work in process
this theme echoed several times in the past 24 hours - why not reveal what is happening on the inside while it is in process? Instead of holding back an idea or a plan until it is perfected and done for communication/publicity channels, which keeps the masses in the dark, in an organization or corporation or church, and creates stirs of ignorance + cluelessness, or worse, suspicion or discouragement (b/c the masses see “nothing going on”).. rather, reveal what is going on while it is in process, and invite others to participate in the conversation, pitch in their ideas, collaborate, and produce something better than what can be done behind closed doors.. Six Apart has begun to reveal their things in process at Mena’s Corner in spite of their fears and concerns.. bravo!
raw potential
last night was the beginning of aalc2004 — the Asian American Leadership Conference, in downtown Los Angeles — first of its kind, and an amazing event with 300+ Asian American ministry leaders (pastors, campus ministers, seminary students, missionaries), and to get some of the leadership issues and training available to the general public is a wonderful thing.. and being the web-based person that I am, I think to myself (and for those of you tuned in, out loud) what raw potential there is, if just half of the attendance would continue the conversation online, at a place like aaministry.org, and build on the new relationships formed and new ideas shared.. no reason that it couldn’t happen, but yet, what is that intangible X factor that keeps people from doing it? General announcements + publicity + marketing will not “make it happen”.. more Asian Americans (as a racial grouping) are online on the internet than any other group, yet the leaders are not using the internet for more powerful purposes of increasing the value of social capital. [I'll let that hang, out there, and see what we can get combustible]
almost Hotel California
got to hang out with Rudy for 2 nights this week, bantered with a handful of others about protest vs. invest re: social justice, economic development, The Movie [which I think is bound for a prequel -- the Prophecy of, the Life of, and sequel -- the Spirit of], and doing a startup dot-com in 60 minutes or less.. on the first night, the place we met at had keyed entries on both sides, and I couldn’t get out when I was getting ready to leave (thus, the tune of Hotel California echoed a refrain)… and today we swapped coasts & cities - Rudy’s still in DC, and now I’m in LA for about 5 days, will be at aalc2004.org and visit w/ in-laws.. Mon & Tues nights will be in a hotel, other nights at a more familial setting down the road from Little Saigon..
good WiFi idea
coming to you live from Westfield Shoppingtown in Bethesda, (one of?) the first indoor shopping malls with WiFi hotspot, and it’s a simple $3 for 24 hours of access (which actually works out to maybe 12 hours tops(?) b/c of store hours), or $20 for a monthly subscription.. that’s the right idea in my book, short of giving it away for free as a “perk”.. [for my own sanity, I prefer to work in the midst of hustle and bustle noise of people and muzak, than the stark silence of an isolation chamber, aka small home office] now to find an outlet to plug into..
Tulsapalooza
this week was a puddle-jumper trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, as I begin carving out a new role and position for 1 of my 2 paid jobs, and a new realignment of who I’ll be working with.. it dawned on me how relaxed (read: slow) life can be in a smaller city like Tulsa, with the 2nd best (shortest) commute time in the country - a wide swing from being in metro DC which has the 2nd worst (longest) commute time.. we enjoyed excellent steaks at Spudder my first night there, being in the midst of steak country, you know I had to..
what this should mean is possibly more travel, more conversations, and more strategizing.. all getting ramped up by this summer, if all goes well.. this will be a much more engaging work, not just for me, but for the general public, if we pull this off.. knowing corporate culture of the contexts I’m in at the moment, I probably don’t have the liberty to divulge too much at this moment, and I’m not about to test it while the cogs of realignment are just beginning to turn.. stay tuned..
