Ownership, this space here is ours.
This website holds spaces for creatives, story tellers, and those of us who would appreciate having secure access to a not for profit, free website.
Since 2011 I used this website for my community facilitation work and formally retired back in 2023.
When the message came through a few months ago that the domain was coming to an end I thought about how I could use the website now.
So I renewed the domain, set up a hosting account and I am offering some of the space here to those who are curious about arts and crafts and story telling as advocating for global justice via system change.
Creative ways of Living
Back in the Punk era and the early Hp Hop era my take on all that was based on us, me and my friends and neighbours, creating our own communities as the ones our parent and grand parents had were being dismantled and dispersed.
There are examples of people doing this in many parts of the UK and in others countries too.
Driven by a desire for lives that have meaning, are creative, generative and fun, there are community owned farms, bakers, venues, cinemas, housing co-ops, self managed agricultural and garden projects often following a permaculture theme.
Let’s use this space to share examples of groups that are doing their own thing with a view to creating different futures for us all that do not engage with destructive, violent and extractive profit based ideologies.
There is no charge for using this space here on this website. I am happy to offer it for free and play a small part in taking back our shared spaces that are the source and core of our online and in person alt communities.
You, me, us, we… are all this… and that.
This is my email;
mark@markthis.co.uk
This website is where I share some of my stories and I am happy for you to share your stories here too.
The space here does not involve money, I pay a small amount for the domain and the hosting, but can cover that with my own income for now.
I have been fascinated in how we live with and within our unique thisness, while being entangled parts of our shared collective communities.
The Greeks use the word Haecceity and John Dun Scotus also called this, thisness.
It’s up to you how you use this space here to share your thisness.
What’s important to you…and me?
If we go along with the core themes that all us humans need just to exist, I’m going with these four first.
Space to live that provides food and shelter and some level of safety, and in this piece I’m calling that housing and freedom from violence.
Healthcare, being able to find and access people with the skills and resources to help us deal with and recover from the illnesses and injuries that all of us are susceptible too.
Education, I use this term lightly as there are so many ways to learn. In this description let’s go with, access to considerate support from others who have skills we would like to develop and also understand how to share those skills in a kind and generous way.
Transport, access to the means to travel. The option to make choices around getting from one place to another may have different limits depending upon how much of a rush we are in and the impact our need to travel has upon our shared resources.
For me these four are the base we start from;
Housing
Healthcare
Education
Transport
Beyond these essentials I also add community and creativity and find it hard to separate these two as they go together hand in hand, I don’t think we can have one without the other.
There is space in this website for you to riff on any of these themes here and feel free to expand and open up other themes to.
This website is part of our and your community and creativity.
And for info, thisness…
I am currently experimenting with story telling via dance, theatre, music, writing, nonviolent communication and de-escalation.
Get in touch if you want to use this space to share your stories.
#equipoisist