iamjulez

Name:	iamjulez
Location:	West Lafayette, IN

My personal volunteering highlight:

I was a member of Citizens Action Coalition out of South Bend , Indiana. We campaigned against a very power energy company called NIPSCO that was price gouging the people in Northwest Indiana and through our efforts of gathering signatures and informing our Senators and Representatives we proved that they were lobbying unfairly as well as illegally overcharging citizens resulting in millions of dollars in refunds for all of their customers. It was a great victory that made me feel like anything was possible when people work together, it really didn't seem real, but it was. It made me realize that sometimes the bad guys do lose.

More about my volunteering with DFA:

I recently helped with the Campaign Training Academy in Lafayette, IN. I was helping with the organization, the set up, and even more so with providing video coverage of the event for possible future use. I used student interns as well educating them about video production at the same time.

More about my volunteering with progressive organizations:

I am involved with DFT, Democracy For tippecanoe, an off shoot of DFA.

What motivates me:

I think anyone with higher cognitive skills has a healthy habit of staying informed and questioning the information they receive. I romanticized activism much like many in my generation. We grew up seeing file footage of our parents generation in volatile and fast-changing times throwing bricks in the streets and being hauled off in Paddy Wagons. While the landscape has changed we too live in volatile and fast-changing times, probably ten-fold and it is important to approach our activity with the same diversity our parents generation did. I don't want to literally throw bricks, but I would like to throw verbal and electronic bricks. I think that we can change minds in more profound and diverse ways than ever before and we are staggered at the possibilities so much that we are dizzied by what we see. I am motivated by my passion and I am thrilled at the tools that have been made available to us all.

How I try to motivate others:

I try inform people on things that I may be a little more up on. For the most part I find myself listening and it surprising how informed people are these days, but don't do anything about it. I really try to avoid political arguments and take in different perspectives, but I tell people about DFA or DFT and CAC when I feel like they may be willing to take the next step and actually do something in the way of activism.

Where I see myself in five years:

I'll be thirty and hopefully I'll be in the administrative side of things. I'd like to be more of a leader and a manager for politically active organizations.

My suggested bumper sticker slogan for the Stand with Dr. Dean campaign:

IT IS AN IN-AIL-ABLE RIGHT!