it's a fuzzy fuzzy world…

How I spent my day yesterday… 

Originally shared by Maggie Coyne

On September 6th, 2015, about a dozen resistance and enlightened agents gathered on Indianapolis’s Monument Circle to create some cross faction field art, putting up a green and blue semicolon to show some #TaterBugLove  and to support awareness of an issue that has affected many of us personally. A few days later, Joe Philley unexpectedly died. In the hangout for Indy’s Operation Semicolon contribution, as in nearly every ingress hangout and g+ community that day, agents began sharing stories about meeting Joe and discussing ways to honor his legacy. One of the most cherished memories of Joe for all of us was Mission Day: Gen Con and for the Resistance in particular, the op he helped us with that weekend. I’m not sure what we were thinking, scheduling an operation right after three days spent hiking around downtown all day and staying up partying all night! Somehow we pulled it off despite our hangovers, and with Joe’s help some of our most dedicated field agents received platinum and onyx illuminator badges. Mission Day weekend was one of the most positive and integrated cross faction events to ever happen in Indy. Cross faction relations have long been strained, at best, in Indiana, but a new cross faction social group arose over the summer, lead by Geoff Estes, Katherine Getts, Joe Getts, Kelly Shaw and Kelsie Wessel, and began the hard work of reaching across the faction divide and organizing fun social events and cross faction field art projects that would be open and welcoming to all players. Their efforts were the spark that made this project possible.

Hoping to capitalize on the momentum of the new cross faction group and the positive experiences of Mission Day and Operation Semicolon, we decided to aim big with a memorial operation for Uncle Joe and try to recreate the op that he helped execute, the last op he ever did, with green and blue links. Initially we were going to try to teal field, but then my enlightened counterpart in planning this op, Ron Groves, had the brilliant idea of leaving the inside unfielded, to just draw out the shape of the original op with clusters of blue and green links. The emptiness in the middle would symbolize the void left in the global ingress community by Joe’s passing. Thus Operation Void was born from the Operation Semicolon hangout, which we recycled and renamed (because who doesn’t have enough hangouts already). Then we started reaching out and adding agents from across the state and neighboring states to help with the project. On October 3rd, after three weeks of whirlwind planning and preparation, agents of both factions from across the state headed out on a cold, rainy Saturday to clear lanes and throw up their links.

Death and tragedy loomed large throughout this op, but the sadness of it all was tempered by the amazing way the Ingress community rallies to support each other in the hard times. Two of the agents who helped with key farming and transfers are themselves dealing with parents facing terminal illness. While they were not available to help on the day of the op, they still took time out of their busy lives to contribute to the cause in whatever ways they could. A few days before the op, my enlightened clearing buddy lost his grandfather and had to drop out of the project to attend the funeral on the day of the operation. And, the tragic loss of @wilsburg961 and many others in the massacre in Oregon just two days before definitely weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts as they headed out to clear. Yet one cannot help but be inspired and uplifted by the outpouring of love that happens, and the way that faction boundaries dissolve, whenever tragedy strikes an agent. Agents from both factions contributed money to send flowers to the funeral of the enlightened agent here who lost his grandfather and any additional money collected, along with countless other donations, went to the memorial fund for @wilsburg961. This game connects so many diverse people and the community those people have built takes care of its own on a global scale that is truly unique. It’s incredible, it’s indescribable, and it’s #whyiingress . Thank you @delta102 for the legacy of friendship you have left us through this game.

And, thanks the following agents who helped with this op, either actively or in a supporting role:

@norsevorg @NihilistProxy @StinkieHippie @HoorayJen @SinisterKitt3n @AirplaneGuy737 @Antebi @sumo911 @MonkeyLuv @Sofakat @Eshal @qweyiio @myrrlyn @LaFamiglia @LaFamigliaQueen @Mystickittie @Ecthaelion @drahn @Forte @Catastrophi @ThaZimbo @MemorableFancy @Geta2J @rasetrack @TeeJae @Gemminie @everseeker @MFalcon @InJerk @TollerMom @KiltedWarrior76 @EpicGeek @JZ78 @bassmaster1963 @cntrlwiz @Dantuma @DWhip25 @R1verS0ng @meggleiscious @WinterrRose @GenBelisarius @RebellionBlue @dcstang @hoss704 @shaeleej @sPaZZeR @Fatticus @smurfbuster @philliie @RealLifePixel @itswhateveritis @Barnac1es @SimoneRivera @SEALTeamSeven @flexyournoggin @Firefly27 @unathi @dayvidlee 

#RIPJoe ,

@bigmaggie

#missionday   #ingressfs   #crossfaction   #niantic    #ingress  

Anne Beuttenmüller Matilde Tusberti Ethan Lepouttre  Ingress  John Hanke  John Zuur Platten  Linda Besh