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Unless the cost of living is radically higher in Boston, for fifty thousand dollars a year I can make weekend trips to Michigan a lot. Heck, for that matter, Randall Munroe (the XKCD guy) is currently moving to Boston and maybe we can carpool to Michigan together.
I deliberately listed Cory Doctorow, Eric Raymond and Christine Peterson in my cover letter to the Free Software Foundation. If I have to give up promoting Open Source and Creative Commons in order to work for FSF, then they don't want me. My platform is one of healing, communicating and working together against a common threat. The only ally I'll turn against is one who's toxic to the unity of allies.
Even if that a poisonous participant is a founder, whether it be of Free Software, or of Penguicon.
Is it valuable to hobnob with movers and shakers? Sure it is. But it is no where near as valuable as being on a first-name basis with those who get their hands dirty with the bulk of the local work. It's all well and good to be a savvy pundit in politics, technology and business. But the dinner table is where hearts and minds are won. You have to speak the language of those who don't know business, technology or politics at all. Shape their vision of themselves. Tell them why they will love it and why they will work on it in exchange for nothing. Success or failure is in their hands-- without them, any movement remains an irrelevant fringe group.
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