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There's a certain organization here that I've been reading about for years in various urban planning and community development journals--it's one of the things that convinced me to move to Portland and stoked the fires of my waning idealism.
I went to a lecture by the founder earlier this year and was inspired. He had well-articulated ideals and a body of work that convinced me that this was the little non-profit that could. I've spent the last several months trying to get involved, waylayed by my own laziness and packed schedule.
However, I finally made it to the volunteer meeting today (after finally pulling my ass out of bed after several pep talks---I really, truly am a big fat lover of the afternoon nap) and discovered that my beloved dream of transforming the city one block at a time was threatened by SHS.
SHS is an insidious disease that afflicts households, organizations (generally non-profits) and student groups around the country. "Stupid Hippie Syndrome" describes the phenomenon of a group that is long on good intentions and woefully short on skills, characterized by big ideas and general organizational chaos and lack of follow-through.
We have a bonafide case of SHS.
Case in point, this non-profit is about to be kicked out of its space within the next three months (as the condos are about to roll in...boo). They have rather specific needs and cost constraints and have not contacted a realtor or sought any professional assistance in finding a new location. I expressed shock at this and was told that "realtors cost money"...which is true, but given this town and this organizations contributions (how they were ever made, I will never know), getting the local development agency to look on their behalf or getting one of the many progressive realty firms to pitch in would be a fairly simple task. They are relying on their membership to find a new place based on tips...good idea, but not a 3 month time-frame. As for the money, apparently no one thinks that storing shit is also expensive when your do-gooder asses are thrown out on the street.
*head hits desk*
There was much talk of big ideas and general disdain expressed for the boring real world tasks of funding the organization, collecting information, interpreting data, etc. I tried to let them know, "I am boring, I will save you, " but I'm not sure that I have the Samurai skills necessary for the task at hand.
SHS is a common problem in ye olde Republic of Cascadia and I'm wondering if there isn't a way to convince my corporate cronies to use their powers for good. The evil skills I've honed in my administrative life can only go so far---we need to turn out in numbers to save these groups from the ravages of SHS. I encourage all of you with mad skills to help fight this scourge.
I went to a lecture by the founder earlier this year and was inspired. He had well-articulated ideals and a body of work that convinced me that this was the little non-profit that could. I've spent the last several months trying to get involved, waylayed by my own laziness and packed schedule.
However, I finally made it to the volunteer meeting today (after finally pulling my ass out of bed after several pep talks---I really, truly am a big fat lover of the afternoon nap) and discovered that my beloved dream of transforming the city one block at a time was threatened by SHS.
SHS is an insidious disease that afflicts households, organizations (generally non-profits) and student groups around the country. "Stupid Hippie Syndrome" describes the phenomenon of a group that is long on good intentions and woefully short on skills, characterized by big ideas and general organizational chaos and lack of follow-through.
We have a bonafide case of SHS.
Case in point, this non-profit is about to be kicked out of its space within the next three months (as the condos are about to roll in...boo). They have rather specific needs and cost constraints and have not contacted a realtor or sought any professional assistance in finding a new location. I expressed shock at this and was told that "realtors cost money"...which is true, but given this town and this organizations contributions (how they were ever made, I will never know), getting the local development agency to look on their behalf or getting one of the many progressive realty firms to pitch in would be a fairly simple task. They are relying on their membership to find a new place based on tips...good idea, but not a 3 month time-frame. As for the money, apparently no one thinks that storing shit is also expensive when your do-gooder asses are thrown out on the street.
*head hits desk*
There was much talk of big ideas and general disdain expressed for the boring real world tasks of funding the organization, collecting information, interpreting data, etc. I tried to let them know, "I am boring, I will save you, " but I'm not sure that I have the Samurai skills necessary for the task at hand.
SHS is a common problem in ye olde Republic of Cascadia and I'm wondering if there isn't a way to convince my corporate cronies to use their powers for good. The evil skills I've honed in my administrative life can only go so far---we need to turn out in numbers to save these groups from the ravages of SHS. I encourage all of you with mad skills to help fight this scourge.
