Open Communication for an Open Organization

My goal for DWAA is open communication from the board to all members and vice versa. I believe that increased and improved communication will benefit the organization as a whole. One of our current issues, it seems to me, is that members disagree with decisions made by the Board without any understanding of the factors that went into making the decisions. If the reasons were shared, more people might agree with decisions, and if not, at least have a better understanding of why those decisions were made.

I suggest that all the minutes and votes of any board meeting be made available publicly to members just after the meeting ends, both in Ruff Drafts and in the Forum. I would like to see all board members active on the DWAA Pro list; the members on that list are the heart and soul of DWAA, and our most active communications occur there. One positive aspect about using the list is that anyone who wants to has access, and there’s a filed record of posts, which you don’t have with telephone calls.

What I believe most strongly, not surprisingly, is that both sides of any issue facing our membership should be made clear in Ruff Drafts. We gain nothing by suppressing information, and gain everything by engaging in active communication. We are an organization of writers and journalists, and it behooves us look at both sides of an issue before making an individual decision on that issue. What we have now, along the lines of Cool Hand Luke, is a failure to communicate. Given that our profession is all about communicating, I hope that we can eliminate the failure to do so.

Join me in voting for Deb, Liz, and Susan in the election. I am voting for them because I believe they can bring about the open communication in what should be an engaging, interactive organization.

Members are the Organization and the Organization is the Membership

Many of us have been discussing some of the problems facing DWAA for more than a year; some for even longer. One thing that keeps popping up over and over again is that many members feel they have no place in DWAA. They feel that they don't matter; that DWAA doesn't need them; and even worse, that DWAA can't help them. Or won't help them.

That's really sad.

An organization such as DWAA survives with the success of its members. This is not an organization made up only of a few officers and board members; this is an organization with several hundred members. Each of whom should feel important and vital and necessary to the organization and each of whom should feel that DWAA has something to offer.

Making changes is hard. It will be difficult to incorporate changes into DWAA. Hopefully these coming elections will be the first step.

Establishing openness into the workings of DWAA will need to be the second step so that members can see what is being discussed, what the discussions consisted of, and how decisions are being made.

Involving additional members in the business of DWAA will probably be the third step. Many people have asked to involved and were told that their help was not needed. I know, myself, that many people are willing to help. This year was the first time that I had more people volunteer to serve as judges for our contest than I needed. Although many had served as judges previously, there were quite a few first time volunteers, too, and they did a wonderful job.

If DWAA is to continue to survive - and I hope it will - it must involve the membership and the membership must feel that DWAA cares about members.

As I said, the first step in the process is the upcoming election.

Liz

Liz Palika

Thoughts about Writers, Quilters, and Pumpkin Carvers

A friend of mine is an artist. He is very talented; so much so that when he carved a 100 pound pumpkin Saturday, it was a work of art.

That got me thinking (and yes, I know that's a dangerous place to go!) how each of us finds a way to express our thoughts, emotions, and experiences in different ways. Dan can find beauty in a piece of metal or even a pumpkin. My mother creates the most beautiful quilts and uses the various patterns for the quilt, as well as the patterns and colors of the fabric to make warm, comforting works of art.

Since I was in grammar school, I have been able to sort through my thoughts best by putting them down on paper or by seeing them on the computer screen. Something in the writing process helps me organize my thoughts, my emotions, or even my experiences. One day my husband and I were doing some house maintenance - I don't even remember what we were doing - but as I was holding the ladder for him, my mind started organizing that mundane experience into how it could be written. How could I make it interesting for the reader? What would the lede be? And the conclusion? Should I add more color to the story? I never wrote that particular story, but it was the first time that I realized that I truly was a writer; that writing is my creative endeavor and how I express the things I see around me.

Since that moment, I've talked to many other writers who do the same thing.

My first published work was a short memorial piece about the loss of my first dog, a GSD named Watachie. He was a rescue but an awesome dog; a SAR dog who also had a UD with OTCH points, a carting dog, and a Frisbee champion. I lost him at the age of seven - far too young - and I expressed my overwhelming grief by writing about Watachie. The article was published in the GSD national club magazine. After it was published, I got letters from people telling me how much my work touched them. My first fan mail. It was at that time that I realized my work - my words - could touch people.

Liz

Liz Palika www.lizpalika.com

Ducks are unhappy

I know, I know - this is a dog writers blog. But the ducks felt that they went out on a wing endorsing us & still no comments! So I promised to post a photo (see I keep campaign promises!) & here it is. Mako is the handsome fellow to the far left as you look at the photo with the dark eye patch. Snow White is the pure white duck. Then we have Splash, Smoke & the Gentleman. I am not sure whose feathered rear is at the edge.
The really upright stance is typical of Indian Runner ducks - Snow White is the best example.
Photo by Tom Eldredge
Deb E

Update on this year's contest

As most of you probably know, I am this year's DWAA contest chair. At this point in the process, more than 800 entries were recieved, sorted, packaged and sent out to more than 150 judges. (3 judges per category; i judge per special award)

But now the exciting part happens! The score sheets are coming back from the judges. I tabulate all the socres when I have all three score sheets from each category and the nominees and winners magically appear!

I now know the nominees and winners of more than half of the special awards and about a third of the regular categories, and more score sheets are arriving daily! Woo hoo!

When I have all of the nominees and winners determined, I will send out a letter to each nominee letting them know which work was nominated. The list will then appear in the December DWAA newsletter. I will also post it here and on the forums.

So knock on wood and cross your fingers!

Smiling Liz who is having way too much fun!

Liz Palika

Compromising positions

I second Deb's call for ideas from you guys as to what you'd like to see happen to make DWAA an even better, more effective, member-friendly organization.

Here's something I'd like to help make happen: amend the DWAA Bylaws to eliminate conflicts of interest, particularly with respect to elections.

Currently, the Bylaws place incumbents in contested elections in an untenable position: they are required to officiate in elections in which they are candidates. For example, Article V, Section 5e, requires that "All ballots received by the Secretary before December 31 will be delivered unopened to the Annual Meeting where three (3) tellers appointed by the President will count them."

Look at it this way: would we want Barack Obama's Virginia campaign chairman to be responsible for delivering absentee ballots to the state Board of Elections? Of course not. John McCain's supporters would understandably cry foul, and Obama's supporters would cringe (or at least should) at the thought of the election being possibly compromised in such a fashion.

And yet, the DWAA Bylaws require both the incumbent President and the incumbent Secretary to officiate in a contested election just such a fashion. The Secretary is in charge of handling the ballots. The President appoints the tellers. They don't even have the option of recusing themselves so as to ensure that the election proceedings are above reproach. This is unfair to them, to the other candidates and to the members.

I know that Carmen Battaglia, current DWAA president, has appointed a committee to study the Bylaws, but as far as I know (Deb, can you update us?) that committee has not held a meeting. I know, too, that Carmen and the current DWAA secretary, Pat Santi, have promised that the ballots will be kept in a lock box until it's time to open them at the Annual Meeting. That's a great start, and I appreciate their efforts to reassure the members that this election will be a fair and honest one. But those efforts, unfortunately, are just a start. And while it's possible that the Board of Governors could agree on minor changes in procedure for this election -- for example, to have the ballots delivered to a post office box and to have two people bring the ballots from the post office box to the meeting -- what we really need is, at some point, to change the Bylaws so that this situation does not occur again.

Please understand: I am not, repeat not, questioning anyone's integrity here. What I am questioning is whether we can amend the Bylaws so that, in the future, people of integrity won't be forced to assume, ahem, compromising positions.

What do you all think?

What do YOU want from DWAA?

I am hoping that any DWAA members reading this blog will feel free to post to us what YOU would like from DWAA. You can even post as anonymous :))

Are there more committees you would like to see instituted? And if so, what ones?

How do you feel about Associate members getting the vote after, say, 5 years of continuous membership?

What about a DWAA Announce list? One of my national breed clubs has that - the only emails come from the parent club & it is to announce important business, etc. No responses on the list. That might be a way to get Board business out every month so members know what is going on.

Please feel free to let us know. We are hoping to make DWAA an even better organization for all of us.