Unloading Boxes for Altadena School

Fires.com

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Fires.com Is Officially Under Renovations

Starting last Monday, the Gracie and I began fixing Fires.com which has been fairly broken and ugly. We will add a page that links to the TOADS site, a page for who contributed, a contact page, and a archive of the Fires.com story. Going forward we, and the rest of the TOADS team have started planning our next Fires.com project — though branching from just fire survivors.

Currently we are in debates between aesthetic, impact, and tastefulness. We have decided to do what many mainstream charities do and pull less punches, being more willing to directly show the problem. This is mainly due to coming up on the one year anniversary of the event. I will be donating my personal photos into the photo archive is currently up but empty. We also are planning to include other teen works.

The debate seems to be on whether we center it around the teenage experience or not. With a place to show art, or as a barely trafficked site that is more loyal to the original Fires.com.

Despite being the main admin of the website mechanics for both TOADS.com and Fires.com I am yet to figure out why Fires uses number IDs in its URL whereas Toads uses the individual page name. I learned this due to struggling to change the heading color on just one page. Ultimately I used CSC to do so. I was warned “it would crash all the sites”. It seems to be working fine so far though.

It is unclear how much the TOADS team should have sway over Fires.com. Despite toads meeting twice a month at a minimal Fires feels to be a separate group. Though it has a lot of overlapping members.

I played Peekabo with this kid at a toads showToads

November 11th Announcement

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November 11th Show Announcment

It’s official! We have a show on November 11th at the Hotel Ziggy. Doors will open at 7:00 and we will be headlining Persona Non Grata! Hope to see you there!

Reflecting on Communication- End of Mod 7

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Reflecting on Communication- End of Mod 7 assignments

Today marks the end of all school-required reports for TOADS teen collective, and honestly it’s a relief. All of the progress reports are complete, and all exemplary applications are submitted. But paired with this relief is a great sense of unknown- somehow this ‘completion’ is not accompanied by the expected sense of finality. Since TOADS is meant to live on, we are far from done. At the same time, I anxiously wonder about how my teachers will view my work. I know what we have done, and how successful this project has been; but will that be successfully relayed to my teachers? These final assignments were less of a challenge of achievement, but rather ability of communication. In the light of these feelings, I’ve really been considering what is important when weighing grades with real-life experience. Does it really matter if I recieve a reward or not? The true recognition and satisfaction could never come from a grade.

Principles

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Our First Draft Of Principles

MISSION STATEMENT

Making culture, art, and connections more accessible to teens.

RADICALLY OPEN

No secrets, no gate keeping. If you are 20 or younger you can participate. No rules or structures shall prevent any child, 13 to 20, from being able to participate to the highest degree. Both prospective and current members should be able to participate to the highest degree even without legal documentation, parental support, or kith vouching. The only way one can lose this right is through deemed treason. Breaking code of conduct, through the three strike system, voids this right.

QUALIFICATION

No member can be over 20. Upon turning 21 a member loses all influence on TOADS and TOADS decisions. Any access to spaces intended solely for youth aged 13 – 20 will be revoked and accounts will be shifted to alumni status. Exceptions may be made for those 12 and younger, but full membership privileges may be omitted for members under the age of 13.

OPEN TO FEEDBACK

We share first drafts and rough work and are open to perspectives from other team members. Official TOADS projects should be visible to other members at every step of the process. Any TOADS internal documents, messaging on toads platforms, and communications through toads accounts, shall be visible to TOADS leadership to ensure safety, and originality. TOADS retains the right to retain any and all private chat logs, personal data, and personal doings but will access personal documents, chat logs, and personal data without reason for concern, which will be deemed by a panel of admin.

COLLABORATIVE AND INCLUSIVE

We dedicate time to collaborative generation of creative solutions where every team member has a voice.

MEETING STRUCTURE

We are efficient. Each leadership meeting should be conducted using a meeting structure defined by the leadership at the time which shall include time for voting, speaking, and bringing ideas to the group. 

We dedicate time to collaborative generation of creative solutions where every team member has a voice. The TOADS meeting will take place at least once every 30 days. Future meeting dates will be decided at the end of each meeting and made publicly available to all verified TOADS members

ALWAYS LEARNING

We seek out new skills, share new knowledge, and support others who are learning. Ask for help, and admit when others can do something better. Organizations thrive with diversity.

ADAPTIVE AND AGILE

We embrace change and maintain agility in order to shift with evolving circumstances. When the world changes we don’t have to like it (AI for example) but we stay informed and adapt without compromising our core principles. 

CODE OF CONDUCT AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

We follow a defined code of conduct. Breeches of said conduct will have their corresponding punishments enforced to the highest degree.

Any conflicts or breeches will be resolved by a JOT (Jury Of Teens, a system of problem management).

JOT: Conflicts shall be resolved by a group of ten random active TOADS members who are both willing and uninvolved to said dispute. Each person in the group of ten must agree on what actions will be taken, and if 10 days goes by without agreement a new group of six is chosen to fulfill the role of the JOT. This process may be indefinite but tried members may not participate in any decisions until the JOT is resolved. Each member of the original conflict who does not follow the group's verdict will be tried again for perfidy against TOADS.

RECOURSES

Making culture, art, and connections more accessible to teens.

WE ARE A COOPERATIVE NON-PROFIT

Making culture, art, and connections more accessible to teens.

Posted by

Griffin McLemore

Copy of TOADS GovernmentDownload