Genesis

I looked behind me, saw the nod, and proceeded forward. I caught my strength and looked into their eyes. I smiled. Suspicion spread across their forced smiles. They were as wary of me as I was of them. I clutched the sides of the podium, stood up straight, and began. This was our movement's public genesis. But first, let's sort out the pieces.

Three weeks ago Friday, Joseph, Eric, and I were discussing the mysteries of the college life cosmos. As new roommates we chatted about our interests, hobbies, and experiences. The talking stick eventually passed to Eric and he spoke of his soul's battle. His passion was infectious. Last Fall he waged a proxy war for BYU students against the daft Provo City Council. He was the solitary student voice opposing the new ordinance outlawing street parking in the student district (Joakim District) sans a pricey permit. When explained to any logical mind, the ordinance makes no sense. The hook came at his story's climax. As he stood boldly defending the student's rights, the chairmen flippantly replied, "Why don't you go and get married. That will solve your problem."

Joseph then turned to me, "Andrew, why don't we do something about this?"

"What?"

"Why don't we do something to repeal it?"

"What?"

"Why don't we fight this and gather the strength of the student body?"

"Uh....Sure."

"Serious?"

"Serious."

And so it began. We brainstormed strategy well into the night, set goals, and went to bed all fired up. Not good when you have to wake up for the temple 2 1/2 hours later.

We sat on it, doing research here and there without expectation to do much until our first organization meeting in early June. That was our plan. Our plan was thrown out the window. Monday, Joseph was tipped off by an old friend, Brian Casiday about the new problem: The City Council was to vote the next day to charge students $50/month to park on the street from roughly Provo Center Street to BYU Campus and from University Avenue to 9th East. Our plan shrunk from a summer's worth of work to merely 30 hours. Joseph quickly organized people to be nodes of responsibility: research, recruitment, etc. We constructed a briefing document, a list of strategic objectives, a list of the Council's points and counterpoints, and an online survey to collect essential economic data from our constituency. We held a strategy meeting that night, assembling the future leaders of our new organization. We meted out assignments and tried to eek out some homework before crashing on our bunk bed.

Then we waited. We saw 570 people respond to the survey, 1,200 people be invited to our Facebook event, and 70 students attend the council meeting. As the meeting drew closer, we found that we were mislead by our source, the "trusty" Daily Universe, and that the content of the meeting was not billed as advertised. But alas, we had numbers, and we were going to attack this issue. Joseph and I became the de facto leaders of the student organization. We met outside the doors of the chamber and conducted a strategy meeting with 70 people. We crafted the minutes of the Q&A period of the council meeting. And then we attacked. Elected by the group, I approached the podium first for the students. As I began, words did not come with ease, but at least I was diplomatic.Four successive students followed me, swamping the City Council with our concerns. Upon finishing, we excused ourselves and left the meeting.

We were interviewed by the Daily Universe, BYU Broadcasting, and the Daily Herald. Smart, capable, powerful, and connected individuals approached the two of us. Joseph and I were unaware at the brimming community disgust toward the city council's "Old Boys Club" mentality. Some of them expressed that we were the culmination of their hope, the hope of driven, competent leaders rallying students to end the tyranny of the City Council.

We do not expect things to come easily. In fact, we sense more defeats than victories moving forward, at least initially. But things have come too easily for us to be utterly defeated. Does a Hand move us forward? Perhaps. Can we keep our lives balanced? Perhaps. Can we secure an unlikely victory? Perhaps.

Perhaps.