Interview with Schimba Lumea

Last week I had the opportunity to give an interview for a newly-created online platform, called SchimbaLumea.ro ("Change the World"). SchimbaLumea proposes a very cool idea, that was invented long time ago, but, I guess, never implemented in Romania until now: e-democracy. True, the Internet was not that widely spread so it couldn't be used as a democratic platform.
I think the idea is brilliant: don't limit your political and social choices to the formal system of voting and decision. Don't make your choices only every five years. Make them every day.

SchimbaLumea reunites issues suggested by users and solutions proposed or implemented by others. It has the virtue to reunite people interested in the same issues and in resolving them.
I presented PEEP (my project) as one of the solutions that answer the issue of higher education - namely, it addresses the gap between the offer of the higher education and the demands of the labor market.

I hope SchimbaLumea will be the platform that will make PEEP visible and under debate.

Schimba Lumea

Am iesit dintr-un sistem totalitar si traim in Democratie, nu? Ok - hai sa vedem cum functioneaza: Esti chemat la vot o data la patru ani. In general, ai de votat intre cativa indivizi fatarnici care se ofera sa te reprezinte, dar ale caror intentii reale sunt dubioase.

Sunt cateva partide care, odata la 4 ani, iti propun fiecare cate o suta de solutii mediocre la pachet. Votezi partidele, se creeaza un guvern, un parlament, care, treptat, uita tot ce au promis. Noi ramanem cu problemele.
Si totusi, acum suntem liberi si avem democratie: votam alesi care ne reprezinta interesele. Cu schimbalumea.ro, mai facem inca un pas.

Internetul nu este pe deplin utilizat in sprijinul proceselor democratice. Deocamdata, este folosit cel mult pentru a informa cetatenii sau, in cel mai bun caz, pentru a-i ajuta sa-si plateasca amenzile fara a mai sta la coada. Plecand de la aceasta constatare, schimbalumea.ro iti propune experienta unei noi generatii a democratiei: democratia user-friendly.

Implica-te activ in formularea problemelor si solutiilor care te afecteaza chiar pe tine. Propune si discuta probleme si solutii, organizeaza si lanseaza apeluri la actiune: de la petitii sau initiative legislative, pana la organizarea de intalniri, flashmob-uri si demonstratii. Problemele TALE si felul in care ne organizam INTRE NOI au de acum un spatiu liber, intuitiv si distractiv.

E o corvoada inutila mersul la vot? Te intelegem! Decat sa alegi intre oameni intre care nu ai de ales, mai bine stai pe net. Ramai acasa! Stai in fata monitorului si Schimba Lumea!

Vino la Adfel pe Motoare, Luni 25 Aug incepand cu 16.00 si pana la sfarsit, timp in care vom sta de vorba cu toti cei interesati.

My profile in enneagrams

Ones are conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are teachers, crusaders, and advocates for change: always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a mistake. Well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, they try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and perfectionistic. They typically have problems with resentment and impatience. At their Best: wise, discerning, realistic, and noble. Can be morally heroic.

* Basic Fear: Of being corrupt/evil, defective
* Basic Desire: To be good, to have integrity, to be balanced
* Enneagram One with a Nine-Wing: "The Idealist"
* Enneagram One with a Two-Wing: "The Advocate"

Key Motivations: Want to be right, to strive higher and improve everything, to be consistent with their ideals, to justify themselves, to be beyond criticism so as not to be condemned by anyone.

We have named personality type One The Reformer because Ones have a “sense of mission” that leads them to want to improve the world in various ways, using whatever degree of influence they have. They strive to overcome adversity—particularly moral adversity—so that the human spirit can shine through and make a difference. They strive after “higher values,” even at the cost of great personal sacrifice.
Ones are people of practical action—they wish to be useful in the best sense of the word. On some level of consciousness, they feel that they “have a mission” to fulfill in life, if only to try their best to reduce the disorder they see in their environment.

Although Ones have a strong sense of purpose, they also typically feel that they have to justify their actions to themselves, and often to others as well. This orientation causes Ones to spend a lot of time thinking about the consequences of their actions, as well as about how to keep from acting contrary to their convictions. Because of this, Ones often persuade themselves that they are “head” types, rationalists who proceed only on logic and objective truth. But, the real picture is somewhat different: Ones are actually activists who are searching for an acceptable rationale for what they feel they must do. They are people of instinct and passion who use convictions and judgments to control and direct themselves and their actions.

In the effort to stay true to their principles, Ones resist being affected by their instinctual drives, consciously not giving in to them or expressing them too freely. The result is a personality type that has problems with repression, resistance, and aggression. They are usually seen by others as highly self- controlled, even rigid, although this is not how Ones experience themselves. It seems to them that they are sitting on a cauldron of passions and desires, and they had better “keep the lid on” lest they and everyone else around them regret it.

[read more at EnneagramInstitute]

The Sonnet

Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLD)


Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?

Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.

Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so.

You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls.

Your exact female opposite:

Genghis Khunt

Random Brutal Sex Master

Always avoid: The 5-Night Stand (DBSM), The False Messiah (DBLM), The Hornivore (RBSM), The Last Man on Earth (RBSD)

Consider: The Loverboy (RGLM)

Check you own profile here.

Commencement

It is weird yet mysteriously beautiful to meet once more the same people that I started my U.S. journey along with, back in 2006. We have now gathered for a final Commencement Conference,
where we tied out relationships even stronger, where we told our stories for the last year, where we presented our projects.. Various and beautiful projects, each of them, made with enthusiasm and entrepreneurial skill. It's amazing how fluently every one of us is speaking English right now, no matter the topic or the joke. Some of us are real masters, they make puns and word games and use highly complicated terms for elegantly expressing simple things.

There are many things that changed in the last year, and I noticed them just now! Firstly, we are all over the culture shocks we've all been through. We're over the agitation and we found our place again, we regained our friends and parents, we got into the flow. Yet some things still remain: we don't regret one bit of what we've done and experienced in the U.S.; we all
call it the "experience that changed our lives"; we have this different glow in our eyes, because we've seen the grass on the other side and we try to grow it ourselves.

I constantly have flashbacks. While talking to the new UEPers (2008), I have flashbacks of Bard, of classes, of friends, of my beloved (yet conscientiously forgotten) New York City. But (and that's new) I have flashbacks of Budapest and the people I'm now spending my time with.
Secondly, I feel we are closer to each other and more relaxed. I personally don't feel that much intimidated by the others and I open myself to them, without discrimination. Why was I intimidated? Because since Budapest 2006 I realized how wonderful and smart and so high-quality these people are, and I could never be sure that I could measure up to them. Now I feel them as equal, as being the same yet so diverse in our languages and countries and interests and professions.
There's a lot to say about what I feel right now. But I rather keep it short (sic!) today and continue my thoughts another time.