@nadia and I got together for a cup of coffee, and of course we talked about Edgeryders, and one thing led to another. So, here’s an idea we came up with: Edgeryders as a network turns 11 this year; as a more-or-less formalized organization it turns 10. Looking back, we see quite a lot of people who are bringing forward, in their own trajectories, the ethos of autonomy, resilience, courage and dark humour we have been sharing over the years. We see many of these as friends: we don’t spend much time together, but neither have we grown apart, and by now it’s been years staying within line of sight.
Edgeryders is also an organization in its own right, but even with core people in the organization there is a tendency to disperse into other organizations: Amelia at Jigsaw, Martin at the Ronin Institute, Hugi and Ivan at Open Collective, Marina at Croatia Culture Hub, Marco at several startups, NATO and CERN, Nadia and Matthias at Climate Gains, myself at UNDP. This is a feature, not a bug, because the network of shared values and mutual trust was there before we incorporated, and people carry it with them wherever they go, if they wish to. We can continue being friends, and working together, or at least towards the idea of a better world that we, across all differences, roughly share.
So, here’s an idea: let’s reach out through the network, and organize a gathering once again. Probably after the summer (?); probably smaller than the Living On The Edge events of yore, but larger than more recent company retreats. Let’s reach out to both new allies and older comrades (among the latter: Smari, Amelia A., Rysiek, the two Sams – Muirhead and Buschhorns – Vinay, Ben, Thomas G) and see where they are. The implication is, as it always was, that anyone can claim to “be Edgeryders”, simply by claiming it. If people want to participate, they are welcome and we will touch base; and if not, no hard feelings. It will be like The Blues Brothers putting the old band back together.
I realize there is a lot of blanks to fill in the above. But we are resourceful people, and I’m sure we can up with something. So, I propose we start by calling a meeting with @nadia, @matthias and @hugi for an initial brainstorming. How does that sound?
Note – I intentionally mentioned many people, but did not @tag them. This is because I would rather get on the same page with Matt and Hugi before starting to pin people. At the same time, I want to put this in a public part of the forum because serenditpity.
I am still based in Vlaams Brabant though I’ve been away a lot recently. And planning to be in England from around March 6 to end March. I can probably visit or attend a gathering between Feb 21 and March 5, or in April or afterwards.