How do we measure connections?

 

This question asks us, the “we”, to chime in and participate in a collective examination. I can answer this question for myself, but I cannot answer it alone. This is a question that we have to ask ourselves and ask each other; we have to keep answering together. There will never be a uniform for the way that individuals share a connection with a person, an object, a place, institution, animal, or astral being––no agreed upon unit of measure. We’ll always have to weigh quality and quantity and to examine specific instances and small chunks instead of as a mass. In answering this question, we have to take our conditions and the others around us into consideration. This question is complicated, because it comes from a complicated situation.

In response, I’ve crafted more questions to explore the initial one. Use them to help you sort your connections with people, places, and things. Perhaps through examining our connections, we can further sort out where we are at and where we would like to be.

This connection was with…

1. Person(s)

   1. Stranger

   2. Acquaintance

   3. Colleague

   4. Family member

   5. Partner

   6. Resident of a community

   7. Patron of an institution

2. Self

3. Earth

4. Animal

5. Higher being

6. Place

7. Satellite

8. Unknown

The connection was…

1. Artistic

2. Spiritual

3. Emotional

4. Intellectual

5. Psychic

6. Primal

7. Physical

8. Professional

9. Pragmatic

The connection lasted…

1. Seconds

2. Minutes

3. Hours

4. Days

5. Weeks

6. Years

7. Ongoing

8. The rest of all time

The connection felt…

1. Life-Changing

2. Predestined

3. Enlightening

4. Entertaining

5. Electrifying

6. Enraging

7. Annoying

8. Neutral

9. Detrimental

The connection resulted in…

1. Friendship

2. Romance

3. A new professional opportunity

4. A Facebook friendship/Twitter follower/Linked-In invitation

5. Drinks when you come to town

6. A deep sense of unity

7. New ideas

8. Other

Have you reconnected since the initial connection was made?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Maybe

Will you reconnect again?

1. Yes

   1. Every day

   2. Regularly

   3. Sporadically

   4. Some day

2. No

3. Maybe

4. Unsure

You have access to reconnect through:

1. Social Media

2. Email

3. Phone

4. In person

5. In another lifetime

6. A modem

7. It’s not possible to reconnect

How often do you think about this connection?

1. Everyday

2. Multiple times a week

3. At least once a month

4. At least once a year

5. Almost never

Was the connection mutual?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Unknown

4. Other

On a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most, how important was this connection compared to other connections in your life?

1. 1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. To be determined

Image sourced from crystaliscious.com

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About the contributor: Crystal Baxley is sending you positive connecting vibrations for peaceful living for yourself and others. She was raised and resides in Portland, Oregon, where that’s totally a thing that people do.

She served as the Co-Director of Open Engagement from 2010 – 2013. She created and currently facilitates the community video sharing series Getting to Know You(Tube) with artist Stefan Ransom at Portland’s historic Hollywood Theatre. The pair also created Songs on Conceptual Art, a compilation album based on Sol LeWitt’s Sentences of Conceptual Art. You can download it for free at songsonconceptualart.com. Baxley has exhibited projects and organized events at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The Kadist in San Francisco, The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, and at RECESS, Carhole Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Time-Based Art Festival in Portland. She helps produce Portland’s annual Quiet Music Festival with Chris Johanson. crystalbaxley.com