Announcing my candidacy for the potentially open Board position

[Rick Blake]

This is my announcement that I wish to be considered for the potential open Board position, if it arises at the Hack Your Hackerspace meeting on July 9, 2026. 

I've been a member for some time, and a card holder for much of that time. I recall the very first time I entered the Lab, with a hacked together 3d printer, on '3d Printer Night', looking for help making it work. The first person I met greeted me warmly, welcoming me. And they were different than most people I knew at the time. I knew then, immediately, that if I wanted whatever was here, I needed to accept people as they were, because what was important to me was not how I felt about these people, but what the Lab was, what the members had to offer.

I chose to act with understanding, acceptance, and love. There are many Lab members I can truly say I love. They are precious to me.They are caring, kind, and forgiving. And they seem to truly love the Lab, as I do, for what it is, and what it can be.

I did not know this at that time, but Heatsync Labs' Bylaws state, in part;

1. The purpose of HeatSync Labs (herein referred to as “HSL”) shall be to provide a physical space for members and the public to work on projects (especially projects involving physical creation) and to facilitate relevant education, discussion, collaboration, and planning.

The Labs'  Bylaws also state, in part;

1. Membership in HSL shall be open to anyone in the community with a genuine interest in the HSL's purpose, and shall not be discriminated against on the basis of color, race, gender, national origin, religion, creed, political affiliation/orientation, sexual preference/orientation, age, disability, software preference, or veteran status.

 

And I confess that I could not, and still do not, think that we could be organized otherwise. I do not need a Bylaw to know I must welcome anyone into the community, membership, or even to come in and take advantage of what the Lab offers. That to me would be necessary, and to think otherwise would be, in my mind, contrary to not only my own beliefs but to what the Lab ought to be.

We are now in the throes of a controversy over a Board member's personal beliefs and how they may have led to decisions that appear to have offended many members of the Lab. And that is disappointing to me. But equally disappointing is that, in the wake of those decisions, members of the Lab sought out public postings by this Board member, found them to be offensive, and have pursued two actions intended to remove this Board member from their office. This concerns me.

First, it is, for me, concerning that if a member, be they a Board member or not (because indeed these complaints could be made against any member found to be sufficiently offensive, Board member or not, and held to account by sufficient members to initiate some action against them, within the limits of the Bylaws), could find themselves accuse of improper statements outside the Lab , and suffer consequences of that, then any member could, I fear, consider their public postings to be at risk of being used to remove them from a position of responsibility with the Lab, or even membership. 

I find this to be inappropriate. We live in a Nation that values and defends free speech. While the Lab is not a Nation, and is not bound by our Nation's Constitution, being a private and voluntary association, we nonetheless, I believe, should treat each other with dignity, understanding, and acceptance. Searching out a member's public postings with the intent of finding offense and thereby causing them harm is antithetical to being a welcoming and accepting community. I, for one, do not wish to see us searching out offenses. We live in a culture in which that is all too common, and with painful results. We can be better than that, but we must try. And we must, in that pursuit, think more of others than of ourselves.

If a Board position becomes vacant at the July 9th HYH, and if I were to be elected to that position, my focus would be to first work to heal the community. I do not yet know how, but I believe such healing would be best begun by asking the community how to go about that. And I would also work to refocus the Lab and the community on our core missions, as stated in the Bylaws, making things, helping others make things, sharing knowledge. And making the Lab a welcoming, open space, different from the outside world. We can be better than that.

If you value the Lab for what it can be, and has been, if you value the opportunity to make and preserve the unique space it has been, and grow it further in that vision, and if you wish for the Lab community to heal itself, discard animosity and offense, and forgive slights, as much as can be forgiven, then I ask for your support if this vote comes to pass. I will work for these goals and work to restore the Lab to the remarkable place it has been.

[SM Newstead]

Rick is a lovely person and tries to be inclusive to all people. I have worked with him in many capacities, and I think he would be a good fit for the board. Even if he doesn't agree with everything, he is always civil and classy, and that is a rarity these days. 

[Mike Wolfson]

Rick has always been super nice to me. He would be great, and has been around the lab, making big impacts for years.

-Mike