Marion's Ledge

Clothesline

2008-06-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

The opportunity of Marion’s Ledge isn’t just in the big things we can do, but also the plethora of beautiful small things we can do – things that let us practice new ways, sometimes forgotten ways (and hopefully better ways) to do things and simultaneously experience new activities thru which to engage with each other.

A model example came up recently when I was telling someone about the intention to include Laundromat machines for the use of the Hostel guests as well as any visiting local guests (an integrated mini-laudramat). In playing off this idea they made the simple suggestion to put a clothesline on the roof.

I remember helping my mother with the cloths on the line when I was a kid but now we’ve gotten very used to using electrical dryers instead. The truth is that a good part of the year in Houston is perfectly suitable to letting the sun do our drying and the roof of Marion’s would be an ideal place to set that up.

Not only might the roof host a clothslinehile but, rather than in some conventional configuration, the design of the line itself might be a creative project and impleminted as an “art installation”—an art installation that, like some of the most engaging ones I’ve seen, is usable and that you interact with (of course!).

Today I can’t even imagine what form that might finally take (I will be delighted, though I won’t be surprised, when one of the creative minds we tap will indeed come up with something wonderful!) but, as in this example, there may be no area in the design of Marion’s Ledge that art and creativity – playfullness, thinking from a new perspective outside-the-box – may not be applied.

This will not only bring creative energy to what-we-offer, but creative and playful energy to how-we-offer it so that it becomes even more in the process. In the future I look forward to noting other examples of this “plethora of beautiful small things” that we can do in a fresh way.

The role and scope of the Marion’s Ledge building

2008-02-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Marion's Ledge is a holistic effort that seeks to create its vision of a charged, active and engaged community through its entire being – this begins with the building approached as not merely an edifice within which to be sheltered or a certain amount of square footage to be occupied, but an expression and example of how we conduct our activity within that building. The building itself, like its inhabitants, will seek and accept a high challenge to its being - that of “doing things right”. The building is not just a means, but part of the expression of Marion's Ledge.

It is from this challenge to “do things right” that Marion’s accepts its responsibility to design the building to be superbly “green” and “sustainable”. Though these words may be putting the goal somewhat simplistically, I believe they currently convey well enough the spirit and intent of the undertaking.
Beyond meeting this basic responsibility, we’ll also do so in a way that not only derives comfort and economy for us in our life in the building, meets our community responsibility to execute our business in a way that does not harm our environment or waste, but that also demonstrates and educates how the building accomplishes this goal (somewhat like a giant see-inside model or an exhibit at the HMNS that not only shows how it is done but illustrates results) so that the larger community can more easily see what can be done in their own projects.

While Marion’s Ledge is conceived as including a spacious Commons, a greater space on the same visible level for an adjoining Venue/Workspace (actual physical levels may be creatively played with but it’s important that this entire space be visibly and physically accessible and inviting), an International Hostel directly above that, and specific plans for the roof as an extension of the activity of the Commons – were we to create a multistory building with space beyond those needs (greater than the 2+roof plan), then space would be available to lease for other businesses and organizations. This may be an attractive option that could greatly increase Marion’s financial viability.

Should Marion’s be capable of housing other businesses or organizations, then it is partly because Marion's Ledge is a vision that looks to compliment other endeavors, and is easily complimented by other endeavors. We will benefit from these endeavors in the commerce and input that they’ll bring, and the organizations behind the activities will benefit by providing their guests a vibrant and inspiring environment as they enter their time there.

The vision of the Commons is to bring in as great a variety of people and activity as possible and to have that activity visible and accessible in an open style, not to isolate one activity from another as most buildings do. Therefore the building will be designed so that as much activity as possible happens within, and adjacent to, the Commons and all major access and egress to the various other areas of the building (to the Hostel and the Roof and any other floors or areas that may exist) will be through the Commons.

Marion's Ledge is a vision, not just a project that needs square footage. We unfortunately won't have the luxury of just renting a floor in a building that does not fully express this vision.
This makes our fundraising all the more challenging but it also makes our mission all the more compelling.

Where we are challenged and there is variety

2008-01-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

I realize now that when I first conceived of Marion's Ledge by asking "where do I want to spend my time and who do I want to spend it with?" - that the place and people I envisioned were intended to be an antidote to "boredom". Timothy Ferris points out in The 4-Hour Workweek, and no doubt others before him, that "the opposite of happiness is boredom."
To the degree that a charged, active and engaged community is a goal in Marion's Ledge, it-is-so only because we hold it as true that such a community is an antidote/remedy/panacea to boredom.
Boredom has no foothold when we are challenged and where there is variety. It is by addressing these two issues that Marion's Ledge seeks to provide that relief to boredom.
1) The building itself should answer a challenge to be superbly green (responsible) and imaginatively creative. In expressing an excellent answer to that challenge, the physical environment will testify that we can meet challenges in a wonderful way.
2) Our staff will be friendly, engaged & will bring their own challenges and discoveries to share with our guests.
3) Our guests should never feel they know just what they'll find at Marion's Ledge. They may have explored the building and visited many times, but by bringing in traveling guests as well as the community (to meet, work and present), they will find an ever changing landscape of activity and engagement.
This landscape will in its unpredictable nature offer variety, and hopefully that variety will in turn offer rich opportunities for engagement, and that engagement will present challenges.
Though these efforts we hope to make Marion's Ledge a uniquely stimulating and vibrant place to be.

Cultural Field Trip

2007-12-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

I also must apologize for the lack of activity on this blog and with Marion's Ledge in general. School keeps getting in the way of my life.

The one major thing that I have done is to start the first active Marion's Ledge affiliated program - Marion's Cultural Field Trips. When Hank and I started dreaming about Marion's Ledge and the philosophy behind it (Hank started that way before I came into the picture), one aspect that mattered to us was engagement and discovery. We wanted to create a place that helped people become engaged both within our walls and out. This philosophy is also important in our own lives and we were regularly making a point to try new activities and experience things we have never experienced (and would not have save for our conscious choice to seek them out).

The idea occurred to me to formalize this and actually create a group which goes out to experience things together which we normally would not have experienced.

We set up a Google group for people to join Marion's Cultural Field Trips and get announcements. Currently, it is just our friends, but we are hoping to soon get more organized and to advertise it better. If we do, we will need to have more regular activities and meeting places. We are currently meeting at one of our houses and the schedule is irregular

Some of the events we have had so far included:

Bat Watching
Interfaith Tours
University of Houston Walking Tour
Baha'i Devotional Service
Lights in the Heights
UH Tailgate Party
Solar Homes Tour

If you are interested in joining us for our field trips, check out our Google group.

Rent-a-cup

2007-12-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I first feel I need to apologize - to you but also to Hailey and myself. Life keeps interrupting life and we've gotten overtaken by other day-to-day matters and haven't been paying proper attention to Marion's Ledge. There may only be a few of you keeping an eye on this but we need to keep up this blog as much for the project and ourselves as for you.
That being said I do have something at the moment that I want to share.
Hailey recently called me to tell me of an idea that I think is as emblematic of what we're trying to do as any single element we've come up with.

We were again discussing the cups we plan on using and the discount (in an effort to discourage unnecessary trash and waste in our disposable society) we'll give if someone brings their own cup whether it's to-go or to-stay. We decided that we'd also have some reusable to-go cups/mugs that people can buy for $2 or something.
We thought we'd price it as: (Price = Price as posted on the menu board)
• Customer brings their own (or bought from us) cup then cost is Price-10%
• Customer uses Marion's ceramic cup then cost is Price
• Customer wants coffee to go in disposable cup then cost is Price+10%

By the time we hung-up I kinda liked that pricing scheme. Then Hailey called back after a little while and had a brilliant idea. Honestly, I was tempted not to post this because I'd love to be the first ones (as far as I know) to do it this way - it's just too good of an idea to be stingy with though so if someone else does it first then more power to them.

Her idea was to have those reusable cups not just for sale, but for rent or sale.
In the "Rent-a-cup" plan, the rental price will be the same as the sale price & we will 'buy back' the rented cup at full price when (or if) it's returned. These cups will be marked (perhaps a recycle emblem or something) and will be kept in the reuse/rental pool. If someone intends to buy a cup they can be given a fresh new one without fear that it's one that has been rented out.
As I thought about all the situations in which this might be used I realized that this may eliminate the need for disposable cups at all!

This is just an example of why Hailey is so great to work with on this project. We seem to be very much on the same page and she comes up with some of the best ideas and insights!
Thanks for checking us out and we hope to have updates for you much more often :)

San Antonio Work Retreat

2007-06-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hank and I recently took a trip to San Antonio as the first official Marion's Ledge Work Retreat. Before the trip, I compiled a workbook with sessions that covered all of the things that we needed to work on, including identity statements, marketing, and initial advertising. We also discussed related activities and funding.

The whole trip was a really good success. We stayed in a hostel near Sam Houston Military Base in a house that used to be owned by a general that was built around the turn of the 20th century. I just loved the character of the place. There is just something to staying in a building that you know is incredibly solid. That house will be there for a long time save something like a fire or a tornado.

We spent our time at various coffeehouses near downtown. One in particular that we enjoyed was called Cafe Latino, where we met the owner. He offered us a good quote: "You can do anything. All you need is money." We understand that very well. :-) He also was very knowledgeable about coffee and may be a very good resource to tap.

We also stopped by and worked at Ruta Maya Riverwalk. The Austin Ruta Maya is one of the few coffeehouses that seem to share a spirit with Marion's Ledge, so stopping by the San Antonio version was a must. This made us think about how the same vision can be expressed in different locations. What actually created the atmosphere of Ruta Maya?

All in all, I learned the power of sitting in a coffeehouse for 3 hours with an agenda to go through. Each extended session led to many new ideas and inspirations.

Here are some ideas/highlights of our work:
• further identity statements, including values
• looking at a for-profit model for Marion's Ledge
• possible actions to take to further our mission for our building
• initial advertising efforts

We also added a new quote to join our two main quotes: "Some men see things as they are and say 'why?' I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?' " -- Robert Francis Kennedy

Montessori Classrooms and Marion's Ledge

2007-01-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

When Hank and I were first discussing the ideas behind Marion's Ledge, he told me that one of the sources of inspiration was an early childhood school classroom, especially a Montessori classroom, because of how the space is specifically designed for the enrichment of the students.

Well, this got me curious, so I went the Half-Priced Books and bought myself a book on Montessori education, specifically in the elementary level. The book was Montessori Today by Paula Polk Lillard, and in it she discusses fascets of the Montessori style of teaching of children ages 6-12. Hank was right about Marion's Ledge applying many of the same concepts geared towards adults. I can also see from this book why he believes this is important. I'll explain why in this blog entry.

On Montessori Education

One of the most important aspects of the elementary Montessori education is the classroom which is filled with what is called "Materials". Each Material that is placed in the classroom has a unique purpose and a unique place and is specifically made to give the children a hands on way to learn a concept. Another thing that these Materials are used for is to spark interest in the students to learn more. The kids in the Montessori classroom pursue studies based on their own questions. The teacher is there as a resource and a guide in the ways to find the information that they desire. The teacher is also there to make sure that the child doesn't miss something.

Unlike normal elementary classes, the teacher in Montessori classes don't lecture to the whole class, and they don't make the kids stay quite for large portions of the day. Instead, they will have discussions with small groups of students at a time and they teach the students to respect others by keeping their voices at a reasonable level and picking up after themselves. Conversation between students and collaborative work are encouraged.

Another very unique aspect of the Montessori education is the concept of "going out." This is where students get to leave the classroom and school in order to pursue a certain line of research. For example, if a group of students are studying ancient life, they can organize a trip to the local natural history museum. The materials in the classroom are limited on purpose to encourage the students to go out into society to find the answers that they are looking for. The students must organize these trips on their own, and, unlike a regular school field trip, the whole class doesn't go and the students who do go have a specific goal in mind. The teacher, as part of the materials of the classroom, keeps an up to date reference of the resources that the town offers so that the students can learn about different opportunities to learn.

What an awesome way to learn!! If/when I have kids, they are so totally going to a Montessori school!!!

On Marion's Ledge...

Ok, back on topic. So, how does all this relate to Marion's Ledge? Well, many of the features you see in the Montessori way translates very well into a place like Marion's Ledge even though Marion's Ledge is designed for adults. One of the ways is how methodically the classroom is designed. It is not made to be pretty, it is made so that everything serves a purpose, everything has a goal. Likewise, we are designing Marion's Ledge not for the aesthetics, but for the social interactions and engagement that can happen in such a designed space. For example, instead of small tables that only seat a couple people, we will probably have larger tables. That way people that don't know each other can sit at the same table without feeling like their space is invaded, but by sitting at the same table, there is more possibility for interaction. Now granted, we are not going as far as having "Materials" like in the Montessori classroom where every item is suppose to have a specific goal, but we are designing Marion's Ledge in ways that increase the opportunity for interaction and engagement with others and the place.

Also, Like such a Montessori classroom, Marion's Ledge not only wants to engage people that come in, but also to act as a resource that sends people out. We want to keep people up to date on things happening around Houston that they may not have heard about. We also want to have a resource book about Houston available to our guests. Along with the resource book, we want to have a bulletin board where posts can be made about things happening around Houston, thereby giving people the resources to engage in our city.

We will be keeping the ideas that form the Montessori classroom and educational experience in mind as we continue to design Marion's Ledge. We believe that this is a good place of inspiration for what we are planning to create, helping us add to the spirit and mission of Marion's Ledge.

Logo, website & why nonprofit?

2007-01-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

I didn’t mean for it to go so long since our last entry here, but blame it on the holidays;)
One piece of good news is that I was introduced to a good guy named Dennis and we met to discuss working together some on a logo for Marion’s Ledge. He seemed to be interested in the concept and to understand my thinking in what I am looking for. I’m looking forward to meeting with him again soon.

I spent a good part of yesterday revising the look of the website and I hope it’s a lot better! The first version was the first bit of playing with doing a website that I’d ever done, and though I’m still verrry much a novice, I’d since come to be embarrassed to see it. While I think this version is a big improvement, and in some ways I really like it, there are certainly parts of it that are stopgap for now and it’ll no doubt get worked over a lot more in the not-too-distant future.
~~

The main thing I wanted to talk about this time though was to address a question that Hailey has been asked. That is...
Why is Marion’s Ledge a nonprofit?
The answer is that I envision Marion’s Ledge being a non-profit by virtue of the fact that it is a guest-driven, or experience-driven design, not a product or sales driven design. It’s primary mission is to foster community and engagement, not to sell coffee and pastries... although I do like coffee and pastries:).
Though we need to make a profit to be viable and to exist, we do not exist to make a profit.

I’m told that as a non-profit we will be asked to justify ourselves by answering “what impact are we making?”
There are two areas that I foresee Marion’s Ledge having an impact. One is in bringing Houston in to engage our guests, and the other is in helping our guests venture out to engage Houston.

I don’t know if you necessarily have community by virtue of being small, but being a big spread-out city certainly makes it a challenge. I remember being especially stimulated by various communities I’ve been a member of that were engaged in a project or activity. It is this kind of stimulating active community that we hope to create in Marion’s Ledge by inviting active Houstonians to have a home there. I hope to enhance this further with the addition of stimulating perspectives by inviting travelers through. I’d hope that the impact of this brew on Houston’s culture and energy may be profound.
Houston has a great deal to offer with lots of music, theater, dance, art, lectures, and various other activities. Marion’s Ledge doesn’t aim to trap it’s guests there but rather to also be a gateway to the rest of the city. Like a hostel (and I would want us to do this even if we hadn’t included a hostel), I want it to be a resource, to make a visit to Marion’s Ledge a catalyst to discover what’s outside our doors. In some respects, we should all be travelers, explorers, even though we’re in our home city. In addition to offering it’s guests things of interest in Marion’s Ledge itself, we want to actively help our guests find things of interest out and around town. The impact can be great when Houstonians are more interested and engaged in their city in that it helps them be better ambassadors of Houston, and helps Houston express a more vibrant culture.

The TV Show

2006-12-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well, after that mention about it in Hank's last post, I better post about this TV show project that is in our near future. But before I do that, I want to write a little about Marion's Ledge in general.

On the Spirit of a Traveler

Our Mission, first and foremost, is to spread what we are calling the culture of engagement and the spirit of a traveler as well as adding to the community. The best way that we can do this is through the building of the Community Commons and Cafe. As well as being a great place to come and hang out, this will be a place that will bring in a wide variety of people and will lend itself to discovery of many new things, places, ideas, and activities around Houston. That is what we are here for. By inviting Houston Groups in to use the space, we hope to have a wide variety of things for people to encounter. We are showcasing the wonders of Houston.

And it is not just the homeless groups that we want to showcase. We want to, in the true sense of the term "Spirit of a Traveler", showcase all that is Houston and that makes it what it is. This may be a unique landmark (like the Preston Street Bridge) or an interesting place (like the Aurora Picture Show) or a specific group of people (like a poetry slam team). These are all things that make Houston what it is.

When you travel places, you expect to find this type of stuff. You are actively looking for things that make whatever city you are visiting unique. And finding these things can lead to fun times and awesome adventures. But how often do we look at our own town that way? How many of you Houstonians have been to the Aurora or the Orange Show or something like those? Try it, you will be amazed at what you find.

The TV Show

So, we don't yet have a building, and it will be a few years until we do, so we began thinking of a way that we could start on our mission without the building. The idea of the TV show actually originated with a member of Rice TV, not someone associated with Marion's Ledge. She wanted to create a show for RTV that showed students and other members of campus what is out there "beyond the hedges" (ie. off campus) that they didn't know about. When she first explained this idea to me, I immediately thought about our mission for Marion's Ledge. There was definite room for collaboration. I raised the idea of doing a joint project and she liked the idea and welcomed the help. So, it is on. This next semester, we hope to shoot our first episodes, which will be aired on Rice TV as well as here on this website.

The hope is to spread knowledge about our town and give people information about things that are happening and groups and places that they can get involved in. We want, in the video as well as the actual place, to showcase Houston for all it is. We want to get people engaged, whether they are from Houston or not. We hope that this video project will help with that.

If you are interested in helping on such a project, please let us know. As we would welcome feedback or ideas or suggestions for content. Just comment on this blog entry. Thanks! :-D

Name change & a new project

2006-12-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

I’m discovering in just the last week that it appears that little is really inviolate in the work so far.
Significantly, while “Marion’s Ledge” is fixed in my mind and soul, I’ve long wished for something better than “Community House” but haven’t thought of even a contender. Recently I heard “commons” used outside a university context and it occurred to me that it might hold just the right meaning.

commons |ˈkämənz| |ˌkɑmənz| |ˌkɒmənz|
plural noun
1 a dining hall in a residential school or college.
2 [treated as sing. ] land or resources belonging to or affecting the whole of a community.
• a public park of a town or city.
3 That’s Us baby!! We’re here for and affecting the whole of the community!

We’ve been sorta trying it on for size for a bit and I think we’re warming up to it so I’m going to go ahead and update the name on the website later today and see if it doesn’t stick.
~~

Hailey has found a good way for us to go ahead and try to pursue some of our mission without waiting on the funds for a building and the whole package. She’s found someone with Rice TV interested in producing a series of films on Houston Groups that we can help with. It sounded like their motivations are very much like ours so this ought to be good and I hope we get moving on it pretty soon. I’m sure she’ll soon elaborate more on the project.

The Marion's Ledge Process

2006-11-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

This is Hailey. I will be known as Fearful Symmetry in the blog (see here to read the poem that the name came from). I would like to give you a quick run-down as to the process that we will be going through in order to make Marion's Ledge into a reality. I am numbering and labeling these phases as if they were linear and easily defined. In actuality, they are neither, but this will help us all get our minds around the tasks that must be accomplished.

Phase 1: Initial Plan Development and Groundwork - This stage in the process lays the foundation for what is to come. We will be to focus on expressing our vision and building our beginning network. Hank's last post talks some about this stage.

Creation of a Master Plan

Mission and Vision
Market Research and Planning
Strategic Plan
Fundraising / Financial Planning

Initial Network Building

Website that expresses our vision as best as possible.
Visual Representation
Initial Presentations on Marion's Ledge
Just telling everyone that we know about the project to start building support and interest.

Phase 2: Beginning Marketing - This phase is the beginning of a long line of marketing that we will have to do. It builds on the network that we started in Phase 1. This phase will continue throughout the other phases, changing a little as we go. I will revisit this phase a little later.

Spreading the Vision

We will be sharing what we created in phase 1, hoping to spark people's interests and to gain support.
We will use many different mediums to do this, including the internet.

Formation of a Core Group

In the process of Spreading the Vision, we hope to find some people who fall in love with the project as much as we have and who want to get more involved.
This includes formation of our initial Board of Directors, which is needed before we can file with the government in the next phase.

Phase 3: Legal Formation - We can't do much in terms of fundraising and gathering official support until we become an official entity. This phase is a very important phase as it allows us to proceed to the following stages legally.

State Filings

We have already composed first drafts of many of the state filings such as Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. These need to be read by a lawyer for completeness and accuracy and then approved by our board.

Federal Filings

We plan to opporate as a non-profit and therefore must apply for 501 c(3) status with the IRS. This is a long and tedious process (or so I have heard), and we will be asking for the help of a lawyer in this process.

Phase 4: Fundraising - Once we have a non-profit status with the government, we can begin raising money to fund the initial creation of Marion's Ledge. Our hope is that once we get the place up and running, it can become self-sustainable as far as money goes. The money that we must raise will go to the building and the initial business funds needed. We are estimating this figure to be $3-4 million due to the location and the environmental design and size of the building.

Grantwriting

We will be applying for various grants, including such areas as: Houston, enviromental, LEED Design, Hosteling, community and culture.

Individual Donor Campaign.

We are planning to launch a campaign were we try to raise as much as we can from individuals. We are currently looking into ways to honor or donors, such as a brick wall.

Other Fundraising

We plan to be creative in our fundraising. We have a deep seated belief that if there is a will, there is a way.

Phase 5: Final Design Process - Once we have enough money, we will go ahead and begin the official design of the building. We will be working with an architect, but we want to be very involved in the process

Hostel and Green-building Research

I am planning to take a trip to Europe to study Hostel operation and design so that we can improve our initial design of the building.
I am also planning on taking a course in Sustainable Design at Rice that will also help the the initial design.

Initial Building Proposal

This is our main part of the design process. We will be writing a plan of what we were thinking about the building and the layout, being very detailed about what rooms are needed and the size and use of each room.

Official Design

We will get the help of an architect to do the official design of the building. We would like to be creative in the choosing of the architect, maybe trying to get more then one option.
The idea is that we want an architect that understands what we are trying to do, not just designing a cool building.

Phase 6: Final Marketing Campaign - This is really just a continuation of phase 2, but it becomes really important here, so I decided to give it a separate stage number.

Inviting Houston Groups to use the Space
Spreading the word about the Hostel to travelers.
Introducing Houstonians to Marion's Ledge and preparing for our grand opening.

Phase 7: Open for business - YAY!! Our goal will be complete. Now we will have to manage the everyday operations of the place.

Managing the Cafe

Making sure everything is running smoothly and that we are always stocked with the needed supplies.
Managing Employees

Keep inviting Houston Groups into our space and actively try to keep people engaged with Marion's Ledge and Houston

Keeping the Bullitan Board up to date.
Keep a community calendar of cool events
Making sure there are things happening in our production space.

Managing the Hostel

Keeping the supplies stocked and the rooms cleaned.
Keep the reservations system working properly.

Innovating new ways to spread our philosophy and mission.

So, that is by no way exhaustive of all of the things that we will have to do over the next couple of years, but it should give you a general idea as to where we are headed. Feel free to comment on any of it.

Inaugural entry

2006-11-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here we’re going to try to give you a better idea where Marion’s Ledge is coming from and what it is, as well as provide a chronicle of where we are in our efforts and what we’re currently trying to do. We would appreciate your comments and input and we hope you’ll stay tuned... now, on with the story:

Marion’s Ledge is a vision that began with Hank Hauffe in September of ‘03 when he resigned from the MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) and took time (and a trip to Europe) to make what was indeed a successful “vision quest”, that is, a search for a better reason to get up in the morning than what he’d had so far. More recently Hailey Hinson fell in love with the concept and in the summer of ‘06 made it her mission to get this project off the dime... and thanks to her it’s finally gotten out of my notebook and massaged into forms like Mission Statements and Articles of Incorporation in an effort to make it in to a reality.

We thought our first task would be for me to somehow get my mish-mash of notes into a coherent Mission Statement so that I could at least tell someone what Marion’s Ledge is about without stammering or taking the whole afternoon. We are currently on our second re-write (that is, it was composed, we thought fairly well, and now been pretty completely rewritten once and then tweeked a fair bit more) and we are perhaps about 94.6% happy with it.

With the Mission we also did Articles and whatnot (Hailey’s been working on this) in an effort to lay the groundwork to begin recruiting a Board and then the quick and efficient job of fund-raising (Right! :o ).
Well, after talking to a few people, I’m not sure how good I’m going to be at asking someone to be on a Board and go out and get us $4 million dollars. I certainly don’t want to try to cajole someone into it.
I realize that no one has to do it on their own of course, but even asking someone to seriously join in such an effort is asking a lot.

What I really want is to present the vision so clearly and persuasively that he or she believes it SHould exist and they WAnt to participate and help as they can. Whether that can really happen or not, we decided that rather than trying to form a Board first off, we would focus on efforts to draw the vision as fully and vividly as we possibly can. This is a critical task anyway that will hopefully be a resource and pay dividends in many ways we don’t even foresee.

We have a number of ideas in process to fulfill this goal:

• first is the Mission Statement and the accompaning Questions (the Mission Pages) that we hope will express, clarify and elaborate on our vision ~
• a micro story or narrative “visit” to the future Marion’s Ledge ~
Hailey did an amazing version of this that you’ll find elsewhere on this site and we hope to expand the characters some in the future to give a pair of people together - one who’s been there before and knows something about what it’s about, and the other new to Marion’s Ledge so experiencing a fresh discovery.
• Activity vignettes ~
This is just little 2 to 3 line “moments” in Marion’s Ledge. Almost a Marion’s Ledge haiku. Just glimpses into what it might be like.
• logo ~
I’m looking for someone who can draw & is willing to help me get my idea on paper so we can see if it has some potential.
• Image of Engagement ~
This would take a bit to explain but it’s kind of a mural and Hailey has been working some on this. It could be GReat! I'm sure it could have a variety of valuable uses including our web masthead and perhaps even using as the basis for a billboard.
• A drawing or “artist’s conception” of what the interior of the place will look like ~
Looking for someone with architectural drawing skills to help with this.
• the downtown approach ~
We have some pictures that we need to format to help someone appreciate the location we have in mind.
• this website ~
Needs a lot of work but at least it’s UP.
• a Keynote presentation ~
This may have it’s roots in the website but it really needs to be done so we have it for people when we get around to meetings.
• A commercial as if the place already exists ~
Don’t have a clear concept for this yet but it seems like a fun idea with a proven format for getting across an idea briefly.

We’re always reviewing details and names and wording etc. and just in the last few days we’ve been reconsidering some names and tweeking the Mission yet a bit more. We had the large space referred to as the “Workspace/Venue” and we just decided to change that to the “Production Space” since that seems to more concisely encompass both producing/working and where a production might be presented. I’d long thought about that & the only thing holding me back is that there is a portion of the Community House where Saturday Morning Cartoons might happen, or meetings might be staged, or music played, or talks/presentations given... whatever so long as it’s not too big and you want a more exposed and involved “Living Room” setting than what that larger space provides, and we’ve been calling that the "Production Space". Now I need to come up with a new name for that area and so far I’m dry, but it’ll happen (maybe “Happening Space”?... like something Happens there, or "Little Production Space (the LPS)? ... ... ... you know, “happen” is a funny word).

That’s it for now. Thanks for checking on us & if you have any thoughts we’d love to hear from you.
-hank:)