Good-Bye-SA
This weekend I lost my community.
My weightlifting gym BASA (Baltimore Area Strength Athletes), run by Jason Morstein, permanently closed.
I feel dramatic saying this but it’s true. If we go by Allie Hoffman’s definition, community consists of three things:
1. Shared Geography
✓ BASA was 15 minutes from my house
✓ I would see fellow members “in the wild” (e.g. while grocery shopping)
2. Consistency / Repetition
✓ I would go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for anywhere between 1.5 – 3 a day. Seth would even go on Saturdays.
3. Shared Values + Rituals + Interests
✓ Olympic weightlifting
✓ Health
✓ Strength
✓ Mobility
✓ Growth
You may be thinking I could just find another gym and it would be the same.
You would be so so so wrong.
BASA was so much more than this list. Jason intentionally built an accessible, inclusive, supportive liminal space.
Even my dog Charley loved to join us.
This is not the kind of place that can exist in a capitalist system because it prioritizes people, quality, and integrity.
If it was built to be able to make a profit, it wouldn’t be the magical place it was.
For my own closure, here is my short but impactful BASA timeline (and what comes next…):
Letting Charley say goodbye to BASA.
Bye Jason :(
Have you lost a community before? Or have you found a new one? I’d like to hear about it.
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