Monday, November 15, 2004

Pray for Me On Wednesday, I have a second interview with a prospective employer.  It might be a pay cut, and it's probably a less challenging job than the one I have, but I have to get the hell out of here. Today we had a board committee meeting, where we discussed a fundraising plan that was supposed to be approved three months ago.  Instead, the board members seemed confused.  They had drawn up a new budget (seemingly out of string and sealing wax) and were unhappy that my budgeted numbers for fundraising didn't match their budget.  So could I please reconcile the two?  Meaning, could I pad my fundraising plan by about $30,000 to match their phoney baloney budget? I patiently explained that for one, I wasn't involved in any of the budget meetings where they created this so-called budget.  So they were creating numbers for next year's fundraising without consulting either the fundraising plan or the writer thereof.  And for two, my fundraising plan was based on realistic projections and past history, and I wasn't just going to add numbers to it because they made up stuff that didn't match it.  After arguing and snapping a few times, I just gritted my teeth and told them I'd do what they wanted me to do.  I'll fudge the fundraising plan.  Sure.  Why not?  It's not going to matter, because this ship will sink by February, and the fundraising plan will be just another piece of flotsam.  So I'm going to write a fundraising plan that I don't believe.  But the board's likely to be surprised when they read the disclaimer on the first page.  I plan to write, in very clear letters, that I am submitting a new fundraising plan based on the board's wishes and not on my projections.  In other words, don't blame me for this steaming sack of b.s.  It's a very small victory, but after taking a few slaps at my integrity, I'm ready to slap back.  I gotta get out of here.  So pray for me to have a great second interview on Wednesday.  Light candles, listen to Tori Amos, whatever connects you to your higher power.  I'll need it. 8:16:12 PM     comment []

Wilco Does It for the People Check out a great Wired interview with Jeff Tweedy, in which he discusses the evils of file sharing.  He offers the most eloquent defense of music downloading I've seen. A piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience. How they perceive your work changes your work. Anyone who owns A Ghost is Born knows about the free concert embedded on the CD.  If you go to a special section of Wilco's website, you can occasionally find other Easter eggs:  a live track, or even a stream of an entire concert.  Great stuff.  And the songs are in MP3 form, with no digital rights manipulation that I can see.  Gifts to their fans, no strings attached.  I downloaded an 11-minute version of their new song "Spiders" that makes the album version sound like an acoustic ditty.  6:31:05 AM     comment []