Antiracist Space Review: MBP

I've been avoiding MBP for a few months despite the glowing reviews from friends because I assumed that it would be out of my price range, being a climbing gym and all. But GREAT NEWS Y'ALL!! It's not nearly as expensive as I feared! Membership includes lots of bouldering options, yoga classes, a gym space, a chill space to work, a sauna, and even free towels to borrow. I mean seriously. They even throw in free shoe rentals if you ask nicely.

I have never seen a gym take accessibility (and antiracism) so seriously before. Everything that happens at MBP seems to be intended to increase the comfort of its diverse members. The yoga studio requires shirts to be worn. At first, I was confused, having come from CorePower Yoga most recently. But then I realized that not everyone likes being around shirtless people and that requiring shirts might be a way to make the space more comfortable for people.

I've been sad lately that I'm no longer able to afford membership at CorePower Yoga ($175

/ mo). Incredibly, MBP costs about half of what CorePower costs. In addition, they have different prices for different ages. The craziest part, in my opinion, is that I know that they could charge more than they do, and yet they choose not to. I've attached the price breakdown for Feb 2023 here, though, of course, it could change anytime. I especially love the young adult discount idea.

Adult Monthly Membership (24+) : $79

Young Adult Monthly Membership (14-23) : $69

Youth Monthly Membership (13 & under): $45

Start-up Fee : $50

So this brings me to my point: a gym (ideally a community space) cannot fully commit itself to antiracism without making its prices affordable enough for historically disadvantaged and marginalized people to afford. In my opinion, MBP has succeeded on this front - its facilities are exceptionally well maintained, affordable, and welcoming.

In more good news, I hear that Minneapolis does have such an antiracist and affordable yoga studio. It's called Radiant Yoga - go check them out!

Charity

"Too often charity is about the redemption of the giver, not the liberation of the receiver." Robert Egger, DC Central Kitchen

What is charitable giving and what does it mean to give? Who can we ethically ask for large donations? As a newly minted fundraiser, I'm thinking through all of this. I had a great conversation recently with a more senior fundraiser who told me about the concept of community-centric fundraising. It made me think more about the ethics of wealth management. If your money is sitting on a DAF accruing interest rather than in a mon-profit's bank account, is that ethical? How do we, as fundraisers, convince more people to leave less money to their children and more money to organizations that support their communities?

There's a lot to unpack there, but in case you're feeling the love, make a contribution to my work here: www.givemn.org/story/Vobs.

Maybe an Artist

I have not always considered myself an artist. It's never been a primary component of my identity, but it's always been lurking in the background. It's funny how even when you are working quite hard and improving rapidly at something like art, you still may not consider yourself to be an artist. I think the main difference for me is that I consider myself to be more of a designer than an artist. The images that I print are so graphic as to be more 'design-y' vs 'art-y'.

Where this distinction begins to break down is the non-reproducible pieces that I create. In my monoprints (uses a marked plate) and monotypes (does not use a marked plate, but uses stencils, feathers, etc.), I am using more painterly gestures to create a once of a kind work of art that expresses an emotion or mood. These monoprints utilize my plates (reproducible elements) most of the time, but not always. Other times I use stencils or just ink in my monotype prints. The examples you see below are a mix of monotypes and monoprints.

So where does that leave me? An artist by night and a designer by day? I suppose there are worse things to be!

P.S. I highly recommend Maybe an Artist by my friend Liz at Large aka Liz Montague!