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

[Sonja Trauss]

Oh. Lol. Then again it wasn't because you didn't understand Ebonics, it was
because he didn't understand pool.

Maybe I didn't read the story right, what was the Ebonics part about?


On Wednesday, November 20, 2013, Pete Forsyth wrote:

> Ah sorry, I was unclear. He was completely oblivious that any discussion
> of significance had happened at all. There was talk all through the match
> -- but this was actual disagreement about the substance of the game. For
> somebody interested in competition, this is an interesting thing --
> something to take note of if you are aware it's happening. A disagreement
> about a shot that engages nearly all the players present is unusual and
> significant. (I discussed this with my teammates afterward as well, who
> were similarly surprised and amused that he hadn't noticed that there was a
> disagreement.)
>
> In general, what you suggest is accurate -- I do, often enough, find
> myself surprised and uncomfortable with heated discussion (generally it's
> when I don't fully understand what's going on, I'm usually fine with it if
> I have a good grasp of things.) But in this case, that wasn't the issue --
> something significant happened, and there was exactly one person present
> who wasn't aware of it.
>
> Pete
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 9:51 PM, Sonja Trauss <sonja.trauss at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> It's passed him by, or he said, oh yeah, 'a disagreement,' but didn't
> think it was remarkable?
>
> I'm trying to understand which "it passed him by" you mean, I imagine you
> must mean that you both obviously saw the same thing - people playing pool,
> a disagreement, a resolution, but that you thought it was serious or tense,
> but thought it was unserious and unremarkable. Is that right?
>
> If it is, I don't think it's because you don't know Ebonics you didn't
> understand that. Are you a WASP? More people will get mad at me, but
> cultural heritages are real. Are you infrequently around people that yell a
> lot for no reason?
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, November 20, 2013, Pete Forsyth wrote:
>
> Sonja -- I'm glad my story captured your imagination, but sorry to
> disappoint! :)
>
> Unfortunately I'm not sure how to capture the interesting discussion we
> had after that -- it was a discussion between good friends, with reference
> to past conversations and shared experiences and such. I gave him the
> backstory I provided here (much of which I'd already told him) and we
> shared our amazement that something so intense could happen while he was
> paying close attention, and yet completely pass him by. We agreed that the
> cadence of communication in that community can make it difficult for an
> outsider to distinguish between mere animated, performance-like, boisterous
> speech, and actual conflict.
>
> I'm sure there will be more stories coming out of this league -- hopefully
> with a grand *victorious* finale in a few months ;)
>
> Pete
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 12:18 PM, Sonja Trauss <sonja.trauss at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> 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.
>
>
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