Jim wrote an important response in the first Need to Refocus thread of this past week, cautioning us that forming a new national organization right now, before the regional groups are fully formed up and strong and active, could be setting such an organization up for national attacks before we are ready to sustain them. Since I didn’t see any responses to his comment, I am bringing it up here.
In fact, perhaps it is best, since we are smack dab in the middle of one of the most intense months of the year, to wait and just knock this idea of a new national organization around in our heads for awhile and bring it up at a less intense time. Maybe some of us could meet out in CA next summer, for example. I certainly have no great desire to fly over to Washington, DC next summer and pay a few thousand dollars to hear the same stuff that we have heard every year for many years now, even though NTPRS can be very beneficial for new people.
And anyway, it is advisable to table this idea because Diana has no time right now, and she would have to be involved directly with how this thing plays out, such is my confidence in her and I am not the only one thinking that way.
Things I really like about this idea of a new national group (and we need to make sure we credit Alisa Shapiro-Rosenberg for busting it out in prime time last week on the ACTFL list) are:
– our obvious passion for it.
– in the next year something big needs to happen to break us out of the same old same old.
– TPRS (the acronym as currently perceived by the public – not the people associated with it) is officially out of breath, having run a good race but now having evolved into something greater than it was so the acronym is just flat on its ass.
– this would be the first national organization from which someone doesn’t directly profit financially, which is huge.
And again, I really like this suggestion from Leigh Anne:
Council on Language Education, Acquisition and Research = CLEAR
BUT I think Jim is wise to point out that at this point some time is needed. So unless anyone has any other ideas on this, and since we are so busy (right?) these days, let’s just take Jim’s advice and let this idea simmer on the back burner for awhile, I’ll talk to Diana this week or next and report back here and we’ll see what happens.