This Friday, I meet with a PBS underwriter keen to find funding for my work. This is a big deal... so if I give him a great proposal... he can make things happen.... and I get the opportunity to make a PBS show. Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.
-Cory
solomax.com
actionheronetwork.net
____
The Net and Fire Circle: Connecting Common-unity
I have many fond memories from my childhood spending time around campfires with family and friends. We had fires at our lake-side cottage, at Christian family camp, and on canoe trips. It was the central gathering each evening. We sang, shared stories, performed skits and made announcements. Campfires were a special time to harmonize and rejoice with neighbors and loved ones. Gathering around a fire may be mankind’s oldest societal ritual. Not just for fellowship and communication, but for basic needs such as warmth and cooking food.
Now living in San Francisco, my community is spread out. Between dinner dishes and bedtime, my face is not lit by flame, but by a computer scene. I connect with friends through email and Tribe.net. I found a summer job on Cra
ig’s list, being a summer camp councilor for Environmental Volunteers in Palo Alto, a one hour commute south. These networks allow me to access opportunities and maintain relationships with people around the globe, but like most people, I don’t know my neighbors. The community center and playground are locked behind tall gates each evening—offering no open space to gather for dialogue and interaction.
This evening I attended a Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association Safety Committee meeting at the community center. Hayes Valley is a predominately Black neighborhood, but the majority of the people who attended the meeting were gay White men. There were also five White ladies, one Hispanic man, one Black man who was new to the area, and three police officers. Gail, who was leading the meeting, explained the lack of Black presence by saying, “They have trust issues.” The main concern was people loitering on doorsteps selling drugs. Their solution was to put up “No Trespassing” signs and gates barring people from having any place to sit.
This is an unfortunately common scenario across America. We are surrounded by more people than ever before, yet isolated in homes and vehicles. In an effort to foster public trust and common wealth, which are the results of shared experiences and resources, there is a movement to create safe places for people to gather. These methods do not require a lot of money or infrastructure, but are simple things any group of individuals can do to connect community.
May 20-29 I will be attending the Village Building Convergence in Portland, Oregon, hosted by City Repair—famous for turning low traffic intersections into public squares and driving a free tea truck around town to create instant meet and greet scenes. My mission is to document innovative ideas, and share my own designs: Tree House Hammocks, Burn Barrel Fire Circles and Flower of Life Hula-hoop dome.
My vision is to create a documentary for PBS that will inform viewers of the networks in place and being developed to create common-unity, and inspire them to take action in their neighborhood. I have all the connections to create this film—from leading personalities to interview such as Scott Munson, superstar San Francisco catalyst who maintains Plant Trees events mailing list, to Darian Heyman, the executive director of the Craig’s List Foundation, which is training and cross pollinating environmental non-profit groups. I will tell the story of how we got people who were on the net alone in their bedroom… to meet face to face with neighbors on the net in the park (see solomax.com/monkey-spider.html).
Cory Richardson’s History:
I grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada. My parents, five siblings and I lived in the home that my father built on the forest fringe, a short walk from the Bay of Fundy. My early days were filled with long solo adventures walking on beaches and exploring the woods.
My father, George, a science teacher, and mother, Diana, a nutritional consultant, are both community leaders. In addition to church positions—Dad, a deacon and mom, leading the children’s program, mom directed a La Lache League chapter which promotes breast feeding, and Dad organized week-long wilderness canoe trips each summer for two dozen teenage boys. Together they also lead marriage counseling seminars. At least once a week our living room was filled with people meeting about something. Dad was also past president of the second most powerful political party in Canada. My brother Joel became youngest city councilor in Canada and served terms in Fredericton, the province’s capital. Adam, my oldest brother, is currently running for a seat as Member of Parliament.
As a teen, I kept busy with Army Cadets, skateboarding, rock climbing and photography. I was head photographer of my high school year book, and made inspirational slide shows coordinated with music for school assemblies. After graduation I wrote, hosted and directed a cable access TV program called Extreme Adventures – recording my process getting certified to scuba dive and sky dive.
At age 19, I left Vancouver by kayak to begin a solo journey around North America. MAX @ School – Living an Adventure Novel, an online journal at www.solomax.com documented my progress and allowed millions of people to share this experience. Promoting personal empowerment and education through adventure travel, I also presented over two hundred slide shows at schools, jails, festivals, and conferences.
While paddling down the coast of Central Mexico, I was adopted by a village of 200 people who gave me the gift of appreciating a different way life. In Roblito, I learned that wealth is not how much you have, but how much you appreciate what you want have. They provided me with the opportunity to use large piece of land to create a summer camp program, and this has been my focus for the past five years.
The Roblito Community Center for Cultural Exchange is a participatory action research project between the Action Hero Network and the people of Roblito to share ideas and opportunities that foster the link between education and culture. It is a center that teaches how to create community centers. Action Hero Network.net is a progressive education model I founded to empower individuals and connect communities through online resources and cultural exchange opportunities.
The past two summers, I’ve attended both Burning Man and National Rainbow Gatherings, the two most significant cultural movements in North America. As a result of these experiences, and other events such as Bioneers, The Green festival, and Healthy Cities, Smart Growth Conference, I am fully aware of and immersed in progressive thought and I’ve had opportunities to form relationships with leading movers and shakers.
This past month, I submitted a fiscal sponsorship proposal to receive non-profit status for the Action Hero Network and wrote a Black Rock Arts Foundation grant to support Action Hero Training Camps in Golden Gate Park and at the Roblito Community Center for Cultural Exchange. These could be helpful toward supporting the PBS show as well.
Key Connections:
The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association is keen to implement new methods for engaging community members and is excited by my ideas. They have just begun to get the ball rolling toward more activities and if we start shooting video sooner than later, we could see a very dramatic neighborhood transformation take place.
I will teach a hammock workshop that allows neighbors to participate in the creation of the tree house, so they will feel a sense of pride in the outcome and obtain the skills to make more tree house hammocks.
Mark, Gail’s son who is a sculptor/welder, could cut shapes drawn by local kids and adults into an oil drum to make a burn barrel.
The Family Tree community art project that I am developing will be another interesting subject to shoot. The tree is 8 feet tall—made of wine corks threaded with coat hangers. Tree roots spread out wide on the ground to stabilize, then bunch together, twisting up to form the trunk, and then out to make branches. The tips of branches will be mobiles with corks attached, where people will pin images of family members as leaves, which will shimmer with a breeze. The tree could be placed in a BART station or any public place away from direct exposure to elements. This project will grow to mean many things to many people, but my objective is to facilitate an art that brings people together, carries the theme that we are all connected, and beautifies a public space.
Tribe.net and Craig’s List are based in San Francisco I can easily acquire interviews with top executives.
The Craig’s List Foundation Non-profit Boot Camp is in October and will be a great opportunity for me to shoot footage.
Burning Man is at the end of August, and I could show how people are using Tribe.net to organize their community theme camps.
-Cory
solomax.com
actionheronetwork.net
____
The Net and Fire Circle: Connecting Common-unity
I have many fond memories from my childhood spending time around campfires with family and friends. We had fires at our lake-side cottage, at Christian family camp, and on canoe trips. It was the central gathering each evening. We sang, shared stories, performed skits and made announcements. Campfires were a special time to harmonize and rejoice with neighbors and loved ones. Gathering around a fire may be mankind’s oldest societal ritual. Not just for fellowship and communication, but for basic needs such as warmth and cooking food.
Now living in San Francisco, my community is spread out. Between dinner dishes and bedtime, my face is not lit by flame, but by a computer scene. I connect with friends through email and Tribe.net. I found a summer job on Cra
ig’s list, being a summer camp councilor for Environmental Volunteers in Palo Alto, a one hour commute south. These networks allow me to access opportunities and maintain relationships with people around the globe, but like most people, I don’t know my neighbors. The community center and playground are locked behind tall gates each evening—offering no open space to gather for dialogue and interaction.
This evening I attended a Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association Safety Committee meeting at the community center. Hayes Valley is a predominately Black neighborhood, but the majority of the people who attended the meeting were gay White men. There were also five White ladies, one Hispanic man, one Black man who was new to the area, and three police officers. Gail, who was leading the meeting, explained the lack of Black presence by saying, “They have trust issues.” The main concern was people loitering on doorsteps selling drugs. Their solution was to put up “No Trespassing” signs and gates barring people from having any place to sit.
This is an unfortunately common scenario across America. We are surrounded by more people than ever before, yet isolated in homes and vehicles. In an effort to foster public trust and common wealth, which are the results of shared experiences and resources, there is a movement to create safe places for people to gather. These methods do not require a lot of money or infrastructure, but are simple things any group of individuals can do to connect community.
May 20-29 I will be attending the Village Building Convergence in Portland, Oregon, hosted by City Repair—famous for turning low traffic intersections into public squares and driving a free tea truck around town to create instant meet and greet scenes. My mission is to document innovative ideas, and share my own designs: Tree House Hammocks, Burn Barrel Fire Circles and Flower of Life Hula-hoop dome.
My vision is to create a documentary for PBS that will inform viewers of the networks in place and being developed to create common-unity, and inspire them to take action in their neighborhood. I have all the connections to create this film—from leading personalities to interview such as Scott Munson, superstar San Francisco catalyst who maintains Plant Trees events mailing list, to Darian Heyman, the executive director of the Craig’s List Foundation, which is training and cross pollinating environmental non-profit groups. I will tell the story of how we got people who were on the net alone in their bedroom… to meet face to face with neighbors on the net in the park (see solomax.com/monkey-spider.html).
Cory Richardson’s History:
I grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada. My parents, five siblings and I lived in the home that my father built on the forest fringe, a short walk from the Bay of Fundy. My early days were filled with long solo adventures walking on beaches and exploring the woods.
My father, George, a science teacher, and mother, Diana, a nutritional consultant, are both community leaders. In addition to church positions—Dad, a deacon and mom, leading the children’s program, mom directed a La Lache League chapter which promotes breast feeding, and Dad organized week-long wilderness canoe trips each summer for two dozen teenage boys. Together they also lead marriage counseling seminars. At least once a week our living room was filled with people meeting about something. Dad was also past president of the second most powerful political party in Canada. My brother Joel became youngest city councilor in Canada and served terms in Fredericton, the province’s capital. Adam, my oldest brother, is currently running for a seat as Member of Parliament.
As a teen, I kept busy with Army Cadets, skateboarding, rock climbing and photography. I was head photographer of my high school year book, and made inspirational slide shows coordinated with music for school assemblies. After graduation I wrote, hosted and directed a cable access TV program called Extreme Adventures – recording my process getting certified to scuba dive and sky dive.
At age 19, I left Vancouver by kayak to begin a solo journey around North America. MAX @ School – Living an Adventure Novel, an online journal at www.solomax.com documented my progress and allowed millions of people to share this experience. Promoting personal empowerment and education through adventure travel, I also presented over two hundred slide shows at schools, jails, festivals, and conferences.
While paddling down the coast of Central Mexico, I was adopted by a village of 200 people who gave me the gift of appreciating a different way life. In Roblito, I learned that wealth is not how much you have, but how much you appreciate what you want have. They provided me with the opportunity to use large piece of land to create a summer camp program, and this has been my focus for the past five years.
The Roblito Community Center for Cultural Exchange is a participatory action research project between the Action Hero Network and the people of Roblito to share ideas and opportunities that foster the link between education and culture. It is a center that teaches how to create community centers. Action Hero Network.net is a progressive education model I founded to empower individuals and connect communities through online resources and cultural exchange opportunities.
The past two summers, I’ve attended both Burning Man and National Rainbow Gatherings, the two most significant cultural movements in North America. As a result of these experiences, and other events such as Bioneers, The Green festival, and Healthy Cities, Smart Growth Conference, I am fully aware of and immersed in progressive thought and I’ve had opportunities to form relationships with leading movers and shakers.
This past month, I submitted a fiscal sponsorship proposal to receive non-profit status for the Action Hero Network and wrote a Black Rock Arts Foundation grant to support Action Hero Training Camps in Golden Gate Park and at the Roblito Community Center for Cultural Exchange. These could be helpful toward supporting the PBS show as well.
Key Connections:
The Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association is keen to implement new methods for engaging community members and is excited by my ideas. They have just begun to get the ball rolling toward more activities and if we start shooting video sooner than later, we could see a very dramatic neighborhood transformation take place.
I will teach a hammock workshop that allows neighbors to participate in the creation of the tree house, so they will feel a sense of pride in the outcome and obtain the skills to make more tree house hammocks.
Mark, Gail’s son who is a sculptor/welder, could cut shapes drawn by local kids and adults into an oil drum to make a burn barrel.
The Family Tree community art project that I am developing will be another interesting subject to shoot. The tree is 8 feet tall—made of wine corks threaded with coat hangers. Tree roots spread out wide on the ground to stabilize, then bunch together, twisting up to form the trunk, and then out to make branches. The tips of branches will be mobiles with corks attached, where people will pin images of family members as leaves, which will shimmer with a breeze. The tree could be placed in a BART station or any public place away from direct exposure to elements. This project will grow to mean many things to many people, but my objective is to facilitate an art that brings people together, carries the theme that we are all connected, and beautifies a public space.
Tribe.net and Craig’s List are based in San Francisco I can easily acquire interviews with top executives.
The Craig’s List Foundation Non-profit Boot Camp is in October and will be a great opportunity for me to shoot footage.
Burning Man is at the end of August, and I could show how people are using Tribe.net to organize their community theme camps.
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