[Sportsandrec] Addressing some issues

Fri Jun 26 20:33:34 UTC 2009

Hey Cowboy,
Sarcastic? Me? No. (giggle)
I was, am, and will be very serious in the idea and belief that I do not 
feel it is right for a board member to criticise the body. The board is 
elected to serve the body.
It wasn't the message that bothered me so much, it was the tone. 
Dissatisfaction occurs. You cannot please everyone all the time and all you 
can do is your best. I think you guys have done so.
As for the list police, I do not believe I have misunderstood anything. The 
list is being monitored for inapropriate conduct that would damage, 
besmirch, or otherwise impune the Sports and Recreation division in any way. 
You sir, in my opinion, were out of line. I wouldn't want some parent of a 
blind child or newly blinded adult curious about activities seeing a board 
member bash the division for making suggestions. This offense, in my 
opinion, is way worse than a dirty word slipping out every once in a while 
or someone making a "sexual reference"
As for fund raising ideas, we can never get enough of em. If you have ideas 
you would like implimented for next year, please send them to 
jrs3147 at comcast.net or call: 615-406-3988 and we can discuss your thoughts. 
I am certain you have much to bring to the table and look forward to working 
with you to make this division better.
If there's anything else on this topic, I welcome discussion off-list at the 
above email or phone number. I am sure the masses have heard enough from us 
both. It sounds as if Justin  Williams owes us a drink in Detroit.
"I'm a finder and I'm a keeper" "I'm not a loser and I ain't no weeper" Bang 
Your Head Quiet Riot
Joe Shaw
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph Hamilton" <jhamilton at societyfortheblind.org>
To: "Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List" 
<sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Addressing some issues


> Hey Joe,
> I find your rebuttal to be somewhat sarcastic.
> I was not coming down on anyone for making suggestions.  Perhaps the
> whole picture hasn't been laid out.  I encourage ongoing dialogue
> amongst all participants.  What was happening with regards to this years
> event, was people were coming in at the 11th hour and basically
> challenging the established schedule.  Yes, that is insulting to me.  No
> one prefaced there remarks by saying, thanks for your hard work or I
> understand that it is difficult to get these events together.
> You worked hard to find a viable fundraising option for the S&R
> division.  If I would have come in last week, after the decisions had
> already been made and raised hell about something that could have been
> done to make it "better or cheaper."  You would have been somewhat put
> off as well.
> I am not trying to discourage anyone from taking an active roll in this
> division.  All I am saying is please, realize that the extravaganza
> organizing committee tried hard to get things together that didn't work.
> Had we received these helpful contacts before the establishment of the
> schedule, more things could have been done.  However, we didn't and so
> what you have is a smaller more compact event then what was in Dallas
> last year.  We also have a group of people who seem to be passionate
> about events that are not being offered.  I am encouraging and
> challenging those people to bring those passions to the board meeting
> and to the event planning for 2010.
> It is easy to sit back and say, "we could have had some event or
> another."  I believe that displaying all of these resources at the last
> minute undermind the hard work that was put in.  And will always cowboy
> up to people and challenge them to get involved from the outset so we
> don't have to miss out on possible additions to the next major event.
> For the record, there is not a Board police.  You have missed
> LM's point regarding board moderation.  Wanting to make sure that
> messages are relevant and on point, language is kept PG and people are
> able to express there views without being intimidated were the
> reasonable guidelines that are in place.  Any parent or stranger who
> would think about participating or getting their child involved would
> want that involvement to be positive and supported.  That is exactly
> what the Extravaganza can be both in Detroit and in the future.
> I don't have any issues with people being disappointed in the event for
> this year.  I myself am bummed that we couldn't bring goalball to my
> home state.  My expectation is, that those who want to see their
> specific event flourish in this venue get together and bring ideas
> forward during the planning stages not during the execution stages.  I
> hope this helps you to understand better where I was coming from.
>
> Joseph Hamilton
> Program Manager,
> California Access News
> Society for the blind
> 2750 24th st. Sacramento CA, 95818
> 916-732-4010
> jhamilton at societyfortheblind.org
> www.societyfortheblind.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joe Shaw
> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:53 PM
> To: Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Addressing some issues
>
> Dear list police,
> I do not think this post should have made it through the censors.
> Are you really insulted that people do not appreciate your hard work
> Joe?
> For the record, I appreciate it. Thank you very much Joe for all the
> work
> you and the board do for the Sports and Recreation division  throughout
> the
> year.
> As for perspective, I wonder how much work non-boardmembers do in most
> divisions, chapters, and organizations. In my experience in many of the
> above, the answer is usually not much. This is the burden of being one
> of
> the leaders is providing for the many. I wonder how many things
> individual
> members have been asked to do?  I think people enjoy being asked to do
> things.
> Does chastising the membership for not doing more encourage them to do
> so? I
> doubt it. I laugh at and enjoy your little fit but some could be
> offended by
> it. I recognize it for what it probably is frustration of not having as
> big
> an event as last year through little fault of your own. You guys set a
> pretty high standard last year. It was at a much easier location and
> will be
> again which will make this event look lack-luster having Dallas bounce
> up in
> 2010 again through no fault of anyone on the board.
> On the last board call, a discussion was had as to list behavior and
> what
> was tolerable. I personally feel that having a board member crack on the
>
> body for offering suggestions as to what we might be interested in as
> events
> is one of the more discouraging and damning things to happen here. The
> question was posed as to how a parent of a blind child or a newly blind
> person would feel reading these  posts? Is the board comfortable with
> this
> being read by a stranger?   I love this division and believe everyone
> here
> does. I read and comprehended your plite as a hard working board member.
> I
> empathise. I hope you will read and comprehend my feelings as a member.
> I do
> not speak for the masses as I do not believe you to have spoken for the
> board in it's entirity. I hope you understand I do not write my response
> to
> your post with mallace or anger just making a potential counter to your
> point.
> Let us work and play hard and well together going forward.
> "Give a toast to the sun" "Drink with the stars" "Get thrown in the mix
> and
> tossed out of bars" "Zip to Tijuana I wanna rome" "Find Motown tell them
>
> fools to come back home" Kid Rock Cowboy
> Joe Shaw
> National Federation of the Blind Sports and Recreation Fund Raising
> Chair
> and member at large
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joseph Hamilton" <jhamilton at societyfortheblind.org>
> To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 10:28 AM
> Subject: [Sportsandrec] Addressing some issues
>
>
>> Hello List,
>>
>> I wanted to bring some perspective to the list as a board member
> charged
>> with monitoring list traffic.
>>
>> Several times within the last Month, people have inquired about a
> tandem
>> event in Detroit.  Just for the record, the Extravaganza for this
> year's
>> convention has been in the planning stages since last November.  We
> made
>> several attempts to contact local bicycling groups to host some sort
> of
>> event.  We discovered the closest group I Michigan was in Kalamazoo
>> which is 168 miles west of Detroit.  We also researched the
> possibility
>> of using a Canadian group but Windsor does not have such a group, or
> at
>> least we couldn't find one.
>>
>> I am one a group of people who has put in time brain storming and
>> researching so we could have an event similar to the one in Dallas
> last
>> year.  Actually, my favorite sport Goalball, is not being offered at
>> this year's event either.  That is because the city of Detroit does
> not
>> have very good access to services.
>>
>> All that being said, as a whole, we need to be more appreciative of
> the
>> work that has been done.  Perhaps if you had contacts that could have
>> made an event like this possible, you could have attended one of our
>> meetings in January.  Now we are less than two weeks from the
> Convention
>> and so all the questioning of what can be added or changed is
> insulting.
>> I am individually appreciative of all your ideas and offers to help.
>> Just remember that you offered because in September, when we begin
>> planning for the Dallas convention, I expect we should have quite a
> good
>> group of involved planners.
>>
>> I am sure just from my working with the planning committee, no one
> wants
>> to leave off sports.  In Dallas, goalball was the highest attended
> event
>> and we were not able to offer it this year.  I recognize the
> popularity
>> of the tandem event.  I know that in Dallas last year we had to put a
>> cap on participants and the board is very open to ideas to help grow
>> this event for the convention in 2010.  I will say that all the
>> questioning and external planning is pretty insulting, because as I
> said
>> we have been trying to make the best of this situation for the last 7
>> Months.
>>
>> I just ask you to consider the hard work put in by folks on this event
>> before you start complaining about what got left out or cut because of
>> limited space, resources and time.
>>
>> Perhaps we can all view Detroit as an opportunity to try a new sport
> or
>> recreation.  Once we finish up with this extravaganza, we can all get
>> together and talk about Dallas and what the future holds.
>>
>> Thanks for all of your participation and support of the S&R division.
>> Without you, we have no event or group at all.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards Joe
>>
>>
>>
>> Joseph Hamilton
>>
>> Program Manager,
>>
>> California Access News
>>
>> Society for the blind
>>
>> 2750 24th st. Sacramento CA, 95818
>>
>> 916-732-4010
>>
>> jhamilton at societyfortheblind.org
>>
>> www.societyfortheblind.org
>>
>>
>>
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