The end of a semester

To whom it may concern:

With three months of work completed to-date, the amount we've had to look back and reflect upon this past week has been tremendous. From a nascent program have grown endless possibilities. Everyone in this class has branched out not only from the core principles set before us in January, but also to countless opportunities that resulted in many fruitful offshoots. And in some ways I think it's the combined weight of our labors' fruits that have caused the original trunk, the program's core values, to bow in a new direction. Offshoots never predicted grew alongside those foreseen; some of those surprise developments budded fabulously. I know that our own approach -- developing a web forum for dialogue amongst the constituents of Californian education -- is just one of those many unpredicted offshoots that is now just blossoming. Beautiful in its potential to bear a savory product, and so tantalizing in that virtue alone to garner the full and sustained attention of some watchful gardeners to the end.

In many ways, I feel like this program is analogous to Dr. Seuss' The Lorax -- a flowering truffula tree that is showing signs of produce after a commitment to cleaning up perceived injustices. And with all this work now invested to the greater cause, it's almost obligatory to follow through and see what this surreal tree can bear.

I am happy to say that our group's truffula will bear its produce come June 21 -- a (hopefully savory, at least palatable) website.

(domain name to be released within a week's time).

To get serious for a minute, though, the site sounds like it will be in great shape. We had our final phone call with Tim today regarding last-minute budget and contractual details, and everything is working smoothly. His expertise has proven invaluable, interjecting ideas like the possibility for data compilation of our visitors -- a digital trail showing how they found us, where they are and who they are etc. Just one of the few new twists we've kept adding on, these little things will hopefully translate into some great opportunities for our site to -- I just have to say it -- mature and ripen to the tastes of our consumers, the affiliates and associates of our school system. And it's all thanks to efforts on both sides of the design process, like the statistics compiler, to make the site as aligned as possible with the needs and desires of its clients.

From here it doesn't look like it will take much to populate the site, for we have a flurry of interviews, articles, essays and op-ed pieces to at least provide some fodder for those who wish to use it. This is in addition to new sets of questions that target what grinds the gears of hopefully a vast majority of the site's visitors. We just need to keep in mind what the people want to talk about -- whatever it is -- and be sensitive as to not impose our own ideas or perceived agendas on any program, institution, or person.

In the end, there will be no site unless we can make it tangible to and a part of peoples' daily lives.

So with all that said, it will be interesting to see where everything proceeds from here. We may have no idea what our truffula's fruit will taste like, but we're confident that the produce of our efforts is in the least unique and thought-provoking of what future fruits of philanthropic labor can look like.

Twas an honor.
Hil-Ja-Mat-Er