[Events] PyStar Philly

[Asheesh Laroia]

On Thu, 21 Apr 2011, Dana Bauer wrote:

> Hi,
> I'm interested in starting a PyStar workshop here in Philly, with a focus on
> helping moms learn how to code. I'm a GIS analyst, and I've been working
> with Python for about 6 months now, but I still classify myself as a
> beginner. How can I get a Philly PyStar going? I'm sure my office would be
> willing to host it.

Hi Dana, and the rest of the Events list!

I just wanted to chime in with some quick thoughts.

First, for me, I try to think about not just teaching people to program 
but getting them connected to communities of helpful people, so that they 
have humans and email lists to turn to when they run into problems or want 
advice. I hinted at that a little at 
http://www.asheesh.org/note/community/boston-python-meetup.html , which I 
sent out separately to the list. You wrote that you're mostly interested 
in helping moms learn how to code, which is awesome, and I think that 
community support will be a big part of this. One other thing here is that 
I am really excited about the idea of taking existing communities and 
diversifying them. (-:

Second, this is mostly to Dana: I am going to be in Philadelphia this 
week, from Monday May 30 evening until Friday June 3 10am. I would love to 
hang out and chat about your plans! And maybe anyone else you know who is 
in Philly who is interested in programming outreach and/or open source 
community growth.

(-:,

-- 
-- Asheesh.

http://asheesh.org/

You two ought to be more careful--your love could drag on for years and years.