On Wed, May 21, 2008 at 4:25 AM, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 7:58 AM, Michael Snow wikipedia@verizon.net wrote: But I do want
to strongly encourage more thoughtful people who care about Wikimedia, whether or not they are female, to take advantage of this opportunity and make themselves available. (Again, this does not reflect on any of the current candidates, I simply want as many good options as possible, and figure the voting system will help us make a strong choice.)
Can I strongly second this? Florence has served as an exemplary model of a community representative; we will miss her, and she has left a big role to fill.
Hear hear.
However I would like to state, despite of my previous saying, I will not run for this election. This Sunday I completed the burial of my husband in a Buddhist temple in Osaka. You may be surprised since he passed away in 2001, and even in Japan, it is uncommon to delay the completion of burial so long (the customary term is 100 days after funeral / born burning). And of course I've been overwhelmed before that, and that is the reason of my recent inactivity.
I though I'd run this Monday or Tuesday, but now I'm being convinced I need to develop my private life more extensive. Honestly, I confess my dedication to the project has been partly an attempt not to think about my private life: a life of young widow with a man in a suicidal death. In the other hand I was intentionally remote from the previous friends - common friends with my deceased ex-husband.
I am rather surprised how I love this project: both its mission and its community, people who I met and have worked together. But I think I need to pay attention it has been not the whole of my life and world. Last year, for the cause of project, I reconnected some old friends who are active on FLOSS movement. And I think I rather want to reconnect them, renew mutual relations to them and meet new people.
Now I feel I am reconciling the world, but it is not complete. I think I still need a break: to say wholeheartedly "life is beautiful". To re-estabilish my own life, both online and offline. And in this stage managing an international organization seems beyond my hands.
So I won't run to this election, I think I am not fully ready to get involved in public life. My relief is now we have Wing as a candidate who is active in Chinese projects and I have enjoyed working with for many years. But still, let me say, I'd also love to see female candidates ;)
Cheers,