Community Fair

'Working Towards Community 2.0!'

C3 is facilitated by OfCare, in association with the Home Office, the Department of Training and Education, and the Department of Social Cohesion and Security, with generous sponsorship from Symbiomundia (formerly Grindley & Bundage PLC).

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Thursday, October 27, 2005

Modern Times

Well, the causes of disatisfaction with modern, rationalised work patterns are largely biological. We’re encouraging people to adapt to exciting new techniques that our palaeolithic ancestors simply weren’t designed for. And here I feel bound to disagree with Dr Douce’s earlier comments. Recent work in evolutionary psychology and genetics has transformed our understanding of human personality and particularly of antisocial behaviour. We have now positively identified genes for aggression, autism, alcoholism, shyness, homosexuality, greed, envy, femininity, laziness, and many other conditions, and can confidently map the origin of these genes in those structures of primitive society which still underlie our own apparently sophisticated veneer. Rowdiness, rage, dyslexia, dissidence, ADD, and other personality disorders are now very much seen as potentially treatable conditions and much of our work here is progressing to help the unfortunate victims of suchlike. Of course our work never ends in a sense; thus we’ve solved the smoking problem more or less, but the growing epidemic of snuff-taking is a threat of terrifying proportions.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Making Things

The story sounds good, Don, you should keep it up. It’s good to be able to make and shape things. Well, they’ve got me back making things in the workshop. I don’t feel quite as useless now. I’ve always been good at making things, I’d make wooden toys for the kids and the grandchildren, games, bogies—you know, go-carts, we used to call them bogies. Sounds funny now. Mind you, I don’t really know what I’m making here. I just follow the instructions on the screen. It’s not the same. They’re only parts of things.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Daft as Fuck

He’s daft as fuck, but I love him. Reads too many books. The wrong sort I mean. He gets too many ideas.

Writing to the Moment

I’m doing lots of classes now, you guys should do some. This is what they say we get as transferable skills. More past regression therapy—really good, I really like regressing. We’re even learning writing style! Off a famous novelist. Write about what you know, she says. Explore yourself. Write in the first person at first—that’s like a diary. Like this. Write to the moment, like it’s happening as you think it. That’s why blogs are the thing. Self expression. Write about your feelings, the inner you—it can be a healing process, she says. And I feel I need healing.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

I Can’t Get Out

Well, she said she couldn’t get out. Then she said she liked it there. But she wasn’t free. You have to decide for people sometimes.

That Bird

Hey, Tristram, they talk don’t they these miner birds? What was it saying when you let him out?

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Lessons from History

That’s right, the behaviour of people today’s appalling. We had another history lesson yesterday as part of the Citizenship Training Scheme—world history to show our multicultural humanity, and British to give us a shared identity. It was very interesting, the whole incredible history of the degeneration of manners. They even had a Society for the Promotion of Good Manners as far back as the eighteenth century. There’s Indus Valley scripts—that’s 20000 years ago!—telling stories about how bad the youths had got. So that explains the frightful conditions we’ve got today. And here at last after all those years they’re doing something about it. The world will be so much happier when everyone’s polite and respects each other. And maybe we’ll even respect ourselves.

A Reminder of What We Face

I think this would be an appropriate moment for me to remind people of the dangers we face and what our programme is up against in the War against Antisociality.

What we do here is part of the global struggle against the enemies of freedom, the enemies of civilisation. There are those in the world at large, as you know, who are waging war on the values of the West. But this aggression is fed by low-level forms of terrorism—antisocial behaviour in general. So OfCare and our sister bodies are ensuring the public is protected from some of the most dangerous people in society.

Recent legislation acknowledges the public anxiety over the increased threats from alien disease carriers, paedophiles, football fans, zoophiles, binge drinkers, gerontophiles, truants, ichthyophiles, bullies, necrophiles, smokers and spitters, Russian Hell’s Angels, gumchewers, and Holocaust and climate change deniers.

We have already addressed the decent majority’s concern over such problems as:
teenage pregnancy, binge drinkers, gum abusers, youths running through gardens and knocking on doors, throwing sweets at cars, abusive religion and religious abuse (not to be confused), bad parenting, appearing in underwear, unacceptable or inappropriate public erotic behaviour, attempted suicide, truancy, self harm, rage, offending people, malignant witchcraft (benign witchcraft is, of course, sanctioned as a complementary medicine and welcomed as an alternative faith), playing music with repetitive rhythms, use of weapons of mass destruction, and hate speech.So we really do have to be vigilant and, as Joseph recognises, be vigilant even towards ourselves. You are all lucky enough to be in a Community which empowers you to employ the latest self-management methodologies to both protect society and maximise your own personal development agendas.

Nurture not Nature

Well, I’m afraid I have to beg to differ with Dr Feramor there. But then we respect difference here—it would be a poor world if we all thought the same, wouldn’t it? And his opinions are as valid as mine, I’m sure you’d agree. I disagree with Dr Feramor on the genetic causes of this behaviour—it’s nurture not nature—not least because of the sexist assumptions about female roles in the Palaeolithic Era. I unearth the origins of our current crisis far more recently in the selfishness of Thatcherite Britain in the 80s, the crisis in masculinity, the tragedy of Princess Di, and so on.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Be Careful

But you have to be careful though. There’s bad behaviour in everyone. Dr F explained how we all have ASB inside us. It’s genes, the primitive caveman thing. Look at history, look at the world right now—there’s a new Holocaust every day. I feel the badness in me all the time now I’ve been shown what’s wrong. But I really hate it when I have to go off to the Quiet Room to do my Self Management Exercises. I hate being cut off from the Community.

Poor Tristram

You poor thing! It sounds like there’s not a lot wrong with you really.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Freedom to Fly

Well, it’s a bit embarrassing really. I’d been caught trying to liberate a mynah bird from a cage in a restaurant. I took those Sexual Stimulation tests that we all have to do. My animal love was too developed they say. I was already under observation for kissing a girl in the playground. I’m still trying to work it out. And they say I’ve got too many ideas, they come too fast. I can feel the chemicals, flooding through my body when I get ideas in the middle of the night. They’re giving me this Acephalin. It’s like a calming, soothing thing. So I’m banged up here. But if it’s good for the Earth and all the different cultures and stuff—then it’s cool. But I’ve had to leave my poor cat behind, Izzy. And I’m a very sentimental person. I love Izzy.

Hey, Tristram?

Well, what’s YOUR private stuff then Tristram? We’ve all shared.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Peace in Europe

All that violence, it’s awful. But some things fill you full of hope. It used to be something you’d take the piss out of, but Latvia have just won the Eurovision Song Contest again!! It’s a really cool song too about peace and harmony and how countries can live together yet still be Latvians. Ours was crap as usual. But you still get some people moaning about the voting being unfair. But it’s not long ago they didn’t even have the vote! That’s another thing about here—you get really good food. And some of it’s foreign! I like that, shows respect for other cultures.
Anyway, it starts off really gloomy, with babies wailing and bombs and machine guns. Then there’s these really dark chords on synths:

Bonjour Peace, Kalimera Love

There is murder in the sky
And the babies start to cry
Then a million people die
And it makes me wonder why
Can’t we get together all the world
Make sweet harmony and music
Singing. . .
(Then it lifts up and it’s a really optimistic chorus:)

Bonjour peace
Kalimera love
Auf wiedersehn to bombs and guns
Hold hands across the nations
Wave adios to war.

There’s no dinner on the table
And the babies look disabled
‘Cos there’s nothing in their bellies
I know I’ve seen it on the telly
Can’t we get together all the world
Make sweet harmony and music
Singing. . . [chorus]

Rain forest trees are falling
Babies die from global warming
Codfish are dead from trawling
But I hear the sperm whales calling:
Can’t we get together all the world
Make sweet harmony and music
Singing. . . [chorus]
Then these Latvian schoolkids sing along with the chorus, and there’s whales mooing and cooing, and it all ends on hope. This is the new FreeEuroVision, of course—that’s the New Style Europe, nobody watches the other lot’s channels. I think Latvia must be on our side now. But there’s still war despite all the songs.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Trouble in R Wing

For those of you who may have heard some misleading and demoralising rumours. Some of the criminal elements behind the horrific violence in R Wing last night have regretfully been fatally pacified to protect the rest of the community. The Security Personnel from GB acted courageously and had some very difficult decisions to make with only seconds to spare.

Second Thoughts

I’m having second thoughts about that last post. I don’t want you to think I’m racist—especially not in here. I mean, Ahmid, a guy I worked with at GB, he was one of them. He was sound, a really nice guy. Clever. He was dead into all the kit you know, had a flat full of the latest gear—servers everywhere. But that’s what got him. They did him for that inappropriate interest in technology bit. He might be in here for all I know—some of the high risk ones you don’t get to talk to. I heard there was some more trouble in R Wing this evening.

The Islamists

There’s a lot of them Islamists here but they seem alright really. They’re mostly in R Wing. Those girls joined from the new Face to Face Programme. That’s like it encourages you to be open with everyone and create a community. If you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to fear. But these girls had covered their faces up with them scarves. Me too, I was wearing a balaclava, I have to hide things cos well I’m shy, it’s a gene, but that’s my personality disorder so they’re treating it all together. And my scars, you see. It means I have to stay in a bit longer though. Well, could be forever really. No problem, I suppose.

How we’re helping Roxanne

I’m sure we can all see here how Roxanne’s still being a bit unreasonable and creating barriers to her recovery. We’ve had to book her a short session in the Quiet Room. I think she’ll soon come round to what a wonderful opportunity this is, both for her and especially for her child.

As a single mother, Roxanne is statistically prone to certain vulnerabilities. Here, she will also benefit from the workshops in parental literacy, and the Early Intervention Programme for monitoring childhood susceptibility to psychosocial disorders.

Tell me if I’m wrong

I was just doing some cleaning work to keep Ruth—that’s my baby girl—and me in food—thought it’d be alright, didn’t know it was wrong. But that cow next door—well I’m sure it’s her—rang the Social Information Sharing line. So I tried to bluff it out during the interviews but the recordings showed me up didn’t they? They hadn’t said I was on TV! And voice analysis. Anyway, I’m told it’s wrong now cos it’s taxpayers’ money—I’m learning things like that now. And there’s boys out their dying for community values and it’s expensive keeping them in bombs and planes and satellites and gas and stuff. Well actually I’m still not convinced. Should I be? Tell me if I’m wrong. Why should I have to tell you this anyway?

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Warning: Identity Abuse

Sorry, we had to stop that one. I’m afraid this ‘Hamid Benegeli’ is not what he seems. Some of these identities seem very spurious. And one of the aims of the community is keeping your identity secure. We value each other’s identities. That’s why ID theft is one of the most terroristic crimes you can have. Breaking the trust of others in this way is disgraceful. Please be on your guard; be ready to question and report any identities that may seem insecure.

The Big Strike

Everybody round here used to work at Grindley and Bundage. But they closed the factory down and moved the work to Thailand or Latvia or somewhere. They’ve still got the Head Office and the IT Division at GB House in Stockport—that’s where I was. It was soon after the big strike—everybody remembers that, me mum and dad were both in it. The cleaners were out on strike but then the rest came out even though the cleaners were a different firm! So it was unofficial. They got together in a group to encourage the other strikers. Now that IS antisocial. It affects society.

Private Stuff

There’s another reason why I’m here. It was hard for a bloke like me to admit this at first, but that’s something else I’m learning. You see we always had to stand up to things. You didn’t have time to indulge, and you didn’t expect any sympathy if you did. That was how we survived. So when I came down with this depression I felt it had to be hidden, it showed too much weakness, would make me vulnerable. I couldn’t reveal it. But Dr Zoe’s been showing us in a workshop how that sort of behaviour actually harms you—that old way of thinking’s not good. So we’re learning about men’s behaviour and we’re learning new labour skills. And as the programme says—where’s that bit about Work Therapy? Here it is:

We find useful work re-liberates the creative potential of our clients,
especially when we immerse them in a dialogic community situation. It rescues
them from the home imprisonment that many people excluded from the Work
Community face, especially those who suffer from personality disorders.

But it’s more than that. As Dr Douce says: ‘But work isn’t all; it must be tempered with spirituality or life’s meaningless’.

I suppose the strike was just another load of that old-fashioned macho confrontation—not like the social dialogue we’re learning here, but we did feel grand. I never felt more proud.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

LISTEN WORLD!!

Blogs are ideal of course cos you can come out with all this private stuff AND THE WHOLE WORLD CAN HEAR!!! It’s cool technology that makes the whole world one happy sharing community. It’s the new utopia.

Ancient Wisdom

As you can see from Clary’s story, our approaches to self-transformation are very broad-minded. NLP, ayurveda, Past Life Regression therapy—we’re eclectic in our therapeutic approach, drawing on the wisdom of many eras and cultures. That’s Wisdom, not Intelligence. And Wisdom consists in part of the humility to bow down before Nature and admit that ‘Knowledge’ is an unattainable fantasy, a creature of our own dark lusts to manipulate and control. Though of course Ms Hart’s ideas about Knowledge Management are very interesting indeed; perhaps we could consider calling it ‘Wisdom Management’? Though ‘Management’ strikes me as somewhat patriarchal.

Sharing our Knowledge

Let me introduce myself. For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Veronica Hart, the Co-ordinator of the C3 Project. That's Community Cohesion Centres, of course. Knowledge Management. That’s what this blog’s all about. We’ve taken the idea from the business community, where they recognise that knowledge is wealth. You might call it ‘The Knowledge Theory of Value’. A lot of knowledge is unconscious; you have to dig deep to find it—sort of like archaeology—and the blog encourages you to do that. More importantly, it allows us to share it amongst ourselves. Too many enterprises in the past have failed through the egotistical barriers people put up to sharing knowledge; we aim to break down that cycle of selfishness that blights communities. We’re raising the goalposts and throwing a curved ball into the equation. For us at the Centre, the principal form of knowledge is emotional knowledge and it leads to empowerment. So let me encourage you to take advantage of this golden opportunity and share your Knowledge with each other.

So Much History!

Feeling great today! Forget all that pain crap—I just get these dark bits sometimes. Then it’s like I’m a different person. I’m excited now! I just started Deva Moonwater’s therapy class. She’s a Wiccan and she takes you back into all your previous lives. You wouldn’t believe you had so many, you should try it. I was an Irish peasant girl in the potato famine. It was really terribly sad, I was crying buckets when I woke up. But I can confront my pain now. It all seems so little when you think of human history.

Monday, October 10, 2005

When I hurt myself

I slap my face till it stings bright red. Sometimes I scratch my arms till they bleed and I drag my arms through patches of nettles to feel the pain, that sort of thing. Sometimes I just want to get a kitchen knife and plunge it in my chest and stab and stab and stab, I’m that rubbish. And I do actually slice into my arm. And I feel all the tension draining out of me with the blood—that’s the funny thing, it actually makes me feel better. I imagine myself being torn to shreds, blood everywhere, just feeling the anger against myself and feeling I deserve to be punished. But sometimes I feel good about my body. I like my breasts. I like the piercings.

Where did you go wrong?

Clary, where did you go wrong, do you mind me asking? They said we should all talk about it, it’s therapeutic, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Hi Joseph

Hi Joseph, we can't meet up, of course—that’s the rules. But I really like the sound of you. It would be nice to think we could meet some day when we’re better. I’ve got a kind of PD too. Mine’s Borderline though. I kind of hurt myself.

LAPD

I was sort of useless too. They call it LAPD. That’s Latent Antisocial Personality Disorder. It means I might turn psycho and do something stupid, but they don’t know when. So I’m in here to get sorted. I miss me mum and dad, though. I know the parenting must have been inadequate but I always felt ok really. And they say it could be genetic anyway. I've never hurt anybody. But sometimes my problems could come back and I have to be dealt with.

A New Useful Life

I was feeling pretty useless when I came along here. Well I know it’s my fault since I haven’t got the skills. Well I DO have the skills you see but they didn’t need the skills no more. I was one of the top machinists for years at Grindley and Bundage. I started at 16, I was an apprentice. I put my heart and brain into my work, I was like an artist. But it’s a kind of personality disorder not to be flexible, they say. I’m too passive, got a low self-image. You have to adapt better. So anyway now they retrain you. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to be a useful member of society again.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Blogging from our Hearts

Doing a blog’s good for us because it teaches us to look into our deepest self and how to express our emotions and communicate with the community. Dr Zoe always says how it’s bad to keep things locked up inside of us. Being a proper citizen means being open about yourself.
We’re going to learn a lot of useful things that will help us get proper jobs, like how to smile at people—communication skills—I never had that.
We’re encouraged to do the diary because it’s personal see? It’s good to look into yourself and see what makes you tick. And then we get the IT skills that the community needs in industry, we get to work.
I was an IT Trainee at Grindley and Bundage anyway, so it’s good. I had a bit of a head start, I liked that stuff. You get a bite to eat here and a bed, learn to look up to people. There’s some exciting job opportunities too. Freedom comes through work, they say.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Well, it’s Time to Share!

I suppose if I was to say why I was here it’s down to Community Values. This really is a little community and I was lost before I belonged here. Then there’s the wider community outside, of course, and all the values we all share—or most of us—we all know about the Wreckers. And then there’s outside. With no Community and no Values. But I still don’t really know why I’m here. I mean it’s very comfy and friendly but it is a bit like a prison in a way. I must have done something wrong then, mustn’t I?
I’m settling in quite nicely. The food’s quite nice though there’s a bit too much Chicken Tikka Marsala for some reason. There was some trouble in R Wing last night.