The Traveling Circus

Nintendo 

My mind works in 1up cool points to the ideas and people that come my way. When I first heard about blockchain and web 3.0 I thought, “decentralized? community? trust-less? financial freedom?!” I’m on that tip. So why not figure out who, what and how. Leap taken, and in the words of Mario or perhaps Luigi, here we go! (if you don't say it in their voice, then F minus to you). 

Piece of shoe   (1up to anyone States side who remembers the converse commercial) 

I first heard of cryptocurrency many years ago, I don't remember when. What I do remember is my reaction to it. I thought that sounds cool, no banks, I hate em, damn Washington Mutual then JPM Chase, especially those piece of shoe overdraft fees. But, as I did with most anything dealing with finances, my fear stemming from ignorance made me feel this is something that I cannot access. It’s for the techie’s and people that can get it. I felt comfortable enough then to be angry at banks, people in power and centralized structures. I decided to stick with the tools I was familiar with to fight these systems, bringing what I understood as truth to power.  

Paying for protests 

As far back as I can remember, I always fought for what I felt to be right. Its how I was raised. “Do well in school thats why we are in this country, remember your values, remember the struggle, family first, walk into a room with your head up, our women have the strength of ten men, don't ever let anyone make you think otherwise, be patient, think ahead” fam said. Words that encouraged me to ask questions and seek knowledge (minus financial and technological knowledge). So, I spoke up and held my head high.  

I got involved in social justice activities in middle school, high school, university and during my post-graduate studies. There, I was on a journey as a community organizer. I learned a lot from the spaces and the people I worked with. The spaces were empowering. The only issue was, as an organizer I believed that organizing people power should come from the grassroots but, I did not feel rooted anywhere. I moved around a lot and as a result never had a stable “community” that welcomed me as a part of them and one I could call home.   

Even with that issue fogging the back of my brain, I continued. The meetings, the homeland calls, the activism, the organizing, the non-profits, the NGOs, the radio, the interviews, the talking points, the whatever other label you want to put to it I just felt like do it because it needed to get done.

   
Then that issue resurfaced, something didn't feel right. “Am I doing this right? What am I missing?” Maybe I have to be more like others. Get a poster with a person or words that can motivate me. I never really had posters of celebrities and heroes. I loved the freedom fighters, just felt that their human too so why the poster?

Without the right poster or label and staying put somewhere long enough to say this is hometown, I thought why stay in this border? I always loved traveling and was lucky enough to have travelled to places and continue to do so but, thats not the border i’m talking about.   

There were many moments that lead me to that thought. One in particular was being on a stage communicating the words of a young girl thousands of miles away to an audience and then stopping to get a good look. The booths, the shirts and the permits, for the space the sound the “ok you can have your show . . . with limits”. You pay for your freedom cry and the camera goes click.   

I left the states and moved to the Middle East.  

You have that book they call face? 

I don’t have a facebook account, a twitter, an instagram, a tinder and the etc of it all. I did have a few of those some years ago for a long time. Its nice to have a way to connect to homies especially if you out and about a lot. I just didn't like that space. No matter what angle I took to engage in it so I can feel better about being in it, I just didn't like it, it didn't feel right. Im not hatin, its just how I feel.   

It felt like the land community and the digital community that existed were the same thing. Both were faces no matter what channel you were on.   

I was ready to leave the Middle East but didn't know where to next. You have the homies who will say “the whole world is out there for you, you’ll figure it out”. Then you think, “dam thats a lot of places to be, that doesn't help”. Then there are the homies who say “you must be lost, its ok, you’ll figure it out”. Now Im lost?!  

I did not feel lost. Ok then, “stop and think for a minute” I told myself. “What do you want?” I want to be somewhere where I don't know the language, the system and can’t fit into the crowd.

I moved to China.

There was no “one” community for me. So I kept moving, traveling and observing.  

Go back to the carnival 

You’re attracted to carnivals and fun fairs, as an attendee and as an observer. So why limit the boundaries of your observation?   

Everything feels like a spectacle to me, no matter how happy or sad the occasion. The moral character of the moment the “realness” factor doesn't make the stage disappear. I always connected to movies like Stay Tuned, MIB, The Truman Show, The Matrix, and the like. Whenever the observer takes over I see the show. The lady walking the dog, the friends having a chat, the girl who pulls another girls hair, the man in tears, the solider with a rifle and so on.   

No matter what happens, bright lights or dark clouds, or bright lights in dark clouds, life goes on.   

It took me some time but when I remembered that observer-spectacle feeling at different moments in life I ask myself ‘why am I moving about in the circus in one way? You’re an explorer, clear up the space from which you observe and see more of the picture’. In this moment in time that clarity pushed me to re-evaluate how I see two particular things in life and as annoying as it is to realize something late in the game, I accepted it. Learn about the things that you feel so distant from understanding. For me, that was money first and tech second.   

It started with money. I heard what I needed to hear and then it began. I returned to wonderland and followed the white rabbit to the crypto blockchain universe. If I was going to invest value in this, I'm going to follow that rabbit.   
(Yes, I know, I am mixing references. Thats just how I understand and talk about my circus, carnival, wonderland, matrix-y spectacle observer feeling, don't like it, don't read :) ).   

My plan 

Invest, digitize and humanize the space.   

If I’m not a fan of borders and centralization, I figured why not join a digital community that values decentralization. Try it out.   

The meet ups the conferences. Write about it and go from there.   

So here I am.