"HASTA LA VISTA"
Volume 18 - October 19, 1998
Dear Readers,
I'm pecking away on a laptop computer propped up on an empty cardboard box, in a house nearly empty but for the clutter of other boxes waiting to be shipped, stored or packed. This week The Democracy Center ends our six year run of public interest work in California. On Thursday morning bright and early my family and I will be moving to Cochabamba, Bolivia.
I realize that this sounds drastic, but it is not (no we're not running from the law or following Butch, Sundance, or Che Guevarra). After six years of hands-on work training and counseling advocates and community leaders, it is time for both the Center and I to take a break and do something different. So off to Bolivia I go, to write a new book - The Democracy Owners Manual - and to expand the Latin America work that The Democracy Center has already been doing in countries such as Mexico and Nicaragua.
But to be honest, my reasons for moving to Bolivia now are far more personal than they are political or professional. As any parent knows, the U.S. can be a very difficult place to be a family. The pace of our work constantly pulls us away from our children and our partners and far too many important moments get missed or get short shrift. This, at least, has been my experience. Bolivia offers a culture that operates differently from that and it is a place where my family has special roots. It is where my wife Lynn and I lived in 1991 and 1992 before I started The Democracy Center. It is where we started an orphanage school and where we met our children. It is a place where family comes first, work second (or third), where the pace is more human. There is a time in all our lives for action and a time for reflection. Bolivia is a fine place to be a family, to reflect and to write.
I am very proud of what The Democracy Center has accomplished these past six years. We founded the California Budget Project to give community groups and others a chance to understand enough about state budget matters to have an impact on them. We counseled and trained hundreds of citizen groups in California, in South Africa and in Latin America. We published The Initiative Cookbook, our newsletters, and a series of important articles for publications such as The Sacramento Bee, The Nation, and many others. Looking back on it, the most important contribution that The Center has made will really be reflected, not in our own work, but in whatever has been added to the efforts of all those we have sought to help, including many of you.
It is also critical to note that the work of The Center has always been the product of many hands and I want to thank the many others who have contributed along the way. This especially goes for Kathy Curran, Janice Nielsen, Santosh Seeram, Sandy Wada and Maryann O'Sullivan, each of whom contributed mightily to our efforts. After a good deal of consideration The Center's staff and advisory board have decided that, during my absence to write the Owners Manual, The Democracy Center will also take a sabbatical from its California work. Our other staff have moved on to other important jobs. I can continue to be reached via e-mail at "JShultz@democracyctr.org". The Center will also keep an administrative office open in San Francisco, reachable at the following address and phone:
The Democracy Center P.O. Box 22157
San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 564-4767
- phone and fax
While in Bolivia I will still continue publishing "The Democracy Center On-Line". This electronic newsletter, which has proven to be more popular than I ever imagined, has always offered our readers a wide mix of topics. From the heart of Latin America I hope you will find that mix only wider and more interesting. I will also be soliciting readers' ideas and stories for The Democracy Owners Manual. Since democracy itself is an idea that transcends borders, so will the book -- drawn on experiences from the U.S. and others countries, written in Bolivia and edited in Moscow (by Mariko Takayasu who edited The Initiative Cookbook as well).
In short, The Democracy Center is not closing. It
is just changing gears for a while and when the time comes
I will be back and so will The Center, renewed and ready
to rejoin the important work to be done here in California.
Meanwhile, many thanks to those who have helped us, supported
us, and inspired us. As the saying goes in Spanish,
¡Nos vemos!, we'll see you again.
Jim Shultz Executive Director
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THE DEMOCRACY CENTER ON-LINE is an electronic publication of The Democracy Center, distributed on an occasional basis to more than 1100 nonprofit organizations, policy makers, journalists and others.
Please consider forwarding it along to those who might be interested. People can request to be added to the distribution list by sending an e-mail note to "JShultz@democracyctr.org".
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The Democracy Center P.O. Box 22157 san Francisco, CA 94122 (415)564-4767 - phone and fax e-mail: info@democracyctr.org Web site: http://www.democracyctr.org