06/29/01

Once again, we see a period of total silence on the Mary's alumni front for
several months .... and then a flurry of activity, sparked by some seemingly
substance-motivated emails.

And then, we see even MORE weird emails (albeit motivated by seemingly
pertinent indignation) from individuals asking the WHOLE community to
unsubscribe them!  I know that end-user adoption on the internet has been
slow globally, but even the newest users ought to know how to unsubscribe
themselves from the list without, essentially, doing exactly what they are
asking others NOT to do .. i.e., sending out mass emails with no substantive
message.

I continue to be amazed by this trend, but I for one am not going to
bad-mouth it....much.  Sure, we have all graduated and gone on to do bigger
and better things in life... but if this is the only way we Maryz Boyz can
keep it together, then so be it.

Of course, I WOULD like it if the community as a whole could focus on more
meaningful messages and thoughtful initiatives, such as the following (I'd
bet that the combined net worth of the Mary's alumni today would be
mind-boggling and certainly conducive to funding even a fraction of some of
these kinds of activities!):

** contributing articles or anecdotes to this forum, or to the School Tie
(speaking of the tie, I believe I still have my ties from school when I was
"de-virginized" by other taporis tearing out the tags at the back of the
ties...  any one else remember this?!)

** a student-mentoring program to help Maryz kidz identify earlier on in
life the kinds of opportunities available to them (perhaps even net-based
message-boards, since our alumni are SO fond of checking their emails....!)

** starting up a donation/fund to help retired Maryz teachers in their later
years (how many of us even bother to check in on how our ex-teachers are
doing these days (I know I have; have you?); do we even know how many of
them are alive yet???)

** scholarships for teachers' (and staff's - e.g. peons, bus drivers, etc.)
kids (or their recommended kids) to go to school / study abroad / get
vocational training

** scholarships / prizes in the names of teachers & others we've loved and
respected in the past, who are no more (Simoes, Chaudhary, Parmu, Pardo,
Riba, .....)

** travel allowances (even gifts of scooters, etc.) for teachers who live
far away and commute long distances to get to school every day (or ANY other
incentives that would continue to attract and retain the best teachers to
work at our school);

** reverse-excursion programs for students with other schools in the States
or elsewhere;

** regular presence of ex-students (even one!) at key school functions (such
as the Annual Prizes ceremony, Giles or Harris-shield or BookBinder trophy
finals, or even Teacher's Day celebrations), and speak about the community;

** a phone call once in a while to the PTA or to the Principal to understand
what their needs are, and putting them in touch with people within our
combined network who might be able to help;

** setting up local chapters of Maryz alumni, like so many of the US
schools;

.... and so on.  It doesn't take much to think about this, and perhaps with
a little more effort we could hone in on doing at least a couple of these
properly.  I know there are some initiatives on these fronts, but I think
the community as a whole would do well to at least make one attempt to
understand if they can help at all.

If you're asking why I haven't done anything myself if I feel so strongly
about this, you're right... mea culpa, I should have, and I seem to have
hidden behind the veil of not being local any more (like many of the rest of
us ; out of sight, out of mind, etc.  I recognize we all need a little
motivation, and not a little sharing with like-mided people, to kick these
things off.  And of course, we all have to deal with our own crap day after
day, so there's a "share-of-mind" issue to deal with too.

Funnily enough, though, these last few messages have made me realize how far
we've come since our school days, but also how little we as a community seem
to have given back (I know there are individuals out there who are solid
exceptions to this, and many more who care but are perhaps not plugged in or
do not have the platform to be able to do anything).

So the next time any of you wants to unsubscribe, maybe you should ask
yourselves if you can spend even a fraction of that time reaching out to
other Marians who can perhaps help you do something more constructive.  I
think if we can donate even the price of one Friday beer (or one "toke", for
the more creative users amongst us) back to the school or school-related
programs each year, the amount would be staggering.

Pranav Mulani has obviously spent A LOT of his own time and money setting up
this messaging service for us... and all we can do is to abuse his efforts! 
Shame on us.

If any of this strikes a chord with any of you, then send me an email back,
and let's see if we can do something constructive (we at least have to try,
I'd think......).  No promises, no questions asked.  If something comes out
of it, great.  If not, that's fine, too.  The school and it's core legacies
will survive forever, independent of this group and its inactivity, and I
for one will forever be a proud Marian, no matter WHAT kind of acid people
are on these days.

And I DEFINITELY know where my "delete" key is ....so please DO NOT
unsubscribe me.

Chao.

xxx

07/02/01

I was surprised (and not a litle kicked, I might add) at receiving 20
responses already to my hat-thrown-in-the-ring late last week.  Of these, 1
was an "out-of-office" response, 1 was a "please delete me", and 1 was
addressed to alumni & pranav (which I will forward on).  The other 17, I'm
thrilled to say, were all in favor of doing something constructive, and at
least offering some form of support - moral or otherwise.  Surprisingly,
though, NONE of these was emailed directly to the alumni board .....
sigh...!

Over the next few days, I will think thru how to synthesize the help offered
in some form to get some initial traction (thanks for all the suggestions). 
I will say, though, that if these messages are directly addressed to the
alumni board as a whole, they might be able to generate MORE impact and
reach out to other Marians who are waiting to do something too (I get emails
all the time from long-lost Marians as far away as Australia and NZ, some
that I haven't seen since hearing of Parmu's (legendary)Zeenat-Aman-anatomy
stories).  Also, it would finally demonstrate to Pranav that his hard work
(and vision, I might add) may actually be a lot more meaningful than even he
might have imagined it to be, and that he should not give up (the fun may be
just beginning).

That being said, I guess we should take what we can get right now and keep
moving forward, so please keep 'em coming (I'll respect your privacy).  I
will also try to reach out to Pranav to coordinate & see if/how we can make
something of this new-found (if only fledgling, at the moment) enthusiasm.

In the meantime, again, please keep the messages coming.  Even if u don't
hear back right away, da Gaul is listening.....

Chao baby

Ob E. Lix.

xxx