The Phoenix

Organic is the feel for what’s emerging;
Organic is the process of its growth;
Constraints exist which quickly we encounter,
A challenge and reward exists for both.

We prototype a paradigm of smoothness
Of operation as we look ahead;
It’s not we see what we should do already,
It’s more we act, then structure where we’re led.

It started out two separate operations,
A CASIL and a Phoenix-looking bird;
They both had antecedents which gave flavor,
Without each other, both were quite absurd.

The CASIL was a spin-off operation
From Mamascatch – as interface was safe;
Without its photo-engine it was useless
For me to use in life, at any rate.

The Phoenix had a Cheeper-Cheaper cover,
A two-fold operation at start:
Developmental think-tank for the Phoenix,
And public interface to cash impart.

Back in the early days of CASIL working,
(as Mamascatch that is, before the split),
Its purpose was to add the missing pieces,
Communities could thereby benefit.

Some aspects of community dynamics,
Can’t operate when there’s a missing piece;
So CASIL would stand in to get things working,
Then disengage when there had been release.

A good example was the White Bear Project,
With media its gimmick at the base;
Post-secondary students were the focus –
To turbo-boost performance in that case.

Assisting their success they had a Center,
No different from the ones in other bands;
We stumbled on a factor which held promise,
“How structure it?” the quest with which we ran.

At eighteen months we had a listed process,
Two sheets which blocked the off-ramps we could find;
We ran a mini-test on our new structure,
The students moved ahead from far behind.

Then suddenly the project lost its funding;
No word why it was cut, who pulled the string;
For fifteen months then CASIL probed for meaning,
Depleting all resource that I could bring.

In exit interview it came together:
No problem with the list became quite clear;
But rather, ancient tensions now re-surfaced,
Our little turbo-boost created fear.

Quite inadvertently we shifted power,
Though process worked as well with either group;
If we had known, we could have tweaked the process,
Instead, our project ended in the soup.

I disengaged, took on another project;
Submitted my report, and hit the road;
I learned success can sometimes be a problem,
For power-structures shift with shifted load.

I pulled the engine out from CASIL’s chassis,
Kept media as separate entity;
Now Phoenix is the fuel in our reactor,
Brings power and light to CASIL I can see.

So what’s the role of CASIL in the future –
An entity now funded by three guys?
Help animating systems which need boosting,
So by their strength communities will thrive.

The Phoenix is the hen – it’s eggs are golden;
A brooder-house, now shelters from the storm,
Controls its interaction with the public;
Its product – golden eggs to Phoenix born.

Some eggs are sold as eggs (arrangements vary);
Some eggs are hatched and sold as tiny chicks;
Some chicks are used for food to feed the farmer;
Some birds help CASIL do its magic tricks.

Stability and smoothness is the vision,
Facilitating flow of eggs of gold;
To buffer ups and downs of freelance business,
The Cheeper Cheaper hen-house Castle holds.

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