MU Talk

Guy Fawkes Day @MU

Yesterday my step-brother, enfant terrible, and MU Director of Facilities, Ryan Medici let out an early notice about the upcoming Guy Fawkes Day at MU.

For anyone who may have been upset by the notice, I apologize. Let me remind you that this IS Medici University! No one ever has to do anything here!

The Details

Guy Fawkes Day is, of course, the fifth of November. Since there is no 5 November in Spring Semester, we’ve decided to do a “half-Guy Fawkes Day” and rotate it by 6 months to 5 May.

• 1 May – Friday – Mayday Celebrations at MU
• 1, 2, 3 May – Jane’s Walk 2015 – we’re so excited that for this 9th annual Jane’s Walk, MU will become the 1st ever Virtual City to participate in the global event!
• 4 May – The Monday after Jane’s Walk weekend is Jane Jacobs’ actual birthday
• 5 May – Tuesday is Guy Fawkes Day @MU

It’s Always about Choice

If you’ve familiar with the foundational ideas of MU, espoused around our websites, then you know that no one, not Ryan, or The Chaplain, or I, or anyone else is here to force anyone to do anything. If you want to pick a spot and never move, that’s great. If you want to make a lot of work in that spot, that’s great. If you want to rez a gallery and never come back, well, that’s not great, but it isn’t a violation of any rule since we don’t have any rules, other than be nice to each other, try to get along, be tolerant and inclusive, be supportive, look at each others work, blog about it, share links, and so on.

Wow! That was a lot of rules for no rules! Basically we have no rules. Except for the golden rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s it. It’s really that simple. Oh. And while not “required,” we do encourage working your ass off and doing amazing things!

At times we might suggest things like Studio Roulette, and before you dismiss it out of hand, I’d urge you to really consider the possibilities, but it will always be your choice. Opt in. Opt out. Your judgement. The only thing that isn’t a choice is that come 1 July, we’ll all be gone and LEA23 will become someone else’s art project and it will look very different.

Guy Fawkes Day

Our 5 May Guy Fawkes Day celebration is indeed an optional Studio Roulette. When we get a little closer to that time, you’ll be able to very easily opt-in or opt-out of Studio-Roulette as you like. Even though MU is all about creativity, change, innovation, new ideas, new connections, new pathways, risk, trying different things, and so on, we all have a tendency to get comfortable and set in our ways. Even though we know we’re getting tossed out on 30 June, we still like to set up fortresses and protect them like they’ll never change. That certainly includes me. Ryan. All of us. Guy Fawkes Day / Studio Roulette is an optional invitation to nudge ourselves out of our comfort zones. An optional invitation to interact with different MU Learners. To see the campus from a different vantage point. To be closer to the center, or more out at the frontiers.

Men are animals of the earth. They come from Papa, the earth mother, and make their homes on the land. They walk the ground, like Pig and Rat. Walking animals do not know the spirit of motion, as you do. Their world stands still for them, and their footsteps fall always against the steadiness of rock and soil. Winds blow and they crawl inside houses. The red floodwaters rise and they climb to dry caves and sleep poorly in the stale, cold air. What do they learn in these houses and caves? Stillness. Calm. They hope things will never change. Men hate change. But that is not the way things are. Light and darkness. The currents. Death. That is the order. When these men speak, their voices are little because nothing pours into them. They do not want other powers. But the man whose chest swells like the tides, who leaps the sea cliff to hear the roar of the fall, and dives straight into the ocean like a spear — this man is not like the rest. His mana is not only of the earth, but of the sky and water. He swims the lagoons and outer reef to watch the fish. He stands tall on the mountaintops. When he speaks, he will be listened to.

— Maui, The Demigod, Steven Goldsberry