Culture Generation

Yesterday was my Executive Board teambuilding day. Everyone on the 2008 EB had committed to go, which was too good to be true. Sure enough, thirty minutes before we left Atlanta on Saturday morning I get the call that Bryan, my future VP Infrastructure, is mad sick, and completely incapable of even moving in his bed. But the other six VPes and I still made that trip out to Leesburg, Alabama, for a day of getting to know each other and planning for the year ahead.


It exceeded my expectations far beyond what I could have believed them to be. Even for what little time we did planning for our team, it was the most efficient meeting I have ever been to in AIESEC (except the German conference meetings which trump it all, but then again, they are German). The personalities that came together and the visions that clicked and the words of action, not deliberation, that were spoken gave my soul a big-ass jump-start on AIESEC in general, and especially for the Georgia Tech LC. I contrasted it with the ebb of motivation that has been going on, our low(er) conference registration numbers, the sometimes defeatist attitude in our leadership team meetings, and I see a bright and shining sun charging on the horizon, that is our Executive Board 2008 and a new era.


At tonight's leadership team meeting, my heart just about exploded out of my chest when I was offended by the stark contrast between yesterday and today's meeting. I value everyone in our leadership team. I found - and find - myself wishing I could sweep it all away though and begin with January 1. That is a hard confession to make, but that is how I feel, and that is what this outlet is about. Life with others is not about sweeping things away however, and we will all be better for working towards January 1 in the current situation because you learn more with challenges like this. I learned that a long time ago, and dammit, I just keep on learning it harder and newer.

It is three days before National Novel Writing Month 2007 begins and I have done no plot or character outlines.

The Teachings of B

Yesterday I finished the book My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, and with that last shutting of the paperback I finished the trilogy of the books that I call the most influential I have ever read.

With some books or series or movies or anything of the sort - say Harry Potter - the reader will reluctantly put the book down for the last time, after having read the entire available exploits of the family of characters and situations located therein, and think with nostalgia about the excitement they had knowing that there were pages left to turn and new roads to discover in that particular contained fantasy world. There was something like that with putting Quinn's third adventure of the mind and spirit on the table, but it was not quite the same selfish yearning to melt away into a simulacrum of escape. Instead I thought of how deeply the concepts therein had affected my character and my views about humanity, society, and my place in the global system. The answers themselves are not in Ishmael, The Story of B, or My Ishmael, but the way to find answers is, and that is what makes the books so unique and powerful, applicable to anyone who chances upon them with the nagging thought that we are all dead or dying, or at least that you are. I am thankful to my 12th grade government teacher for making Ishmael a part of of our required reading for the class, because I'd have almost never heard of it otherwise.

There are those moments that are so full of everything - senses, emotion, and experience - that they become ingrained in your head as a part of your personal golden legendarium. One of those moments for me was while reading Ishmael as a senior in high school. My family was in Birmingham, visiting my grandparents and mother's relatives for some holiday function, probably Thanksgiving. I had been reading the book on the car ride from Gadsden, and all I could think about in my grandfather's house was the continuing of the book, arriving at more real answers for myself. On the car ride home, I got to read the climax of the book, which was in itself a revelation to me. To many, that revelation is nothing new, but maybe they aren't understanding it fully well.

Whilst sitting on the couch and thinking about this state of affairs, I reminded myself that I am participating in National Novel Writing Month 2007. A new spark and a new road open before me. Writing 50,000 words in one month is going to be damn hard, especially between building up my Executive Board team for 2008 and working at bars, but it's one of those things that I should do before I leave this plane. Now I just need to get fired up for plot and character development.

Letter to Atlanta LC: An Entreaty to Apply for the Executive Board

Hey AIESEC!

This is Preston, your Local Committee President-elect of AIESEC at Georgia Tech for the year 2008.

Charlie has sent out the EB applications and appeals to sign-up already, but if you have not done so yet or are hesitating, then this email is for you.

Most of you have been in AIESEC for less than a year, but even for many of you who have been around longer than a month you have seen the overwhelming power of the AIESEC network. You have worked as a salesperson or external relations agent in a real business (that is AIESEC GT!), networked with some of Atlanta's top political and business figures, begun a push to use the AIESEC network as a platform to develop a project or initiative that you have created, and even experienced the wonders of local, national, and international conferences - some of you have probably even gotten a meal and a place to stay from Europe to Japan just because of your AIESEC network.

Those stories are proof that AIESEC, unlike so many other student organizations, is not a place where only seasoned veterans can take ownership. AIESEC is designed for you to develop yourself, and you can ask anyone in AIESEC who knows me - I am a firm believer in providing as many opportunities as possible to as many members as possible, regardless of their life experience or their AIESEC experience.

The thing I want to get most out of my time in AIESEC is to be a part of the perfect team. The perfect team is one where everyone not only understands their role and their place in the team, but where they are so empowered and impassioned by the work their team can do that the constituent individuals and their interactions with each other and with the outside world are able to create a sum greater than the whole of its parts. The opportunity has now been laid in front of me to be a part of the perfect team: the Executive Board of AIESEC at Georgia Tech for the year 2008. I want you to be on that perfect team.

If you feel like you can create legendary projects, turn AIESEC into the most powerfully networked organization in Atlanta, and/or use your creative and interpersonal abilities to motivate individuals to utilize our platform to change their lives, you should apply for the EB. If you look back at your GT career thus far, even if it has only lasted two months, and think about your place in this school and in your major and in Atlanta and the greater world and can't help but say "there's something missing," you should apply for EB. If you are hesitating because you think it would be a cool idea but aren't sure that you could do it with classes and other obligations you have, you should apply for EB. And don't even begin to think that just because you are new applying would be a futile effort - on the contrary, I specifically am looking for a mostly-fresh EB, because if I've learned anything in my time in the network, it's that the results and enthusiasm are highest for those who have to work the hardest due to a potential difference (kind of engineering terms there, but it means that YOU have high potential and the job has high expectations, so putting you in that position generates high results!)

Paradise Vendors

Last night was my first night working at the Fox. I was stuck making hot dogs for most of the time, but I was thrown in the mix a little bit. As it was my first night, I made no tips, but tonight that will all change. In fact, I'm probably making a mistake writing this right now because I may not make it to get some dinner in time before work starts.

After work was done right before midnight, I was in a conversation with one of my co-workers, and we agreed to go up to his favorite bar, the nearby Jocks & Jills, and it was there that we were involved in a two-and-a-half hour life conversation in which he dispensed his sage wisdom and I was the padawan. I wish I could remember it all verbatim, because he is a remarkably intelligent Englishman with a penchant for street-wise speech, but I remember the main points. Most of all, I gravitated towards his absolute love for the bartending life - "slingers" being the demonym of those who are the greatest. I still intend to return to Georgia Tech and get my degree, but what inspired me was precisely what Georgia Tech itself lacks - the passion of artisanship and a bigger place in the world that he so clearly exhibited, and demonstrated in his interactions with the Jocks & Jills bartender, whom he described as "like family." They're all like family, he says, and that's the best part of it.

When I dropped him off at his place at about 2:30 AM, he looked at me and said,

"You're 21 years old, and you've got a golden coin in your hand, mate. Use it wisely."

rolzngolz

On Tuesday I went to the Fabulous Fox Theatre for an interview and I got the job right then and there. Today I went for orientation, and I shadow bartend on Saturday night, with my first working night being Sunday.

I have gotten back into the AIESEC mindset (where appropriate), and have begun having meetings with the current Executive Board members. I had a meeting with the VP External Relations, Katie, this morning at the fresh hour of 08:30 at Bobbi & June's Kountry Kitchen. It was one I had looked forward to especially - not only because I love Bobby and June's, but also because I foresee ER as being a very big focus for us next year. There is a lot of growth potential there, and I'm passionate about getting as many students in a functional capacity as possible. I for one will be increasing my ER skills to the max in 2008. She also revealed that in the Georgia Tech Library Archives there exist many documents from AIESEC GT all the way back to Year 1: 1987. I plan on donning a tweed coat, a Stetson, and going deep into the vault to record that ancient and forgotten information. It will help us to put together a comprehensive history and statistical picture of things like exchange and membership at AIESEC GT, and it will also be very useful for our 20th anniversary banquet this December, when we will have many distinguished guests and alumni, including the LCP who started it all and hopefully even our current MCP Missy, who was LCP of GT in 2003.

Tomorrow I meet with Maddie, my formidable opponent in the LCP race and also the current VP Out-Going Exchange. That is the other major area I wish to focus on next year. I'd like to see at least 50% of the people we recruit next year go on an AIESEC exchange within one year of joining AIESEC. I also meet with Johanna, VP In-Coming Exchange, which is a role that is in jeapordy because of national developments. It will be a difficult but worthy challenge to realign its relevance.

Real work begins next week. My life reenters a schedule.

The Open Road

Today was a good day.

I got a memory-foam bed topper yesterday, and though I awoke at 9:00 this morning, I didn't get out of bed until 10:30 it was so comfortable.

I went to campus, dropped off my two photos for the study abroad photo contest, and ate.

Then I went to the Georgia World Congress Center and registered to work events there care of Food Team, Inc. I also received a 15%-off coupon for Safe-T-Sole shoes from Payless, required for the job.

I drove from there to the newly-opened City Life Restaurant & Lounge, located well within the hood, but that's how I like it. The woman who opened it is getting her clientele from gentrifying East Point - I'm not down with gentrification, but I am down with aiding in their wealth redistribution to me. She liked me a lot so I'm pretty sure I've got that job down pat.

From there I went a ways up Buford Highway to get the shoes, returned home and ate some bread with pumpkin butter on it (the bombtrack), and had a nice long conversation with Gabiza, President of AIESEC International.

Then I won the election for Local Committee President of AIESEC at Georgia Tech for the 2008 term. We celebrated at Little Szechuan.