August is National Open Meeting Month

Opening Introduction To This Blog

"And as she stared at herself in the mirror, she began demanding more of herself...?

From a writer's standpoint, being able to initiate a sense of curiousity is part of the almost mystic process of composition as a totality.  All writers seek attention of some fashion, even if it to simply evoke a reaction from themselves when they revisit something they created over the years, perhaps in a diary format.

We think about whether or not the words are too big or too small.  While some are told to write their content as if a 2nd grader is reading it, others are graded on their ability to seemingly make sense of what most others would view as perhaps gibberish.

We think about whether or not the content is too short or too long.  With critics and specialists from all spectrums citing their own formulas as the singular acceptable form for all writers to adhere to, the character count of content written only matters under certain commerce-related circumstances and even then it is perpetually questionable and available for challenge.

We think about how long or short of an amount of time a reader will need to reserve to fully consume our pre-recorded thoughts.  And with search engine optimization metrics being one small-scale tool spanning a mega spectrum of our behaviors, more and more writers are attempting to specialize in compositions driven by a list of mandatory keywords while the true risk/reward of effective composition is in the selection of words and the potential meanings held by anyone else but the writer.  

It's when a reader disconnects themselves from the content that holds the greatest mysteries of all for more than just the writer.  Did we move the reader to consider a different perspective?  Not everyone writes for such reasons.  Did we irritate the senses of one of the 7 billion+ people in the world?  Not everyone seeks out such results.  Did we somehow violate a law within a certain code jurisdiction?  Not everyone writes thinking about the perceived legalities surrounding their words.

Sometimes the logistics of these questions can derail even the most dedicated of writers from their craft, which is the act of composing and pursuit of publishing, while others will toss onto their social media site words of an impulsive nature simply because we have been exponentially expanding these frontiers to include a quick and virtually instant ability to attract a real and measurable measure of attention for such an act.

If you have read this content from the start and not as a text-byte (similar to a sound byte), I am the "she" I was thinking of when I wrote my opening sentence.

There.  That should settle any questions regarding what was on my mind when I wrote it, right?

In the meantime, tonight is a night in which I feel as if I am in the process of going home, which is might sound strange to some, considering I am in my home writing this particular entry.

And yet, as I have spent quite a few years looking into the abyss of data being produced and sometimes actively peddled, my choice to publish content here might be a reflexive test-run of a blogging service in some ways, but there is also a measure of intuitive bias going on as well.

Knowing the content of the characters behind any organization matters and although I cannot say I've had any personal interaction with this organization for years, I certainly was once or twice a paying customer, when my salary allowed such a luxury.

For those who are unfamiliar with the starting days of online access, it twasn't cheap.  Charges were accrued by the minute and its likely there were numeric round-up actions going on at some point to the right of the decimal point.  Truncation aside, I eventually fell into a position of being grateful for having the choice of keeping the screen names I had created in at least a free format.  

Obviously my access had to come from somewhere else, but when cable entered the marketplace years ago, their choice to provide free accounts displayed an additional measure of insight on how to attract visitors to the content within their community while other services went not always quietly into the night.

So what does all of this content up to this point have to do with my opening paragraph representing a thought I had in passing and modified into a 3rd person position?

Simply put, its a temporary bio and resume blending into one, suggesting to the reader I am a writer worth visiting from time to time here on this site.  If you end up viewing content of mine elsewhere, it will likely be unrelated to National Open Meeting Month and may be considered controversial and even questionable by readers anywhere.

Whereas I will continue to espouse my right to publish as I see fit amongst the boundaries available, National Open Meeting Month is the focus of this blog.

As I continue to believe no one has an idea of what National Open Meeting Month, it is something I invented a few weeks ago in response to a variety of issues confronting the southwest suburbs over quite a few decades.

All pre-scheduled meetings hosted by the government officials municipalities throughout the United States are open to the public.  This sentence is a little off, with exceptions as it relates to individual municipalities. Some municipalities host city council meetings while Executive Sessions are not open to public consumption.

While this verbiage may not seem very important, it is a critical component of our system of interactive governance of each other and can actually become a tripping hazard for even the most degreed of persons.

The generic description of National Open Meeting Month is all about everyone across the nation putting on their stage faces and putting out content that provides a visual and audio record of a meeting held in public by a governing body.  Just as awkward moments for government will be recorded, so will any communications from anyone opting to speak at such a meeting.  Just be prepared for it and if you don't care if the world sees you wearing your pajamas during a meeting, more power to you...unless you're at home, in bed and watching the meeting at some odd hour at night.  Then in that case no one will know what you were wearing since you are in the privacy of your own home, right?

Therefore, while I believe government officials must certainly make some adjustments to their own demeanors and displays, equally the general public does not need to pursue heated and sometimes hate-filled conversation in this public forum in order to generate some semblance of sensitivity to some matter of importance to the individual once the interaction has been recorded and broadcast.

In addition, this may sound a little strange, but while some local municipalities have been actively broadcasting these meetings for years online and/or via television, others have gone as far as threatening felony charges drawn on eavesdropping grounds if there is an attempt to use a portable camcorder during one of these meetings. 

As many states have been busy modifying their eavsedropping laws to better reflect the pace of citizen/consumer demand, it is within transparency laws at all levels that already provides a legal framework  to protect a citizen or even a government official from recording the meetings.

While I have personally attended meetings that were recorded in an audio fashion with no notification of such a recording taking place, enforcement of such a notification requirement is logistically simple enough, which means something else is missing from the equation that centers around mutual governance.  Without permission, government has no power and yet without moments of cooperation, even the best our government has to offer will fail to bring forth a sense of customer satisfaction in the person(s) they are interacting with.

The various reasons for this continued active rejection of the conclusion this can only be considered to be in the best interest of all parties and parts of the larger organizations local municipalities belong to, such as the state and our county of course.  Why there is a lack of political will is nothing compared to the political muscle that has been exerted over the years lifting the stacks of papers directly connected to such matters in order to actively obstruct, delay and even derail enforcement efforts of already existing laws.

This is one of those political structures put into law that provides all parties reason to celebrate the complexities and conflicts we all struggle because we have a reliable place and time to make statement if our hearts desire or we can simply sit back and listen to government in action while waiting with baited breath for the next great viral video hit because someone walked into a closed door or some other faux paux, let alone the legal implications involved with government being able to demonstrate they are conducting business within the scope of the laws governing the municipality.

So could I sit here tonight and write out more line item elements that initially inspired National Open Meeting Month?  Sure.

But remember that opening sentence?  "And as she stared at herself in the mirror, she began demanding more of herself..."  That actually was a note to myself to remember to keep things as short and as concise as possible, or so I think.

Hmmmm...If I just swap out the word "mirror" and replace it with the words "computer screen" and replace the she with an I...let's see how that looks.

"And as I stared at myself in the computer screen, I began demanding more of myself..."

In other words, I think its time for me to demand of myself to keep at least some of my current thoughts towards the shorter end of the word count spectrum, including this one introductory entry and especially when I know how much I hate editing my own work.  

Therefore, sorry for any typos, spelling errors, dangling participles, pronouns or nouns before a gerund, misuse of punctuation, contractions, acronym abuse, etc. in advance.

Introducing National Open Meeting Month, August 2013.  Keep checking back for more information!