I enjoyed reading this; thank you for writing it! (Though as some data, this much detail is definitely not important for my continued donations.)
In the ‘future plans’ section of your 2024 fundraising post, you briefly mentioned slowly building out an FHI-of-the-west as one of the things for which you wish you had the time & funding. I didn’t notice such a project in the same section of this post — curious what happened to your plans for this? (Have you given up on it? Or is it just not in your top priorities of what you’d do with extra funding? Or something else?)
It’s something I am still thinking about, but currently think that the framing of “FHI of the West” is probably the wrong framing. I didn’t yet know how to put what I am excited here into words, so didn’t put it into the plan section. I might write more about some of my thoughts here if I get around to it.
In the ‘future plans’ section of your 2024 fundraising post, you briefly mentioned slowly building out an FHI-of-the-west as one of the things for which you wish you had the time & funding.
I think this is happening, albeit slowly and piecemeal. There are several resident scholars at Lighthaven now, and I know some writers who have used the equivalent of “visiting scholar” positions at Lighthaven as a first step in moving to the Bay full-time. It might be worth making this more legible, though I can imagine counterarguments too.
I know some writers who have used the equivalent of “visiting scholar” positions at Lighthaven as a first step in moving to the Bay full-time.
I would not be surprised if the long-term impact of Inkhaven is that >50% of the out-of-town participants move to the Bay Area by the end of 2026. For example, Jenn is already considering it:
And when I returned home after a month, when I looked at it with fresh eyes, it started to look less like an oasis and more like the world’s most luxurious solitary confinement cell.
Now I want to say yes to more than is available here. More life, more connection, more romance. A friend once told me that it’s wise to move cities often, because each city whispers a different thing to you, and each city brings out different facets of yourself. I adore the version of me that emerged in Berkeley. I want to nurture her more. And I don’t think there is enough for her here.
You know, that’s an exceedingly reasonable read of how I ended that post. But! For the record, I love Canada too much to leave, and this is not a thing I am considering doing. What I have done is put in my two month’s notice, and I’ll be moving from my beloved little town to Toronto early next year. I figure there’ll be enough action in the fourth largest North American city to keep me occupied :)
But also yeah probably a bunch of American inkies are gonna move, eh.
Obvious implication is obvious: Lighthaven should seriously consider ways to capture a share of value form “I have a flow of people moving to the Bay Area”. (Dumb version: find a realtor adjacent to this community, capture a share of referral fees. Other more sophisticated options are left as an exercise to the reader.)
I enjoyed reading this; thank you for writing it! (Though as some data, this much detail is definitely not important for my continued donations.)
In the ‘future plans’ section of your 2024 fundraising post, you briefly mentioned slowly building out an FHI-of-the-west as one of the things for which you wish you had the time & funding. I didn’t notice such a project in the same section of this post — curious what happened to your plans for this? (Have you given up on it? Or is it just not in your top priorities of what you’d do with extra funding? Or something else?)
It’s something I am still thinking about, but currently think that the framing of “FHI of the West” is probably the wrong framing. I didn’t yet know how to put what I am excited here into words, so didn’t put it into the plan section. I might write more about some of my thoughts here if I get around to it.
I think this is happening, albeit slowly and piecemeal. There are several resident scholars at Lighthaven now, and I know some writers who have used the equivalent of “visiting scholar” positions at Lighthaven as a first step in moving to the Bay full-time. It might be worth making this more legible, though I can imagine counterarguments too.
I would not be surprised if the long-term impact of Inkhaven is that >50% of the out-of-town participants move to the Bay Area by the end of 2026. For example, Jenn is already considering it:
You know, that’s an exceedingly reasonable read of how I ended that post. But! For the record, I love Canada too much to leave, and this is not a thing I am considering doing. What I have done is put in my two month’s notice, and I’ll be moving from my beloved little town to Toronto early next year. I figure there’ll be enough action in the fourth largest North American city to keep me occupied :)
But also yeah probably a bunch of American inkies are gonna move, eh.
Obvious implication is obvious: Lighthaven should seriously consider ways to capture a share of value form “I have a flow of people moving to the Bay Area”. (Dumb version: find a realtor adjacent to this community, capture a share of referral fees. Other more sophisticated options are left as an exercise to the reader.)
Lightcone-branded tenements, of course.
(Looks at half completed pitch deck titled “Starcology: A Lighthaven Managed Residence” and hits delete)
Excuse me, the technical term is group house.
I am in this picture, and I’m unsure how to feel about it