- Announce - lists.fireflyartscollective.org

A call for survey design help! (and feedback in general)
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 06 Oct '14

06 Oct '14

Dear Fireflies, How's it going with you? How was your Firefly? You can always reach the Board of Directors at board(a)fireflyartscollective.org, or write to your favorite or least-favorite Board Member or Core Leader, post to our Facebook group, or use this feedback form thing on our website: http://fireflyartscollective.org/about-fac/feedback/ Anyway, even though you can always all write us letters, and we could read all your letters, we'd like to conduct a survey of the Firefly Community at large, and turn a hopefully-representative sample of your opinions into "Data". …and we'd like your help to do it! Some of you out there know how to make surveys that produce meaningful data, that can help people make decisions and understand things. But we don't know exactly who those Fireflies are, so please contact us, at board(a)fireflyartscollective.org, if you'd like to help us put together this years survey(s)! We have some broad goals for what kind of information we'd like to gather, and we're eager to discuss specifics when you contact us. Most importantly, we want to survey people who went to Firefly Arts Collective's 2014 festival. This is to help us write our 2014 Afterburn Report, and to guide the Board's decisions for next year's festival and other FAC activities. Optionally, we also want to survey people who didn't or couldn't go to Firefly 2014, and anyone else who wants to share their opinions by participating in a survey about Firefly. For people who went to Firefly 2014, we want to know how things went across a wide variety of areas. There are many ways to describe all the different parts of Firefly. There's the land, the art, the other people who go, the Fire, the weather, the Cores, the Board of Directors, tickets, our website, individual participation, and much more. Organizing our thoughts about all of those things can be a challenge. We'd love to get some sense of how satisfied people were this year, what things are good enough, what needs to be better, what's absolutely unacceptable, and what people want for the future. We want a survey that helps us understand these things, without being too detailed and long for people to fill out... or too hard for us to analyze afterwards. When it comes to surveying anyone who wants to respond, not just attendees of the 2014 festival, we want to know about the desires of the community for the 2015 festival, and for year-round activities supporting the participatory arts. Hoping that Firefly 2014 is still fresh enough in your minds, Ike Feitler for the Firefly Arts Collective Board of Directors

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Firefly Board Open Call
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 03 Oct '14

03 Oct '14

Dear Fireflies, We are looking for a limited number of people to add to the Board of Directors (BOD) to fill positions vacated in the last year. The BOD is responsible for the financial and legal needs of Firefly Arts Collective Inc. The BOD is also responsible for planning the long term development and growth of the organization. Board members are expected to physically attend monthly meetings in the Boston area. To see the various positions on the board please read the bylaws: *http://fireflyartscollective.org/about-fac/firefly-bylaws/ <http://fireflyartscollective.org/about-fac/firefly-bylaws/>* Not all board members have a named position (ie: many are just members-at-large). If you joined the board, you would not be expected to take a named position for at least a few months. To apply, please fill out the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QWriNScgxN2CDCORQmiKIi52NSiiH44tUrf1_rHBWL… After you fill out the form, the director of organizational development will reply within a week to confirm receipt, and may get back to you with some follow-up questions. We may invite you to attend a meeting to chat more about your responses and let you learn more about how we operate. Once we've had a chance to review all responses the Board will discuss and decide if we wish to add additional members. The Firefly Board of Directors is relatively small to keep discussion and consensus-based decision making practical. Any candidates who we are unable to invite to join the Board will be kept on file to consider as future vacancies arise, and we will also send out this request for expression of interest on a yearly basis. We're very excited to get new participants involved with the Firefly Board. Beyond the yearly Firefly camping event we are working on expanding the year-round activities of Firefly Arts Collective. Firefly continues to collaborate with Somerville Open Studios and Figment Boston to bring more community art to our cities, and we are working to have a year-round gallery space available for displays and classes. We look forward to hearing from motivated participants with the time and energy to help expand and organize our community! <3, The Firefly BoD

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Firefly Arts Collective Conduct Committee - Call for Members
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 11 Jul '14

11 Jul '14

Dear Fireflies, In order to make our community and events safer and more transparent, the members of the Board of Firefly Arts Collective have developed a Code of Conduct <http://fireflyartscollective.org/firefly/policies/> and related Policies & Procedures. These were primarily drafted by Sadiya Carr and Dan Snyder. The policies and procedures were reviewed by current board members of Firefly Arts Collective, representatives of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) <http://www.barcc.org/>, several lawyers, and alt sex community hosts and moderators. The policies were also informed by Zay Thompson's investigatory procedures for incidents in Burner communities, as well as policies recently adopted by local conventions such as Readercon and Arisia. In order to resolve open reports the current Board elected itself to act as Interim Conduct Committee in the month leading up to the 2014 Firefly Festival. Experience on the Interim Conduct Committee suggests that each reported instance takes about two weeks to resolve. This translates to anywhere between 5 to 15 hours per report. Types of reports and complaints that have been handled include: non-consensual dosing, threats of violence, sexual assault, physical assault, abuse of power, and unsafe behaviors at Firefly events that could cause us to be shut down. Going forward we would like to invite community members--Fireflies--to take part in this important work by serving for a year-long term on the Conduct Committee. At this time Firefly Arts Collective is requiring that each Committee member have taken the BARCC training on responding to disclosures of sexual assault. The organization will schedule and pay for the training. As the committee evolves there may be need for additional trainings or workshops that the committee is empowered to ask for. In particular, Fireflies serving on the safety teams (Rangers, Medical, Sanctuary, and FAST) are encouraged to apply, as are Fireflies that have related training (Social workers, BARCC trained advocates, counselors, facilitators etc). The current Board of Directors will review applications for membership. There will be a sufficient number of Board members serving on the Conduct Committee to reach quorum on recommendations made by the Committee. Please email us at conduct-committee(a)fireflyartscollective.org <conductcommittee(a)fireflyartscollective.org> to express your interest. Thank you, Sadiya Carr On behalf of the Board of Directors Firefly Arts Collective ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background about the Conduct Committee: The goal of the Conduct Committee is to: - Receive reports of behavior potentially contravening the Code of Conduct from affected participants. - Document the report, and, if appropriate, speak further with the reporter - Determine whether the report is actionable by speaking to witnesses and reviewing available evidence - Determine whether there is enough evidence to indicate that someone is endangering a participant, or Firefly Arts Collective’s ability to hold events - Develop enough of an understanding of the situation that a recommendation can be made on how to handle it The goal is NOT to determine guilt or innocence. We do not have the resources that the criminal justice system has to solve crimes. Multiple reports about an individual can result in action for having a pattern of complaints against them. We do not label people as criminals or determine whether reports are true beyond reasonable doubt. We simply want to gather enough information to be able to make a fair and reasonable decision whether to allow someone continued access to events or volunteer infrastructure. Working procedure for the Conduct Committee: - Conduct Committee Lead(s) or public contact receives a report - Conduct Committee Lead(s) assigns two responders to investigate report, confirming these are acceptable to reporter. Responders will be members of Conduct Committee and/or involved in the initial reporting process (e.g. Ranger, Medical volunteer, Sanctuary volunteer, or BARCC trained advocate). - Responders review what has been reported and contact reporter to gather further information. Responders explain possible outcomes to reporter. - Responders talk to subject of report. - Responders talk to witnesses, look at photos of event, gather other information as available. - Responders consult with Rangers, other event hosts, and follow up any leads of similar behaviors to establish if there is a larger pattern - Responders bring the results of their investigation back to the Conduct Committee for discussion - Conduct Committee makes a recommendation to the Board - A quorum of the Board may: - Confirm the recommendation - Request further detail or investigation - Agree on a different course of action - Refer the matter to a meeting of the entire Board - Board representatives contact the people involved in the original report officially with the decision - If recommended, the Board determines whether to announce the decision to the Firefly community or other events Further details can be found at http://fireflyartscollective.org/firefly/policies/

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Online Parking Pass Sales Closing at midnight on Sunday June 29th
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Attention Fireflies! Online sales of parking passes will end at midnight on June 29th. After that they will be available for purchase at the gate for $40 (bring cash in case the online payment system is down). Parking passes will be handed out at the gate when you check in. Any other questions let us know: parking(a)fireflyartscollective.org. - Rhonda Parking Core

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PSA #6: POP QUIZ!
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

MEDICAL PSA #6: POP QUIZ!!!!! Surprise! It's pop-quiz time! What would YOU do in the event of an emergency? 1) Find a Ranger with a Radio! 2) Go to Ranger HQ at Mercurial and Verdant! C) Go to the Ranger Outpost at the top of the hill behind Sanctuary and Steam Bath! 7) Head to Diode, Camp Lamp, Totenkitten, or Carnivore Carnivale (aka Meat Camp)! $) None of the Above! ?) All of the Above! 8) Freak the Fuck Out! !1) Embrace the Cool Composed Certainty of Death! x) All of the Above. Again! Answers due today! Quizzes will be graded on July 7th, 2014! These PSAs have been brought to you by Firefly's medical team (not the Board, or the somewhat-clunky Announce list administrators). You might not get your life saved, but you'll die trying.

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Breakdown Volunteers Needed
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 28 Jun '14

28 Jun '14

Breakdown Volunteers STILL Needed (DPW has 4 so far and need about 20). To Signup during event, look for posts on Kiosks and Infrastructure Trailer. Or, just show up Sunday at noon in front of the Kitchen. AND/OR show up in front of Infrastructure Trailer Sunday at 3pm Sunday at (noon to 3:00 pm) and/or (3:00 pm to 6:00 pm) —In Front of Kitchen (noon) AND/OR —In Front of Firefly Infrastructure Trailer (3:00 pm) SHIFT ONE—noon to 3:00 pm (show up in front of Kitchen at noon for instructions from Lead) • 10 People—Kitchen, Main Ranger Station, Sub Ranger Station Breakdown • 3 People—Kiosk Breakdown • 1 Person—Collect Path Lights • 2 People—Collect Pedestrian And Vehicle Traction Mats • 2 People—Take Down Snow Fence SHIFT TWO—3:00 pm to 6:00pm (show up in front of Infrastructure Trailer for instructions from Lead) • 1 to 2 People—Put Away Bridge Over Stream on John’s Land AND Pickup: Stations; Kiosks; Snow Fences; Mats; etc and Bring to Trailer if still up in Woods • 4 People—Put Away Ramp Over Stone Wall Near Steam Bath • 2 to 4 People—Re-Assemble Stone Wall By Diode • 2 People—Re-Assemble Stone Wall On John From Main Street • 2 People Trailer Load Master THANSK! DPW CREW

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MEDICAL PSA #5: INTOXICATIONS!
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 27 Jun '14

27 Jun '14

MEDICAL PSA #5: INTOXICATIONS It's fun to let loose and have a couple drinks, right? That's what I used to say before I went on a bender one night and woke up in a Mexican jail with El Salvadoran gang tats on my neck, missing two fingers, and no recollection of how I got there. It was only then that I realized I may have a problem. How could I have prevented this, I wondered...? 1) Stay Hydrated Alcohol (as well as your beloved caffeine) is a diuretic. This means it increases the filtration of blood by your kidneys, thereby causing an increased urinary output and potential subsequent fluid volume deficit. (Say Whaaaaaaat?) Worse still, alcohol-induced vomiting (also known as puking, tossing cookies, reading rainbow) and/or diarrhea (also known as those next-morning post-beer shits Bukowski was always talking about) will worsen your dehydration. Dehydration is dumb. It makes you feel weak, tired, and generally lousy; it can also cause you to faint. Fainting is also dumb. Who wants to faint and risk smashing their head on a rock, causing an intracranial hemorrhage - or even worse, cause you to miss all the evening's fun and festivities? 1b) Certain perspiration-inducing activities can also cause or worsen dehydration. Activities like dancing, heavy physical labor, and 18 hour marathon orgies all require an increased intake of water and/or non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages to sustain you. Also be sure to take an appropriate amount of salt and protein to increase the oncotic pressure of your blood and thus maintain an adequate fluid volume status! Pro-tip: If you find yourself low on salt and protein, Orgy Dome may be a resource you can utilize. 2) Know Your Limits I totally love spending the evening hunched over the porcelain god praying that if I live through tonight I'll never drink so much again and then when I pass out my friends laugh and draw penises around my mouth in sharpie and take pictures of me with their balls on my forehead! Not! Believe me, being too inebriated is waaaay less exciting than I make it sound! On top of that, vomit is MOOP and your hangover is going to suck doubly so when you're scooping up your own fetid emesis into a smelly trash bag the next morning. Add to that, no one wants to have to tell your royal drunkenness for the 5th time to stop talking too close, stop leaning on the DJ table, and please stop hitting on me... I mean, maybe if you were sober enough to get it up... but, no, just no. You are not a child, please do not get so wasted that others have to set limits on your behaviour and then skulk away in secret when you're not looking so they can escape your buzz-kill, chick-repellent of a presence. 3) Take Care of Your Friends If your friend is too fucked up and is alternating between making an ass of his/herself and leaving a trail of vomit-scented psychedelic art installations in his/her wake, be a stand-up human, step up, and take care of them. -Take them for a walk in the woods to distract and destimulate them. -Talk calmly to deescalate their drunken belligerence. -Take them back to camp so they can vomit all over their own stuff (or better yet, in their own contractor bag!) -Give them food and water (only if not vomiting) to soak up the alcohol and help them sober up. -Put them to bed with a bucket so they don't wake up covered in mosquito bites with the worst hangover of their life. -Talk to Rangers/Sanctuary if you need assistance calming the situation. -Talk to the Blue Dots if you are concerned for your friend's safety, that they may stop breathing, aspirate on their own vomit, injure themselves because they are too drunk and confused to realize they can't fly, etc... And hopefully your friends will do the same for you, were you ever to find your amateur self in the same amateur pair of over-indulged amateur shoes, Amateur.

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MEDICAL PSA #4: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, EPI-PENS and FIRST AID KITS!
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 26 Jun '14

26 Jun '14

****hi hi hi!* *please send this at 2pm on thursday!* *please and thannnnnnnk yooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu!**** MEDICAL PSA #4: PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, EPI-PENS and FIRST AID KITS! The Blue Dots do not dispense prescription medications of any kind: not antibiotics, not Lactulose enemas, not Cialis, and not Plan B. If you are on a prescription, be sure to bring it! The woods are risky enough without you taking a medication holiday and having a stroke/asthma attack/psychotic break all over us. Do you have a life threatening allergy? While our crack team of volunteers are knowledgeable in the techniques necessary to maintain a decompensating life, we would rather not give you a cricothyrotomy in the woods because your airway has swollen shut making CPR impossible while EMS isn't going to arrive for another 15 minutes. Volunteering is all the rage here at Firefly 2014 - would you like to volunteer for a cricothyrotomy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6wodB2S0uc (Sign up with the Gnomes!) No. Wait, that's a terrible idea. You don't want that. And we don't want to consider risking our professional licensure in order to save your life by performing one on you. Please do us Blue Dots a favor, spare us the difficult decision of choosing between your life and our livelihoods, and bring your life-saving prescriptions. As mentioned in Tuesday's PSA, we recommend using your judgement. Don't forget to pack your judgement! It fits nicely inside your first aid kit! Bust it out whenever you need it! Having your judgement on you at Firefly, along with your own supplies, means you don't need to walk all the way to the Medical Station at Mercurial and Verdant, radio for a Blue Dot, and then wait for a Blue Dot to arrive. Hell, if you use your judgement, you may never penetrate your foot on that giant, hot, throbbing piece of wood, nor will you need a morning-after pill the next day. However, though we do try to stem the tides by empowering you to care for yourself, we are absolutely here to help you. If you are concerned about an injury or illness you are experiencing, please come see us! It gives our hearts joy and our lives purpose to assist you in your time of need! Please use us! We like to feel used! And remember kids, you can't spell "event" without "prevention!"

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MEDICAL PSA #3: FUCKING EMERGENCIES OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

****hi guys!please send this one out at 2pm on wednesday!* *thank you!**** FUCKING EMERGENCIES OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you, a friend, relative, ex-boyfriend, acquaintance, or even someone you've never met before is dying, please come find a Blue Dot. Where the fucking bloody fucking hell fuck am I going to find a Blue Dot, my fucking friend is dying right now, you ask? Blue Dots can be found with any official Firefly radio (also known in some regional dialects as a "Walkie-Talkie"), which means you can reach out and touch us anywhere, anytime! RADIOS CAN BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS: 1) Rangers! Any wandering Ranger will have a magic radio on their person which they can rub to summon a Blue Dot who will grant you 3 wishes! 3 fucking wishes! 2) Ranger HQ! There are radios at Ranger HQ! Granted, most of them may be charging but at least 1 will be in working order... hopefully! Ranger HQ is at the intersection of Mercurial and Verdant. 3) Ranger Annex! There will be a 2nd (and thus secondary) Ranger Outpost behind Sanctuary, at the top of the hill behind steam bath. So come on by in your time of emergent need, stop by the steam bath* along the way, and then give us a call. We'd love to hear from you! *neither steam bath camp, the blue dots, nor the rangers recommend or condone dying in the steam bath. please do your dying elsewhere, k thx. 4) Theme Camps! Some of the bigger theme camps will have a radio at their location, in the vicinity of their DJ booth and equipment. Those theme camps include: Diode Carnivore Carnivale (aka Meat Camp) Totenkitten and Camp Lamp Are you dying? Just follow the untz-untz-untz to the nearest radio. It should be really easy to hear the responding lead ranger (AKA Kahki) when you're standing right next to the speakers! NEED TO CALL 911? If you believe you need 911, please call the Blue Dots. We are your first responders and will help you out with that whole dying thing. This is for a handful of reasons: 1) The Blue Dots can start treatment before 911 arrives. Not breathing? Want to not breath for 20 minutes while you wait for 911? Bleeding to death? Want to bleed to death for 20 minutes while you wait for 911? The Blue Dots are set-up with resources to handle your issues. Utilize us! We get the job done. We will help you. 2) We can assist you down the hill so that you are at the location 911 will arrive. This is much preferable to EMTs lugging you down a muddy hill on a hand-carried stretcher for 15 minutes. On top of that, no EMT in Vermont is going to know where your tent in the fern patch up the hill from Diode is. 3) We can notify Kirk and the board that 911 has been called. It's hard to imagine a universe where a surprise visit from an ambulance, fire truck, and/or the police would be a pleasant experience. ALSO, we would like to be at the gate to greet and assist emergency response in their efforts to assist us. 4) Maybe you don't actually need to go to the hospital! Wouldn't that be fucking rad? Who in their 'right' mind wants to leave paradise to go sit in a flourescently-lit emergency room for 5 hours in a muddy tutu and smeared face paint? The Blue Dots have resources. We will help you breathless. We will help your flipping brains out. We will help the fuck out of you. Our number's on all the bathroom stalls' bathroom walls. Call us, maybe? ;)

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MEDICAL PSA #2: SHOES AND SCRAPES!
by The Firefly Official Announcement List via Announce 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

SHOES AND SCRAPES! 1) Prevention Do you know that the number 1 complaint treated by Blue Dots in 2013 was foot injuries? This includes scrapes, punctures, splinters, and stubbed and broken toes. All of these injuries could have easily been prevented by WEARING YOUR FUCKING SHOES, HIPPIES! There are a myriad of traps the forest has set for you; buried beneath the opulence of mud can be found roots, rocks, fanged demons, sticks, that one guy who got lost in the mud last year and never found, tent stakes, guy wires, and more! So bust our your fancy shoes with the 17 inch platform cleats that you bought specifically to peacock all around Firefly while stilted high above the mud, and flaunt the fuck out of those fuckers! Put some fucking lights on them things! Fuck yeah! Then people will be afraid to be barefoot around you and will put their shoes on, too! Be part of the solution! 2) Immediate Treatment Sure, you can come to the Blue Dots every time you break a toe nail. We might laugh derisively at you (just kidding! [not actually kidding! {totally actually kidding!}]) while we tell you to wash it off in soap and water so we can bandage it. But you could also participate in the spirit of the event and DIY! You wouldn't go to the hospital every time you stub your toe at home, right? Use your judgement. The Blue Dots are a resource at your disposal; utilize your resources efficiently. If everyone comes to us for every splinter, then everyone will wait an hour to be taken care of. That said, we Blue Dots are here for all of Firefly and we *delight* in assisting you. Please come see us if you think something is bad, are unsure if something is bad, or if you just want your hand held while we pet your head and tell you that you are not dying any faster than the rest of us and everything is going to be more-or-less ok. 3) Risk Management -If you do scrape your foot, you're going to be wearing shoes for the rest of the event to prevent infection (so you may as well just wear them in the first place, right?) -Moist, dirty wounds are ripe for infection, so keep your feet clean and dry. -Wash your wound daily. -Apply Bacitracin, or another topical over-the-counter antibiotic ointment daily (or twice a day) after washing. -Cover with a bandage so the ointment remains on the wound. While caring for your wound, you will also want to keep an eye out for signs of infection: -redness -swelling -pain -nasty (thick, opaque, yellow and/or green) drainage -a red streak from the wound towards your torso -fever Any of these signs and symptoms may indicate a potentially serious infection is developing. Please come see us Blue Dots so we can check it out! With love and foot fetishes for all, The Blue Dots of Firefly, your local medical monopoly

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