[1333] in APO News
Apocrypha Issue 6
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (autumn@MIT.EDU)
Wed May 3 00:51:46 1995
From: autumn@MIT.EDU
To: apoc-dist@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 03 May 95 00:37:03 EDT
APOcrypha
Volume 82, Issue 6
Tuesday, May 2, 1995
Spring 1995
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apoc
Read Me.
=)
Barbara
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Real Candidate Articles
Dima
I want to be SVP next term because I want to have some
leadership position and SVP is the only thing I can think of that can be
frontloaded as much as plan to frontload it. I want to be more active
I am running for this office. Vote for me, you won't regret it. I have a
few nice surprises up my sleeve.
Dima.
Jeffrey
Why I want to be AVP
Why AVP?
I am doing AVP stuff already (not a lot, but some). I've keeping the
homepage up to date, and I might do some remodeling of it this summer.
Of course, I don't know whether this is really an AVP job or who's job
it is, but I have been doing what people have asked me to do (like
update the pledge list, add homepages, etc). I have a good
understanding of Latex, making WUAPO's is no big hassle, and I would
like to release them more often so that people know what is going on. I
took minutes for nominations meeting, and it was ok. In fact, taking
minutes with my laptop was fairly cool. I know where and how to reserve
rooms, and I know who to yell at if they screw it up. And updating
mailing lists. I already administrate a lot of lists, and so adding
people and removing people is no problem.
What am I going to do to improve the Chapter?
As I mentioned above, I want to release WUAPO's a little more often, so
that people aren't wondering whats going on this month and who's
actually PC'ing it. This is not to pick on Cathy, because Cathy is a
good brother and we all love her a lot. However, I would like to see
the WUAPO come out more often. I am going to do some remodelling of the
APO Homepage, including adding our bylaws (see below) and a pledge
manual possibly, so that even if pledges don't get a printed copy from
the MVP, they can go online and print a copy for themselves of the
current pledge manual. Maybe it won't be bound and cool like Dave's
was, but they would get them.
What about the Bylaws?
The reason that this comes up, just as a small aside (come on, you don't
really care that much about why I want to be AVP right?), is that I
recently got an email from a Brother in Texas who wanted to see our
bylaws because they are in the process of updating theirs. But the
bylaws do not exist in text format in the APO directory. They do exist
in tex, but detex doesn't help, since there are many parts of the bylaws
where instead of the whole word are latex substitutions. When you detex
a file, these substitutions disappear, and many lines do not come out
right at all. For instance:
Officers
The officers of this Chapter shall be the , , , , , , and . All offices
shall be held by active members.
This is not useable material. Latex stuff is nice when you are here and
someone asks for them you can tell them where the file is and tell them
to just print it out. But sending a tex file or a postscript file to
someone in texas and asking them to be able to use it is just asking a
bit much. I recommend that either all substitutions in latex files be
taken out so that when you detex them, they come out looking the way
they should, or write a text file first, save it, and then tex it. We
are a national fraternity, and sometimes other chapters will want to
look at our bylaws and such, and so we should be able to send these
things to them easily. Yes, we could send these things by paper mail,
but I see no reason to do that when we can save ourselves 32 cents and a
lot of hassle.
Isn't that someone else's job?
Debatably, yes. But the name of the job is administrative vice
president. Getting files in order and such sounds a bit administrative
to me, and besides, it shouldn't be up to the president to do all the
silly things that need to be done.
And for Ezra:
(I'm only going to say this once. Do not ask me all three times =-) I
will only be taking three classes next term, and my only activities
right now are Band and APO. So if we schedule meetings right, there
will be no reason why I can not make it to every meeting. Also, running
an execcom once in a while would be cool.
Why I want to be Fellowship Chair
I wanted to be Fellowship Chair this term. But let me re-iterate some
of my ideas.
Small Fellowship Events at Chapter Weekends?
I like fellowship events at chapter weekends. Nothing big or fancy like
a major fellowship event, but we tend to go to a lot of nice places,
like Resolute, that are right on small lakes and its really fun to be
there after working a whole day out. What I would like to do is host
fellowship events during these times that we are sitting around either
waiting for dinner or waiting until we are sleepy enough to go to sleep.
I say this because the thing that Dave did at CW II last term with the
candles was really actually neat. As was the pledge ceremony on the
beach with the candles at CW I. I remember how everyone liked that, and
it would be cool if we could do something like that.
Study Breaks?
I like study breaks out in unusual places on campus. How about an
evening picnic or such out on Killian Court? A study break near the
6.00X labs for those who are in lab too much. We can think of things as
we go along. We could make a mailing list for fellowship ideas too.
The messages could be as simple as: ``Jeffrey, we should have a study
break.''
But Why do I want to be Fellowship Chair?
Well, to be honest, I want to be fellowship chair because fellowship
events are fun. In fact, I want to start a committee called funcom. APO
is not just about leadership or service. We do plenty of that, and I
feel as a group we are well devoted to these areas. APO is also about
Fellowship. Serving mankind and getting to know your fellow man in the
process. I don't go to many ``frat'' parties, and I don't go to many dorm
parites either. But I do go to APO fellowship events. And the reason
is I know the people at APO fellowship events. And if I don't know
someone at a fellowship event, I find it much easier to meet them than
at other parties.
Intra-Chapter Events?
Events between chapters are really cool. We have a new petitioning
group at Wellsely, and I think that we should invite them to our social
events every once in a while. They are APO sisters (they are sisters,
right?) and we should welcome them to come hang out with us. Also, we
should do stuff with BU. We have done projects, and those are cool, but
we should also try and see if we can get them to come to our social
events as well. Of course this is not an easy task, but if even at most
we start establishing some good communication between our chapters, it
may not be such a difficult task as before.
And for Ezra: Read my AVP article.
Why I want to be ApocEd
Why ApocEd?
Well, mostly they started nominating me for everything (well, not
everything, but it could've turned out that way). They said ``Jeff for
ApocEd.'' I was pretending to be the AVP and so, sure, I wrote my own
name on the board. I liked the time where Amy would collect articles
written on anything. Napkins, random pieces of paper, whatever. I
would like to continue that tradition. Maybe bring sheets of paper and
pens so that people can write articles as we sit in a meeting or
execcom. Bring a nice little box that says ``Apoc articles'' that people
can put these in. This box could sit in the office so that people can
write articles while they are just hanging out there chatting with other
brothers.
What would I like to see more of in the Apoc?
More contests. More pushups. More stuff. Tosccii's for the best
article contest. Tosccii's for the worst article contest (we mean
utterly pathetic here). No Tosccii's for strange midnite submissions.
Tosccii's for whoever writes the most articles in a month. Can you tell
that buying ice cream for brothers is something I wouldn't mind doing
once in a while? Cause heck, I wouldn't mind a little ice cream for
myself now and then. More Minutes! (heh =-) Maybe not just words but
drawings and stuff. And heck, why just articles? Why not a poem or a
story once in a while. Cool stuff. This is a newsletter full of
APO-relevant stuff, yes, but an ode to Mrn couldn't be too far off....
Would you continue to submit apoc's electronically?
Of course. I like the paper version better, but sending them out
electronically would be easy. (Of course no drawings in this version
=-< )
Ezra. I am not even going to say it.
YiLFS,
Jeffrey
Karen
Reflections (not declarations) about running for office
President: Seems like a cool office, but I heard Harry is running for it, and I
think he would do a good job. Besides, even though I've been a part of the
chapter for three years or so, I don't think I'm clued enough for the job.
MVP: Boy, I don't think I'm THAT much of a people person. I'm not much good at
``selling'' things, like APO, even if it IS a wonderful product. One of my larger
problems is that I probably won't be on campus until either the middle of Rush
or after it, so that would make me a very ineffective MVP.
SVP: This is one office I would like to hold. BUT, as I mentioned before, I
won't be in town during the summer, and to get projects, one really needs to
have the month before to schedule them. I may consider running for this office
for the term after next, which will be my last one.
AVP: Hmmm...I've never liked going to meetings, partly because often I felt
like I had nothing to do there. BUT if I were taking notes and had the
privelege of saying ``nothing to report'' every week, that sounds kind of cool. I
think I could handle reserving things. I haven't talked to Cathy explicitly
about the position (maybe I should), but it seems pretty straight-forward. I
may be pretty busy next term with a lab and probably two other classes in my
major, but that's not as bad as what other people have to do. I wouldn't have a
problem being nominated for AVP. :o) (*Whisper* ``Look! She's going to make
us ASK her! I can't believe it! No initiative, no guts!'') Oh well. :oD
APOc Editor: I don't know beans about LaTex, and I'm afraid of it. :o) I also
don't know how convincing I would be trying to get people to write articles. (I
can picture Barbara making Dave do push ups, but I don't think I could picture
ME doing that.)
Fellowship Chair: Um, I'm Fellowship chair now, right? Yeah. I think someone
else could do a better a job (I didn't have a lot of study breaks, although
we've had a good share of dinner trips.) I didn't pay much attention to
birthdays this term (including my own) and I'm sorry about that, too.
I'm sure there are a lot of enthusiastic candidate out there for this job.
'nuf said.
jennifer m.
So a little birdie told me that I have been nominated to both mvp and
treasurer. Unfortunately I can't attend the elections meeting (or any
other tuesday night meeting) since i have a class from 7-10p. So
instead I figured I would both make barbara happy by putting something
in the apocrypha, and tell people my plans, etc. I would like to be
both mvp and treasurer before i graduate. Since I'll be a senior next
year, this makes it a bit tight. The good news is that I am only
taking 42 units next term (6 of which are on pass fail). This means
that I'll have lots of time to be a good officer. :-) I am still on
the varsity fencing team, working at the coffeehouse, grading for
7.012, and having a urop. The big difference this term is that I
don't have a large course load as I am used to having (I usually take
5 or 6 classes) and should have plenty of ``free'' time.
Although I am very interested in being MVP, I am afraid that I might
not have enough experience in the chapter to do as good of a job as
other brothers would. I would be happy to do my best at it but if
there is someone else with more experience that is psyched to do it by
all means elect them. . .
I think you should elect me treasurer because I am very anal when it
comes to bookkeeping. I am the head money counter at the coffeehouse
and am used to dealing with books. I was book exchange treasurer this
year and we had no major problems. I was also treasurer for the mit
sca group. I want to hold this office mainly because this would be a
good way to serve the chapter. Being new to the chapter I feel that
there are not many offices that I am qualified for since I have not
been around long enough to know what is going on all the time.
Treasury is treasury which i have done before. It will also give me a
chance to attend exec com meetings and to get more involved in the
chapter. I also won't have any evening classes next term so i will be
able to attend the meetings :-) Being an officer will also give me
more motivation to be more involved in the chapter. I also am the
kind of person to not lame out in the middle/end of term crunch
because I am good at budgeting my time and not procrastinating.
Things i would like to accomplish would be to decrease the debt list,
or at least make people more aware of their financial standing with
the chapter. I will bug people to pay their debts and try to track
down the mold that owes us money :-) I will also close out my books on
time.
So, I apologize for not being able to make the meeting to answer any
questions. I hope I will have answered many of them here, and if
anyone wants to ask any before the meeting feel free :-)
vote jennifer for a ``happy'' treasurer :-)
Emily
Why I SHOULD be elected Fellowship Chair:
I go to as many fellowship events as projects every term anyway--because
they are ENJOYABLE and I like to hang out with my
brothers.
I have relevant pc experience (steak fry last fall, all
pledge-program-related events this term (Pledge
Article Meal, BB/LB study break, pledge mtg on
fellowship)).
I will be on campus all summer, so my term in office
could start over the summer with whomever else is
around. I feel it is important to keep those happy
brotherhood feelings alive over the summer, when
people have more free time and fewer events to go
to. Depending on who will be around, I will have
dinner trips with whatever frequency seems most
appropriate, as well as anything else that strikes
the fancy of those around. There will also be an
apo-summer mailing list.
I am a social, friendly, fellowship-type person. You all know that!
Vote For Emily For Fellowship Chair Fall '95!!!
YiLFS & Fellowship,
Emily
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-candidate Articles
NON-CANDIDATE ARTICLE
It's April! That lovely point in term when the weather takes a turn for the
better and men and women turn their thoughts to... running for offices!!
I, not being immune to these inexorable forces, have started thinking about
offices I for which I might or might not want to run for. So I find
myself in this lovely dilemma.
I think being ApocEd would be cool... probably because I'm masochistic.
I sort of know latex, and have actually begun to develop a fondness for it.
(I told you I was masochistic.) I also give a pretty mean guilt trip
(just ask my boyfriend) which I could use to convince people to write
articles, along with the standard threats, coercion, and bribery.
I've also thought about being AVP. For one thing, it would force me to go
to more meetings... On Tuesday nights, I have this tendency to think,
``gee, I don't really feel like going to campus tonight, and I have this
pile of tooling to do that I need to work on but will probably put off for
a while anyway, so I'll stay home and get lots of work done, really.''
My dilemma arises from the fact that I'd like to take Junior Lab, 8.05,
7.02, and some HASS next term. That's right, there's 33 units of lab
in there. So I probably won't have a whole lot of free time next term.
I'm afraid of running for office for fear that I might actually be
elected and then discover I can't handle it and have to let a whole
lot of people down.
So maybe next term... or the term after...
Maybe you can elect me permanent Food PC or something. =)
YiLFS,
Hannah =)
Why I should NOT be APOcEd
I don't know how to use Latex or any other
convenient athena word-processor (I kinda know ez,
but it sucks...). Therefore, I should not, in a
million years, be elected APOcEd.
--Emily ;-)
Why I Don't Want To Be APOcEd
'cause i won't be a student, that's why.
dave
again
Why I don't want to be ApocEd
But I do. If I had to come up with reasons why I wouldn't, they would
look like this: (remember, this is just imaginary, and would only hold
true if I didn't want to be ApocEd)
I could get sued for harassment. (Harassing people for articles)
People would have reasons to sue me for harassment when I finally got
a real job and I was going to be elected CEO
Latex! I have to do this in Latex?
I am not going to publish this rubish!
What's this word? What does that mean?
A submitted article: ``Ten ways we can get rid of the ApocEd''
People start copying the same article and change the names to protect
the innocent
Ezra starts publishing people's schedules so when he asks his usual
questions we have to defend ourselves
You are late for class and you still have to copy 40 pages
Three words: Copying Machines Suck
The null apoc '()
The MIT hosedness factor
Cause I want to be AVP or Fellowship Chair
This Space for Rent or Lease. Call 555-2356 and ask for ``Ed''
Do you need a reason?
People are burning the apocs along with final exams
What does apocrypha mean anyway?
Did I mention harassment?
Time is short. I know I don't have a life, but I do go out
occasionally.
Its all paperwork and no paperplay
How in the world will I make Dave do pushups?
I don't like pushups
The following statement is true
The preceding statement was false
This statement is not true.
Ok. Enough typing. Lets go play doom.
I don't like harassing people. Could have long term effects on my
personality
YiLFS,
Jeffrey
My 10 Top Reasons for NOT wanting to be APOCEd
by Kate
10.For peace of mind, and to forward the cause of European
dominance, I'd have to edit everything so that the
spelling was correct. That would be colour, not color. And
stop using all those z things. (That's zed, not zee.)
9.I was so disillusioned by the non-appearance of my pledge
article in the APOC, that it's become necessary to emigrate to
the Bahamas (with the rest of my pledge class) for the whole of
the next term so that we can search for the missing articles.
8.I live in e40. I'd get lost on the way to Graphic Arts.
Not to mention APO meetings.
7.My worst grades have always been in English. I had to bribe
three other graduate students to rewrite this article so it
achieved the minimum publication standard.
6.I'd rather be writing my thesis than writing editorials.
5.I get more than enough email as it is.
4.Barbara (and bert and Amy and all those other wonderful people)
did such a good job, that I'm too overwhelmed to take charge.
3.I can't spell APOC*
2.I can't read, can't write, can't beg, can't latex, can't ski,
can't run a 4 minute mile, can't use a copy machine, can't use a
saddle stapler, can't do push-ups ...
And the number one, most compelling, utterly unassailable reason
why I will never never ever want to be APOCEd is
1.My boyfriend was APOCEd once, and just look how he turned out.
Why I DON'T want to be APOcEd
For me to be able to run for APOcEd, I'd have to be a MIT student in
the fall term. Don't get me wrong, I think MIT's been great, but it
would definitely imply a disastrous change of plans if I were to
become eligible to run for Fall 1995 APOcEd.
(EECS M.Eng. thesis deadline: May 26, 1995.)
Why I don't want to be APOcEd
by Susan
When I was a kid I used to play with Legos all the time. I
still would, except that I would get sucked into design contests that
I didn't really mean to. The Legos were (when not strewn all over the
place) generally kept in a large denim bag, about the size of a
laundry bag. I used to make buildings and cars and a whole lot of
random stuff. Don't ask me what the random stuff was; some of it I
couldn't even identify at the time.
Anyway, that's not important. One day when I was about six I
was feeling really sick, so I had to stay home from school. After a
lot of toast and Coca-Cola and soup, I felt better, so in the
afternoon I was sitting downstairs playing with Legos. We had a mantel clock
back then with curvy art-nouveau metal hands and a gold-colored
pendulum and roman numerals on the face. It also had chimes that
struck, nothing fancy, just the traditional four sequences of four
tones that I can't transcribe very well here. It turned out that I
wasn't feeling completely as better as I thought and I must have still
had some weird kind of fever, because when the clock went off it
scared me out of my feeble little mind. I jumped up, yanked the door
open, and ran out through the garage. It was about to start raining
pretty badly as I tore down the driveway, and the wind was blowing
extremely hard. Then my mother caught up to me (I wasn't that fast,
what with having short legs and being sick and all) and took me back
inside. At least, that might be what happened. Then again, I might
have imagined the whole thing.
Whether I did or not, that's why I don't want to be APOcEd.
WHY I DON'T WANT TO BE APOCED
by Kevin Dahm
I'm running for MVP.
Perhaps you've seen my candidate article here in this very issue. If so,
you know that I like the idea of being MVP very much, and would like it even
more if I delegate away a couple aspects of the job which I would suck at.
The reason I don't want to be APOCED is simple: If I get rid of all the
aspects of the job I would suck at, there would be nothing left except handing
the things out when they're done.
First there's the business of collecting articles. When the deadline is
approaching and the APOC is looking lean, the APOCED generally resorts to
either intimidation, bribery, or begging. Barbara's success as APOCED is
probably attributable to the fact that she's skilled at all three. (That was
a compliment by the way. I mean, come on, would I insult Barbara? No way!
She's judging this contest.) Now, I can't do any of the above. Well, that's
not quite true. I CAN beg, as anyone who was at Steak Fry Auction can attest.
It just doesn't do any good. I'm not someone who begs. I'm someone who gets
begged to. It works on me too. Especially when women look at me with big sad
puppy dog eyes and beg. It turns me into a helpless blob of jelly that can be
trivially manipulated. I've been buying my little brother Ingrid lunch twice a
week all term. I guess now you know how that little arrangement got started.
But I don't usually have this effect on others when I beg. They usually just
laugh at me. Come to think of it, just about every other thing I do or say
makes people laugh at me... anyway, the point is, begging is out.
Bribery? I can't afford to bribe people. I'm broke from buying Ingrid
lunch twice a week.
As for intimidation, this is also something I suck at. I've been called a
lot of things by a lot of people in a lot of places, some of them good and some
of them not so good, but I don't recall anyone ever calling me intimidating.
Let me give you a little story from my undergrad days to illustrate how truly
unintimidating I am:
I once worked on a play called Afterburners. I was a member of an elite
police force called the Afterburners which ruled the city with an iron fist.
I was very excited the day the costumes arrived. I got my costume together
and put it on and started stomping around the green room. I stomped over to
Cari Windt, fully decked out in black turtleneck, camoflage pants, flak
jacket, riot helmet, combat boots, billy club and M-16, and I said ``So what
do you think? Am I scary?''
Cari glanced up and said ``Aw, Kevin, you're too cute to be scary.''
I was crushed.
So, from the above, we can conclude that if I were editor, APOCs would be
skinny. Not only would they be skinny, in fact, they would be nonexistant.
Please remember that I pledged at Omicron Iota, and there, newsletters were one
page affairs which were banged out on typewriters and xeroxed. I kid you not.
When the recsec was feeling really creative he'd draw little pictures in the
margins. I'm still trying to get used to the Alpha Chi notion that a
newsletter is something that requires staples, so as for me producing the
things, well, forget it. You see, I am not what you could call at one with my
computer. This is another thing I suck at. Its been six years since I got my
first account at WPI and I'm still trying to learn my way around emacs, so as
for your dvips and your latex and your postscript, well, forget it pal, its
beyond me. And its going to stay beyond me. I'm old and set in my ways.
On top of all of the above, if I were APOCED, I'd be running these contests
and couldn't enter them. Or if I did I couldn't win them. Or if I did, it
would look very suspicious, and besides, what fun is it to receive a prize from
yourself?
YiLFS,
Kevin
Why I don't want to be APOcryachick next term..
by Bridget
Because I'm graduating! (knock on formica.)
Richard's Article (revised)
[Ok, it's a bit late, but I just logged in for the first time today.
I'll do some pushups tonight. And you should include all the FYI
bracketed comments below as footnotes, BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!]
The Top Ten Reasons Why I Do NOT Want To Be the Editor of the
Newsletter
[Yo, Chyck, this is an enumerated list.]
(Really? Neat. I always thought enumerated lists had numbers...)
I would hate to handle all the stupid editorial
comments like the one above by obnoxious LaTeX
[Yo, Chyck, that's to you!] sTuDs like
myself.
I can never remember how to spell "APOcrypha", "APOCrypha",
"ApoCrypha", "Apocrypha", "Apocryphra", "Apocryphobia", etc. [Yo,
Chyck, make sure you get all the quotes right this term.]
(They look fine to me. -ed)
This would be an especially poor thing to do, if
they had a nice butt like I have. Dozens of
girls tell me this, so it must be true. But
although I have a nice butt, my tuckus just isn't
as cute as the current Apocrychyck's, and I just
wouldn't be able to fill her underwear.
Given the last comment, I fully expect to be
deceased before elections; as such, I would
not be likely to get the newsletter out in a
regular fashion.
I could never affectively [This is a misspelling; let's see if the
editor runs a spell checker!] (nope. -editor) threaten people to do push-ups.
I'd say, "Write an article now or give me 50 push-ups!"
People would respond, "You, a compleat wimp, want me to do
push-ups. Ha, try to make me. I bet you couldn't even do
one yourself." And then I would do 50 push-ups, because I
can, and people would laugh and say, "Ha ha, fooled you! You
can have those 50 push-ups for me since you didn't specify
who actually had to do the exercise."
Barbara already took the best color scheme by making each newsletter
cover this term be a color of the rainbow. I'd probably make
the covers be all shades of gray, and people would think:
[Ha! A nested enumerated list!]
a) I'm boring.
b) I'm in the Guild.
c) I'm just silly.
how pretty. -ed
I would also do each newsletter in a different font. People would be
miffed when the APOcrypha appeared in
I already work for the Ministry of Censorship
and Blackmail. Were I to work for the Ministry of
Propaganda and Extortion as well, I would have
too much power, which being a Nice GuyTM [Yo,
Chyck, trademark that, please; (ok. You can't
use it from now on. I'll let you know when the
paperwork is done.) see, an unnice guy wouldn't
have said please.] I wouldn't want.
And the 1 reason why I don't want to be the APOcEd
is (and this is the real reason): [The
preceding line is, of course, to be kept
separate from the enumerated list. *smirk*]
While the Chapter might benefit greatly and have the
most beautifully and perfectly typeset newsletters
ever, I would get nothing from it myself. I already
know more than I need; I already know how to
publish a newsletter; etc. There is nothing (or
very little) on which I would learn and grow.
(That sounds like an invitation to be nominated to me...)
I should definitely win the Worst Article Award for this, if not the
Best Article Award.
LiLfS,LaTeX,PS,etc.
+ Richard
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Stuff
Historians Report:
I spent a lot of time going through the pictures and mounting them in
the scrapbook. Because there are so many to go through and I have still
have so many more to do, the pictures in the scrapbook mostly are not in
any particular order. But that should change as soon as I start putting
the new photos in. This is elections meeting and I am running now for
three offices. Who knows, I may even get nominated for another one.
However, even if I get elected for an office and there is execcoms over
the summer, I will still do my historian stuff, because I want to get
all of the stuff sorted and labeled so that the next historian won't
have to do it. I will be here over the summer, as you might be able to
tell, and I will be working at the Edgerton Center on some HP
workstations (yay =-). I will be doing image processing type stuff, and
it should be really cool.
YiLFS,
Jeffrey
pftgoto-article
from Bridget
The run of Iolanthe is over. (I have free time again! Well,
actually, I don't, but if I did, I would.) ``Hi'' to everyone in the
audience whom I didn't recognize because fairies don't wear glasses..
Words from Glenn
Hi, for those of you who don't know (of) me, my name is Glenn
Berry, and I'm a brother who has lef the institute without quite
managing to graduate - and is planning to return in the fall to finish
up. I pledged in the Warren Ludzadder pledge class, and you can ask
one of the chapter's trivia freaks just when that was. (Disclaimer,
since anything this long ought to have fine print somewhere:
throughout this article, the word brother should be construed as
meaning brother, pledge, friend of the chapter, or anyone else who
might possibly attend a chapter service project.)
I recently had a thought (yep, both neurons upstairs fired at
the same time) about attendance on service projects. What I'm going
to say is based on my experience during the time I was active around
the chapter, and what I have garnered from the minutes and APOC's
since I departed from Taxachusetts.
A perennial issue seems to be a ``problem'' with poor attendance
on service projects. I've seen several not-very-successful attempts
to deal with this. I have no grand magic solution that will eliminate
the issue. I can offer only what wisdom I have learned over the years
(or whatever late night ramblings I might offer in lieu thereof).
Most proposed solutions have dealt with a perceived flaw in
communication. I would like to suggest that communication is often
NOT be the source of the problem, or at the very least, is only an
intermediate issue. Perhaps a fresh approach might offer lines for
(``and now for soemthing completely different'') a new tack.
Let us attempt to analyze the potential reasons for not
attending a particular project. We shall start with an analogy from
the field of criminal justice. When investigating a murder, the
issues of means, motives, and opportunity are considered. While
service projects and murders are just a wee bit different, the trio of
means, opportunity, and motivation is suitable for thinking about why
a brother might not attend a particular project.
Let's begin with means first, as it seems simplest. With a
couple exceptions, all brothers could theoretically attend all
projects. The first exception is when a brother is ill or otherwise
physically incapable of attending project. The second is when the
brother is physically very far from the project site, without
transportation to get to it. I would like to suggest that neither of
these is likely to be the cause of pervasive poor attendance. Illness
is by its nature not particularly predictable, nor can the chapter do
much to prevent it, but it is also not very frequent. The issue of
physical distance generally only arises during school vacations, as
transportation to projects distant from campus is normally arranged by
the chapter.
I'd like to discuss the issue of opportunity next. Here,
communications does play a roll. A brother who does not know that a
project is happening, as well as when and where to meet, is unlikely
to attend that project. (Though it has happened, and will again.)
This is the only way in which poor communications can prevent a
brother from attending project. I would like to suggest that in the
vast majority of instances where a particular brother does not attend
a particular project, communications is not at fault.
A more frequent problem is the existence of scheduling
conflicts. Where the project conflicts with the brother's academic
work or employment, we need only accept that academics (should)
receive priority. If the conflict is with something else, such as the
Tiddlywink Club's annual tourney, attending a movie, or some other
non-academic and non-work conflict, we are really facing a problem of
motivation, not one of opportunity. With the possible exception of
one or two excessively gung-ho individuals every decade or so, the
chapter can not expect to receive priority in all such conflicts. But
there is no reason not to hope to win the decision more often.
We then come to the question of why a brother should
WANT to go to project. I won't pretend to be a motivational genius -
enough of the readers of this article no doubt know better. But for
me, there are three factors that can enable me to enjoy a service
project. The first is the warm fuzzy feeling of having done something
good. (Please submit all debates about whether or not altruism is
real to altruism-dis@/dev/null.) The second is the work itself, and
the feeling of accomplishment when a task is finished. My third
reason for going on project is the fellowship and good cheer that
comes from working with brothers. This is, in my not so humble
opinion, the most important thing which sets APO apart from my other
service experiences.
The thought which sparked me to write this article was the
realization that the thir factor, by itself, is sufficient to get me
to enjoy a project. This is true even when the work on the project is
open ended and involves something that I normally dislike doing, such
as cleaning. In retrospect, there are projects which I did not attend
because I thought I would not enjoy the work, yet I had gone on very
similar projects earlier without knowing before I started what work
I'd be doing, and I had enjoyed those projects. (Am I dumb, or what?)
I hope this article has suggested that it might we worth
focusing some portion of the Chapter's effort to increase attendance
on the issue of motivation, rather than merely focusing on
communication. Ultimately though, each of us must be responsible for
our own motivation, our own gung-ho. Hopefully, I'll be able to
attend a project soon, and see you there.
Glenn
Jeff's Random Article
This is just a small article to say hi. I have a summer UROP now and it
should be lots of fun. I get to go in and set up an HP workstation real
soon now. I have written (again) a lot of articles. I doubt anyone
will read them all, but if you do, tell me you read this and I will buy
you free Toscii's. However, to prove you read the articles, you must
mention the first word that starts with h in each one (where h actually
first appears at the begging of a word). People who do this will get
Toscii's. Well, that's enough for now. See you at elections.
YiLFS,
Jeffrey
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meeting Minutes
Minutes of Execcomm (April 11, 1995)
Administrative notes:
Start: 7:30 pm; End: eventually. Present: Charley, Kate, Cathy, Hannah,
Karen, Elaine, Junko, Jeffrey, Ingrid, Joe, Harry, Ping
Officers' reports:
SVP (Charley): I found the name of the ESP contact and phone
number.
MVP (Emily): not present
AVP (Cathy): nothing to report
Treasurer (Harry): Steak Fry Auction happened. It made around
170.
FC (Karen): Steak Fry happened. Softball is up in the air.
APOcEd (Barbara): APOc's will be out. Nomination meeting is
next week. Contest for the best article on why you don't want
to be APOcEd.
ASC (Junko): Steak Fry happened, I think. Thanks, Jeffrey. Kate
cleaned the table.
PubDir (Elaine): nothing to report
Historian (Jeffrey): We have pledge pictures. They might be in the
APOc. I have two more rolls of film to send off before I leave.
The camera went to Stir Fry; 2 rolls of film were taken. Richard
had fun.
Advisory Comm. Chair (Joe): nothing to report
President (Bridget): Hi. I'm at a dress rehersal downstairs. The
Wellesley petitioning group ceremony was yesterday. Yay. Thanks
to people who came and showed support. Unfortunately I think
I left my calendar there. Next meeting is nominations and DSK
(part of which, if I remember correctly, will be ``closed''). Nom-
comm exists and is talking to people. Yay. Run. I or the illustri-
ous historian will update the historian's roll sometime before the
meeting to hopefully save time and also make a list of more-or-
less graduating people. VPs should note that I am graduating
and therefore may have to leave the room at some point. If this
happens, obviously one of you will be in charge, depending on
who is actually there. So don't be surprised if it happens. BU
wants to borrow our ritual equipment again. I will deal.
Committee reports:
Screwcomm: Three candidates.
Nomcomm: We're out there. If you want or don't want to run tell us.
New Business:
Junko: Jinzy is feeling guilty about not being involved with the chap-
ter.
Harry: Get someone good at explaining to talk to her.
Karen: Explain that you are not above her, that you are not a com-
manding officer.
Jeffrey: Richard is upset about how the MIT card is laughable for
security. He suggests that we get lots of information instead of
taking the MIT card.
Charley: He seemed more concerned with people giving away their
ID's. Leaving your ID is some incentive not to walk off. While
the intent is admiirable this scheme takes away what little in-
centive there is to come back.
Kate: We will take driver's licenses. For drop posters it doesn't matter,
but people are highly more likely to come back for their card.
Charley: People forget about their ID cards.
Ping: ID card is the key into the dorm. If you live in a dorm you
can't leave your ID. 2 issues: Can we accept MIT ID for any-
thing? How can we improve our accounting procedures? Mostly
Richard's proposal deals with the second. These should be dealt
with separately. Currently default doesn't say we lend tools.
Announcements:
Charley: Chapter Weekend II this weekend. Alexis STILL needs a
transport PC. She has 2 drivers. Kate can borrow her bike.
Hannah is food PC and brothers have signed up to go. I need
PC's for Franklin Park Zoo and Cambridge Cares About AIDS.
Sign up for Science Fair. I need a PC for ESP project, and for
Afterfinals. No project the 29th, due to Big Screw. The SVP is
hosed. Finding one willbe difficult. 6 projects before PTRM.
Joe: I can drive to chapter weekend Sunday.
PFTGOTO:
Charley: I got my UROP proposal.
Elaine: Charley is a good SVP.
Bridget: Everyone should come see Iolanthe. It is free Thursday. :-)
Karen: Home softball game Thursday at 3:30.
Jeffrey: My hell class may be going away.
Cathy: Mine will be as soon as I find a drop card.
Meeting adjourned to general apathy at some point.
Minutes of Chapter Meeting (April 19, 1995)
Administrative notes:
Start: 7:30 pm; End: 9:25pm. Present: Bob, Richard, Kate, Ping, Karen,
Alexis, Harry, Cathy, Bridget, Jeffrey, Ingrid, Ezra, Barbara, Rachel, John,
Mike Rapetta! (showed up quite unexpectedly), Kevin
Officers' reports:
SVP:(Charley) We need a PC for this weekend's project. Phonecalling has to
happen tonight or tomorrow. Info or email. Need PC for CCAA project w/
Lori. Need PC for ESP project w/ Josh Shaine. Need PC for Afterfinals.
Send Charley mail if you can do anything. Please sign up for these projects
as soon as possible.
MVP (Emily): Nothing to report
AVP (Cathy): Minutes from last meeting coming.
Treasurer (Harry): Nothing to report.
Fellowship Chair (Karen): We have been having dinner trips. If anyone
wants to PC a study break let Karen know.
ApocEd (Barbara): Apocs will come out next week. There is a contest to
write the best article about why you don't want to be apoced. Deadline is
next Sunday at 11:59
ASC (Junko - sick at home): Nothing to report
Pubdir (Elaine): Nothing to report
President (Bridget): Welseley went through their petitioning ceremony.
Thanksto everyone who came along and gave their support. The historian's
roll has been updated.
Committee reports:
ScrewCom: We don't have many candidates yet, but Jeffrey is working on
1.00. We have 7.014 and 6.003. Please find candidates.
Nomcom: Half of the comittee is sick and couldn't come to the
meeting. Nominations will be open until elections.
New Business:
MIT Card Stuff
Discussion was again opened about the issue of the security of the MIT Card.
Ezra: Driver's Licenses
Ingrid: Most people don't have them
Alexis: House keys!
Ellen: We could do a cash deposit, but then we have to keep that in
the office.
Kate: Tools are worth a lot more than paints or drop poster paper.
Ping: People haven't been doing a good job of checking the paperwork.
Especially checking up on ids that we still have or stuff we need to get
back.
Ellen: What things do you want to check out and which one's not?
Richard: Ping's mostly right. It is now public knowledge that the MIT
has no real security. 1) Even if we take collateral, they may not come
back. 2) They can get the collateral replaced. 3) We should
encourage keeping things that they will need to get back in their
room. 4) We should get more information from them. We must enforce
whatever procedure we decide to go with.
Ping: The rules about tools are pretty much that people who loan out
tools loan them out to people they know. I suggest that the tools
chair, Pubdir and ASC try to put all of the policies together. If we
had one bindir in one location that had all the forms, that would
help.
Alexis: When people get a key to the office, they should get a
briefing on how to do things in the office like sell drop poster
paper.
Ping: People with keys to the office should be able to do these kinds
of things.
Ellen: Describing office procedures has sometimes been part of the
pledge program.
Ping: There has been complaints about the pledge manuals not being
complete enough about this.
(Mike Rapetta appears at the back of the room)
Mike Rapetta: Become a life member. Join sectional staff. For those of you
who are around for the summer, consider going to a Presidential workshop.
Nominations:
The Nominations as they now stand are:
President: Harry
SVP: Dima
MVP:Kevin, Jennifer M
AVP: Jeffrey
Treasurer: Cathy, Jennifer M, John Hollywood
Fellowship Chair: Jeffrey, Cathy, Emily
Apoc-Ed: Jeffrey
The Nominations will again be open at Elections Meeting on May 2.
DSK Stuff:
This part of the meeting was closed
Announcements:
Jeffrey for SVP: Sign up for everything
Apoced: Write articles
PFTGOTO:
Rachel : I biked to CWII and it was ok
Ingrid: Oh right. At CW we played in the woods with rope and orange
tape and Jeffrey took pictures
Rachel: Our house needs to be painted. There will be a painting event
sometime soon.
Bob: Will there be food?
Rachel: Yes, I will try to bring food
Barbara: I will bring a rope and repel. I am trying to decide where
to go to school next year. If you know a place where I can go.
Alexis: I got bitten by a baby today.
Ping: I was very happy about a week ago when I decided where I am
going to go to work, but I never announced it. I am going to work for SGI.
Bob: Military haircuts are cheaper than normal haircuts
Dima: I believe the first Boston undergraduate Physics contest is this
week.
Richard: Its been two months
Alexis: I am going to the leadership institute at the end of the term.
Ingrid: I want to read a story.
[Ingrid reads the story]
Meeting adjourned to a fellowship circle at 9:25
Minutes of ExecComm (April 25, 1995)
Administrative notes:
Start: 7:30 pm; End: 8:00pm. Present: Joe K., Yale, Bridget, Jeffrey,
Kevin, Charley, Kate, Cathy, Rachel, Joe F., Harry, Susan, Barbara,
Sparky, Junko, Elaine, Kate
Officers' reports:
SVP (Charley): Project Saturday happened. The zoo is neat. Wear
a hat and sunblock. We bagged over 60 bags of leaves. Big Screw
is going. We have 2 real candidates. Thursday Cambridge Cares
About AIDS project. The PC is jennifer mosier. 2-3pm setup,
3-5pm memorial, 5-6pm refreshments. Dress nicely. Science Fair
next Wednesday. PC needed for ESP project.
MVP (Emily): I am at 2.70 pit crew for Jeremy (137). Pledge
Term Review Meeting Sunday, May 7. Have pledge interviews.
Pledge, big brother, and at least one other brother must be
present. Get a detailed list of what the pledge has done and
talk about their future with APO and what would happen if
they were continued. The next pledge meeting will be before the
next chapter meeting. It will be on AX organization and service
to the community and fraternity. BTW, I accept nomination of
Fellowship Chair.
AVP (Cathy): nothing to report (Jeffrey) The minutes for the last
chapter meeting will be out soon now. I'll include Emily.
Treasurer (Harry): nothing to report
FC (Karen): Money counting study breaks every day at 5:30 after
Big Screw.
APOcEd (Barbara): APOc's will not be out. I'm not dealing with
life. I'm considering 1 big APOc for next week. Candidate
articles! Prize for best article on why you don't want to be
APOcEd.
ASC (Junko): nothing to report
PubDir (Elaine): nothing to report
Historian (Jeffrey): Ping brought the camera to the zoo. We took
lots of pictures. I'm working on a scrapbook. I am hoping to
have it done for I-banquet. I sent in 4 rolls of film.
Advisory Comm. Chair (Joe): nothing to report
President (Bridget): DSK voting is going on. It ends Thursday at
midnight. If you were at the meeting, you are on the list and
you should vote. The standing policy as to granting ballots was
called into question as ambiguous. It will come up for renewal in
February. The next execcomm should take care of this. I need
DSK holders to count ballots. The tools chair, ASC, and Pub-
Dir should come up with a unified policy about lending tools.
There is a petitioning group ceremony for Assumption May 2.
Our elections are May 2. Be glad Assumption is having a pe-
titioning group ceremony and come to elections. Officers meet
with candidates before elections. There are a million little funky
reminders. I have about a dozen Torch and Trefoils.
Committee reports:
Screwcomm: Sign up for hours!
Coke: We have Coke. We're charging 40 cents, if you order from Coke
it's 41 cents a can, BJ's is 25 cents. But Coke has grape and
delivers.
New Business:
The suggestion box was opened.
Announcements:
Barbara: Write articles!
Charley: PC things.
Karen: Do we want a fellowship event? <Yes.>
PFTGOTO:
Rachel: 6.033 sucks.
Jeffrey: I got an A on the second 1.00 test.
Ingrid: I don't like Jeffrey anymore.
Junko: I have an evil lab TA.
Meeting adjourned to fellowship circle at 8:00 pm.
