Laser Election Monday

Is this that inlay class I saw. I wondered about that. I’m guessing it’s super slow super high power restarting?

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So there’s a tornado watch for today until 9PM. Should this election be postponed @Julie-Harris?

Hi! I’m not going to be able to make it tonight due to weather because of how far away I live, but I would also like to send a proxy vote to Burt if someone who will be there can please help me do that. Thank you!
-Melissa

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If both people who are running would like to postpone the election I can do that but I am planning to be there.

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I had planned on attending in person this evening, but due to work, I will be unable too. In the time I have been a member Burt has always gone above and beyond to offer guidance and assistance whenever I have asked and has taught me a lot just by dropping by whatever table I am working at to see how my projects are going. I don’t know either of the other candidates, so this is no way a slight to them, but Burt’s dedication to DMS and the success of its members has always been readily apparent to me. I believe he would be an outstanding steward of the organizations laser resources, as he has with the woodshop.

@Julie-Harris, Please count my proxy vote for Burt.

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My intent was to be at the meeting tonight. Health and projects indicate I won’t be able to attend. I agree, proxy bombing has been an issue in the past. Usually from those not even interested in the committee. While I have not been heavily active at space for a few months, I have taught laser classes and participated in monthly maintenance meetings in the past. @Julie-Harris I support Burt for laser chair by proxy.

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I’ve had the joy of working with both Amelia and Burt. They’ve both been incredibly helpful in my maker journey. They’ve both contributed a lot to making DMS a better place in their own ways and I’m grateful to both of them. I wish they had decided to work together instead of running against each other in what’s looking like a very contentious election. I hope they’ll be able to continue to contribute to the laser committee regardless of the election result.

For this election, I thought about how the candidates aligned with three major goals I think many of us would share.

  • I want to be able to make things (I want the machines to be maintained)
  • I want to learn and teach.
  • I want to be part of a community.

I think either candidate will keep the machines maintained. They both use the lasers, so they are already inherently motivated to maintain them. With the nature of the makerspace there will still be some downtime regardless, but that’s to be expected. I think they will both be quick to fix things.

I think where we can make a differentiation here is their approach to maintenance. Based on their own posts in this thread, Burt says he and his team will do the maintenance while Amelia says there will be monthly cleaning days and a path to certify laser maintainers. I personally prefer Amelia’s approach, because I think it engages and empowers the community more and spreads the work of maintaining the lasers. With Burt’s approach, it’s not as clear how I could contribute to helping maintain the lasers.

I want to learn and also teach. For many people, the online training is not enough and they’d like more hands on training. Burt has recently been teaching an inlays class and a boxes class using the lasers. These classes are great to see and I hope to see more of them regardless of the election result. Burt is only one person though, so the laser committee needs to encourage more teachers.

I have been fortunate to have been encouraged by both of them to be a teacher. However, Amelia’s approach has actually gotten me to teach. She’s led teacher development classes, one of which got me into teaching. Whenever there’s a new resource or process related to the classes I teach, she tells me about them. She actively supports my teaching development.

I’ve been trying to develop a class for the new CNC machine (X-Carve) in woodshop, but it’s been unfortunately discouraging. Burt has a lot of strong opinions on how the class should be run. It has given the impression that I’d have to jump through hoops to teach. This is probably why the X-Carve has been sitting around with no classes for months now. I am not the only potential teacher that has been turned away from it by Burt. I don’t think Burt is intentionally turning teachers away (he means well) - I think it’s just a result of his slow and deliberate approach. It seems like it would take a lot of effort to reach a middle ground with him whereas with Amelia, she would meet me where I’m at. I’ve been wanting to teach laser classes (the tumbler one for example) and with Amelia, I would actually be more inclined to teach.

I want to be part of a community. I came to the makerspace for the tools and stayed for the community. Both Amelia and Burt have contributed to my sense of community here. I’ve learned a lot from them and feel welcomed in their spaces. However, Amelia has been more active in the laser community. She keeps up with laser discussions on Talk and Discord, constantly answering people’s questions and offering help and support. I don’t think Burt is even on Discord, so he’s already missing out on engaging a part of the active laser community. I also haven’t seen him be a part of the laser discussions on Talk. Additionally, Amelia has had experience lasering many different types of materials whereas I am not sure Burt has lasered anything besides wood. In this way, Amelia can connect with a broader laser user base.

Honestly, I don’t think the laser committee will go up in smoke with either candidate. I think either candidate would be fine. If you use the lasers primarily as a small business owner and you’re not interested in creating community, I think Burt would be your candidate. If you’re a hobbyist interested in learning or developing your knowledge base, I think Amelia would be your candidate.

I really hope both candidates will continue to contribute to laser no matter the outcome. This election season has been too nasty and so I hope to see a return to civility soon.

Since I won’t be there in person because of the tornado watch, @Julie-Harris please accept my proxy vote for Amelia

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The election results are 24 for Burt and 21 for Amelia. Burt is the next chair of laser pending confirmation by the board at the April 17 board meeting.

4 posts were split to a new topic: Reporting Needed Attn in April 2024