Every couple of days since school started, I've been approached by a member of my high-school staff concerning the boycott. It's circled around because during ice-breakers in a few classes at the beginning of the year, the boycott came up and some of my teachers checked it out. I also e-mailed a few that my friends said would really appreciate the idea. However, it quickly spread around the school and because I don't identify myself by name anywhere on the page, it was still widely unknown that I was a LEP student.
     Knowing that this has been used in discussions during classes at my school, which it has been, is great. What's also great is seeing how many countries we have members in on the facebook page. However, of many of these countries we only have one or two. As I posted on the last status, I'm wondering if in the discussions tab we should set up a friendly competition. Obviously the disadvantage would be a general language barrier between English and non-English speaking countries. Luckily, I've got a solution.
     I'm going to draft a basic, one-page(ish) summary of the boycott including reasons for it, how to do it, etc. Then, hopefully with the help of people who could better translate than I (although I'm careful, speaking two languages myself I know that to do it right I have to do it the long, hard way instead of a translator) and then post it on a page so that there are various languages catered to.
     I'd love to translate the whole site, but being just me and having only a semi-solid grasp on either language I can communicate in (haha? Maybe. Or maybe it's just sad.), I don't have the time or ability. However, this will be coming ASAP regardless of whether or not people like the idea of a friendly competition (I repeat friendly because that's absolutely what it would have to be. But I know you guys are better than anything else). It's simply something I thought would be fun, but I do need to get right on the whole catering to other languages thing quickly and I shall.

     I've spent over a week brainstorming a solution to an issue that the boycott (and myself, but this way it sounds more important) continues to face. That issue, dear reader, is a the metaphorical chasm between the two of us that has failed to dissipate.
     I locked myself away in a dark room. I ranted and raved. I mused on the bus, surrounded by strangers. I mused in spare moments of class time, surrounded by peers. I stared into mirrors and abysses alike, searching for a real resolution for the problem. Many false starts presented themselves, full of winding twists and troubles all their own, with a success likelihood too slim to chance. These were not the answers I was looking for. Then it hit me like a blessed bolt of lightning releasing me from these long, woeful nights of questioning. In all those nights full of a despairing wonder, I was missing something at my fingertips that had settled right under my nose.
     I have a blog and I can talk to you directly here. It's purpose is to communicate with you what's going on, so why not use it to communicate these roadblocks you're such a vital part of?

It's not you, it's me.

     Actually, it's both of us. Sorry darling, but we share the guilt. Why? Well, because this is a two-way street. At least, that's ideally how I'd like it to turn out. What I'm craving is a little engagement, so I'm going to cut to the chase. (I apologize for the earlier rambling, I'm quite worn out and actually already wrote this and lost it. I just felt like changing things up the second time around.)

     Most of the posts that turn up on the facebook page (I'm working on making this set-up equal for facebookers, facebook haters and everyone in between) are posted by people I know personally, most being the vast majority with roughly five exceptions. Posts from people I know are all well and good, and few at this early stage are to be expected. However, I want to know more about the people that I don't know, both individually and as one big, boycotting entity. There are a number of reasons for this which I shall now explain in no particular order.

1) Personality Demographic.

     While I see the numbers grow day to day, it gets harder and harder for me to tell how many people are actually getting involved versus how many people liked the facebook page because they like everything with a snappy title (ours isn't even that snappy). For this to be as effective as it can be, I have to know what kind of crowds have gathered. If for some reason I'm chiefly reaching that random-page-liker demographic, I obviously need to make some changes. Alternatively, if I'm reaching a wide range of people then all I need to do is find a way to reach more of them.
     On a related note, another part of the reason I feel the need to know is that our day to day numbers do grow at a fairly steady pace, but the pace is small enough that I could potentially trace it back to a couple of members who do a lot and a handful who do what I wish the other hundred and fifty people were doing. While those people are absolutely fantastic, how can I tell if the rest are even boycotting if I have no idea who you are? This leads on to the second reason which is. . .

2) Commitment.

     Let's be honest here. The truth is, I'm not competent enough to have an actual sign-up list yet. The facebook page is the only way I can track numbers at this point. Many boycotters I know don't facebook, and I'm absolutely certain that a handful of the facebookers on the page don't actually boycott. I have yet to draft the official petition that I'm working on for change.org, which will be another way to track progress (hopefully a roster of some sort will come at roughly the same time). If you've read the website, however, you'll know that commitment isn't just about boycotting.
     I want everyone to get a minimum of four people in on it. If you'll remember from the status I posted a while back, my sister got eight of her teachers in half an hour, and yes, teachers absolutely count (they're people, too). She's much younger than the both of us, chances are (and if not, what are you doing on a computer? Go outside and play. I wish that was what I were doing right about now). That's just proof to the fact that you can handle it. I would hope that while after those four, even if you're an under-achiever who scrapes by with the bare minimum, you're still interested in, say, finding out if this even goes anywhere, right? I mean, you're boycotting for it. What if it ended tomorrow and you continued abstaining for a reason long-ended? Conveniently enough, this leads into the third reason.

3) General Interaction and Updates

     If I set up the petition and roster tonight, something tells me that even a month from now we wouldn't have the roughly 220 starter signatures one could theoretically expect. Many people don't check facebook that often and those who do still don't check in on the boycott. Fair enough, if you have a large friends list you're likely to miss the updates. Facebookers, to get down to the nitty-gritty, here it is: I would love and absolutely need as much participation as you can muster. I don't mean throw yourself at everything I say and write page-long responses that eerily resemble essays. What I mean is check the page every so often and read it. Really, I don't write things unless I think that it's relevant to a large enough group of somebodies.


As for those who don't check in on or have a facebook, I'm setting up another option: a newsletter. Although I feel silly saying letter because I'm referring to e-mail. Still, I'd feel equally silly if not sillier if I said e-newsletter. It's just a rock and a hard place here.

     It is, indeed, potentially scary. Many who hear newsletter (myself included) automatically think of that large pile of e-mails you get every month from that one organization you did one thing for that one time and while you haven't put the effort into removing yourself from the e-mail list, you still spend most of your time deleting those messages because you didn't intend to commit to it to that crazy, obsessed level they seem to think you did.

     There are a two reasons I hope you'll bear with me. One: you're already committed. You're boycotting, after all. Consider the newsletter motivation of sorts. Two: I feel your pain. Too many e-mails. This would only go out about twice a month (or every two weeks, whichever sounds less imposing to you) and contain some links, helpful tips, updates and such. I can give no solid date as to when the first will go out, but if you think you'd rather get a newsletter than give in to social networking, sign up. For now, sign-up by sending an e-mail to [email protected] titled "Newsletter" for those interested. Sign-up will always be open, naturally, and soon enough there will be a nifty little button on the website, or something along that line.