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How SCALE is impacting YOU
Tips for leveraging SCALE to support your community work, reflections on our bug-like existence, and a GIVEAWAY
Jasper Lydon
October 07, 2024
Table of Contents
Hello dearest bugs!
This past month has been a time of big feelings for me. In moments of overwhelm, I walk to where I can just see the Pacific Ocean’s vast jaws eating up the horizon line. In the face of that great maw, I remember that I am merely a bug, and I feel better.
A human bug, to be more exact - a bundle of flesh and nerves moving through the world, navigating survival and desire and relationships, one being in a city of millions and a planet of billions of us.
Even though I do believe that you and I bring some special sparkle to this world that I deeply cherish, I do love remembering that my feelings are only as big as the feelings that all of us bazillion humans face and conquer throughout our lives.
Thus I thought a suitable topic for this newsletter would be SCALE.
SCALE felt pretty relevant when I was hiding from this giant hail while visiting Highline Crossing Cohousing in Denver, CO
SCALE has several interesting implications with my work right now. I’ll first talk about scale in the newsletter, and then talk about scale’s implications for community organizing.
So firstly — its time to SCALE UP this newsletter! Just last week, I heard back from a literary agent who would be willing to help me get a book deal if my newsletter can reach around 10,000 subscribers. That might sound ambitious, but if everyone reading this shares the newsletter with just two people who might be interested, we’ll reach 1,000 subscribers by the end of the week!
How beautiful would it be for us to build a community of 10,000 people interested in the power of community to build a better world for us and our future?
Thus: the GIVEAWAY!
If you invite THREE friends to join the newsletter who you think might be interested, I’ll send you a free sticker! You can choose between one of the mushroom character stickers I have on my Etsy, or a GRASS ROOTS newsletter sticker (coming soon!)
If you invite FIVE people to join the newsletter, I’ll send you a free print from the Etsy shop!
If you invite TEN people to join the newsletter, I’ll make you a custom artwork of your choice!
None of these prizes speaking to you? Just let me know what kind of free prize you’d be interested in and I’ll see if I can make it happen!
If you share or talk about this newsletter with anyone, you’ll have my undying gratitude. It’s a free, easy way you can support my dreams — plus help me gather a mass army of minions whose inboxes I can bug :)
Scale in Intentional Community Work
SCALE presents an interesting dichotomy in our sense of agency.
Say you’re working on a group project with three people. Cue high school flashbacks to making tri-fold posterboards. We’re then highly likely to feel that our actions and contributions will make a difference in this group. If there is a group vote, we know that our decision is strongly influential. Now, say there’s a group vote, but hundreds of millions of people take part - for example, a certain national election coming up. Cue feelings of powerlessness.
By balancing the scale of our activism, we can seek to reach larger numbers while retaining a feeling of empowerment.
By looking local — at community groups, neighborhood associations, even book clubs — we can all find spaces where we can feel how important our inputs are while also being able to make an impact on more than just our inner circles.
Chart from my senior thesis ☀️
In intentional communities specifically, I found a correlation between communities’ age and population size. This could indicate that so long as communities continue to exist, they generally tend to grow in size over time. Alternatively, it could indicate that larger communities are more long-lasting. Larger communities may be able to weather interpersonal difficulties and ups-and-downs more easily, aiding their longevity.
SCALE is also relevant in the ISSUE LEVEL we choose to target. When I had the opportunity to hear from Congressional Rep. Zoe Zephyr, she told us, “Like any good union organizer will tell you, I always say, if you’re feeling stuck, go local.” Engaging with local issues is empowering, and in a time of intense isolation, it helps us connect.
I don’t generally have a high level of confidence in our democracy [...] but I’ve seen how things work on the smaller level. And I see how that sort of disengaged attitude leaves a lot of opportunities for people who are engaged [...] Don’t get me wrong, our Congressperson is a total dipshit. But I’m willing to give it a shot.
I love this quote from Ben. I included it, and the word “dipshit,” in my final, official thesis.
Coming up soon: why did I name this GRASS ROOTS? don’t I hate grass lawns? will I stop referring to you as bugs?
Much love,
Jasper Lydon
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