Wow....
I have had the most interesting day.
Last night,,,,i didn't go to bed til four am. Like an idiot i stayed up online,,,doing nothing.
I didn't wake up til 12pm the next day. I skipped my HUman Ecology class because I gave my presentation already...last class,,,and the whole class this time would be devoted to people giving their presentations. THe teacher doesn't let the people talk and he just goes on and on talking..... He's smart and has much experience,,,but is rather scatterbrained in class.
So I woke up in time to go to my last CHES EB meeting....no one showed up. I know I was a little late,,,but I just went to the NYPIRG office and chilled there because I knew that is where people would go to look. J Lo came when i had 15 min til spanish class and we went to mariella's to ahve a slice.
We discussed Slavas letter to many of the people in NYPIRG and CHES which goes as follows:
(just pass over it if it gets too long,,,it's really here for reference)
Good evening (morning?) guys,
After much bouncing and much disappointment between NYPIRG and CHES,
I have decided to start a fresh and different sustainability
organization to make a real impact. No more moving around of
garbage cans, no more useless ranting and complaining, but instead a
real, sustainable campus recycling program that is both ecologically
and economically sensible for technology and garbage (paper, etc)
are among just some of the ideas I have.
Solutions for Humanity is my own non-profit sustainability project,
and I would like to start the first chapter here at Hunter College.
I will both provide initial funding (I am looking to donate about
$1000 towards this next semester) and professional management for
the group. The difference here being that unlike NYPIRG or CHES,
Solutions for Humanity will have solid funding and real leadership.
Obviously if I am willing to throw my money at something (and
believe me, I am not that rich, certainly not by New York standards
;-) I do believe this can be successful, at least far more
successful than either NYPIRG or CHES.
By the first of september, I intend to bring a real recycling
program for technology and cans, both of these 100% economically
profitable for the chapter. My belief is that if I arm people with
the funding, technology and leadership necessary, everything else
will fall into place quite well and quite quickly. Besides for
really getting things done, I want to give real leadership and real
management training to the group members, eventually by hiring groups
like FranklinCovey to do seminars for the group: investment in the
members and staff will be a crucial aspect that’s going to be very,
very different from either NYPIRG or any other organization. We
will also quickly break the myth that working for a non-profit means
low salaries or small budgets :-)
I intend to directly compete with both CHES and NYPIRG for both
members as well as exposure. I know I can build an organization the
scale of NYPIRG within three to max five years, and I am 100%
confident that the organization would achieve real results: no more
settling or negotiation on tuition raises, no more playing games.
While I may seem quiet and reserved to many, I am also a hell of a
fierce competitor and fighter -- I know what can be done, because
its being done in other places, but I do not intend to just follow
what others have done, but truly break new ground on many issues.
I want to take up a drastically different angle on issues:
a. Ecologically sustainable solutions must also be economically
sustainable, each and every time. I believe this can *always* be
the case.
b. There is almost never a reason to look at *any* issue as a
battle: much ground can be covered through negotiation and
mediation. NYPIRG has plenty of lobbyists and lawyers for example,
yet in so far as I am aware, they do not have a single professional
negotiator on staff.
c. Most non-profits are started by concerned citizens, who in many
cases lack the business experience and understanding. I bring a level
of experience to the table that average non-profits simply cannot
afford to hire. Apply business skills to activism, and I have no
doubt that the results will be grand.
d. Many other points that will would make this email quite lengthy,
including new business models and theories ;-)
Overall, I'd very much like to take things up in the spirit of the
way that Henry Spira used to do things: in case you don't know who
he is, he's the guy that got major cosmetics firms to get out of the
animal testing. Very successful tactics (negotiation! not fight
fight fight!) and he was working without any real funding: we will
have solid monetary backing, bigtime.
BTW: You've probably already seen some SFH stuff on campus -- the HAWC
posters for example (the black background ones) were designed by the SFH
creative group which is a team of web and print designers. Support for
other organizations is going to be a key point for SFH, at least in so
far
as such organizations promote the goals of SFH.
I'd like to hear what you think, and whether you'd be interested in
getting involved. We can set up a meeting sometime to sit down and
talk about where things are going, and I am prepared to break ground
on this immediately, set us up as a chapter club on campus, as
well as file the IRS/state corporate paperwork.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone else who you know might
be interested. I am reluctant to send this to the general CHES
listserv,
as that would be fairly blatant misuse of the mailing list, but I will
be approaching HAWC and CHES members privately regarding this. Please
do
respond, and let me know your thoughts.
Take the best of existing organizations, add some spice, and what do you
get? One hell of a result :o)
Sincerely,
)))))
Vladislav (ô ô)
---------------------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo----------------------------
--
Vladislav S. Davidzon
davidzon@thinkhost.com
Executive Director, ThinkHost
http://www.thinkhost.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"
ANYWAYS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The balls huh! Whatever,,,,I will discuss why that is so wrong later,,,I have more important things to talk about here.....he shouldn't have come out his face like that,,,so rude,,,but whatever the more power to him if he can achieve it he'll deserve and award!
So after spanish class,,,,I met up with Nidhi to go down to Murray Street and talk to JOhn Flannigan about having a chapter discussion on globalization,,wto,,imf..etc., get some indian point buttons on a letter writing day we will have dec 2nd I think. And make copies of flyers and leaflets for our "jam-if-you-can" party for the homeless,,,actually it's not as much a party as a spoken word event.
So Nidhi and I talked all the way down there and back....it was really good. I am so glad we settled out differences. I mean I guess I stil think she talks more than necessary when in a leadership role,,,but i think she will learn naturally. Anyways....she said a lot of insightful things that really helped me because she did the whole CHES and NYPIRG thing last year,,,and knows how it feels.
By the way,,,I sent out my official resignation letter to the CHES list today. It feels good to take responsibility to not take responsibility! I am glad it is over and I am unobligated,,,now I feel that I can better do my school work and NYPIRG work.
I need to go to sleep,,,,school stuf tomorrow....rob has to be at the studio early to talk to one of the bosses about how he thinks his internship is going....
I need to be in at 11:30 to meet Natasha at Hale and Hearty...we're going to do a documentary about NYPIRG @ HUnter college. Only 10 mins though, it's for our class,,,media 281 with tammi gold.
Okie gotta go to sleep,,thanks god i don't have the seminar internship class tomorrow with ken sherrill....i need the time. Rob is taking a break from work so that we can finish the in camera edit!! He's the best! I love him so much,,,he's the best!
Okie g'nite
lexi
Last night,,,,i didn't go to bed til four am. Like an idiot i stayed up online,,,doing nothing.
I didn't wake up til 12pm the next day. I skipped my HUman Ecology class because I gave my presentation already...last class,,,and the whole class this time would be devoted to people giving their presentations. THe teacher doesn't let the people talk and he just goes on and on talking..... He's smart and has much experience,,,but is rather scatterbrained in class.
So I woke up in time to go to my last CHES EB meeting....no one showed up. I know I was a little late,,,but I just went to the NYPIRG office and chilled there because I knew that is where people would go to look. J Lo came when i had 15 min til spanish class and we went to mariella's to ahve a slice.
We discussed Slavas letter to many of the people in NYPIRG and CHES which goes as follows:
(just pass over it if it gets too long,,,it's really here for reference)
Good evening (morning?) guys,
After much bouncing and much disappointment between NYPIRG and CHES,
I have decided to start a fresh and different sustainability
organization to make a real impact. No more moving around of
garbage cans, no more useless ranting and complaining, but instead a
real, sustainable campus recycling program that is both ecologically
and economically sensible for technology and garbage (paper, etc)
are among just some of the ideas I have.
Solutions for Humanity is my own non-profit sustainability project,
and I would like to start the first chapter here at Hunter College.
I will both provide initial funding (I am looking to donate about
$1000 towards this next semester) and professional management for
the group. The difference here being that unlike NYPIRG or CHES,
Solutions for Humanity will have solid funding and real leadership.
Obviously if I am willing to throw my money at something (and
believe me, I am not that rich, certainly not by New York standards
;-) I do believe this can be successful, at least far more
successful than either NYPIRG or CHES.
By the first of september, I intend to bring a real recycling
program for technology and cans, both of these 100% economically
profitable for the chapter. My belief is that if I arm people with
the funding, technology and leadership necessary, everything else
will fall into place quite well and quite quickly. Besides for
really getting things done, I want to give real leadership and real
management training to the group members, eventually by hiring groups
like FranklinCovey to do seminars for the group: investment in the
members and staff will be a crucial aspect that’s going to be very,
very different from either NYPIRG or any other organization. We
will also quickly break the myth that working for a non-profit means
low salaries or small budgets :-)
I intend to directly compete with both CHES and NYPIRG for both
members as well as exposure. I know I can build an organization the
scale of NYPIRG within three to max five years, and I am 100%
confident that the organization would achieve real results: no more
settling or negotiation on tuition raises, no more playing games.
While I may seem quiet and reserved to many, I am also a hell of a
fierce competitor and fighter -- I know what can be done, because
its being done in other places, but I do not intend to just follow
what others have done, but truly break new ground on many issues.
I want to take up a drastically different angle on issues:
a. Ecologically sustainable solutions must also be economically
sustainable, each and every time. I believe this can *always* be
the case.
b. There is almost never a reason to look at *any* issue as a
battle: much ground can be covered through negotiation and
mediation. NYPIRG has plenty of lobbyists and lawyers for example,
yet in so far as I am aware, they do not have a single professional
negotiator on staff.
c. Most non-profits are started by concerned citizens, who in many
cases lack the business experience and understanding. I bring a level
of experience to the table that average non-profits simply cannot
afford to hire. Apply business skills to activism, and I have no
doubt that the results will be grand.
d. Many other points that will would make this email quite lengthy,
including new business models and theories ;-)
Overall, I'd very much like to take things up in the spirit of the
way that Henry Spira used to do things: in case you don't know who
he is, he's the guy that got major cosmetics firms to get out of the
animal testing. Very successful tactics (negotiation! not fight
fight fight!) and he was working without any real funding: we will
have solid monetary backing, bigtime.
BTW: You've probably already seen some SFH stuff on campus -- the HAWC
posters for example (the black background ones) were designed by the SFH
creative group which is a team of web and print designers. Support for
other organizations is going to be a key point for SFH, at least in so
far
as such organizations promote the goals of SFH.
I'd like to hear what you think, and whether you'd be interested in
getting involved. We can set up a meeting sometime to sit down and
talk about where things are going, and I am prepared to break ground
on this immediately, set us up as a chapter club on campus, as
well as file the IRS/state corporate paperwork.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone else who you know might
be interested. I am reluctant to send this to the general CHES
listserv,
as that would be fairly blatant misuse of the mailing list, but I will
be approaching HAWC and CHES members privately regarding this. Please
do
respond, and let me know your thoughts.
Take the best of existing organizations, add some spice, and what do you
get? One hell of a result :o)
Sincerely,
)))))
Vladislav (ô ô)
---------------------------------ooO-(_)-Ooo----------------------------
--
Vladislav S. Davidzon
davidzon@thinkhost.com
Executive Director, ThinkHost
http://www.thinkhost.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"
ANYWAYS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The balls huh! Whatever,,,,I will discuss why that is so wrong later,,,I have more important things to talk about here.....he shouldn't have come out his face like that,,,so rude,,,but whatever the more power to him if he can achieve it he'll deserve and award!
So after spanish class,,,,I met up with Nidhi to go down to Murray Street and talk to JOhn Flannigan about having a chapter discussion on globalization,,wto,,imf..etc., get some indian point buttons on a letter writing day we will have dec 2nd I think. And make copies of flyers and leaflets for our "jam-if-you-can" party for the homeless,,,actually it's not as much a party as a spoken word event.
So Nidhi and I talked all the way down there and back....it was really good. I am so glad we settled out differences. I mean I guess I stil think she talks more than necessary when in a leadership role,,,but i think she will learn naturally. Anyways....she said a lot of insightful things that really helped me because she did the whole CHES and NYPIRG thing last year,,,and knows how it feels.
By the way,,,I sent out my official resignation letter to the CHES list today. It feels good to take responsibility to not take responsibility! I am glad it is over and I am unobligated,,,now I feel that I can better do my school work and NYPIRG work.
I need to go to sleep,,,,school stuf tomorrow....rob has to be at the studio early to talk to one of the bosses about how he thinks his internship is going....
I need to be in at 11:30 to meet Natasha at Hale and Hearty...we're going to do a documentary about NYPIRG @ HUnter college. Only 10 mins though, it's for our class,,,media 281 with tammi gold.
Okie gotta go to sleep,,thanks god i don't have the seminar internship class tomorrow with ken sherrill....i need the time. Rob is taking a break from work so that we can finish the in camera edit!! He's the best! I love him so much,,,he's the best!
Okie g'nite
lexi