (become?) a viable and useful forum. The only thing people really have in common on the list is being bi and from the northeast US. That's not really a basis of conversation.
She also suggested that perhaps people might use binne as a way to talk about carpooling down to bi events in Boston, or making plans for attending the International Bisexual Conferance # 8 (in Minneapolis). These seem logical, but since I'm not going to do either of these things myself (go to Boston for a bi event or go to Minneapolis) it doesn't seem to make sense for me to begin that conversation.
And then, worst of all, she wants me to get involved with people who are planning to go to IBC8 to try to reassure them and help them with travelling by plane. Now, my airport doesn't do international flights (even though it's named Portland International Jetport - delusions of grandeur there, I think), so I know nothing about how difficult things are for international travellers. (If anyone who's reading this travels internationally quite often please speak up!) I said maybe I could go up the chain to my Director and see if he has any thoughts on who I could talk to, but I'm terrified of him and really don't want to bring his attention to me in any way. I've been trying hard to keep my head down all this time, and so far have the consolation that he looks at me like he can't remember my name. Hm. But I feel like I've got to provide some kind of intelligence for her.
Oh, and in other funny stuff - One of my co-workers, on Friday, suggested I should take my Sociology degree and see if I could get a job being a guidance counselor. I used to think that would be cool, but now that I'm older I don't think I have the patience.
eor's and my mailing list) and when she got on that topic I suddenly got the fear of "oh my god she wants me to do activist stuff again." I've gotten caught on her coat-tails before, and it wasn't good for me. I'm not cut out for putting a lot of my energy into vague goals and making nice with people and being a coalition builder - or at least it didn't seem to work for me last time I tried. Maybe some day in the future, when I'm a responsible adult. I admire her all to hell for having that ability. And I'm sure if I said to her that I felt a little pressured she'd say that wasn't what she was aiming at, she wasn't trying to get me started on that road. But it IS true that binne needs something to stay (become?) a viable and useful forum. The only thing people really have in common on the list is being bi and from the northeast US. That's not really a basis of conversation.
She also suggested that perhaps people might use binne as a way to talk about carpooling down to bi events in Boston, or making plans for attending the International Bisexual Conferance # 8 (in Minneapolis). These seem logical, but since I'm not going to do either of these things myself (go to Boston for a bi event or go to Minneapolis) it doesn't seem to make sense for me to begin that conversation.
And then, worst of all, she wants me to get involved with people who are planning to go to IBC8 to try to reassure them and help them with travelling by plane. Now, my airport doesn't do international flights (even though it's named Portland International Jetport - delusions of grandeur there, I think), so I know nothing about how difficult things are for international travellers. (If anyone who's reading this travels internationally quite often please speak up!) I said maybe I could go up the chain to my Director and see if he has any thoughts on who I could talk to, but I'm terrified of him and really don't want to bring his attention to me in any way. I've been trying hard to keep my head down all this time, and so far have the consolation that he looks at me like he can't remember my name. Hm. But I feel like I've got to provide some kind of intelligence for her.
Oh, and in other funny stuff - One of my co-workers, on Friday, suggested I should take my Sociology degree and see if I could get a job being a guidance counselor. I used to think that would be cool, but now that I'm older I don't think I have the patience.