M.W. to A.S. "apology"

Michael Whitehouse

Michael

I believe I may owe you an apology.

A.S. 

...I'm sorry?

(I'm confused, seeing as that's quite out of the blue.)

Michael

When you first made your post about Jeff, I jumped to some conclusions before I realized that the other accusations were coming.

I made some comments. They may have been on subthreads so you didn't notice.

A.S.

I've seen some, but I can't recall you making them at me?

In either case, what's changed?

Michael

I don't think I said anything to insult you directly.

I've come to understand much more intimately why former staff might have some issues with Jeff.

A.S.

nods

Michael

I basically went from head of a minor department to #3 in the course of three days. I stepped up because I wanted to help save the event, and now that Jeff is out, I am hoping we can do that.

A.S.

Congratulations on the promotion.

Michael

They can have it back. I don't have time for this. Five years ago, sure. Today, I've got a kid and a magazine to publish and all kinds of other stuff. I'm just here to sell stuff and run a card game.

Michael

It's like the Secretary of Agriculture becoming the President. I mean, I'm qualified, but it's not my preference.

My wife is in the other room crying because she has had to deal with everyone attacking her for being affiliated with the event, and she's only doing it because that's where our friends our.

A.S.

My condolences to her, first.

Michael

She ended up #2.

A.S.

And yeah, I know what you mean about the rapid promotion.  Laura Roslin would be proud.

Michael

It worked about as well for us as her. Hopefully without the cancer part

A.S.

Yeah, cancer is shit.

So what're you folks doing?  Backing out?

Michael

Nope. There's a thousand people coming to Princeton on Friday and they're expecting a con, so we're going to give them one

A.S.

Oh, I meant you and your wife after Wicked.  I know that the Wicked train is too far down the tracks to be stopped in a week.

Michael

I don't know. Our friends are in the JME events. If they stop running, we don't see them. And it's not like we can recruit replacements right now. But the running of the con is not an issue if we're not taking abuse on behalf of Jeff.

So, we'll probably do what needs to be done and stick with it if events keep running.

A.S.

Yeah, that's the problem that a lot of folks are facing, including friends of mine.

Michael

How so?

A.S.

Oh, vendor friends of mine that can't afford the hit, people who use Wicked as a yearly meetup, situations like that.

Michael

Jeff's out. Why can't they go now?

A.S.

Well I can't speak for others, obviously.

But personally, I'm withholding my opinions until a new company is formed, Widdershins is dissolved, and Jeff has no feasible way to 'return'.

Michael

I assure you that Jeff has no feasible way to return. We didn't just spend the better part of a week saving this event so that Jeff can come back in, take it over and Jeff it up

A.S.

And I mean that as no slur on Tammy, you, or your wife.

Michael

If Jeff tried to come back, he'd be running the event by himself. We have all killed ourselves to save this event for ourselves and the attendees. We're not risking that so Jeff can come back.

A.S.

Like I said, I'm not throwing away the efforts you folks have made, and you the flack you folks have taken, and I'm taking you at your word that Jeff will never return.

And despite my previous issues, I can honestly say that you folks have done as well as you can under intense fire.

I can just say that personally, to attend Wicked again, I'd need my trust rebuilt that it's a safe space.  I'm sure you can appreciate that trust is easily destroyed, and difficult to build.

Michael

I don't deal with security stuff, but it seems that the issues were when a violator knew someone and shmoozed their way to avoid being booted. Is that correct?

A.S.

There were a few instances of that.

And that's part of the reason people don't feel comfortable yet.

Michael

That's solved simply by the fact that our new leadership is not from the area. We don't know any of those people. We won't play favorites because we don't know them. Tammy lives is Massachusetts. Amy and I live in Connecticut. We don't even really have kinky friends other than a couple we know from conventions.

A.S.

ehhhhh.....

A.S.

Michael

We're not here to impress our friends or gain social status. We're here to run an event and never have to deal with this kind of nightmare again.

A.S.

Please forgive me, but it sounds like you're conflating corporate leadership with visible leadership.

I'm assuming most of the day-to-day volunteers are remaining unchanged at events?

Michael

The average volunteer sticks around for 2-3 events, so they tend to turn over. But, no, we're not recruiting a whole new team.

A.S.

Yup.  That's the problem.  The public doesn't interact with the leadership.  The public interacts with Jim in security when they're checking an ID.  Or Jane the vendor gofer.

Michael

However, and please correct me if I am wrong because I lost track of the accusations days ago, the major issues with security were 1-2+ years ago? Because almost everyone involved in the system is new.

For any major issues, complains of violations, etc, it goes to Staff

A.S.

I can't speak completely to that.  Aside from the water cooler incident, I was never really involved with security.  I was using them as an example.

This is about rebuilding trust in an organization, AND in the people running it.

A.S.

When the public sees that consent violations are taken seriously and acted on promptly and soberly, that rebuilds trust.  When the public sees that violators (of any stripe) are not allowed to return, that rebuilds trust.  When the public sees that staff members who behave badly are disciplined or banned, that rebuilds trust.

A.S.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

Allopathic vs holistic approaches.

Michael

??

A.S.

Allopathic medicine takes the approach that "one problem has one cause, and only needs one solution."

holistic medicine takes the approach of "one problem may have multiple causes, and multiple solutions may be needed to solve one problem."

Removing Jeff was a good start.  Now you need to work on rebuilding trust.

Either way, I need to finish my homework.  Please do extend my best wishes to your wife from me.  I can't recall if we've met, but this is still an unexpected and difficult time.

And I do hope that you can pull through this.

Michael

Thank you. Your support for our effort would go a long way, I believe.

Happy homeworking.