A Real Occupy Think Tank

So Friday I met with a Think Tanker about moving things to the next level.  We have been thinking for months (really since its inception for me) about creating a true research institution surrounding the work and issues we are focusing on at Occupy.  We met about trying to make this happen.  There are three of us that may really be interested in working on it.  We don't really have plans as much as guidelines.  But it is a good thing to move forward with.  The general concept was free-written as such:

We would structure this research institute under different auspices and governance structures than found in typical institutions.  We would incorporate a horizontal decision making structure into a managerial structure sharing input throughout ll levels of the institute and its research process.  Focusing on horizontal ideals while still working to maximize efficiency and expertise.  The research process would be facilitated by trained intellectuals doing research and working to guide projects on specific areas of interest and expertise.  These individuals would work within their main areas of inquiry or subject matter, but would largely be responsible for managing information and what would mostly be crowd sourced research supplemented/done by the general public.  The teams would be open and charged with briding public participation in reaserch and ideas while working with the scientifically valid research methods.  The idea would create a think tank that was far broader than a few PhD's sitting in stuffy rooms reading books, but for qualified intellectuals to act as  facilitators and discussion/project leaders aiming at producing a research process that includes and brings to the fore the public's voices and ideas both in terms of subjects and as researchers. 

From a methodological perspective, the research process would include at least four areas of data collection:

1. The general public on the ground. Open discussions, town hall style roundtables, community lead research/questions. This would take the form of individuals going out into public/private spaces (in cooperation with local community groups), asking questions, and engaging in public dialog with citizens and local communities.
2. An expansive web presence that would act as an idea/information conduit and repository that would open information and research to the public and researchers.
3. There would still be standard academic styled research and discourse.
4. Survey or phone based sampling to try to include everyday citizens into the dialog. This could be part of number 1.

The key component to this think tank would be a foundation based on open/crowd sourcing of the research, and teams of researchers that could be anyone and everyone from throughout the process.  At every level of society you can have a conversation with people with profound ideas and initiative; from CEO's to carpenters, there is intellect everywhere.  All the researching, writing, editing, and decision making would be done by and for us - the people.  With a large focus on engaging the general public both in the process of learning and engaging with their voices while coming to outcomes, options, and policy suggestions.  We believe that this will put individuals and groups that have traditionally been on the periphery, or marginalized throughout the whole process of intellectual creation, at the forefront of understanding and recreating their own social, political, and economic outcomes.  

The research focus itself would be within Occupy's principles and interests of political, economic, and social justice.  The research would however not inherently be done on the Occupy movement itself, but focused on doing research that viewed the world through the prism of an occupied lens and used this as its analytical and thematic point of departure. The institute would be designed to become the nexus for the ideas, research, and actions surrounding and produced by the Occupy movement.

Executive Assistance

So I finally had an interview.  Three actually.  I had one with the World Bank that I will discuss in detail another time, and then a first and second round interview with a "liberal" think tank here in NYC.  No no, it wasn't to actually be think tanking, but to work as an executive assistant to three of the top people in the company.  A foot in the door and an honest day's pay.  But I didn't get the job.  Yeah, it doesn't matter that I would be great at it, or that it would be a fabulous foothold in a place that could offer both a career for me and a better understanding of how a think tank works should we desire to turn the Occupy Think Tank into a funded endeavor.  No all that matters I guess is that I didn't get it.  Why?!  I don't know, but I'm going to speculate.

I'm overqualified.  Would I stay?  Can I actually do the job being that my history doesn't show I've done it?  Those were the types of questions being asked in the second interview.  The first phone interview went well.  It was a little labored at first, but eventually hit a groove.  I liked the woman I would be working for.  I think she liked me enough as well - after all she brought me in for a second interview with the team.  But the woman at the head of operations didn't seem to feel the same.  I felt it during the interview, and completely knew it as I walked back into their office following my "test".  What can I do?  Again, it doesn't matter whether I can or want to do the job, its whether they think I can - or more importantly it seems "would". 

Hell yeah I would have!  People don't understand what life is like right now for many people.  I am applying for a job assisting positions that I have done because I WANT TO.   I want a job, I want stability, and I thought this place would be great for that.  What job I do doesn't matter as much as being able to be a part of something I believe in while getting a solid days work done, especially if there is room to eventually move there.  Frankly, I can do any of these jobs.  I'm sorry to say this, but that job was not difficult.  That may sound arrogant, but yeah, I'm a smart, educated guy.  Yes, I don't have experience working simultaneously for three different executives and juggling their needs, but I do have experience juggling a world so far more complex than three executive's and an office's needs.  And I do not mean for that to belittle this position, just to state unequivocally that I could do this work.  But I don't think that was the problem, they know I can do this work.  They think I'm overqualified because my resume has "higher" positions on it.  Or maybe its because I have more ambition than just being an executive assistant.  But who takes a job like that wanting nothing more - ever?  Not to mention that the people that have experience working as an executive assistant for three people would still be in that position if A, they were really good at it, and B they wanted to do it. 

The fact is that "qualified" is subjective.  It has nothing to do with the past, and everything to do with the present.  The current job market doesn't care what I've done in the past, it cares what positions there are right now and what jobs I can actually get.  Right now, I am an entry level to late entry level worker.  I know this.  Save a handful of jobs a year that I probably will never know exist, I am only qualified for jobs I am "overqualified" for.  Because the job advertisement's I'd BE qualified for on paper are the ones I'm under qualified for in today's job market given the other applicants being "overqualified" for those positions!  I accept that, why don't you?

These companies don't realize that they can get better employees than they once could for these positions.  That's where the labor market is right now.  It's actually the way capitalism is SUPPOSED to work.  Excess labor creates competition, which spurs training and personal inovation, lowers wages, and always leaves a group of people to replace others should they ask for wage increases or better working conditions.  We can all be let go, its why we work 80 hour weeks for one person's pay.

You can get me at a bargain, that's what the market bares.  Yet, you somehow think I won't take it or won't stay.  Yeah, if one of the job applications I put in at the UN came though I might take it.  But they are temporary positions, and I don't want to be looking for work again in 4 months.  I want to work.  I want to do something I believe.  Those are my two conditions.  This job provided both - PLUS a chance at a future!  So sad that they didn't see what I could offer, or maybe that I couldn't sell them what I would offer.  Either way though, I am now still unemployed, still searching, still wondering when people are going to figure it out...  That I have a lot more to offer than they want.