We’ve lived for 20 years in this brown stained house and truth be told it was pretty ugly. We now have a fresh new coat of light green paint with cream trim and a new front entryway (portico?). Oh, and our deck is no longer falling down. Thanks to Ray Hall, General Contractor and John Fenger, Paint Contractor and their crews. Here’s a photo timeline (click images to embiggen):
MayOne.us Stage 2: Pledge to Reclaim Democracy
I recently joined Lawrence Lessig’s citizen-funded MAYDAY.US campaign – an ambitious experiment to win a Congress committed to ending corruption in 2016 – and we did something amazing: We raised $1 million in 12 days in May. Matching funds brought that up to $2 million and that’s a ton of money, but it’s not enough.
So, what’s the plan?
We have launched an experiment to see whether we can kick-start a campaign for fundamental reform.
That campaign will occur across at least two election cycles.
If we raise our funding targets, in 2014, we will launch a small campaign in at least 5 congressional districts. Based on what we learn in those 5 districts, we will launch a much larger campaign to get us to 218 votes in the House, and 60 votes in the United States Senate.
We will set a series of targets two in 2014, more for the 2016 cycle in which we announce a fundraising goal, and ask people to commit to that goal.
People “commit” by pledging a contribution anywhere between $5 and $10,000 to the Mayday PAC. Those funds are kept only if we reach the target by the target date. If we don’t meet the goal, no pledges are kept by Mayday PAC.
Our next goal is to raise $5 million more by July 4, and I’m writing this post to my friends and family to ask if you can help us get the rest of the way there. If all of us who have supported the campaign so far each recruit just five matching pledges, we’d easily hit that goal. But I’d like to see if I can recruit ten of my friends to donate. So my question is: will you be one of those ten?
http://vimeo.com/97246128
Congratulations, Jacob
My son, Jacob, graduated from 8th grade yesterday. In my day, the transition from Middle School (then called Junior High) to High School was important but didn’t merit a formal ceremony. More things are celebrated now, which is probably a good thing. For Jacob, it’s a great time to recognize his success at finding a mode of learning that works for him. He has never been a classroom learner and during his early school years developed an intense dislike of schools and teachers. This brought his formal learning nearly to a halt. As parents, we struggled with many questions: Were we being too permissive? Was the problem with his teachers? Could the underlying problem be physical, mental or emotional? We may never find the answers to these questions but over time, we have banged together something that works.
Two years ago, Jacob started attending The Education Option, associated with Gold Rush Charter School in Sonora. With the support of his teacher, Charis Caughey, he transitioned to Acellus, an online curriculum. This allows him to work at his own pace (which is surprisingly fast), outside of the classroom. He now works at or above grade level in all subjects except math (he takes after me in that area).
Jacob graduated with a mention for academic excellence (maintaining at or above a 3.5 GPA) and with four certificates from The Education Option, including having the highest reading score above his grade level (12.5) in STAR testing.
I have long believed that traditional classrooms do a poor job of preparing kids for the world in which we now live. There must be better ways of gaining the knowledge needed to reach goals. We are in a time of transition and it can be scary to depart from a well worn path. My hope for my son is that he continues to find new ways to move through life with purpose and as himself. Well done, Jacob.
Pledge to MayOne.us
I don’t pledge to much but I pledged to this. MayOne.us is attempting to kickstart fundamental reform by reducing the influence of money in politics. They are creating a publicly funded SuperPAC to support candidates that will fight for campaign finance reform.
Government has failed us. More than 90% of Americans link that failure to the influence of money in politics.
Yet the politicians ignore this influence. While America founders, they spend endless time with their funders.
These funders hold our democracy hostage. We want to pay the ransom, and get it back.
We’re going to kickstart a SuperPAC big enough to make it possible to win a Congress committed to fundamental reform by 2016.
Or at least we’re going to try.
MayOne.us will meet their first goal of raising $1 million during the month of May. Next is a goal of $5 million by July 1st. If these goals are not met, no one will have to pay their pledge. However, it’s now 13 days into May and the total stands at $956,268, including my measly $25. So, the support is there. Watch this video by Lawrence Lessig to learn more. Then spread the word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCcqkyRJl7M
Photo and video courtesy of mayone.us
Pens are Magical
There is something about forming letters on paper that gives the ideas behind them more weight. I have taken a page (ha!) from Caroline Arnold’s book Small Move, Big Change and started keeping all my notes in a single notebook, that goes with me everywhere. Every workday morning before turning on the computer, I make a list of the three most important things to be done that day. Each item has a little square checkbox in front of it and checking those boxes off throughout the day is very satisfying. Whatever else I did that day, if the boxes are checked at the end of it, I know I did OK.
Writing by hand is also an excuse to indulge in a minor obsession I have with fountain pens, both vintage and modern. Something about writing with liquid ink on good quality paper makes me feel connected to writers of the past (and makes me want to write more). Pictured above is my c.1939 Sheaffer Balance. In its day, it was a workhorse pen. Not too showy but of good quality, with a celluloid body and 14 kt. gold nib. It is sitting on a Clairfontaine wirebound notebook (5 4/5″ x 8 1/4″) with ruled paper.
What are you writing with?
This post originally shared with the Owner Mastery Foundation Group on Google+.