On the Importance of Community, Part B

Because this part slots into Ryan's Part A but also hinges off to turn a corner to Part C which slots into Part D which wings of to Part E, Part F, Part G-- well, I won't link the entire thing because it just isn't even possible. Our delicate, beautiful tinkertoy dream machine suffered some blows this week from the kindergarten bullies, and left a lot of us having panic attacks and ranting on the phone, on MSN, and in person.

I am ready to get back in the sandbox and have fun and play again. Sort of a "Take Back the Sandbox" day, that's what it is for me. And I trust my community to get behind me if someone starts kicking sand in my eyes, and I trust my community to notice and tell us when someone's getting cornered down the street, and I trust myself to talk people out of meeting at the bike racks at 3:00 for some ass-kicking and instead play catch—if I can.

All the many accomplishments and exciting projects we all are part of deserve praise and respect, as do, of course, each of us personally. Thank you to each person who made a point of standing up to bullying, and let's have some compassion if it wasn't done quick enough or thoroughly enough or whatever enough—no one likes to find poop in the sandbox, it’s always a bit of a shock.

I've got five new books to read!