Art Scholarship honoring Alizée

[FanDeAliFee]

I think it is wonderful that people remain enthusiastic about this project. And it is important that we act with all deliberate speed.

But please think back on your large, urban, primary school fire-drill training. As urgent as it is to get all the kids out of the huge building, it is equally important that none of them are trampled by a crowd in panic and killed, with their limp bodies then choking one or more exits which deliver yet other kids to death from smoke, heat, etc.

This will not be an official project of Alizee America. But I understand that Ben gives the putative donors leave to discuss it here as individuals who know one another. (We can still move off-site if this is not so.)

We will not create a corporation and hire professionals to execute, as the money sum is far too paltry. All the same, we will proceed in an orderly, reliable manner that gets the job done. We will respect the trust, dignity and time of those who pledged money and those who will receive it. We will not be wildcat keystone cops going off half-cocked.

Scruffy/Dave has asked that we AWAIT his return. Despite your PMs, I will not speak in his absence and risk a new misunderstanding like the one Ben and I suffered.

Of course it does no harm to learn more about the people we aspire to help in the interim.

You now know that the headmistress, Monique Mufraggi, and her school have Facebook pages, and that the school has its own website as well. The latter reports it has been in operation since 1981. It is located a short distance from the NW corner of the inner bay, on a short (200 yard) street named for the American President Kennedy. The building is 300 square meters, or a bit over 3,200 square feet in size. Three professionals assist the headmistress. A nominal donation of 1,000 Euros would pay for ten student-months of tuition, with five weekly classes. This dance school is one of between 6 and 8 in Ajaccio.

There is a big show which climaxes each school year, held in a civic auditorium before up to 900 attendees in this metropolitan area of about 100,000 people. This year it takes place on June 15, so you can imagine that it is increasingly the intense focus of their anxious attention. Forgive me for being so mercenary, but mishaps in the show have the potential to undermine matriculation during the next year, especially during a Great Recession.

It is not impossible that the show could be the occasion on which a new scholarship fund might be announced, inspired by our generous if small gift. But it is vital we don't pester, distract or confuse the school at this critical time in the process of making our small but useful donation. Immediately below is a video highlighting the big show given last year.

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If you have been diligent in reading the discussion to date, you know that both Scruffy and I had expressed the idea that one way or the other, one hoped our donation wouldn't be the last of its kind received by the school. But if I can make an observation as someone who has raised money before, without expressing policy in Scruffy's absence, endless "mission creep" has screwed up more than one enterprise which could have otherwise succeeded.

Parties other than the school itself say nice things about it. <i>Corsica Diaspora News Letter N° 13 January 2009</i> produced under the aegis of Docteur Edmond SIMEONI, Président de <i>Corsica Diaspora et Amis de la Corse</i> writes this on page 13 (translating crudely to English)<blockquote>From culture to the company

Ajaccio again - Mufraggi Monique, renowned for her dance school and the organization of its shows, had also prepared a very interesting program. Also passionate about new technologies, Monique organized a live Webcast, that is to say, a live connection via webcam, so that the program was visible on the school website: www.ecole-du-spectacle.com. The singing was a collaboration with Aldila, the Brotherhood of Ajaccio, the Brotherhood Sanghjambatista, Dopu Cena, Manat, Scola di Cantu. The ballet dance of Monique Mufraggi agreed well with a lecture by Jean-Michel Schiavo Mediascope) who has meanwhile filmed the <i>Festa Corsa</i> to produce a DVD. The whole event, moreover, was filmed (in Ajaccio by Mireille Chabrol, in Bastia by Henri Ordioni and in Paris by Dominique Tieri). Many exhibits are visible on the site Corsica-tele.com and that of the school: www.ecole-du-spectacle.com .</blockquote>I had previously quoted one part of the school's Website in which they boast of Alizée as an alumna. Here is another such statement:<blockquote><i> Nous sommes toujours très fiers également de citer la jeune et talentueuse Alizée Jacotey comme preuve de la réussite de l'école. Après plus de 10 ans passés à mes cotés au sein de l'école de danse, elle est aujourd'hui une star planétaire.</i>

(or, in English)

<i>We are also always very proud to cite the young and talented Alizée Jacotey as evidence of the success of the school. After more than 10 years at my side in the dance school, she is now a global star</i></blockquote>The headmistress also hosts several Alizée videos on her Facebook site. Surely she would be pleased that we are offering our gift as a celebration of Alizée's tenth anniversary in showbiz and would be likewise pleased if it somehow brought some small remunerative attention to her ex-student, who has just launched her latest album.

I'll close with a couple of photos of Monique Mufraggi, one with her students.
<table align="center"><tr valign="top"><td with="200"><img src="http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/v227/1435/45/n1651848604_9962.jpg"></td>
<td width="50"></td><td with="309"><img src="http://s2.e-monsite.com/2010/04/19/01/resize_550_550//Monique-avec-les-petites---on-apercoit-Carla-.jpg"></td></tr></table>

[MYGOGT]

Thank you, Doc, for keeping this alive. I have decided, just tonight, to stay one more night on the gulf coast. I had forgotten how soothing the crashing waves can be. Friday I depart north through Atlanta to eventually meet up with our very own VVV. Although our get together will be short we will try to spread the word by giving out some 20 or so cd samplers I have brought along. I have had weak, at best, internet access thus far; so I have been unable to keep up to date on this worthy project. Doc please send me an update if you would sir. I have to go.
Thanks again for carrying the torch.

[Roman]

Well, yes we do need to move along with this and that means that we need to communicate. So, what's up? Docdtv, is Dave not responding to you? Dave, are you not responding to him? Sorry to sound demanding, but I'm just wondering how we are going to proceed here.

Dave is back or has at least responded to some of my questions. Doc, you have not. I understand about not wanting misunderstandings; this is a public web page and we don't all know each other. A lot of people know me fairly well as I have been around for years and personally met several people from this site. We all know that Dave handled the CD thing recently and thus I assume he is the most trusted person here. But, Docdtv, as you started this thing and apparently have the list of all of the people who pledged support (which I neglected to write down before the poll thread was deleted), I think the ball is in your court unless you want Dave to make another statement here. Either way, some communications are best done off of a public web page to protect the security of this endeavor if nothing else. We are going to need to establish a way to do that. There are not that many people involved. I hope management is not an issue.

At this point I do want this to succeed and am eager to know what we are waiting for at least.

Questions:
1) Do we have enough pledges of support for this to make it happen? Doc, have you been keeping in contact with all of the people who made pledges? I know I have received some "form letter" PMs from you.
2) If I was the leader on this, I would advertise it over at Alizee-forum.com at this point. The more the merrier, especially for those who will be/would be receiving the gift. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
3) How should we go about contacting Mm. Mufraggi? I am hesitant to even discuss publicly the possible methods because I don't want to see any funny business. I currently know of two possible ways.

Since no one else has said anything about it... Dave is looking into how to have the money sent to him and how to get it to the school.

[FanDeAliFee]

Again, I appreciate the enthusiasm and support of those writing me one way or the other.

I originated the current(*) scholarship idea, advocated it and received many encouraging pledges of support. As you know, I am working with Scruffy/Dave to get the job done. Aside from the donors,. we are the only essential actors. It is a pity we are two people and not one. We hardly aspire to be five or ten. If this is a mystery to you, please read the celebrated project management book described <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month">here</a>. i was successfully managing complicated engineering projects before it was a decade old, and I am not senile yet, thank you.

Dave and I have exchanged several messages since I last wrote here. I expect we can supply donors with the details of fulfilling their pledges very soon. This may be the first time I've dealt with the collection of people we have here, but this is not my first fund-raising effort with earthlings. You know I am not shy about writing a lot if I think it serves my mission. The same is true oif writing little. Thanks.

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(*) Thanks to lefty for his services as historian!

[lefty12357]

To be honest, this isn't the first time this idea was presented here at AAm. But you can see by checking out This Thread from 2007 that you have taken this idea much farther than anyone has before, which is a great credit to all of you.

[FanDeAliFee]

Originally Posted by lefty12357

To be honest, this isn't the first time this idea was presented here at AAm. But you can see by checking out This Thread from 2007 that you have taken this idea much farther than anyone has before, which is a great credit to all of you.

Thank you lefty, for making the historical record manifest to a newcomer like me! I never thought to search the archives for a similar effort, and you are the first one to bring it up despite much vigorous discussion about fund-raising in more than one thread. If people keep their word, we will go the distance this time! Thanks as always.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by docdtv

Again, I appreciate the enthusiasm and support of those writing me one way or the other.

I originated the scholarship idea, advocated it and received many encouraging pledges of support. As you know, I am working with Scruffy/Dave to get the job done. Aside from the donors,. we are the only essential actors. It is a pity we are two people and not one. We hardly aspire to be five or ten. If this is a mystery to you, please read the celebrated project management book described <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month">here</a>. i was successfully managing complicated engineering projects before it was a decade old, and I am not senile yet, thank you.

Dave and I have exchanged several messages since I last wrote here. I expect we can supply donors with the details of fulfilling their pledges very soon. This may be the first time I've dealt with the collection of people we have here, but this is not my first fund-raising effort with earthlings. You know I am not shy about writing a lot if I think it serves my mission. The same is true oif writing little. Thanks.

I'm sorry, I thought we were working on this as a group at one time. There was a time when we were discussing how it should all go. I thought there was even a request for someone to go look into this more. I liked the idea, became enthusiastic and tried to get involved by gathering information and making some suggestions, but never received any replies except from Scruffy. What I am to do then?

Time is passing by and this thing seemed to be rather threatened at one time. I wanted to see it continue. Maybe I'm being impatient, but it is the 14th of May already and being ignored triggers warnings in my mind about trust.

MyGOGT has posted recently here and on this thread there are only six people who have posted with support for this. Can someone else please let me know what you're impression of the status of this project is?

I know "doc's" original motivation was supposedly to promote this web site, but he switched from "grant" to "scholarship" in order to deal with objections to the whole idea. I went along with both ideas. But, it seems to me that it could only work now that it is a "scholarship" if our motivation is to give a gift to the school. Everything else seems, while still important, ancillary to me. Is this issue part of the problem. Is there a problem? Opinions? Opinions on anything that I have posted?

Scruffy? Bueller? (movie reference if you're too young to get it )

[wasabi622]

So.. what's going on with this? I've been out of touch for a bit..

[Scruffydog777]

I arrived back from vacation this past Thursday. Because of what's going on in Iceland, instead of getting a direct flight to Boston from Paris, I had to take a 10 1/2 hour flight to Miami, then after a 3 hour wait there, another 3 hour flight to Boston so I was dead tired when I got back.

When MYGOGT said on his trip that he'd be coming this way, I told him he could stay here even though the place is a total mess due to some work I'm doing and because I've been so busy in here and travelling. So I've been working like mad to get the place ready. Reinstalling a vanity and toilet in the bathroom, cleaning up the spare bedroom and a bunch of other things.

On top of this, I've had a bunch of problems. On my way to the airport for my last trip the brake light came on in my pick up with a corresponding dip in the brake pedal. Must have sprung a leak in one of the rear brakes. At least I still have the front ones which are most effective. Just don't have time to fix them right now.
I have a washing machine in the basement that empties into a sink, since I got home, that has started overflowing, probably due to a lint clog in the drain which has happened before.

Lawn mower bit the dust, so I have to borrow my brother in law's tomorrow.
Just a whole kettle of problems since I've gotten back. That's why I haven't posted much in the forum of late.
I've communicated as often as I can with Doc about this effort, I've also been talking to Roman and Doc and Ben, about a related subject and I've also been working on another interesting project concerning Alizee, that I've only discussed with Ben.

I tried setting up my own web page, then putting a paypal button on it so people making pledges could quickly do it that way, but couldn't figure it out and don't have the time to reasearch how on the net, so I guess people will have to send there pledges directly to me.
My address is
David Hardy
12 Glendower road
Roslindale, MA 02131

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I arrived back from vacation this past Thursday. Because of what's going on in Iceland, instead of getting a direct flight to Boston from Paris, I had to take a 10 1/2 hour flight to Miami, then after a 3 hour wait there, another 3 hour flight to Boston so I was dead tired when I got back.

When MYGOGT said on his trip that he'd be coming this way, I told him he could stay here even though the place is a total mess due to some work I'm doing and because I've been so busy in here and travelling. So I've been working like mad to get the place ready. Reinstalling a vanity and toilet in the bathroom, cleaning up the spare bedroom and a bunch of other things.

On top of this, I've had a bunch of problems. On my way to the airport for my last trip the brake light came on in my pick up with a corresponding dip in the brake pedal. Must have sprung a leak in one of the rear brakes. At least I still have the front ones which are most effective. Just don't have time to fix them right now.
I have a washing machine in the basement that empties into a sink, since I got home, that has started overflowing, probably due to a lint clog in the drain which has happened before.

Lawn mower bit the dust, so I have to borrow my brother in law's tomorrow.
Just a whole kettle of problems since I've gotten back. That's why I haven't posted much in the forum of late.
I've communicated as often as I can with Doc about this effort, I've also been talking to Roman and Doc and Ben, about a related subject and I've also been working on another interesting project concerning Alizee, that I've only discussed with Ben.

I tried setting up my own web page, then putting a paypal button on it so people making pledges could quickly do it that way, but couldn't figure it out and don't have the time to reasearch how on the net, so I guess people will have to send there pledges directly to me.
My address is
David Hardy
12 Glendower road
Roslindale, MA 02131

Hey man, I'm sorry if it seemed like I was rushing you.
Thanks for posting here. By the way, all you need for PayPal is an email address and people can send to the email address when they go to their own PayPal account. Or, that's how PayPal started out anyway.

I'll wait for more details here on "the plan". I'm sorry that I couldn't help out more from the beginning after Ben declined, but I think everyone trusts you at this point, Dave; so, I assumed you would be the one "doc" would ask to act as trusted point man (or whatever). It's rather difficult to conduct such a thing as this without sufficient trust and I figured it might be a little strange if I volunteered myself, even if some "old timers" here do know me.
Also, I was hoping we could do this through private messages to protect you from having to do things like post your home address publicly on the internet. Some people are wary of that sort of thing. But, it's up to you of course.