WIP feat: PyCon US blog series

_posts/2026-05-21-pycon-us-2026-community-connection.md

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ categories:
 classes: wide
 toc: true
 comments: true
-last_modified: 2026-05-21
+last_modified: 2026-05-27
 ---
 
 Times are hard right now. Communities like pyOpenSci matter more than ever. We saw it at [PyCon US](https://us.pycon.org/2026/) this year — the political strain, the GenAI hype cycle and anxiety, the rapid changes reshaping open source. People are tired. People are frustrated. But here's what else we saw: people still showing up. Still connecting. Still supporting each other.
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ I'll never forget my very first PyCon in Salt Lake City. I was intimidated. It's
   <figcaption>Community members working together during a pyOpenSci sprint at PyCon US.</figcaption>
 </figure>
 
-Fast forward four years to Long Beach, California. We filled rooms with our open spaces. We had tables of people sprinting, working on pyOpenSci projects, learning together. People who attended multiple sprints with us — people I remembered struggling to submit their first pull request, now confident in their GitHub skills. This is what community support looks like. This is what pyOpenSci's mission is all about: helping people grow.
+Fast forward three years to Long Beach, California. We filled rooms with our open spaces. We had tables of people sprinting, working on pyOpenSci projects, learning together. People who attended multiple sprints with us — people I remembered struggling to submit their first pull request, now confident in their GitHub skills. This is what community support looks like. This is what pyOpenSci's mission is all about: helping people grow. [Read about the Maintainer Summit](/blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html) and the [full sprint story](/blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html) from PyCon US 2026.
 
 <figure>
   <picture>
@@ -53,20 +53,21 @@ PyCon US has become my favorite conference. Not because of the topics covered or
 
 Even in a hard year — especially in a hard year — I left the conference feeling fulfilled, feeling whole, and so grateful for the friendships and relationships I've deepened over time.
 
-## Coming up in this series
+## In this series
 
-**Part 1: The sprints** — From one person in Salt Lake City to a room full of contributors working together. This year's story about growth, learning, and community reminded me why this work matters.
+**Part 1: Community, connection, and what comes next** — You're reading it. An overview of PyCon US 2026 and why the people in the room are what make open source work.
 
-**Part 2: Generative AI and open source** — GenAI was everywhere at PyCon this year. Not as hype, but as a real challenge the community is wrestling with. Between our open space, the Maintainers Summit BoF, and Amanda Casari's powerful closing keynote, a theme emerged: the path forward is human.
+**Part 2: [The Maintainer Summit](/blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html)** — A milestone year for the summit: formal PyCon registration, 150+ maintainers, and roundtables on packaging, security, and generative AI.
 
-**Part 3: The Maintainers Summit** — A full day dedicated to the people who keep open source running. Hard conversations, shared struggles, and the kind of solidarity that only happens when maintainers get in a room together.
+**Part 3: [The sprints](/blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html)** — From one person in Salt Lake City to a room full of contributors working together. Growth, learning, and community in action.
+
+**Part 4: Generative AI and open source** — GenAI was everywhere at PyCon this year. Not as hype, but as a real challenge the community is wrestling with. Between our open space, the Maintainer Summit BoF, and Amanda Casari's powerful closing keynote, a theme emerged: the path forward is human.
 
 ## What it all comes down to
 
 If there's one thing that tied all of these experiences together, it's this: **the humans are what make open source work.** The tools change, the challenges evolve, but the connections, the learning, the care people bring to this work — that's the irreplaceable part.
 
-More soon.
 
 ---
 
-*This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026.*
+*This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026. [Part 2: Maintainer Summit](/blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html) · [Part 3: pyOpenSci sprints](/blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html) · Part 4: generative AI and open source (coming soon).*

_posts/2026-05-29-pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.md

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+---
+layout: single
+title: "Tools Track, GenAI Bof and Roundtables: This year's PyCon US Maintainer Summit was something special"
+excerpt: "As a co-organizer of the PyCon US Maintainer Summit, Leah Wasser reflects on a milestone year—150+ maintainers, formal PyCon registration, new community tools, and roundtables on packaging, security, and generative AI."
+author: "Leah Wasser"
+permalink: /blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html
+header:
+  overlay_image: images/blog/headers/pycon-us-2024-header.png
+categories:
+  - blog-post
+  - community
+classes: wide
+toc: true
+comments: true
+last_modified: 2026-05-29
+---
+
+*This post is Part 2 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026. [Part 1](/blog/pycon-us-2026-community-connection.html) covers community, connection, and what comes next.*
+
+I first attended the [PyCon US Maintainer Summit](https://us.pycon.org/2026/events/maintainers-summit/) five years ago as a speaker. Four years later I'm still here — now as a co-organizer, and this year felt like a milestone.
+
+## Building the summit: a year-round labor of love
+
+What most people don't realize is that organizing the Maintainer Summit is a year-round effort. We start thinking about the next one almost as soon as the last one wraps — collecting participant feedback, reflecting on what worked, and thinking about what to change.
+
+This year we focused on something we've been working toward for a while: making the Maintainer Summit a more formal part of the PyCon US schedule. The Maintainer Summit has been running since 2019, and this year we took a big step forward. For the first time, attendees could officially register, we could communicate directly with speakers through PyCon US, and we were formally listed on the schedule. That wouldn't have happened without the incredible support of PyCon US co-chairs Elaine Wong and Jacob Bonifato.
+
+## New structure and event features for the day
+
+We also rethought the structure of the day to include a Tools Track, a GenAI Birds of a Feather session, and roundtables focused on lively discussions around packaging, security, and generative AI.
+
+We also helped launch an unofficial Discord with an automated bot — built with help from some wonderful folks in the Python community — that provided real-time session updates and gave attendees a way to connect with each other throughout the day. A first for the summit.
+
+None of this happens without an incredible team. [Inessa Pawson](https://github.com/InessaPawson) and [Mariatta Wijaya](https://github.com/mariatta) bring deep experience organizing events like this, and I've learned so much working alongside them. From the call for proposals, to reading submissions, to managing last-minute schedule changes — there's an enormous amount of work that goes into making a day like this feel seamless.
+
+## A day full of energy
+
+This year we reached 150+ maintainers for a full day of conversation around packaging, security, and AI — from 10am to 6pm without losing energy.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-room.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-room.png" alt="A wide view of the PyCon US Maintainer Summit in Long Beach, with dozens of maintainers seated at round tables, many with open laptops, listening to a session.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+It was especially meaningful to have pyOpenSci community members represented. [Felipe Moreno](https://github.com/flpm) spoke about the translations infrastructure he built for our [Python packaging guide](https://www.pyopensci.org/python-package-guide/) — work that started at our [2024 sprint](/blog/pyopensci-pyconus-2024-sprints.html) and has grown into a multilingual contribution community. [Part 3 of this series](/blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html) tells the full 2026 sprint story, including Portuguese translation work that built on Felipe's infrastructure. Avik Basu shared work on a package he's been developing. Having pyOpenSci members on stage alongside maintainers of core Python tools like [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) (Zanie Blue) and [Hatch](https://hatch.pypa.io/) ([Cary Hawkins](https://github.com/cjames23)), and community leaders like [Carol Willing](https://github.com/willingc) and Mike Fiedler from the PSF covering security and AI, made for a powerful and well-rounded day.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-felipe-talk.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-felipe-talk.png" alt="Felipe Moreno presents How Translations Work for pyOpenSci at the PyCon US Maintainer Summit in Long Beach, with a slide showing the pyOpenSci logo projected on screen.">
+  </picture>
+  <figcaption><a href="https://github.com/flpm">Felipe Moreno</a> presents on translation infrastructure for the pyOpenSci Python packaging guide at the Maintainer Summit.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+## Roundtables: where the magic happens
+
+The roundtables this year were something special. Topics included packaging led by Zanie Blue from uv and Cary Hawkins from Hatch, security led by Mike Fiedler from the PSF, and generative AI led by Carol Willing.
+
+What makes roundtables so powerful is that they're not talks *at* people — they're actual conversations with experts and peers. At the end of a long day, when energy could easily be fading, the roundtables did the opposite — they sparked connection and lifted the room. That peer connection, the chance to turn to someone next to you and say "you too?", is often exactly what maintainers need most.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-roundtables.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-roundtables.png" alt="Two maintainers sit side by side at a round table during the PyCon US Maintainer Summit, focused on a session with laptops and conference lanyards on the table.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+## The most electric moment
+
+Our Generative AI Birds of a Feather session, co-hosted with Jackie Kazil, was something else. Maintainers are feeling overwhelmed and drained by the pace of AI change — and that's real. Now more than ever, protecting our mental health and making space to connect, problem-solve together, and support each other matters.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-discussion.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-discussion.png" alt="Two attendees have a focused one-on-one discussion at a table during the PyCon US Maintainer Summit, leaning in as they talk through a shared challenge.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+But there's also genuine hope. The majority of people in the room are already using GenAI tools thoughtfully, and that energy of working through hard things *together* was everywhere — echoed beautifully in Amanda Casari's keynote on hope in the age of AI.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-genai-bof.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit-genai-bof.png" alt="Jackie Kazil co-hosts the Generative AI Birds of a Feather session at the PyCon US Maintainer Summit, with a live Mentimeter poll on screen asking maintainers how useful they find GenAI in their workflows.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+We have a lot more to say about AI tools and generative AI in open source in
+Part 4 of this series.
+
+pyOpenSci is proud to be an organizing partner in the Maintainer Summit. See you next year.
+
+---
+
+*This is Part 2 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026. [Part 1](/blog/pycon-us-2026-community-connection.html): community and connection · [Part 3: pyOpenSci sprints](/blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html) · Part 4: generative AI and open source (coming soon).*

_posts/2026-06-02-pycon-us-2026-sprints.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+layout: single
+title: "From one person to a room full of contributors: pyOpenSci sprints at PyCon US 2026"
+excerpt: "Our fourth PyCon US sprint grew from a single contributor in Salt Lake City to around 20 people in Long Beach. Co-sprinting with Hatch, welcoming beginners, and a new Portuguese packaging guide translation show where this community is headed."
+author: "Leah Wasser"
+permalink: /blog/pycon-us-2026-sprints.html
+header:
+  overlay_image: images/blog/headers/pycon-us-2024-header.png
+categories:
+  - blog-post
+  - community
+classes: wide
+toc: true
+comments: true
+last_modified: 2026-06-02
+---
+
+*This post is Part 3 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026. [Part 1](/blog/pycon-us-2026-community-connection.html) covers community and connection. [Part 2](/blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html) covers the Maintainer Summit.*
+
+This year marked our fourth sprint at [PyCon US](https://us.pycon.org/2026/) — and if you want to understand what pyOpenSci is really about, sprint day is the place to look.
+
+When we held our very first sprint at PyCon US 2023 in Salt Lake City, it was my first time running a formal sprint at a PyCon. One person showed up. One. [Read more about that first PyCon experience](/blog/pycon-2023-packaging-presentation-sprints-leah-wasser.html). This year, around 20 people showed up throughout the day. That arc — from a single contributor to a full, buzzing room — tells you everything about where our community is headed.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-room-wide.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-room-wide.png" alt="A wide view of a busy conference room during the pyOpenSci sprint at PyCon US 2026 in Long Beach. In the foreground, three sprinters smile and work at a round table with open laptops while many more groups fill the room in the background.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+
+## Beginner-friendly, always
+
+pyOpenSci sprints are intentionally beginner-friendly and welcoming. We get people who are newer to sprinting, a little nervous, maybe unsure if they belong. That's exactly who we want in the room. We thrive on seeing people come in unsure and leaving with confidence, new skills, and a new sense of belonging, even if it's just a little bit more. Our strength is in meeting people where they are and giving them the skills, support, and confidence to make their first open source contributions in a safe, welcoming space.
+
+If you want a deeper look at how we run sprints, our [PyCon US 2024 sprint recap](/blog/pyopensci-pyconus-2024-sprints.html) walks through beginner-friendly setup, issue tagging, and supporting newer GitHub users.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-mentorship.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-mentorship.png" alt="At the pyOpenSci translation table during PyCon US 2026 in Long Beach, Felipe Moreno leans over a laptop to help sprinters add Portuguese translations to the packaging guide while other volunteers work at the same round table.">
+  </picture>
+  <figcaption>The translation table at PyCon US 2026. <a href="https://github.com/flpm">Felipe Moreno</a> (in the middle) set up the translation infrastructure in 2024 at a sprint. Here he is helping sprinters add Portuguese translations to our packaging guide!</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+## What keeps us going
+
+One of the most meaningful things about running sprints year after year is watching people come back to join us. We have sprinters who showed up for the first time at a previous event — maybe SciPy or another PyCon US meeting. They might have been nervous, or just finding their footing, working through their first pull request. Then they return with more confidence and skills they'd built in the time between. Watching that transformation happen over multiple sprints, seeing people go from uncertain beginners to contributors who can hit the ground running, is everything.
+
+That's pyOpenSci. That's why we exist.
+
+## Building community through collaboration
+
+This year we also saw something wonderful: sprinters connecting with each other and deciding together what to work on. One collaboration that emerged was a translation project — contributors working together to make our [Python packaging guide](https://www.pyopensci.org/python-package-guide/) available in Portuguese.
+
+Starting a Portuguese translation of our packaging guide means our resources will reach an entirely new audience of scientists and researchers over time. This translation work started because two people showed up to a sprint, connected, and decided to work together to make our resources more accessible. And that wouldn't have been possible if one person hadn't contributed the translation infrastructure to our guide back at a sprint in 2024!
+
+What an incredible full circle moment for me and pyOpenSci!
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-round-table.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-round-table.png" alt="Several PyCon US 2026 attendees work together around a crowded round table during the pyOpenSci sprint. Laptops show code editors and project pages, with purple conference lanyards, charging cables, water bottles, and coffee cups spread across the table.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+## Co-sprinting with Hatch
+
+This year we decided to share a room with [Hatch](https://hatch.pypa.io/), one of our favorite Python packaging projects, and its maintainer [Cary Hawkins](https://github.com/cjames23). Having a co-sprint with a project we genuinely love and recommend brought even more energy and expertise into the room. This got me thinking about how we might be able to support projects that we love more through future sprints.
+
+<figure>
+  <picture>
+    <source srcset="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-contributors.webp" type="image/webp">
+    <img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/images/blog/2026/pycon-us-2026-sprint-contributors.png" alt="Two PyCon US 2026 sprinters sit side by side at a round table, focused on their laptops during the pyOpenSci sprint. pyOpenSci stickers, power cables, and drinks are scattered on the table while other groups work at tables across the conference hall behind them.">
+  </picture>
+</figure>
+
+## What's next
+
+Sprint day is my favorite day of any conference — even when I'm exhausted, even when the week has been long. There is nothing like watching people make their first contributions, find their confidence, and connect with each other over shared work. For me that connection fills my soul.
+
+Our next sprint will be at [EuroPython](https://europython.eu/) in Poland in July — a joint sprint with EuroPython and EuroSciPy. I'll also be keynoting there, so I hope to see many of you in the room.
+
+If you've been thinking about sprinting with us for the first time: come. We'll be there, and so will a community that genuinely wants to see you succeed.
+
+---
+
+*This is Part 3 of a 4-part series on pyOpenSci at PyCon US 2026. [Part 1](/blog/pycon-us-2026-community-connection.html): community and connection · [Part 2: Maintainer Summit](/blog/pycon-us-2026-maintainers-summit.html) · Part 4: generative AI and open source (coming soon).*