contact me
4-13-08
This was an uphill struggle that involved meeting with many members of the Pitzer community. I also had to step out of the shadow of negativity that I helped create by posting some of the negative emails I received in various places online. I can now say with comfort that the Masculinist Coalition is no longer being marginalized on Pitzer's campus. In fact, another men's group proposed a charter at senate tonight and was also given official recognition. This group appears to focus on more serious discussion based meetings and I know everyone at the Masculinist Coalition looks forward to working with them. We still haven't been given official funding, but that will hopefully change soon. Immediately following the vote that gave us status as an official Pitzer group, a member of senate called for quorum. Many senators were unable to make tonight's senate meeting since the end of the year can be very busy. At the time of the vote, there wasn't quorum but since that was not questioned until after the vote the initial vote stands! Unfortunately, because it was now confirmed that there wasn't quorum the issue of funding couldn't be resolved. Hopefully that will be taken care of next week. Some senators wanted to postpone this issue indefinitely, and I'm glad that proposition was rejected. It would be hard to continue being positive and establishing good will on campus if we felt like we were being ignored and placed on a potentially infinite time out. I'm proud of Pitzer Senate for ratifying two separate group charters that will hopefully further a positive male identity on campus and throughout the world. Sorry for the delay in adding the minutes of our most recent meeting. Enjoy the excellent photographs taken by student photographer Than Volk. Masculinist Coalition minutes for 4-10-08 I. We all went around and said our names. Attendance included... Phil, Jeremy, Mike, Noah, Nathaniel, James, Alex, Ryan, Luke, Pablo, Annika, Colin, Dashiell, Andrew, Ian and a prospective student. II. MOTW Jahangir and Charleton Heston were nominated Men of the Week. Jahangir trained gazelles to fight, was taking over countries and leading armies at the age of 12 and was an all around badass dude who didn't take shit from anybody. This was the second consecutive time he was nominated and I'm glad he finally got the honor. The late Charleton Heston was the second MOTW. He will forever be remembered for his roles in Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green. He had a face that belonged in another era. His work with the NRA was also mentioned. He will be missed. III. Admitted Student Day Apparently this was going on at the same time as our meeting. We were trying to plan ahead for it, but failed. We will be prepared for the next admitted students day next weekend with a Slip-N-Slide and Man Juice. 45 dollars was approved to spend. Someone mentioned purchasing some industrial strength (wtf?) KY Jelly. To save money, all Masculinist Co. members will visit the student health center and load up on as much free lubricant as they'll provide. V. Money like Ron Paul Our pockets are swollen as heck from all these donations we're getting online. How do we spend the money? We'll keep our eyes open for a Go-Kart on craigslist and ebay. Preferably electric for environmental reasons. 100 dollars was approved to send care packages to our troops in Iraq. Not all of us agree with this war, and we're sure not all of them do either, but it would be nice to make their tour of duty a little more tolerable. There's some group that sends them Silly String which helps them test for trip-wires when they enter a building. Also, we'll use some of this money to fill up a car with gas and visit a Battered Women and Children center. We might even make a donation assuming there's no funny stuff going on when we get there. Painting a growing mural on Pitzer's campus with the MOTW was also brought up, but fortunately we don't have to fund that. V. Town Hall Meeting + Senate Go to both of these things and speak up about your experience as a Masculinist. Wear something nice to Senate if you have it. VI. Zombie Porn I gave a moving discussion regarding this random porn I was watching the other day. I skipped the exposition and neglected to read the title. All of a sudden, I realized I was watching this really scary porno that had a zombie protagonist. His eyes were yellow, his teeth were pointy and it was a terrifying experience I won't soon forget. The bottom line is the Internet is a scary place and if you're going to experiment with pornographic content, read the title and pay attention to the opening story-line so you know what you're getting into. You'll never be more vulnerable than when you're totally naked in front of your computer with a candle lit at 3 in the afternoon. Be safe out there. VII. NBA Playoffs We'll be having some kind of a party in the GSC for the first game of the NBA playoffs that start 4-20-08. More details/funding will be discussed at the next meeting. VIII. Mother's Day The follow Irish proverb was read: A man loved his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest" Mother's Day is coming up and everyone should take the time to make a nice card for their mom. Decorate the envelope and write "don't open until mother's day" on the back. It's a great day to honor the woman who brought you into this world. If things aren't so great between you and your mom, use this time to repair the situation. On a much more serious note, if you don't have a mom and this time of year gets you down don't hesitate to speak to any Masculinist Coalition members about it. 
  Dashiell Driscoll President of Pitzer's Masculinist Coalition http://masculinists.org |
4-8-08
Banana Man showed up early and had to sit through 45 minutes of non-Masculinist related business. He almost passed out from de-hydration in what is, apparently, a very warm suit even if you're almost naked. He wasn't aware of how senate worked and was actually voting yay or nay on issues for about half an hour before he was informed only senators can vote. On a dramatically less humorous note, I approached protesters from the Feminist Coalition after senate to thank them for coming out every week to voice their opinion. I told them that I won't be posting any of their emails online and encouraged them to feel safe and comfortable meeting up with me. I tried to engage them all peacefully to hear more of their side of things, but one member of the Pitzer Feminist Coalition didn't want to keep things peaceful. This fellow Pitzer student, and member of the Feminsit Coalition, told me repeatedly that she wanted to punch me in the face. She said the only thing preventing her from doing so was her desire to graduate. She made it clear that this wasn't just some joking remark and even asked for my measurements in height and weight to assess if she could "take me" in some kind of fight she had apparently been fantasizing about. Who the hell does she think she is threatening another member of this student body? Apparently she wants all of the privilege that comes with gender equality, but none of the responsibility. She went on to say that the Feminist Coalition had "no end" to the jokes they tell about the Masculinists. She condescendingly criticized the group for being "very gay" (referencing the Man Juice cooler we have at every meeting) like being gay was some kind of bad thing. The whole encounter left me shocked, disgusted and sincerely concerned for my safety at Pitzer College. I think it's painfully ironic that this same girl minutes before threatening me, in order to insure we would get denied funding, would read comments out loud at Pitzer Student Senate from anonymous Internet users that have no affiliation to our group. I'm liable for users I can't control but Feminist Coalition isn't held accountable for their openly violent and homophobic members? This person asked me to keep this kind of issue in the community, and off the Internet, but I see no reason why her hateful actions should remain hidden here at Pitzer. This angry young lady certainly doesn't speak for all members of the Feminist Coalition. Two members of the Feminist Coalition have contacted me to condemn this girl's words and express that's not how they feel as a group about me or the Masculinist Coalition. Furthermore, this girl certainly doesn't speak for all members of the Pitzer Community. Dozens of Pitzer students have contacted me to say that they support what the Masculinist Coalition is doing, but feel afraid to speak out to support us. Thanks to this violent threat from a Feminist Coalition member, I can understand why. The Masculinist Coalition will continue to improve our charter and will be at Senate this upcoming Sunday to apply for funding and official recognition again. Thank you to all the concerned people who have contacted me to offer support, donations, legal council and constructive criticism. The Masculinist Coalition will meet on Thursday at 7:33pm in front of the Grove House and I'll be sure to post an update after. Dashiell Driscoll President of Pitzer's Unofficial Masculinist Coalition http://masculinists.org |
4-6-08
|
4-2-08
 Thanks, Ralph! I look forward to having you as a guest speaker in the near future and will be sure to let you know how your money is being spent. Your generosity has sparked a wave of emails from people looking to donate/help out in any way they can and I couldn't be more grateful for the amount of exposure and positive support you helped generate. The Masculinist Coalition will forever be indebted to KROQ and the Kevin & Bean show. Anytime you're interested in having me back on the air please don't hesitate to ask. Did you miss the interview? I've uploaded the entire thing for your streaming pleasure below. Towards the end of the interview Pitzer's Feminist Coalition president Phoebe calls in to voice her opinion. She actually agrees to let our group exist and leave us alone! Thank you Phoebe! It almost makes me want to post victory.jpg again. Thanks again to Ralph, everyone at the Kevin & Bean show and all the wonderful people who have taken the time to contact me. My inbox is being bombarded, but I'll do my best to respond to all of you. If you're interested in supporting the Masculinist Coalition in any way, please contact me or buy a shirt here (we get 90% of the revenue). The Masculinist Coalition will meet tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:33pm in front of the Grove House. I'll be sure to post an update. Dashiell Driscoll President of Pitzer's Unofficial Masculinist Coalition http://masculinists.org |
3-31-08
 Another person in attendance said it was embarassing for the school to support a group that uses a name that some people might associate with a male dominance movement. The fact of the matter is that there are a wide variety of results that pop up when you google masculinist and very few of them fit any kind of negative description. You know what's really embarassing? Pitzer college wanting to keep negative connotations attached to a word that could be positive. The only piece of criticism that I found to be valid was a comment that making a person's vote weigh more for every semester they attend 3/4 of the meetings could create an insurmountable level of power with a few members. I'll be sure to change that in the next draft. I think a person should be given no more than 2 votes, a fair reward for consistent attendance. The Masculinist Coalition will re-apply for funding/official recognition next week at student senate. Anyone who wants to help me revise the charter can Contact Me with suggestions and we can meet in person later this week. Just don't complain that we need to change our name because it will never happen. To say one group can call themselves A but another group can't call themselves B is bullshit, and I'm not going to cave just because it would be a shortcut to $150.00 In the meantime, I'll be actively reaching out to anyone and everyone who could potentially sponsor us. Anyone interested in sponsoring the Masculinist Coalition, either locally at Pitzer College or on a national level, should feel free to contact me. Anyone who wants to share their feelings with the Pitzer student senate can email them all at once here: senate@pitzer.edu. Please feel free to read our revised charter (complete with by-laws) below. I'll be doing an interview tomorrow morning @ 9 am (April 1st...no joke) on the Kevin & Bean show on 106.7 KROQ. Anyone in the world can stream it live at kroq.com Dashiell Driscoll President of Pitzer's Unofficial Masculinist Coalition http://masculinists.org PS- I think it's nothing short of hilarious that people wanted to nitpick over all words in our charter but nobody seemed to have a problem with the Shenanigans by-laws. [charter] The Masculinist Coalition is a group created to celebrate man as members see fit, discuss issues men face and (most importantly) have a good time with other people of a similar mindset. This group is looking to find things that are deeply tied to male identity for each individual member that were not being represented in any previous organization on campus. The Masculinist Coalition will gather to discuss what these things are and plan events to share them with other members of the community in a fun and light hearted way. We also will hold events to show pride regarding the male identity we establish (which is not static and can be molded by members who consistently attend and offer their input) as well as create a general awareness of who we are and what we are all about. We do not discriminate. All members of all races, genders, sexual orientations and religions are encouraged to attend our events. This group will address, but is not limited to, heterosexul issues which members feel were previously under represented on campus. Anyone can attend and discuss any issues they have with being a male/male identity/or any relationships they experience with male identity. This includes people who are not men and this includes people who are not heterosexual. This includes everybody. The Masculinist Coalition will never put down anyone from any dissenting group. All we want is the freedom to exist as males with the identity we establish and share it with anyone who is interested. We encourage female attendance (and consistent female members) and hope they enjoy sharing activities that the group links to a positive male identity. Bylaws: 1. President a. A president will be voted on every semester at the first meeting. b. To be eligible to run for president, you must have attended all meetings/events last semester. c. Anyone attending the first meeting can vote, but members who attended more than 8 meetings the previous semester have the weight of their voted doubled every semester. d. You can vote for yourself, but it can only count as 2 votes maximum e. For the first semester of existence, the Masculinist Coalition will retain the current President to make sure the values of the group are retained. f. All meetings must have the president in attendance. g. If the president is not in attendance, he may assign an interim president at the beginning of the semester for any such absences. 2. Absences a. Everyone is allowed one unexcused absence that will not hurt their attempts at running for president. b. The president can grant anyone a presidential pardon that can expunge any and all absences from the record. c. Attending members can veto that decision, but only by a unanimous vote. d. The president is allowed to pardon him/herself 3. Shenanigans a. If, for any reason, a member of the group feels that a meeting is being invaded by people who are there to cause trouble, intentionally sabotage a group vote or just not have a good time any member can yell "Shenanigans!" to initiate shenanigans. b. The president must approve the declaration of shenanigans before shenanigans can start. c. Once approved, all attending members must sing Europe's "The Final Countdown" for 124 minutes, the exact runtime of "Die Hard 2" c1. Anyone who is not familiar with the song can request a 1 minute demonstration. d. Anyone not singing "The Final Countdown" must leave immediately and can't vote that day. e. At any time, the person who decreed shenanigans or the president can make a motion to end shenanigans. f. Only the president can officially end shenanigans before the 124 minute mark. 4. Additional By-Laws/Charter revisions a. Additional by-laws can be added at the beginning of any meeting. b. Charter revisions can be added at the beginning of any meeting. c. All charter revisions and additional by-laws must be unanimously approved by all attending members. [/charter] |
3-27-08
|
3-13-08 |
3-11-08 |
3-10-08 |
3-7-08 Here are some pictures I took of the posters we made for Man of the Week. We were actually 5 minutes late to our first meeting because we were at Kinko's waiting on the printer. I added a quarter for scale.   Thank you for taking the time to view/listen. I can tell there was a lot of anger/frustration over the name "Masculinist" because it might be linked to people who try to put women down (even though a Google search will reveal otherwise) and we here at the Masculinist Coalition want to make it infinitely clear that we don't discriminate against anybody. We're just trying to be ourselves and we hope that the community (both locally and abroad) can respect and tolerate us. Dashiell Driscoll President of Pitzer's Masculinist Coalition http://masculinists.org PS. I think it's hilarious everyone kept complaining our name but nobody seemed to pay attention to the sign on the cooler of Kool-Aid we brought...  Expect an update after our first Manday Monday. |