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Author Archive for Richard Mondello
Back at Dover High School, my greatest accomplishment was leading a committee to rewrite my Student Council’s constitution. Earlier this week, a friend sent me a Facebook message asking me for my advice in accomplishing the same task for an organization at his college. This is my public response to his question.
To start, I’m flattered to be asked for my help like this; I really appreciate it. However, there are far more qualified people to ask than I. Perhaps the Student Government of the college has an official “historian” or someone well-versed in writing constitutions. I’m very confident there’s plenty of help to be found on the campus itself.
Regardless, I’m more than happy to offer my help. In this instance, however, there isn’t a formula for producing a perfectly polished document. Writing a bullet-proof constitution for an organization is inherently a very customized task, one that needs to be fine-tuned to the organization’s needs and goals. I can’t possibly pretend to offer any truly targeted advice for an organization I’m not a member of. It’s a personal journey, and with time, any group that cares enough can pen the guidelines for a system they care about.
There are some basic guidelines to follow, for sure. For example, you must define all of your terms, layout your articles logically, and keep the document internally consistent. This doesn’t even come close to scratching the surface. I recommend learning by example.
My two favorite constitutions are United States Constitution and (selfishly) the Dover High School Student Council Constitution. The former document has guided our nation to where it is today, arguably, very successfully. The latter document was written over the span of a year by seven different people and has since been easily amended twice. Every sentence, article, and punctuation mark was placed where it was for a reason. If you reverse-engineer both of these examples, you’ll learn more than enough to do a great job.
Look those two documents over, read up for advice on Google, and never be afraid to take your time. Rushing something as fundamental as a constitution will only lead to problems down the road.
And finally, good luck!
These are some off-topic thoughts I had while writing up a post for my New Media, New Politics? class. I know I haven’t been posting much, and that’s entirely my fault. So much as happened in my life, I don’t know where to begin. These thoughts will have to do for now.
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Over the long weekend, I had three quick thoughts that I wanted to pass along.
One. Last week, Chicago Public Radio’s darling, This American Life, did the world a favor by running an episode carefully explaining the current financial crisis. If you have any doubts in your mind about what caused the crisis, listening to the show will be one of the most helpful beneficial things you’ll do this month. The This American Life website says the hosts will, “…explain what happened this week, including what regulators could’ve done to prevent this financial crisis from happening in the first place.” I highly recommend it; it’s both entertaining and intellectually rewarding.
Two. The level of hatred in this race really saddens me. When I look at some comments or rallies on both sides of the fence, I don’t see civil and democratic disagreements. In fact, I don’t see anything. I feel disturbing levels of hatred and malice towards the opposing candidate. Hate isn’t a partisan issue. Lies aren’t political. They’re despicable. The trends, frankly, are disturbing, and I hope that both candidates try to turn it around, whether or not they’re actually able to.
Three. Tomorrow, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce updated laptops. Besides being an avid follower of politics, I follow the technology industry. In my observation, no one is better at stealing the news cycle than Steve Jobs. He puts any political campaign to shame. Just watch for that tomorrow, in addition to the banter between the Obama and McCain campaigns.
That’s all. Have a great week, everyone!
This is a repost of my forth blog post for the New Media, New Politics? class I’m taking this semester at Tufts.
Remember, the class requires posts that essentially discuss other blogs’ actions and reactions in the political arena, which is why I link to many different sites and write in an unorthodox format. Nonetheless, I feel the content is useful.
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This class at Tufts isn’t my first venture into blogging. In fact, it’s not the first time I’ve written online about politics. It is, however, the first time I fully understand how the technological innovations of new media are having a real political impact.
I started blogging in July of 2007, as per recommendation of a friend. It was a chance for me to learn about the technical components of an interactive website, improve my writing style, and establish a healthy “Google rank“. In these aims, I’ve been measurably successful, and I have no regrets about starting my blog sixteen months ago. I recommend the venture to anyone.
As the sole author of a personal blog, my experience tracking the posts on a slew of left-of-center blogs is eye-opening. To me, a blog was an online mechanism and outlet for distributing thoughts. What hadn’t dawned on me, or what I failed to fully understand, was the power of the medium. On the partisan blogs I’ve been keeping current with, readers aren’t limited to just reading posts. They could be voices, sources of donations, or foot soldiers.
For instance, in the last month, I’ve watched Daily Kos divide its attention between reporting on the ever-changing Presidential race and the vital-but-forgotten downstream races. The staff of Daily Kos have made it clear that they believe the downstream races are just as or more important than the Presidential race. Everyday, a slew of posts are dedicated to reporting on the poll numbers from these state and local elections and what readers can do to help the Democratic candidates, from volunteering to donating. The sum of money they’ve raised for these downstream races in their initiative, Orange to Blue, is impressive. Regardless of where one stands on the website as a whole, they’re likely executing wisdom in focusing their attention in a relatively neglected sector.
The Presidential election of 2004, when I was a mere freshman in high school, is the earliest I remember paying attention to and understanding politics. Through rural New York public school indoctrination, coupled with my own observations about the media, I came to my own “media is the forth branch of government” conclusion. Although I’ve appreciated the notion that the spread of the information exerts an unbalanced influence on public opinion, studying the relationship between blogs and mainstream media sources has affirmed my view. In fact, I think it has unlocked a new level of understanding for me.
It’s been fascinating watching stories and memes jump from partisan blogs to the established sources. Not long ago in real-time, but ages ago in blog-time, left-of-center blogs were calling the McCain campaign out on its barrage of untrue television advertisements. Days later, when the pressure to report on the untruths was insurmountable, the New York Times ran a piece on it, resulting in the McCain campaign’s “war on the media”.
The journey, thus far, has been both fascinating and fun. As we near closer to November 4, it’s bound to get even more interesting.
Time is flying here at Tufts. In fact, it’s already the first day of October!
I know I’ve picked up a few readers since my last Resolution Experiment post, so I’ll explain the game I started playing on January 1, 2008. It’s easiest for me to quote myself from nine months ago.
A year is a long time. It’s around three hundred sixty-five days on our Gregorian calendar. By my unscientific estimate, most people forget their new year’s resolution a few months into the new year. Wouldn’t that time be better spent spacing out several small-scale resolutions - temporary efforts that add up to much more than the sum of their parts?
I think so. At least, it’s worth a shot.
I’ve had some successes and yes, some failures with this experiment. Here’s the way I look at it: with this experiment, this harmless effort, I’ve done more good for myself than if I hadn’t started it.
September was my month of adjusting to college life, which I think I’ve done a great job at. I made a conscious effort to be as sociable as possible, and I’m happy to say I now have an awesome group of friends. I plan to take it up a notch in October, however. I’ve decided to alter my diet somewhat and try an experiment that I never would have seen myself doing nine months ago.
I’m going to make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of meat that I eat on a daily basis.
To you, that might not sound like much. You’re right, it isn’t for lots of people. For me, however, it’s a paradigm shift. I come from a household where some type of meat is the cornerstone of most meals. Challenging that assumption, which I’m able to do with the ridiculously large selection of food at Tufts, opens doors.
Yes, I realize that this monthly resolution may sound exceedingly lame to you, but we all have our personal shortcomings and goals. For this reason, I call on you to try something new this month. Volunteer your time, go on a diet, make an effort to get organized, read more, start an exercise routine, or try anything to be an even better person than you already are.
And please, let me know how it goes.
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