A Modern Plaza: Stumbling Upon Viva Frontier Tower

Dearest Readers,

If you've spoken with me since I launched this website, you probably know that I have been obsessed with the idea of plazas and promenades as third spaces where people get to keep up with old neighbors, meet new ones, display their identities, share news, etc. When I heard about Frontier Tower at the Ethereum House Launch (via webinar), I jumped at my first opportunity to visit and take a tour.

My first chance to see inside the building came from a Lu.ma invite to attend NerfConf. I was completely prepared to do nothing but listen to speakers. However, the friendly, adventurous nerd in charge of the event had other ideas. I will write more about that day in the coming weeks, but suffice it to say that after a game of Human Bingo—during which I discovered for the first time my guiding belief that we actually do live in a simulation—I found myself having conversations with people that were a bit longer and more interesting than the usual networking at schmooze events. I completely missed the tour that night, but it was worth it to connect with humans who were new to me in such a friendly, energetic environment.

I returned for Viva Frontier Tower's open house a few days later, where I met even more interesting people that I wanted to stay connected with. I also noticed that although I thought I was there to experience a post-modern plaza, it turned out that the experience was the promenade I had romanticized while watching Bridgerton, observing people parading along Lake Merritt in Oakland, or reading about such spaces in books. I felt as though the people I would meet in the next few weeks, if I got to co-create this iteration of Viva City, would be the familiar faces I would see around that would make tech feel like home again—a feeling that I took for granted before the Covid-19 pandemic. I had also been craving a cohort. It was as though my whispers into flames had been answered.

I had already applied to join the pop-up city before the open house, but as I am not working right now, I was afraid to commit to spending time on a project that was not paying me. I was waiting to hear back about grants and feeling uncertain about unpaid commitments. As days passed, I realized that the projects I was working on seemed more likely to generate income than the job applications that had left me feeling discouraged. Accepting a scholarship to do what I was going to be working on anyway, but in a space where I would encounter people I wanted to be around, actually made a lot of sense. So now, I am working from Viva Frontier Tower.

There is a lot more that I would love to share about the longevity project that sparked this opportunity to explore People and Culture in a plaza with modern science (including AI) as an underpinning, so keep an eye out for podcasts and articles where I might show up next!