I met a group of people outside my graduate school circle, a group of creatives, artists, people who were true Houstonians, people who knew the city, had their own treasure map they had constructed. As they showed me things that would have taken years to find on my own, I saw promise, and arts, music and film activities that I enjoyed but had never been able to find on my own. These people were staging these events, making their own life in Houston, achieving artistic and personal success through programming these events, on their own, without the help of the city and without institutional support, simply executing good ideas. I was awed and inspired. The tone changed. I stopped saying I hated Houston.

One day I made a decision, a realization. If I was going to have to live in Houston, I would need to bend it to my will. My preposterous idea was that I would start putting on my own events, things that I would see happening regularly in Chicago. I decided to bring Chicago to Houston. I put on a couple concerts, I staged some film events, I started getting active in the community and contributing to others’ events to add value. I started doing websites for local businesses and venues. Shockingly, each event and idea was welcomed with open arms, was well attended, and seemed to be enjoyed by the attendees. People saw promise in good ideas and were quick to support them. Houston showed me that it was receptive to new ideas, in fact people were asking for them, actively seeking them. I was engaged and content. The tone changed. I liked Houston.

I realized I could make a life here, make a difference, have fun, curate my own existence. With each new event and group of people who were changed I realized I liked Houston, was beginning to fall in love with it. I started doing a radio show with a friend that actively promoted others’ good ideas, events, and bands. We started working with individuals and bands to help them in their careers. There was success there too. We grew more and more passionate about the opportunities available in Houston; saw that we were making a positive impact in a city full of promise. The tone changed. I loved Houston.

The events grew larger and so did the people we worked with to help them achieve their potential. There were hard times and like any relationship it took work but my emotions for the city grew. I became an outspoken evangelist for the promise, the opportunity, the warm reception and support for new and inventive ideas. The events got more expansive, more inclusive, they collided art, music and film. I was proud of our city and what we’d accomplished. The tone changed again. I would bleed for this city.

I met a best friend; we shared our intellect, ideas, and smashed architecture and bioengineering together to make new creations. We met a tech community, people who were actively committed to their personal lifelong education. We found an idea, a unifying theme for Houston, one that would combine all we had worked on in the past, individually and together, a way to serve the entire Houston community and foster more collaboration, not just stage events or happenings. We could achieve greater success, together. The individual Communities of Interest became one large Community of Practice. The community swelled and rallied, the project launched. We were now able to reach more people, whole communities, work collaboratively together to shape our city. We grew in pride for the city and our collective ability to improve it. People were inspired and engaged. The pronoun changed. We loved Houston.

I met a partner; we shared our lives, our passions, and our desire to help individuals and communities achieve their potential. Together, the three of us grew our community hub. Dog made four. Together the community grew and the impact spread.  It had long ago stopped being about imprinting Chicago or New York City on Houston; it evolved into staging events that improved our collective quality of life. The successes weren’t measured in tangible things anymore: attendance at events didn’t matter, press mentions were less important; the impact was now measured in behavioral and attitudinal changes, in mind shifts. We staged events to help whole communities, inside of Houston, outside of Houston. It was no longer about saying “I love Houston,” it was more about actions and showing that love, inspiring that individual passion and empowerment in others. It was about showing individuals and communities that they owned the power to improve that which they saw around them. It was about everyone doing it for everyone, doing it to share passion and enthusiasm to learn, grow, and improve. The idea changed, the pronoun became all inclusive, the tense shifted. We are all in it together, we are all one community.

I asked for Grace’s opinion about my explanation for the past two weeks of vacation. She said “it sounds like the final sentence of the passage should read ‘three days later I slit my wrists.’” She obviously didn’t see the humor in it or share my pride in successfully writing in the third person. I later pointed out that it might be the egg nog and that maybe watching Deadwood wasn’t such a good idea. This confusion is exactly how I feel about today’s sweater.

Today’s sweater is a tightly knit black  cardigan adorned with embroidered poinsettias and enough imitation pearl and other beads to clink when you walk. The pearls are connected by dotted lines of shiny beads that resemble the kinds of balls you’d dress a cake with. They are not edible. And how insightful of the manufacturer to sew ONE small bead on the inside of the cardigan in case you happen to lose ONE of the hundreds of beads on the outside. The complete package gives the impression of black graph paper crawling with flowered vines. While this is definitely a women’s sweater (maybe a math teacher’s) the buttons are on the right side. And it’s the buttons that really stop me. They, like most Christmas sweater cardigan sweater buttons are plastic with knit covering but on the front of these buttons are sewn seven shiny beads.  The buttonholes are clearly too small for the pearl adorned buttons. What I’d love to ask the previous owner of this sweater is, “were the beads sewn onto the buttons when you bought it or did you think that there just weren’t enough beads on the sweater to begin with?”

The film to pair with this bad creation and the primary passage of this post is Bad(der) Santa (Unrated Edition). For those who originally wrote off this film as filthy, depraved, and utterly despicable, you’re not wrong. But first and foremost, this is a Christmas Film which means that it is one of redemption, forgiveness and family. Just maybe not your family. But still, this is as close to an adult date film as you can get, with Billy Bob Thornton playing the rock bottom Santa thief and Gilmore Girls’ Lauren Graham playing the cute barmaid with a Santa fetish. It has held up well over the past couple years and is worth a second look.

Sure, I pop onto Twitter to dump 140 characters of what I’m doing at the moment and continue to read the NYTimes and Pitchfork daily. But the fact is, most of my media consumption over the past six months has been one way. With few exceptions, I haven’t been conversing and sharing and discussing with people that I know and love.  I also haven’t been going out, really at all, not even for events that I know are important or to support the Houston music, arts, tech community. I’m also no longer a regular at some of my favorite dive bars (namely, Poison Girl).

As someone who loves to be out at bars, at events, at concerts, with people, talking, drinking, listening, laughing, sharing, the effects of this seclusion have been…an adjustment. It’s been very difficult and not just because the fun of going out and carousing has given way to firm deadlines and responsibility. My personal relationships with acquaintances I used to see around town have dwindled to an acknowledging head nod when we see each other in public. My grasp of events going on around town have been late to arrive to my ears and I no longer am privy to the inner gossip about whosit-what (this has been fantastic). And I don’t feel like I’ve been supporting the wide community of people that I believe in and believe in me as well. I haven’t been joining others to show my support or providing manpower or helping to spread word of events and thrusts. It embarrasses me that I have been occupied with other things and felt unable to contribute to the vibrancy of Houston and other communities that we see flourishing and growing around us. This is not jealousy, this is sadness that I just haven’t been pulling my weight. This is also an apology to those that I haven’t ben albe to spend time with or haven’t seen in a long time or haven’t been able to help or worse, dropped the ball. This is an explanation and a bright statement that I’ll be able to poke my nose up much more often in the next year.

So, what I have been doing? I’ve been working on an incredible project that could pave the way to apply the knowledge learned by working with the Houston arts, music, film, and tech community into a multi-disciplinary program in a University setting. A six month update is in part two of this post.

The point of this post however, is to give some brief but incomplete thoughts on the thoughts on the role of a community member and second, to recognize some of my heroes.

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Building a healthy coworking space does not equal building a healthy community just the same as a failing coworking space may have a healthy community surrounding it. A healthy community is a mutually benefical organism, it supports, elevates and sustains itself. It requires equal investments from all its parts in the form of energy, time, guidance, committment and moral support. Its members are better off from inclusion, with the individual energy contributed increasing the overall level of energy, excitement and engagement of the whole. Those who demonstrate this interest in their community are rewarded with respect and cachet, those who demonstrate otherwise are treated with the same level of respect their actions project.

A real community is like a family, it works together and plays together. In coworking spaces, people agree to work together because they understand they have something to benefit from collaboration and surrounding themselves with other smart, motivated, driven people. What makes a coworking space a real community is the sharing between those coworkers outside of their normal workday, whether it be happy hour drinks, attending one another’s events or just sharing each other. Not by poking people or writing on walls or commenting on blogs. In real life. Real bonds between a community are formed during these times, opening up in the same way you would to family. Otherwise you’re just coworkers.

Over the past 6 years I have worked almost every day and gone out almost every night, my mantra being “every day is a work day, every night is a weekend.” I surrounded myself with exciting, exuberant, life-changing people who had a zest for life and a goal of changing the world. I participated in events, threw events and helped others make theirs a success. I was part of a community and a family and we all positively contributed to each other’s lives. Over the past six months, most of my work has been done in seclusion, at the Rice library, at the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen or with coworkers. Successful execution of the last six month’s work aside, having to be away from the people and events that were missed was a sad state of affairs. Not contributing to people’s lives or sharing or respecting others means I was not part of a community, just a group of coworkers.

This was a needed transition that brought measure and structure to my life and provided a framework while launching a project I am as proud of as Caroline Collective. This post is an acknowledgement and the recognition that I have full respect for those who have jobs, families, real responsibility and duty. For the last six months it’s been nearly impossible to come home and think about drumming up the energy to go out. My heroes for the year are the people that I didn’t see at events or online who still f(i/ou)nd the time and the energy to support their community, friends and family outside of their immediate homes.

As this year draws to a close, please recognize and join your respective communities. It can get lonely out in the cold.

The history of the Christmas film is as rich as the varied story elements used in the genre. Long before everyone’s favorites of A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life the folklore and familiar themes were being explored by filmmakers at the dawn of the film medium. The earliest Christmas film (that I can find in the historical record) was a series of three short films first shown in 1896. In 1898, G.A. Smith used landmark (at the time) special effects to show a special visit by Saint Nick (watch the video here). The Christmas film most often remade, the Dickensian A Christmas Carol, was first made in 1901 as Scrooge; or Marley’s Ghost. This film also holds the title of  ”oldest surviving film adaptation”.

Animation techniques  have converted some of our most beloved folklore heroes into stop motion forms. First, we have Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964), next, claymation Santas, and of course A Charlie Brown Christmas. Newer animated films like Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas have explored the themes of compassion, giving and community in a setting other than the traditional North Pole. Similar modern films have begun to explore the management role of the Christmas season, portraying elves, santa or others in their own moral dilemmas related to the toil and stress associated with delivering toys for all the girls and boys, every year, without fail.

Lest you think all Christmas films are wholesome with a packaged Hollywood ending, this is far from the truth. The genre itself even contains documentaries and camp. Two new-ish documentaries shed light on the effects of Christmas, one positive, one negative. In the oscar nominated Joyeux Noel, we learn of an unlikely pact formed on Christmas Eve between WWI soldiers of Germany, France, and Scotland. Fast forward 75 years and we witness the negative results of that goodwill among men in the anti-capitalist documentary What Would Jesus Buy?. On the opposite side of the spectrum, in 1964 someone decided that Santa’s iconic role was larger than Earth, hence the campy horror of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. An otherworldly theme was revisited this decade by Wayne Coyne (of Flaming Lips) in his 2008 film Christmas on Mars.

The above overview is merely a glance at the beloved Christmas genre. There are many others, and over the course of this month I plan to watch 31 of them.  Every day along with your sweater picture you’ll also receive a movie recommendation for that particular day.  Some will be old favorites and some will be widely available but hopelessly obscured by Christmas’ heavy hitters. I hope you enjoy them.

Christmas Sweater 03:

This is the first homemade Christmas sweater of this year and oh how it allows me to comment on the brilliance of homemade things. The actual contstruction of this sweater began, as most homemade sweaters do, with a red sweatshirt. Most people prefer Hanes, I don’t know why, it’s just the sweatshirt of choice for crafty mothers. This particular sweater includes sewn on ruffled circles, each one with a colored rhinestone inset at the center. Put together they make a ruffly and gorgeous christmas tree shape. You might also notice that two of the circles are missing. This is what makes a Christmas sweater special: poor construction. I guarantee the owner of this sweater, had their family not forced them to throw it out, would have worn the sweater until so few circles remained that the christmas tree shape was no longer discernable. And that’s what makes it special. Christmas sweaters are made with love.

Today’s movie recommendation is also about love, love between a priest and his cathedral. 1947′s The Bishop’s Wife tells the story of a Bishop trying to rally support for the building of a new cathedral, to the detriment of the relationships in his life, his wife included. Help arrives in the form of a guardian angel (Cary Grant) sent to look over the Bishop and his flock, just not in the way the Bishop expects.  The angel easily galvanizes the community and in the process develops some questionable feelings towards the Bishop’s wife. This situation leaves the Bishop to take control of his life again and…I don’t want to spoil the juicy ending, you’ll just have to watch it on your own.

If Rene’s sweater, highly prized, the best sweater I’ve seen, a personal favorite that she’s held onto all these years, I started wondering who else might have something in their closet whose story deserves to be told. And with that I would like to invite you to send me your Christmas sweaters. I will memorialize the sweaters with a picture and tell the story of your sweater. If you live in Houston, I’ll even come and pick up the sweater from you. If you don’t live in Houston, you can email me at (mwettergreen blip gmail blop com) or you can just mail it to the following address and I’ll pay the shipping:

Matthew Wettergreen
4820 Caroline
Houston TX, 77004

My friend Areej tells me that she’s sending a Christmas Sweater with South African Santa on it, all the way from Pretoria, near Johannesburg. With that as a kick-off there’s no telling what we’ll find.

Today’s Gem, Christmas Sweater #02:

This sweater confuses me. I considered not including it at all because it looks, well, fashionable. As in, not outdated or obnoxious. It’s actually something I would wear out or to a non-Christmas sweater party. To test the fashionable hypothesis, I wore this sweater to the Culture Map opening tonight and no one gave it a second look. Kudos to me for blending in with normal humans, even with this ridiculous mustache (don’t forget to visit Mustaches for Kids and donate to support mustaches and Workshop Houston).

As I said, this sweater is mind boggling as an entry to the Christmas Sweater project. It’s missing all the red flags of a normal bad Christmas sweater: flashy ornaments, shiny items, poorly chosen patterns. Instead what you see is a tan cardigan with a pleasing mix of alpine-sweater-like patterns matched modestly with Christmas imagery. The imagery itself is also rather subdued, a reindeer, holly sprig, snowflake, simple Christmas tree, fleece mitten.

Also confusing to me is why a veteran psych-rocker would want to spend five years filming a space alien film in his backyard, using found objects for props and his comedian friends for actors. The movie I’m referencing is of course The Flaming Lips’ Christmas on Mars. The story unfolds as colonized (but now stranded) Mars is set to celebrate their first Christmas. Enjoy this puzzling film paired with an equally questionable Christmas sweater.

Every day for the next month, when you visit this site you will be treated to a Christmas sweater wonderland.  Some will confound the eyes, some will elicit child-like giggles and some will make you ask WHY? The answer to WHY? can be found by reading this post, my ruminations on the Christmas cheer and also in Alison Cook’s playful piece in the Houston Chronicle. The WHAT? can be found by looking through some of the best Christmas sweaters of last year. Anyways, each day when you visit this site you’ll see a picture of the day’s Christmas sweater along with some description of its majesty. I’m also adding some things this year that I think will make it more fun for everyone; more will unfold this week. Think of this project as an interactive Christmas Sweater Advent Calendar.

Just like last year, the wearing of these Christmas sweaters will be used to raise money for a charity or a cause. Last year we raised almost $200 for Goodwill Industries of Houston. This year, I’ll let you decide which charity or cause to support. Please place your nominations in the comments of this post. Yes, you can nominate yourself. I will close the nomination period on Thursday at Midnight, then on Friday there will be a final poll to select the cause.

Without further ado, Christmas Sweater The First:

This sweater is best viewed while keeping in mind the song “Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.” It seems the entire bear family has assembled for this Christmas picnic and they’ve prepared for the cold weather with hats and scarves. This may be the biggest bear collection ever to be seen on a Christmas sweater as not three, not six, but nine (!) bears are enjoying the fact that everyone gets a present.

The makers of this holiday sweater sure knew their bears; they included the Great Brown bear, the tan colored velour bear, and even the highly-prized-for-it’s-coat oatmeal colored fleece bear.

There’s been some discussion around the apartment as to whether the brown bear shown on the left breast is actually a monkey. Having never been allowed to actually touch a real monkey or bear, I employed a hand model to provide a description of the fur so we can lay that debate to rest. In her own words, “soft.” So that answers that question.

Today I’ll be pairing this sweater with a movie, the first of a month’s worth of Christmas related works. Today’s selection will be an adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol by Rowan Atkinson in his first major comedic outing, Black Adder. For those of you not familiar with Rowan Atkinson as anything but Mr. Bean, don’t worry. Imagine the hapless character transported to Medieval Times. And, he talks. The original Black Adder series tells the secret history of the ascension, fall and eventual erasing from history of Richard IV. In Black Adder’s Christmas Carol , Black Adder is the proprietor of a mustache shop. How appropriate considering I am also growing a mustache for the annual Mustaches For Kids (please consider donating as this benefits Workshop Houston). Black Adder begins the episode as the nicest man in England but after being harassed by an annoying ghost he decides that being un-bearable is the way to go. Enjoy.

Thanks for sharing my love of Christmas sweaters and enjoy your December!

Ask your friends how many people need to be at the party so that two people share a birthday.

The answer’s not 366. It’s not even in the hundreds. It’s about 57. Huh? Let’s explain.

This is called the birthday problem or the birthday paradox. There’s actually a cryptographic effect called the birthday attack. The problem is not whether a specific person shares a birthday, but whether anybody’s birthday is the same as anybody else’s birthday. This distinction changes the calculation of the probability a bit. To further simplify the problem, approach it from the back end and calculate the probability of all birthdays being different. Taken from Wikipedia:

Don’t worry about the math. This equation basically gives the probability that no birthdays are shared, ie the fourth person doesn’t share the birthday with the first three (362/365) all the way up to the nth person not sharing a birthday with the n-1 birthdays.

Since the case of more one or more persons sharing the same birthday is the complement to what has just been calculated we can say that the probability of two people sharing a birthday is:

Which actually hits ~50% at just 23 people and 99% at 57 people. If some of the people attending the party are fractured, shoot for 100 people which is 99.99997%.

Happy birthday to other people in Houston who share the birthdate of July 8th:

JJ Lassberg (@jjlassberg)

Bridgette Penel (@bridgette_penel)