Ever since Chicago vs Bed Bugs launched, I’ve been looking at their Activism page and thinking that we should try something like that here. Because it’s impressive and clear and straightforward.
There would be transparency, always a good thing, and the hope that someone will go, hmm, I have an idea about that.
Of course, our to do list would be a compendium of near-failure and disaster. 
What with the people who don’t return our calls, or the agency that is patently laughing at us with its response to our FOIL request…
Anyway, we might!
If you live in Chicago, go say hi to Jessica and let her tell you about just why we’re all in this together.
If you live in New York City and you’re worried about bed bugs? Don’t keep it to yourself.
These pages may be of related interest:
{ 2 comments }
Hi Renee!
I’m really glad that you find some merit in our public to-do list. The purpose of listing our activism tasks publicly is to promote transparency. We want anyone who visits our website to see that we are working toward accomplishing our goals. This way, everyone can see our successes, and everyone can see our challenges. And when I say “everyone,” I mean EVERYONE– including the people who are in positions to help us. I’m hoping that eventually, those people might stumble upon Chicago vs Bed Bugs– perhaps before we contact them, or maybe even after we’ve contacted them– and see that they (or their organizations) are on our public to-do list. It might motivate them to reach out to us, or to inspire them to take some sort of action. Maybe.
And, even more importantly, the to-do list might generate active participation by Chicagoans on our Discussion page. I’m hoping that Chicagoans will be inspired by the list, and perhaps even contribute thoughts and ideas and even offer to join our organization and participate in our efforts to achieve our activism goals.
Of course, our list will inevitably show our successes AND our failures– publicly!– but I’m okay with that. We’re only human after all, and failure is just a part of life that we all must accept sometimes. I attended the Chicago Innovation Awards recently, and they keynote speaker centered his entire speech around the power of failure. I can’t remember his exact words, but at the end of his speech, he said something will stick in my mind for the rest of my life. It went something like this: You know, instead of announcing to our friends and colleagues and loved ones our SUCCESSES in life, we really ought to announce our FAILURES. We should celebrate those instead. Because it’s through our failures– through the struggles we endure while we’re picking ourselves up off the ground and brushing ourselves off and straightening up so that we can stand tall again– that we really show what we’re made of.
So, Renee, and New York vs Bed Bugs, here’s to our successes and our failures. We’ll celebrate them together– publicly!– because we’re all in this together, anyway.
Thank you, Jessica. I wrote a response as a post and then took it down– way too much too soon perhaps. I’ll keep thinking about this and finding a way to make it work.
Thank you for your kindness and generosity.
All the best,
Renee
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