[sudo-discuss] Telling Oakland stories in Sudo space: my own part 1 of (?)

[Sonja Trauss]

What's the rest of the story -
You: "What did you think of that?"
Eugene: "of what?"
You: ?????
What did you say, "the fight"?
Then what did he say ?

On Tuesday, November 19, 2013, Pete Forsyth wrote:

> All:
>
> In the spirit of Rhodey's recent message,[1] I'd like to share an Oakland
> vignette of my own, about a pool league I recently joined. But first,
> here's why:
>
> I began to get especially excited about Sudo Room when I started to
> realize it aspires to be more than just a bunch of computer geeks coming
> together to hack computery stuff (awesome enough in itself) -- that it also
> wants to be a community that hacks *life* together. Meeting chefs and
> filmmakers was the first wave for me, and then I started hearing heatlfelt
> and inspired talk about stuff like social change and engaging with local
> government. Yeah!
>
> Many of us, though, are new, or newish, to Oakland. And we are people who
> want to have a positive impact on the world around us. But Oakland is a
> place with deep history and culture, and on a pretty basic level, it would
> be...impolite...to come to a party and immediately start trying to change
> what it is. So the desire to get to KNOW Oakland is one that resonates very
> strongly with me, as an important first step before contemplating ways to
> INFLUENCE Oakland. I think sharing stories is a powerful way (among others)
> to get to know something complex and multifaceted.
>
> Anyway, enough of the philosophizing. I want to tell you guys a little bit
> about the pool league I joined a couple months back.
>
> Apparently, there have been several Oakland/East Bay pool leagues over the
> last 30 years or so (where each team has a home bar, and competes weekly
> over a scheduled season). Right now, there's only one league (or at least,
> only one connected with this community). It's coed, it's a 30 week season
> (we're about 9 weeks in), it's run by a woman who has run an all-women's
> league but just started this one, and it will culminate in a trip to Reno
> for all participants. By now, having played against all the other teams,
> and can say I am truly the only white person in the league;[2] and I think
> I'm also unique (more or less) in my connection/familiarity with
> Internet/hacker culture.
>
> I've played in a pool league before, but it's been 10 or 15 years. As this
> league was forming, I heard about it from a number of regulars at my local
> bar in Emeryville -- the organizer, and a number of people who have ended
> up on various teams in the league. There was some buzz about it, and I
> ended up joining a team that plays out of an East Oakland bar.
>
> The first couple weeks passed pretty quietly. Weeks 3 and 4, though, got
> rowdy! Lots of arguments in various games, and of course, there was some
> inertia to it -- the overall mood became increasingly tense each night. I
> felt cautious about this -- as a newcomer, I was reluctant to be involved
> in the arguments -- I was still getting to know the vibe and the people.
> But that only goes so far. I felt a responsibility to the integrity of the
> game (I know the rules better than many in the league, who are more
> familiar with "bar rules" than "league rules"); and moreover, a
> responsibility to my team. I have to advocate for myself in my own games --
> that's part of what I showed up to do -- and there are situations where I
> have to step it up on behalf of my teammates, too. To keep it short, weeks
> 3 and 4 were were it "got real" for me.
>
> In week 5, there was a new twist: my friend Eugene, who's recently been
> taking photography classes (and who hasn't played pool in a competitive
> context), had been asking about coming to take some photos, and was finally
> able to make it to a match. I had run this by the league coordinator and a
> couple teammates, so I was confident our bases were covered -- but after
> the hot tempers of the preceding weeks, I was nervous! Were we now in a
> new, hypercompetitive mode where the slightest detail is going to lead to a
> shouting match? Is it OK to introduce a new and unfamiliar element to a
> volatile situation? What kind of effect will it have?
>
> Fortunately, overall it was a super mellow night. Both teams seemed
> relaxed. I found myself lining up laid back blues tracks on the jukebox
> between my games, and caught several of my teammates and opponents nodding
> their heads or singing along throughout the evening.
>
> But one moment was an exception. I was watching a teammate's game, and
> felt a surge of adrenaline as a dispute broke out about whether her
> opponent had made a clean hit.[3] I had seen the shot clearly, and knew
> what I'd seen, but there were enough eyes on the table and enough people in
> the discussion that I was happy to sit back and watch it play out. But I
> did notice that Eugene, who had begun to hit his stride with the camera,
> was continuing to snap pictures. I was thinking this might be weird, but
> nobody else seemed fussed over it, so I stayed passive, just taking it all
> in. The players were raising their voices, talking over each other,
> captains and teammates had stepped up to the table to weigh in. Most of the
> 10 players present were involved in an escalating argument.
>
> After a couple minutes things started to wind down -- an agreement had
> been reached. The players got back to their game, but people continued
> talking about the shot. Eugene came close enough that I could grab his
> elbow. "What did you think of that?" I asked. Eugene and I have a shared
> passion for sports, and I was certain that he would have an opinion --
> maybe not of the substance of the dispute, but at least something about the
> dynamics among the various players. But he gave me a blank look. "Of what?"
>
> In that simple statement, it hit me: between the jargon/etiquette of the
> game of pool and the cadence of the Ebonics,[4] there is a world I have
> come to know much better than I did a few months ago. I don't know that I
> understand it *well* -- I'm not sure if that's even possible without having
> grown up in this community! I still find myself in situations almost every
> day where I haven't the slightest idea what the people around me are
> talking about. But without realizing it, I had become much more highly
> attuned to what was going on, at least in that situation.
>
> Ever since, that moment has stuck with me. As I walk down the street, get
> a sandwich at the corner store, or ride the bus, I've been asking myself:
> how much of what I see and hear is fitting together? Do I understand what's
> going on here? Fully? Or a little bit? Who is trying to get whose number,
> what happened to that boy in school today, why is that woman laughing? What
> would I have been able to perceive when I moved here last spring? And I'm
> starting to realize: it's rarely true, actually, that I haven't the
> *slightest* idea. I might not understand everything, but as time passes I
> understand more. To me, that's pretty exciting, because beginning to
> understand helps unlock the possibility of participating in a relaxed and
> genuine way. And if I'm going to be here, it's important to me to *be here.*
>
> I'm curious to hear from others who are relatively new to Oakland, how
> your process of getting to know it is going.
>
> -Pete
>
> p.s. Want to help support the league...or have an itch to gamble? We have
> a raffle going on! Tickets are $1, and must be purchased by Thursday
> evening. The prize is a Thanksgiving turkey -- and I can inquire about
> Tofurky or other alternatives if necessary ;) Proceeds go toward making the
> Reno trip at the end of the season...well, the word that comes to mind
> is..."mo'betta."
> p.p.s. Want to PLAY in the league? I think some teams have lost players to
> shifting work schedules etc. Let me know, and I can see if there are
> openings!
>
> ----
> NOTES
>
> [1]
> http://lists.sudoroom.org/pipermail/sudo-discuss/2013-November/004593.html
> [2] Since race has been a sensitive issue lately, let me be clear: I
> believe racial relations have an important, maybe even central, role in
> Oakland history and culture. I have never had great exposure to any black
> community before, and am trying to take it in for what it is, and -- to the
> best of my ability -- leave preconceptions behind. I do not claim to be
> perfect at this.
> [3] If you're not familiar with the "ball in hand" rule in competitive
> pool: if you don't hit one of your own balls first (stripe/solid), your
> opponent can place the cue ball anywhere on the table and take the next
> shot. As you might imagine, sometimes it's very hard to tell which ball was
> struck first, so this is a common point of contention.
> [4] OK, I'm more than a little self-conscious about this term. I am eager
> for input! It's a term people seem to use casually in this community, but
> I'm not sure how it's taken elsewhere. I think it carries a lot of baggage.
> But, there's definitely a dialect here that can be difficult for me to
> understand. I'm not sure what are the best words to use for it.
>
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