This past month, I was a techie for my high school's fall production of "The Triangle Factory Fire Project." After the production itself, one of the more adventurous actors decided to hold a cast party at her house. As we were all sitting around, talking about the funnier moments of the production, (including my tackling of an actor outside my Broadcast Journalism class to obtain a hug on 'Hug a Techie day') it occurred to me that we were very comfortable around each other. I had several people popping my personal space bubble, most of whom I'd hugged at one point or another. Yet, I couldn't name ten people who were part of that play if I tried.

Why is that? Why is that community so tight-knit, so open, that I feel comfortable with all its members, regardless of whether or not I know them on a personal level?

Does this make a community stronger or weaker? Is it a community trait, or an individual trait, and we just happened to be a group whose majority of the members possessed that trait?

Allow me to digress a moment.

In improv, an art I have an undying appreciation for, there is this concept called the group mind. The group mind, essentially, is when improv actors can anticipate each other, down to pointing at the same person during a game of "Zip Zap Zop". When the group mind is at its strongest, the performance flourishes.

That's kind of like what the community of actors and techies had. A group mind. Not that we anticipated each other, but that we knew the other didn't mean anything by their proximity to us or the signs of affection. We knew that the title "Most Obnoxious Techie" was a compliment, and not an insult. These things were never spoken aloud, and yet, we somehow knew them.

So what do you think? Do you think that the group mind, the excessive level of comfort, in a society is beneficial to the society? Do you think the society or the individual is responsible for cultivating this trait in its members?


Last Edit: Apr 17, 2007 3:58:50 GMT by Kay