Update: Weeks Five and Six
Image description: River in Washington DC. Green trees in the background, blue sky with white fluffy clouds are visible in the distance. Some fallen trees lie in the foreground.
Hi all! What a challenging couple of weeks it has been, but so much progress has been made.
This theme this past two weeks has been planning the tournament. I only have so much capacity for work, so I laid off promoting the petition and creating graphics for the Instagram for a bit while I put tremendous effort into the tournament. While I have competed in several and judged at a dozen or so, I have never run a tournament.
This is where the wonder Kate Totz comes in. Kate has very generously volunteered to help 1AC with the tournament. I had no clue how tabroom worked on the back end. Kate every generously sat down with Andrea and I and showed us the ropes of the software, configures tons of settings, and has also agreed to be a continuing helping hand in the process of creating/running the tournament. Nothing about the tournament would be possible without Kate's influence. It is kind acts like this that leave me so in awe of human capacity for generosity, charity, and interdependence.
As far as concrete updates goes, we have a tournament invite finished, as well as the tournament approved for the national circuit. You can read all about the tournament on this website under the tournament tab or on Tabroom. The only things that are really left for the tournament to plan are the logistical things having to do with what messages appear where on the tabroom site as well as the disclaimer and liability forms that go along with registration. The instant those things are done, I plan on promoting the tournament nonstop.
Next to continuing email the campaigns to the organizations and continuing to make Instagram graphics, the rest of the summer will be about promotion. Promoting the tournament, petition, Instagram, and website will be the main focus once this last preliminary detail is sorted out. Promotion is not my strong suit I will admit. Personally, I am a shy person who really struggles with electronic forms of communication. So far, I have just had to keep reminding myself my discomfort is worth the overall cause.
Another interesting update is that our petition hit two hundred signatures today. What an accomplishment. Imagining two hundred people in a room together, I feel so encouraged to continue with the work and feel that we might be getting somewhere.
On a personal note, I have had some health issues recently that have posed some real challenges to me. It can be hard to remember to take care of myself because the nature of community organizing which requires high energy and enthusiasm and effort to keep the momentum going. I took a few days off from all the work to try and mentally recharge and let my body heal a little. I think it helped a lot.
Things to expect this coming week is tournament registration, more Instagram graphics, and a very special Podcast episode I did on Legally Blonde and Blind with my great friend Marissa.
See yall next week,
Alanna