Comments | aisa0: urban tribes

aisa0

urban tribes

Jun 27, 2005 07:43

while traveling, i finished a book called "urban tribes" which was tagged with the byline "are friends the new family?" it explored lifestyle changes wrought by the trend of people moving away from their parents, usually starting with college ( Read more... )

tribing, hacking, book review

Comments 39

jaberwockynmt June 27 2005, 20:12:19 UTC

There is a "urban tribe" here in Socorro that I'm a member of. We call it "Clanspum" or usually just "The Clan". It was good at first. But then I realized that it was doing the same thing my genetic family was doing: forcing some unwanted relationships and being generally too hierarchical. Most of them are still my friends, but the rigidness of the system bothered me and I don't really feel like the Clan's existence is any longer justified. When I tried to make new friends outside of the Clan, it was difficult since I had been so involved with them that I didn't really know anyone else. I refound a few of my friends from before my involvement in the Clan and through them have been able to branch out into more "normal" friendships. I'm happier now because of it.

aisa0 June 27 2005, 20:35:41 UTC

that is interesting.

i would be surprised if an urban tribe in some way didn't behave like a family, excepting the "self-selection" aspect of things, which you excercised. ;)

one thing i'm curious about, did it originally form for any stated purpose, or just a group of people who happened to get along?

one thing i like about online communities is the ability to share a narrow interest with a wide number of people. i find groups that are more geographically restrained usually have significantly more general interests.

jaberwockynmt June 28 2005, 00:16:22 UTC

It started as a bunch of people who just happened to get along. It then became a group consisting almost entirely of CS majors participating in few to no social activities outside of the group. There was some political and musical debate, but mainly things were/are computer related.

tribes cpostrn June 27 2005, 22:10:21 UTC

All the management team here at work went to transitional leadership sessions, the first defined us as tribal members and we had an aboriginal living skills instructor http://www.alssadventures.com/ who taught us team building skills. We built a shelter with a pocket knife to cut what we needed for it. We also made fire with sticks. I don't think we learned any new team building skills but it was an interesting day. I worried a little when they started talking about "aboriginal food for dinner but it turned out to be native foods well prepared and not grubs or other decidedly unappetizing fare!

Re: tribes aisa0 June 28 2005, 23:57:14 UTC

i wonder if groups like that are designed to open your eyes to what you can do, instead of trying to teach you any new skill?

it strikes mbe that people would never think they could build a shelter, until they actually do and find it easy. maybe that translates into finding solutions for other more work-related problems?

cybercerberus June 28 2005, 00:00:50 UTC

I believe I may have been part of one of these immediately after I graduated from University. See, I was already living away from my parents (they in Virginia, I in Kentucky) and then I moved to Eugene, Oregon to go to grad school. I had no friends there. I was very lonely. So I started using IRC a lot ( ... )

drunk at work? kbyrd June 28 2005, 00:35:24 UTC

Even while at work. I would pass out drunk, still in the channel, typing up until the point that my eyes closed.

Umm, pass out drunk at work ;-)

Re: drunk at work? cybercerberus June 28 2005, 00:48:16 UTC

Not drunk at work. In the channel even while at work. And pass out drunk while in the channel. Different timeframes. :) Imperfect language.

Re: drunk at work? spoot14 June 28 2005, 23:30:51 UTC

Maybe aisa0 can tell us stories about alcohol in his workplace!

Thread 8

Shriners, etc. spoot14 June 28 2005, 14:52:05 UTC

People always have the need to belong, and I suppose such things as church, shriners, neighborhoods, etc. were the more traditional ways of building community. It's almost too bad those things are in decline because I highly doubt that urban tribes are organized for the benefit of their community like such previously described neighborhood organizations are. I see that as a serious problem in this country. The decline of wanting to do things simply for the benefit of someone else without exploiting yet another someone or getting some selfish benefit out of it. It's all about "What am I getting out of it?" I mean, if we are so antisocial we have to pay for gas with a machine outside to avoid human contact, are we really in tune to what we could be doing for one another?

Re: Shriners, etc. spoot14 June 28 2005, 17:05:04 UTC

Man, I had this great rant all written. But aparently LJ only lets you rant up to 4300 characters. Damn. Well here's the really condensed version ( ... )

Re: Shriners, etc. spoot14 June 28 2005, 19:01:17 UTC

Wow, whoever you are you are a very angry person to rant about my sadness that we are doing less and less for our fellow man! (inner guilt?) I hope your day gets better! I'm just correlating the decline in activity on neighborhood levels with the decline in putting an effort into community ( ... )

Re: Shriners, etc. aisa0 June 28 2005, 20:36:09 UTC

the lefto-hippie phrase is something of an inside joke. kelly gets my back when i go too far into lefto-hippie land. which happens a lot. so i need to thank him more than i do!

Thread 26