Indelible Adventures: El Presidente!

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What do you say about the state of affairs when a candidate and his running mate capture over 70% of the popular vote in the presidential elections? Rigged right? Or is it just another Banana Republic on the verge of democratic calamity, but wait there’s more...charges of widespread bribery have also surfaced and now leaked to the media from multiple sources.

I can imagine you all trying to guess what country this shameful and ruthless attack on democracy has been carried out on, and can see you with your "sharpies" poised to cross it off your next travel destination list.

Oh the travesty of it all!

As you know my son Zach is an avid political scientist, and has been studying politics, history and foreign policy for quite some time including taking summer school at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington DC. Now mix this in with a splash of psychology and you have the makings of an interesting situation. How so you ask?

Well, soon after the school year began he mentioned that he might be interested in running for student council, but after a few days it sort of faded from our conversations and so thought nothing more of it. Then three weeks ago he came one night all excited and announced that he had decided to run for president of the Student Council. I must say I was both surprised and impressed by his enthusiasm including the forethought and planning that he and his running mate (Garrett) had mapped out in terms of their campaign strategy. Until now Zach hadn't much interest in being involved in anything to do with school except focusing on his studies...more of a minimalist if you will. I certainly don't want to cast aspersions on his achievements on either his academic or sporting accomplishment but it was sort of a surprise lets be honest. :-)

I’m not sure he was even aware of his own personal ambitions, well at least not at the beginning but as soon as they had announced their candidacy everything seemed to spring into life. It seems as though he finally realized that this was a fantastic opportunity to put their political theories and analysis to work in a real life situation. Cool right?

They designed and produced campaign buttons that were reminiscent of the old style US presidential buttons that were so common in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When I saw the button they designed for the first time it reminded me of the campaign button produced for the 1964 Barry Goldwater campaign. These guys were going old school - love the retro!

Collectively they mapped out, what I can only describe as a comprehensive plan for winning the campaign. First they planned a weekly series of events targeting the most apt to vote – yes, the year 7 & 8 students. They also realized the specific urges and motivations for this core constituency…you guessed it cookies, muffins and candy.

They enlisted a breadth of supporters and volunteers, and even some from the most unexpected places. Yes, Zach talked Sami into baking cookies for his campaign so he could give them out in the lunchroom one week. I think she liked being asked to help, but second she loves to bake – especially cookies where she gets to “sample” them as they come fresh and hot out of the oven. It was awesome to see them working together for a common cause – so sweet!

Another week Garrett’s mum baked a huge batch of muffins, again to ensure that they were captured and fortified this key battleground…the “lunchroom”.

That wasn’t all, they enlisted volunteers from across the various groups and cliques within the school to understand what was important for the students this year and figure out how they might go about doing it. Then with all this information they began developing the story line for a short campaign video that could be played in various venues throughout the school.

The key tenant for the video was that it had to be short, funny and hit their campaign messages in away that was both friendly and empowering to the student body. Filmed on hand held iPhones and edited on their laptops they scripted, shot and edited the video in less than a week. Such a hit!

They certainly worked hard to be top of mind when the balloting opened last Friday morning, and by 11:00 am it was all over. They were declared the winners in an absolute landslide, capturing more than 70% of the votes cast.

As a side note, I think it will be a great addition to his already impressive academic record, and can't hurt his chances of having a choice of universities both in Canada and abroad.

Let's be honest, clearly in this case - the apple fell far, far from the tree!

Yesterday he chaired the first meeting of the student council. They have already incorporated some of the feedback they received during the campaign and developed a a yearlong events calendar as the big desire for many students was to have more social activities and events run by students for students. First up is a Halloween fancy dress competition scheduled for Monday.

Another busy weekend ahead for El Presidente me thinks! :-)

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“Hanoi Posting” A series of fictional micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Come visit "Hanoi Posting" at its new home!

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This week's photos are from a night photo shoot I did last week in downtown Toronto.

Enjoy!