I teach for the U.S. Dept. of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) in Guam, USA. Guam resides about two and one-half hours east of the Philippines, six hours north of New Zealand, and ... well quite far from Chicago. I do plan routine trips to the states to see family and friends and attend professional trainings however, due to my economic situation they don't occur every year or even bi-annually.

I had tried to attend last year's SqueakFest but wasn't quite able to pull it off. I would love to see some consortium activity in the Pacific Rim Region. It seems plausible to me since at least a few of Squeak's "Heavy Hitters" are native to this region that such a get together can be planned and executed.

In another note, I sense Squeak's worldwide momentum could be enhanced by sharing consortium with humanitarian sponsor organizations of OLPC and the like. My sense is that we, Squeakland, should apply as much effort in building worldwide humanitarian solidarity with as much vigor as we do to our code stream in order to effectuate the societal changes envisioned through the Dynabook concept. I see some fine inroads being developed, but the humanitarian workforce and vision to sustain and develop these roads even further can't be just expected to happen without some larger scale meetings of the well minded hoi polloi (not an oxymoron, they actually exist). The high class teas and power lunches with heads of state and CEO's can only get us so far. We must formulate and conduct large scale worldwide musters with the humanitarian purpose at the core of each assembly to truly reach a "Dyna"mic kingdom. So in closing, Chicago sounds great yet I'd still like to see some more action worldwide. I have been a proponent for Squeak since 2002 throughout all of DoDEA and my community. I am more than willing to work with others in my region to effectuate even greater change.

On Nov 28, 2007 2:47 AM, Kim Rose <kim.rose@vpri.org> wrote:

Greetings, Squeaklanders -

Viewpoints has recently been informed that after a long and
successful run hosting "SqueakFest" each summer for 5 years, Columbia
College will take a break in hosting the event in 2008. I think all
who attended any SqueakFest will agree what a wonderful job the group
at Columbia did to host our group to not only their "campus" but to
the city of Chicago. We are so grateful for this longer-than-
anticipated run and to our friends at Columbia for all their hard
work and effort each year.

Originally the thought was that the venue for SqueakFest would change
from year to year, enabling the community and venue to travel around
the world, have a variety of organizations to host, etc., etc. but
the first year was such a success in Chicago, we all wanted to "do it
again" and so, now, here we are.

I would like to ask you, the community, for feedback and ideas for
the future....

Should there be another SqueakFest?
Ideas for venue? Hosts? Sponsoring organizations?
Is it time to create more regional events? Perhaps in addition to an
annual international gathering?

Who would like to be involved in planning, organizing, etc..,etc?

I'd love to start a discussion on this topic, so please send your
thoughts and ideas.

cheers,
Kim

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