The Clans
“First Know I am Free, Truly Free”
[1] It is 1:40AM, on 1/6/2020. For one of the first times I, Jairson Ascencao am writing an article completely on my initiative. Not because I want to, but because situations have forced me to answer several important questions about the HavenFestPVD village before it is too late.
[2] This article is written to answer the question “Why do we need Clans in our weekly creativity village?” Before tonight, our village didn’t need this structure.
[3] “When I’m doing YouTubePVD and I mention NDBaker93, I can send them over to check out your corner [Sorakle],” said Nickanthony Quach, excited. “Oooh, and after I learn about [the nomad’s] ideals I can send them over to you [at YoutubePVD], because that’s a story to tell.” responded Norman D. Baker. At the time I didn’t realize, but Number 4 is actually the first recorded thought that two village leaders, Nickathony and Norman passed to each other and agreed was important enough to be written down.
[4] At first, all that seemed clear was that it would be intelligent of us to figure out simple ways for each village leader to be able to help the others in the village by sending the right people to the right spaces. But things wouldn’t stay that simple.
[5] At 11:00pm, 1/5/2020, I received a message from Mary Rathier, the village leader of the Haven Improv Club.
[6] “Do you think the village leaders will get a chance to visit other stations?” Oh jeez, this time the Cave Manager had a problem he hadn’t expected, a village leader wanted to be able to check out the various corners just like the nomads. I hadn’t predicted this, and so I had to think quickly.
[7] However, before I could even begin to think about the above two complexities, at 11:22pm, 1/5/2020, I received the third recorded thought from a village leader.
[8] Alec’s question, alongside the other two thoughts above, made me realize something. The villagers have no idea what they are and aren’t allowed to do. Currently, HavenFestPVD has the basic structure set up for how the festival’s are going to go, but there is no formal instruction for how the villagers are supposed to operate. They’ve been told “Do what you want” and that’s about it. That wasn’t going to fly once we had groups of 20 or above in the space and the complexities of the Festival began to reveal themselves.
[9] Its 2:30am now, and time to add to our architecture once again. This time we needed a structure that would tie the villagers together, and would make it clear they could work together during the festival as long as they continued to serve their functions.
[10] The first point to make is that in each corner, there is one head that is the final decision-maker for that corner. Those, are our village chiefs. Each village chief is the head of a Clan. Each clan runs one or more spaces in our Village. What’s more, each villager in a clan is a clan member. Clan members work inside the spaces to help run them.
[11] Alright, that seems pretty simple, but now I have to solve the three issues presented to me with this new structure. Thankfully, I had a secret weapon.
[12] Alec Mustafayev, one of the villagers, had a mission. “To get as many people as possible to take agency in how they perceive the world” With his mission, and the architecture described above, I now saw a way to collectively solve every single one of the questions and problems presented to me tonight.
[13] Clan leaders had only one responsibility: keep their spaces running during their active times. How they did so was up to them. Of the three issues raised, Alec’s philosophy dealt with his own issue the fastest. His question was “what am I allowed to bring into the space” The answer, anything that would advance his Clans ideals while respecting the others’ ideals at the same time.
[14] The second most difficult question to answer was how to deal with systematically forming all the potential pacts between villagers so that the village was as well connected as possible. It would be far too complicated to try to do that myself right now. That’s why Alec’s mission was perfect for the job. “Get as many people to take agency.” To me, that meant Village Chiefs needed to be able to form pacts. Just like in the world outside the village, if Clans are going to succeed, they need to harness the art of mutual benefit and become shortcuts for each others ideals. Good luck.
[15] Mary’s request was the most difficult to deal with. “Do you think the village leaders will get a chance to visit other [Clans]?” I totally understood her wishes, she wanted to explore just like the Nomads do. But we have a job to do. Thankfully, this is where the concept of the Clan comes in the most handy. As long as you have members who can keep your Clan’s space active while you explore, there’s nothing stopping villagers from also enjoying the fruits of the village. However, if your absence causes your Clan and their Nomads to be unable to do what they love, you’ve displayed disrespect not only to your clan, but to all the villagers and nomads who worked together to make the village a wonderful place to be. So be careful, as the role of a Village Chief is an honor.
[16] So, today I learned a little bit about how a group works. Once your people have adopted the structures that you create, pretty quickly they will identify for you all the problems or questions your structures raise. Sometimes several members will independently notice issues all at once, and if you aren’t as a leader paying attention when these moments come, you may not notice how these issues are connected to each other. Thankfully, this time I noticed, and I hope it will be useful to my colleagues in the morning. as for now, it is 3:33 am, and its time for me to sleep.
