We did it our way

I suppose it's my turn to add to the AGEL decompression of my colleagues (read this first if you have no idea what the hell I'm babbling about).

Simply put, this is the first time I recall AGEL participants actually sitting down and hashing out what they wanted AGEL to be. And that, to me, was very exciting. People want it to be more than semi-annual meetings and monthly phone conferences. We want to be able to maintain mentoring relationships, we want access to the resources and knowledge to help us succeed. We have a fairly well-defined vision of the academy under which we'd like to work. The fact that we sat down and planned out what we would collectively like AGEL to be for the next, say, one year is a significant step forward in the maturity of the organization - and I like to think the GTFF is on the verge of a very similar big step ahead.

While I agree with Dave about the organizing model (orthodox or our own reform version) being downplayed at this meeting, I think it was certainly implied. I know one of the recommendations of my breakout sessions was the revival of the "First Contact to First Contract" guide, which is a full-on organizing model blitz. But the meta-conversation we had, I believe, is a necessary prelude to any discussion of how to organize. If we don't know what we want to do, if we don't have a well-defined plan, our attempts to implement the "organizing model" will end up being a series of Sisyphean head-meets-wall moments. However, if we take the time to see where we want to go, and mete out any contingencies, not only will have something around which to implement the organizing model, it will actually suggest how we implement it to best suit our needs in our particular context.

I'm really excited. If we keep on each other and follow through with some of the concrete action items that were proposed, I think the coming year could be really exciting for graduate employees within AFT.

That's enough of the work related biz - I'm sure we'll be continuing these conversations in the corporeal realm in the coming days. Onto the real AGEL report - the hardcore alcohol abuse and sleep deprivation.

I really can't imagine a group of people - well, most of them, at least - with whom I'd rather spend time. It's odd how such intense relationships can build over three day encounters which occur, at most, three or four times a year. But they do, and AGEListas are a group I love - whether they be alum who are now plying their trade in academia or elsewhere, crusty vets who've been around longer than god, or fresh-faced newbies who return home completely jazzed about the union movement. And what I enjoy even more is having my comrades from home get introduced to this band of raging lunatics. It's a taste that goes great together.

So that's all for now, but I'm sure this conversation will continue and bleed into others. Which is good.