There is a level of resentment here that I feel is undeserved. Professional citizen organizers, a term that makes no sense, but here's the real deal. I began my so-called career as an advocate/organizer in East St. Louis, Illinois in 1967 and, much to my surprise since I was a shy child, I turned out to be good at it. While my parents were born here, my grandparent were immigrants. To them being a citizen was an adult's first job outside the home. My father was into politics and actually ran for city alderman against the undertaker down the street--the undertaker won (in a way the undertaker always wins in the end). My whole motive for doing the work and attending the meetings and going through the hoo-hah is two-fold: one, making a better life for the next generation (I think that's encoded genetically, even among those of us who have no children of our own). The second is to 'brighten the corner where you are' and 'bloom where you are planted.' If my neighbors and I improve our neighborhood we will have improved all our lives together and, possibly, grown closer in the bargain. It's been very hard to interest folks in the NRP process for whatever reasons. People who do shift work, people with small children, people who are so burdened in their lives that taking the time for the meetings, etc. is beyond their abilities to cope at the moment. We can only hope they will be there when the time is available to them and solicit their opinions and report them to the group in the meantime. So, Mr. Peterson and Mr. Wader, I am offended when you barf all over the work I've done for the last 35 years. Some of it has been mundane, but some of it I'm really proud of. Running the first toy lendling library for day care providers in the country was one of my better ones. Getting money cut loose from the state to begin lead clean up in Phillips was another gooder. The transformation of Hosmer Library, my current project, is a really good one. Helping turn Green Central Weed & Seed into a functioning project is another good one. Writing about neighborhood news was a good one too. Helping to organize and run a food coop was pretty decent. Counselling young boys who were destined for the draft during Vietnam was pretty good, but I was young then and making more mistakes than anything else. Helping my African American neighbors organize civil rights actions in East St. Louis was pretty good too. This is a long tradition in my culture and in that, I have followed the tradition of the lay spinster and done a good job of it. If that's the source of your resentments, so be it, but it seems a waste of bile. Wizard Marks, Central [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Wow Russell, looks like you offended one of our esteemed "professional" > citizen/resident/volonteers/organizers or what ever they want to be called, > pretty badly. A little too close to home perhaps. > > The majority of city residents are trying to make a living and pay the bills, > they don't have the time to get involved as much as they would like. > Meanwhile, there is the group of people who are always there trying to get > involved. You know the type, at least most on this list should, because they > are part of that group. And guess what, you don't want anyone else's help. > You relish the control, the inside political and social games. You have the > false sense that you are actually doing something for the community (when > really you're doing it for yourself). Instead, you're just adding more crap > to the ever-increasing pile of bureaucratic bullshit that wastes taxpayer > dollars. > > I'm sick of reading condescending posts from that group, and every time I do, > it just strengthens my points. Keep up your on target and refreshing posts > Mr. Peterson! > > wade russell
