Head Coordinator Elections (2010)

Coordinator Position Applied For: Head Coordinator
Applicant Name: Robert F. Crosby II
Applicant Email: rcrosby2@gmail.com
Applicant Home Chronicle: Caught in the Eternal Twilight, Edwardsville, IL, Peoria, IL: The Shattered Mirror, and ST of Springfield, IL: Capitol City Cauldron

Introduction/Background:

Good day to everyone reading this application, my name is Robert F. Crosby II and I am running for the position of Head Coordinator for One World by Night. I have been playing in the shared universe of One World by Night since my sojourn to Chicago in the late 1990s. Most folks will know me as the player of the Brujah Saul/ Archon Good, whom I began in 2000. I have also been a Storyteller and Council Member for more than a decade at this point and have recently been the Assistant Head Coordinator II.

In the really real world, I am the Project Director for the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area and live in Springfield, IL.

I like to consider myself level-headed and fair in the execution of all duties, real or hobby and am highly proficient at multi-tasking. I also have immeasurable experience with state and federal bureaucracies, so this position should be relatively easy by comparison. However, from the amount of time put into this hobby daily by all of the players and staffs in OWbN, I regard it as a very important task and one that I would like to perform to the best of my ability.

Administrative Experience:

On the local level, I have been active in OWbN, as was mentioned earlier, for more than a decade and have been a Storyteller and Council Member for two OWbN games as well as assist three games with entering the organization. Conflict resolution, plot development, hot-heads and cool-heads…I have seen it all and yet I remain.

On a global level, I have traveled throughout the Midwest of the United States and have made appearances on both the East and West Coasts throughout the years, not just playing, but developing a rewarding set of friendships that continue to this day. I have assisted the Brujah Coordinator’s Office in the development of the Resource Guide, a non-binding packet and am currently a sub coordinator for the same. Most other games, Coordinators, and Storytellers I have dealt with through the years have worked well with me to provide the highest level of game available.

I have also served as the Assistant Head Coordinator following Scott’s retirement from OWbN and Larping. In that time, I have assisted chronicles and fellow coordinators with crafting proposals, interpreting by-laws for chronicles and coordinators, mediating disputes for chronicles, players and coordinators, posting votes, and assisting in steering discussion of pertinent topics for One World by Night. In all of this I have endeavored to seek the type of civility and transparency in all things that I would like to see throughout the organization that holds a special place in my heart.

In my real life experience, I am a professional historian for the State of Illinois and the NPS. I encounter problems both ephemeral and actual on a daily basis and am forced to find creative solutions to many difficult problems, both from a purely administrative standpoint and from the perspective of an historian, overseeing countless historic sites, landmarks, and the like. Oh…and I am in charge of a 42 county National Heritage Area, which includes every historic site, project, etc. related to Abraham Lincoln…so administrating is what I do most days.

Goals:

I would like to see a more cohesive and cogent Executive Team that functions more like a team for the benefit of all. We may not agree on everything, as is par for the course, but we can still strive to come to a consensus for the good of One World by Night, which can be better done through constructive and civil communication. I would also like to see this sense of teamwork and constructive dialog spill over into the general coordinator team, as well as across the wide variety of chronicles. After all, we all recognize that their primary responsibility is resolving disputes as they arise between players, Storytellers, Council Members, Coordinators and the like, after they have failed to have been resolved at a local level. By the time it reaches this level of appeal for resolution, it is almost assured that the situation is heated and all parties have barricaded themselves in for the long haul of argument. In instances like this, it is necessary to have a cool head and an eye towards peaceful and agreeable mediation.

There are several other issues I would like to see addressed, but will do so mainly from behind the scenes, as a Head Coordinator should. When I do speak I should do so by stating clearly when called upon and ensuring that the literal and spiritual essence of One World by Night is preserved. This list is, by no means, exhaustive or indicative of a war-cry:

1. The website issue…still not resolved…we need a fully-featured, engaging website up and running. The Web Team is running at full tilt, but we need to work with them in both the planning and implementation in order to enable them to bear results. Along with this are the consistent compliance reviews with legal standards of copyright infringement.
2. Ensuring transparency and civility with One World by Night
3. The ultimate role of the Camarilla Coordinator.
4. The role of coordinators and their defined purpose.
5. Streamlining the inane R&U list.
6. A general restructuring of the By-Laws
7. A mission/vision statement for One World by Night
8. The international games need better administration/interaction. With existing interest outside of the US (such as with Brazil’s more than two dozen games, New Zealand, Israel, and Switzerland…and I hear others are in the pipeline), One World by Night needs to factor in our role as an “international” organization. Whether simply listening to them, understanding cultural differences, or even respecting the vast distances between us –both actual and metaphorical—we need to address this and address them.
9. A greater and more purposeful interaction with White Wolf publishing that, while keeping the spirit of One World by Night alive and its direction on course, seeks out new avenues of positive discussion and long-term constructive development.
10. Finding out why Coordinators, Players, Storytellers and Council Members feel the need to step down or even just step back from participation in the overall organization at an alarming rate…there were nine this year.

Personal Statement:

I’m not going to sit here and write that I have magical solutions for the problems that plague us, or have a mystical pill that will make everything better, but as an AHC and ST who cares deeply for so many in this organization and for the friendships and memories this org has generated, I feel I should obligate myself to trying to help with solutions.

I guess what I’m saying is…rather than experience continued frustration at what this organization has become over the years or rail against the invisible forces that somehow made it this way…I will continue to just buckle down and put a couple bucks where my mouth is.

Oh…and Abraham Lincoln rules!

Coordinator Support:
Admissions Coordinator, Talia Shmuel
Anarch Coordinator, Erik J.
Archivist, Stefanie Wuertz
Assamite Coordinator, Cheri LDS
Assistant Head Coordinator, Geoffrey Combs
Brujah Coordinator, Jeff H.
Camarilla Coordinator, Rojir McCrady
Changeling Coordinator, Kyle N.
Changing Breeds Coordinator, Brian Goudie
Finance Coordinator, LeAmber Kensley
Gangrel Coordinator, Scott M.
Giovanni Coordinator, Dan Valandingham
Head Coordinator, Jenn Bahrs
Malkavian Coordinator, Meg McCrady
Sabbat Coordinator, Adam Satori
Samedi Coordinator, Josh Wasta
Setite Coordinator, Trey N.
Toreador Coordinator, Kayti Kawachi
Tremere Coordinator, Joe Long
Tzimisce Coordinator, Derek Howard
Web Coordinator, Chris Hanel

Chronicle Support:
Amador City, CA: River of Shadows
Athens, GA: Athens After Dark
Atlanta, GA: Whispers of Atlanta
Carbondale, IL: Forgotten Court
Chicago, IL: Dark Requiem
Chicago, IL: New Moon Rising
Decatur, IL: The Chaos Within
Fredericksburg, VA: Caine's Chosen
Gainesville, FL: The New Confederacy
Gary, IN: Gary by Night: Shattered Souls
Hartford, CT: Dark Colony
Jerusalem, Israel: Jerusalem by Night
LeHigh Valley, PA: Steel Valley by Night
Los Angeles: La Sangre de Los Angeles
Martinsburg, WV: Martinsburg by Night
Milwaukee, WI: The Nocturnal Rapture
Orland Park, IL: Shadows of the Jewel
Parahyba, Brazil: Parahyba by Night: Eternal Shadows
Peoria, IL: The Shattered Mirror
Sacramento, CA: Sacramento by Night
St. Paul, MN: Thicker than Blood
San Francisco, CA: Always Comes Evening
Savage, MD: Vitae Aeternus
Springfield, IL: Capitol City Cauldron
Tempe, AZ: Secundus Surrectum
Woodbridge, VA: Capitol Rage

QUOTES:

"Robert Crosby brings diplomacy, tact, and an open mind to the table. That, coupled with his organizational capabilities makes him excellently suited to being the HC of OWbN. I want his nuts to sit on my mantle."

Rojir McCrady, Camarilla Coordinator

"For the time I have known Robert he has been able to keep a cool head, a great sense of humor, and the ability to want and fight for what is best for this organization. However I must remind him that Abraham Lincoln was a fascist who sought to oppress us all of our freedoms. Even now with the danger of the great Lincoln uprising of 2010, he makes such bold claims as to say he "rules". On this, for the good of all mankind, I can not agree with him on. However as Head Coordinator he will do an amazing job, and I fully support him on this. Besides I hear if he doesn't win he will just seize power like the good Lincolnist that he is. Fear the robot Lincoln uprising."

This is John Connor, aka Adam Sartori the Sabbat Coordinator and HST of Dark Colony: Hartford

"In response to this direct threat to OWBN, mesa propose, that Council give immediately Head Coordinator powers to the Robert Crosby"

Jeff Jeff H Binks, Brujah Coordinator

“Robert Crosby II is a delusional and most likely certifiably insane. He clings to the long discredited notion that OWbN is not a game of getting STs to approve every power a player can ask for, but about role-playing and having fun. He'll ruin OWbN, much the same way that Rojir McCrady has, Alan Pursell attempted, by trying to provide leadership and a vision for the org where all players have an equal chance to tell their stories.”

Alan Pursell, 1st Coord to quit in 2010.

"Robert has already begun negations in good faith with the family to have his lord and master Lincoln resurrected and returned to his rightful place as Doge of North America. If only the Setite clan had the forethought and wisdom of Robert, Set would once again walk among us. He has proven to be an excellent negotiator through this process, and for the amount he is paying the family already how can we not support him?"

Dan Valandingham, Giovanni Coordinator

Robert Crosby wears the best mullet ever when he hunts trolls. I propose the Crosby Mullet bylaw where whenever Crosby wears the mullet his word is final. No matter what.

David Ashby, Decatur Council Member and ST
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