DUMOC PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER TWO -- January 29, 2011, 7:19 pm
DUMOCEST (Eastern Standard time) Meetings Report
DUMOCEST (Eastern Standard time) Meetings Report
The DUMOC local organizers have had a couple of meetings this month and want to share event planning with everyone. The Google approved address for the site is 2172 Erb's Rd, Wilmot, Ont., N3A 3M4 (the sign on Erb's Rd. says Foreman's Club). A search should show interested parties where it is. The dates as previously announced are Friday, July 29 to Monday, Aug. 1, 2011.
Changes to the email contact list this time around include: a different email for Trudy Harrington, Tom McDonald, Joanne Kennedy and Leslie Buresh (we hope these are all current). Added to the list are: David Papazian, Tom Ashman, Larry Caesar, Jim Chorney, Joe Szalai, Mary Holmes, Jann Tenenbaum (Jann Van Horne) and possibly Fred Kemp and Frank Goldspink. Please let us know if there are other people who should be notified.
We have combed through several boxes of records from back in the day and compiled several lists of names of people who worked at Dumont, used Dumont as a resource for their projects, knew Dumonters, wished they knew Dumonters and some who wished they never heard of Dumont or its workers. These lists will be compiled by Steve using electronic wizardry into one master list which we will be using in our communication strategy. We will disseminate a list of people we don't know how to contact to the larger group for assistance in the near future.
Steve Izma and Gary Robins are working on setting up a website over which we will have more control and flexibility, as well as hosting an easier-to-manage mailing list. You will receive an e-mail about this soon, allowing you to either confirm your membership in the mailing list or to opt out. Despite the plaintive pleadings of our Prairie populists, people's poetic ponderings are not as prolific as planned. Perhaps the privacy provided by a different platform will produce more plentiful posts.
CONTEST: We would like to have commemorative T-shirts for the event as is our tradition. The contest is on to be the designer of choice. Please send us your thoughts for this year's T-shirt by March 15, 2011, and the designer of the chosen logo/picture will receive a fabulous prize during the Saturday night festivities. If no suitable entries are submitted the default plan is to produce a photoshopped composite of Gabe, Louis, crutches, walkers, IV tubes, etc. Please help us avoid this.
Our thoughts about how the weekend will progress are:
FRIDAY: We don't know exactly when we have access to the place but we will most likely have the afternoon to set things up. We anticipate that people will start to trickle in Friday. The supper plan is to have simple BBQ type food and salads so food can be quickly and easily produced for people whenever they arrive throughout the afternoon and evening. We will have a variety of tents and at least one pop-up tent trailer for people who wish to camp.
SATURDAY: This will be the main gathering day at the Foreman's Club with the major meal coming Saturday night. No food plan has been devised and we will wait until closer to the weekend so we will more accurately know numbers of people. We haven't planned any structured events for the day or evening and we can play it by ear. There are horseshoe pits which might be the greatest physical challenge we wish to overcome that day. We could have a baseball game for old times sake but we might want to have an ambulance on site. Kae Elgie has volunteered to chair the games committee which probably will consist of mostly "Do You Remember.....". There will be lots of visual aids and memorabilia.
SUNDAY: Generally a slow wakeup and recovery from the night before with a breakfast/brunch type of meal. We are thinking that people might like to spend Sunday afternoon in town. We are hoping to produce a series of before-and-after pictures of many of the places and houses people frequented years ago and a tour of some of them might be of interest. We are exploring the possibility of having the Sunday meal at 97 Victoria St. N., the actual site of Dumont. The building is now owned by The Working Centre, an organization very much sympathetic with Dumont ideals, and interested in supporting our event. Steve is exploring this possibility and more information will be forthcoming. If we have the meal in town this might provide an opportunity for people who didn't want to come out to the Foreman's Club to meet and gather. A major event for Sunday afternoon (location yet to be determined) will be the dispersal of the Dumont Press Graphix Pension Fund.
MONDAY: Generally a slow wakeup for the people out at the Foreman's Club and others who make their last trip out there with the same type of breakfast/brunch type meal as planned for Sunday. We don't know exactly when we have to vacate but we will have the afternoon to clean up everything and move stuff back into town.
That's it for now.
DUMOC PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER ONE -- March 20, 2010, 7:14 pm
ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE REPORT:
There have been many replies indicating an interest in attending. Approved credentials will be forthcoming to Dorothy Wigmore (and perhaps Alex), Anne Valliant, Janet Davis, Mel Rotman, Liz Janzen, John Ford, John Dufort, Arel Agnew, John Swaigen, Bryan Anderson, Janet Stoody, Brian Iler and Mary. James Allen and Alison Stirling have indicated that there is a strong likelihood they will attend but the paperwork cannot be completed yet. John Koop has indicated interest but his world-wide business interests may preclude participation. Rom Rumm was non committal but seemed to indicate that securing the sponsorship of Depends was an important factor in deciding whether to make such a long journey (we will leave any conclusions about this to your imagination).
The only confirmed NO was from Larry Burko who will be venturing this way in the summer of 2010, making his decision quite understandable.
The email addresses above are available to everyone so that people will know who has been contacted. If you have contact information for other people you could let us know and they will be included if so desired. The LOST AND FOUND SUBCOMMITTEE reports that they have outdated email addresses for Kirsten Iler, Andrew Iler, Gerrit Huvers, Fred Kemp, Larry Caesar, Trudy Harrington, Harriet Kadeckel, Tom Ashman, Greg Michalenko, Joe Szalai and Doug Roberts. If anyone has current contact info for any of these people, let us know or pass on the invitation. On a more positive note, we have found and added Bruce Steele, Ed Hale, Peter Lang, Kerrie Atkinson, Ian Angus, Jerry Cook, Cindy Campbell and Terry Moore.
VENUE SEARCH COMMITTEE:
We have a very exciting announcement: we are in preliminary negotiations to hold some of the events at the exact site of Dumont Press Graphix - i.e. 97 Victoria St. The building presently houses the Soup Kitchen among other things and may be available for our use. We will keep everyone informed as negotiations progress. We have thought of sites similar to previous gatherings on the outskirts of the cities and we will have to consider accommodation for people as part of our deliberations. There are food preparation facilities for the Soup Kitchen naturally so this would be a great coup. Janet Davis most graciously volunteered Mel to help with food preparation so we will probably not be feasting only on hot dogs. Thank you Janet.
However, despite her generosity with Mel's time, Janet also informed us that there would be no funding from the City of Toronto for our event. We fail to see how our small weekend would put much of a dent in Toronto's projected $300 million surplus but there you are. I guess we are not BIG CITY enough!
DRUG TESTING COMMITTEE:
We have had much valuable input from Dick Pound and the International Doping Agency. It goes without saying that there will be mandatory drug testing for all participants. Low levels of drugs, both legal and illegal, with be severely punished. Only levels of 1.5 or higher on the alcohol scale will be accepted. There may be local suppliers on site and there are many commercial establishments spread around the area but specific and more exotic requirements are best met personally.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE:
There has been some misunderstanding regarding the date of this event. It will NOT occur this summer (2010) but WILL occur next summer (2011). Building selection, facility construction and Beta testing for Dumont started in the summer of 1971 and full operational status was achieved at the beginning of the university fall term in 1971. The long weekend may even be a significant milestone in the history but who can really remember.
Also, in keeping with the present day technology, please check out our blog at http://dumontpressgraphix.blogspot.com/ It may become the prime organizing tool if the gremlins in our tech department have their way. You may even find this email included in the blog if some gremlin knows how to do it.
LEGAL DEPARTMENT:
In our more and more litigious times, the DUMOC is making every effort to be as inoffensive as possible. There has already been a comment about latent ageism in our previous communication and some responses to it. We realize that many in our group have been in the forefront of fighting for equality for all sectors of our society over the past decades but that we must always be vigilant, recognizing and dealing with discrimination even within our own ranks. We apologize for any and all perceived or actual comments in the past, present and future that may or may not be or have been construed or misconstrued as having insulted or diminished in any way whatsoever anyone's past, present or future sense of self worth and or entitlement and or potential for growth and self actualization. We will try to do better, if we can remember.
