Heyyo. I'm running for E.C.
My Goals:My first main goal is to create a system that can pair members who have project ideas with members who have the skills and experience to see those ideas realized, with minimal oversight from the E.C. Think, “PSI Craigslist.” One fact I think we habitually overlook is that very few of us are full-time poets. Most of us are students or professionals in areas that are superficially unrelated to PSI. I say “superficially” because I don’t think there are very many skill sets that we couldn’t utilize, if only we knew what they were and what to do with them. I’ll use myself as an example. I’m a triple major: Math, Biology, and Secondary Education. We’re accustomed to the idea that teaching and poetry go hand in hand, but I find that math is actually the most useful when it comes to the PSI-related projects that I’ve worked on. If you’ve paid attention to the forums recently, you’ve seen my mathematical analysis of random draw (I’ve also done a lot of unpublished analysis of various alternatives). I was relatively lucky in this regard, because I happened to stumble on a Facebook discussion pertaining to the Seeding debate. But you can imagine that there are a lot of potential projects and proposals that a) I haven’t seen and more importantly b) somebody else, who might be highly qualified to contribute, hasn’t heard of. I suspect that there are any number of members out there who, like me, wanted to contribute, but simply didn’t have a way to do it. I want to give those people way to contribute. I think the goal of the E.C. should be not only to make a giant to-do list of all these potential undertakings and try to sort through them, but also to create a system where members can help out and contribute their own skills in whatever capacity they are able. Who is more qualified too determine what each of us has to offer than we ourselves? Whether or not you like my math, and whether or not I like whatever talent you happen to have, I think it's critically important that all of us contribute.
My other main goal is to begin the process of systematically recording all of our operating procedures and making that information available to general members. (This dissemination will benefit greatly from the design of a new website, which I believe should also be one of the EC's and PSI's primary projects.) Just so it's clear what I mean when I say this: most of us don’t know that SMs control NPS while the EC runs WoWPS and iWPS (I stumbled upon this information in an unrelated thread and only coincindently happened to retain it); most of us don’t know how the order of bouts is determined in indie events (or what the order is for any given tournament, if my local scene is any indicator); most of us don’t know what decisions are under the jurisdiction of PSI and which are at the discretion of the Host City Committees; most of us don’t know that there isn’t an official procedure for determining storm poets (and almost nobody at all knew until about a month ago). Whether or not any of these specific examples are important to you, I hope you can appreciate the value of knowing that this kind of basic information is available to you so that you CAN view it if you choose to. If we don’t know what our processes are, we have no way to examine them for flaws or potential improvements; if we have that information gathered, organized, and available, then not only will general members have a better understanding of how things work, but they will be able to help us seek improvement.
Obviously, there are a lot of
other important things I’d like to do:- Establish PSI’s YouTube Channel (a process which I have little to contribute to personally, technological failure that I am, but that I think my first main goal addresses)
- See the launch of a new website (again, see my first main goal)
- Create a resource archive for Host City Committees that general members can contribute to
- Generally, look at our system analytically to determine inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and anything else than can be systematically improved
- Anything else y’all want on the table
Other (relevant) stuff:I’ve been involved in slam since middle school as: a member of Minnesota’s BNV team, a two-time member of the all-women’s Punch Out Poetry Slam team, an individual competitor, a volunteer at both NPS and WoWPS, a host, a proxy, a committee member, and various other things without official titles. I participate heavily in forum debates, including conducting mathematical analysis as it relates to discussion. I am currently involved in a project to gather and organize information from past HCCs regarding advertising strategies for national events. I’m also helping organize WoWPS 2013.
As I said, I study math, biology, and education. I’ve taught high school math classes and college classes in both bio and English. I currently work as a Hall Manager at UW-River Falls. I collaborate with 9 other HMs and 90 student staff members across campus to organize campus events. I supervise six full-time and five part-time staff members and eight volunteer staff to organize smaller events for my 250 upper-class residents. I have also independently organized campus rallies and protests.
I’m focused and hard working. I will approach every new task and idea with and open and analytical mind. I think I have a lot to offer and I’d love the opportunity to do so.
Cheers
Syd Arnold
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