Post by josh on Dec 5, 2011 22:47:11 GMT -7
Greetings all. My name is Josh Davis. I'm a life-long Montanan, 32 years old with a B.A. in Economics and a long string of low-wage blue-collar jobs to prove it 
During my college years I worked for MontPIRG on the UM campus, mainly as a consumer advocate on issues such as tenant/landlord law (I ran the T/LL hotline for a few years and edited the current edition of the T/LL Guide-book) and the Buy-Back-The-Dams initiative. I got out of politics after becoming disgusted by "ends-justifies-the-means" mentality that seems to prevail across the political spectrum.
In September of 2001 I made my first trip to Nepal with the small inheritance I received from my beloved paternal grandparents. I spent three months bumming around, making friends, and having my eyes opened to how most of the world lives, while remaining blissfully unaware of the turmoil and jingoism that the events of 9/11 had sparked back home.
After graduating In 2004, I returned to Nepal to teach English at a school owned by a friends uncle and became acquainted with a Hindu holy man (saddhu) by the name of Kalinath Aghori Baba. Kali Baba was in his early seventies then and was, and still is, the most unique individual I have had the good fortune to meet during my short time here on this planet. He was the first totally selfless individual I had ever met, and I was struck by his sense of humor and his spiritual ecumenicism. He asked me if I would help raise a few thousand dollars to build a school for the children of the poor farming villages that surround his small ashram. I agreed, and thus began my adventure in international development.
Seven years later (my Goddess, how the time flies) we have built a school building, but are currently trying to come up with the funds to start the school. While I have received some generous donations for the project, I have funded the majority of the project out of my own pocket. It turns out that fundraising is not one of my strong points. However, what I have learned is that if I can build a school in a "third-world" country, relying almost entirely on my $12-$15,000/year jobs, while still subsisting, albeit simply, in the U.S., almost anything must be possible. I have dedicated 50% of whatever I earn to the project and while the going has been slow, it has been going (and, in my defense, we have had a number of unforseen obstacles to overcome). It staggers my imagination to think what could be done if people with slightly higher incomes than my own could bring themselves to make a similar commitment. Just think, for $50,000 we could build and staff a full-on hospital in Nepal or Djibouti or wherever! And yet, all we can think of to do with our money is buy flat-screen tvs and iPhones...anyway, I digress. Thus far I have made seven trips to Nepal...probably going again in April or May, if anyone is interested
I got involved with Occupy because it seemed very different from any other political movement I have seen or been a part of. Many of the issues which have rankled me for years are finally being addressed, and in a way that I can feel good about supporting. I now live in Bozeman (working as a home-health aide and as a waiter at Watanabe Japanese restaurant) but have tried to stay active in Occupy here as well as posting a bunch of super-wordy posts on this board. OM is far more advanced than OB at this point, but hopefully that will be changing.
It is my fervent hope that the Occupy Movement will catalyze real economic change and lead, one way or another, to more just economic and business models. My personal desire is that cooperative businesses will become the new norm in our economy and that Occupy will help in bringing this about. 2012 is the UN's "Year of the Co-op," so the timing seems ideal.
[I've attached a picture of Kali Baba cookin' up some yumminess in his kuti (hut), just cause.]
During my college years I worked for MontPIRG on the UM campus, mainly as a consumer advocate on issues such as tenant/landlord law (I ran the T/LL hotline for a few years and edited the current edition of the T/LL Guide-book) and the Buy-Back-The-Dams initiative. I got out of politics after becoming disgusted by "ends-justifies-the-means" mentality that seems to prevail across the political spectrum.In September of 2001 I made my first trip to Nepal with the small inheritance I received from my beloved paternal grandparents. I spent three months bumming around, making friends, and having my eyes opened to how most of the world lives, while remaining blissfully unaware of the turmoil and jingoism that the events of 9/11 had sparked back home.
After graduating In 2004, I returned to Nepal to teach English at a school owned by a friends uncle and became acquainted with a Hindu holy man (saddhu) by the name of Kalinath Aghori Baba. Kali Baba was in his early seventies then and was, and still is, the most unique individual I have had the good fortune to meet during my short time here on this planet. He was the first totally selfless individual I had ever met, and I was struck by his sense of humor and his spiritual ecumenicism. He asked me if I would help raise a few thousand dollars to build a school for the children of the poor farming villages that surround his small ashram. I agreed, and thus began my adventure in international development.
Seven years later (my Goddess, how the time flies) we have built a school building, but are currently trying to come up with the funds to start the school. While I have received some generous donations for the project, I have funded the majority of the project out of my own pocket. It turns out that fundraising is not one of my strong points. However, what I have learned is that if I can build a school in a "third-world" country, relying almost entirely on my $12-$15,000/year jobs, while still subsisting, albeit simply, in the U.S., almost anything must be possible. I have dedicated 50% of whatever I earn to the project and while the going has been slow, it has been going (and, in my defense, we have had a number of unforseen obstacles to overcome). It staggers my imagination to think what could be done if people with slightly higher incomes than my own could bring themselves to make a similar commitment. Just think, for $50,000 we could build and staff a full-on hospital in Nepal or Djibouti or wherever! And yet, all we can think of to do with our money is buy flat-screen tvs and iPhones...anyway, I digress. Thus far I have made seven trips to Nepal...probably going again in April or May, if anyone is interested
I got involved with Occupy because it seemed very different from any other political movement I have seen or been a part of. Many of the issues which have rankled me for years are finally being addressed, and in a way that I can feel good about supporting. I now live in Bozeman (working as a home-health aide and as a waiter at Watanabe Japanese restaurant) but have tried to stay active in Occupy here as well as posting a bunch of super-wordy posts on this board. OM is far more advanced than OB at this point, but hopefully that will be changing.
It is my fervent hope that the Occupy Movement will catalyze real economic change and lead, one way or another, to more just economic and business models. My personal desire is that cooperative businesses will become the new norm in our economy and that Occupy will help in bringing this about. 2012 is the UN's "Year of the Co-op," so the timing seems ideal.
[I've attached a picture of Kali Baba cookin' up some yumminess in his kuti (hut), just cause.]
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