KWAKUH: Indie Punk Kid Social Activist!

As someone who takes intimate care in developing my internet profiles, including especially the professional development & networking profile I have on LinkedIn®, I believe that it is important to mutually benefit from the contributions of others by contributing something special to a friend or colleague in return. That is why I decided to write a LinkedIn® Recommendation for my good friend and Connection, Peter Maybarduk—in hopes that he would return the favor, so that I could complete my profile with my own Recommendations from others.

In writing the first draft of Peter's Recommendation, I aimed to fully illustrate the impact of his involvement as a student on the campus of the College of William & Mary by mentioning specific examples of his achievements. Then after much time had passed and after re-reading multiple time the Recommendation I had posted to Peter's LinkedIn® Profile, I realized that what I had written was a rather sterile, drab, lifeless inventory of facts that he himself could have easily mentioned in the text of his Education Listing on his Profile.

So, I set out to revise the Recommendation, infusing it with emotion and life to truly evoke the profound impact Peter Maybarduk has had on my life and the trust with which I hold him to his full potential. Below, you will find the first- and second-drafts of my LinkedIn® Recommendation for my dear friend, former classmate, and now committed colleague: Peter Maybarduk.

I post this as a gesture to honor Pete's accomplishments and to express the gratitude I have for God for having kept Peter in my life these last 11 years. Everything that I have written below is an honest, sensitive appraisal of Peter Maybarduk's potential to "Affect Change" in the World and to work to empower disadvantaged and disenfranchised communities globally. The words I have written are truth—inspired, emotive, especially honest truth!

FIRST-DRAFT RECOMMENDATION
(Peter excels as student & social activism leader.)

As a student at the College of William & Mary (1998-2002), Peter Maybarduk excelled in his advanced studies of cultural anthropology and in his role as student activism leader, while maintaining active participation in an amateur indie rock band and membership in his fraternal order: the W&M Phi Beta Chapter of Psi Upsilon.

Accomplishments by Peter Maybarduk of particular merit to his undergraduate career were his:
1.) 2002 Completion of a magna cum laude diploma & related Honor's Thesis: an anthropological study of the modern Warao culture, an indigenous people of the jungles of Venezuela.
2.) 2001 Implementation & coordination of a student/faculty campaign for a Board-approved Living Wage for campus-wide support staff.
3.) 2001 Campaign run for Student Assembly President (for which I was his Campaign Manager) by which he cultivated & cemented a social activism agenda within the culture of students, faculty and staff at the College of William & Mary.

As one of Peter's closest friends & student colleagues during our time at the College of William & Mary, I was completely confident of his potential to "Affect Change" and to accomplish major achievements in his future professions in Cultural Development and Social Activism for International Human Rights Law Practices.

SECOND-DRAFT RECOMMENDATION

(Inspiring spirit empowers people to affect change.)

During Peter's 2001 run for Student Assembly President, he chose an inspirational, evocative slogan that was close to his heart. He urged the Student Body to "Affect Change" with their votes. For me, this slogan epitomized what my friend stands for politically; it defines his heroic spirit.

Peter is an indie punk kid social activist at heart, who nurtures a deep empathy for the World's disadvantaged and disenfranchised. He was a cultural anthropologist at the height of his undergraduate career, but his astute, refined intellect & his profound desire to have the most positive impact on the development of world communities led him to the greater pursuits of a law degree.

While Peter might not be fully satisfied with the direction his life is taking, I still recognize in him a compassionate, empowering spirit that truly lifts people out of their squalor, stasis and self-loathing only to be inspired to affect change in their own lives. What I have to say might sound trite & hyperbolic, but it must be said: Peter's spirit continues to move me deeply in admiration & in awe.

He is my HERO and always will be, because he is at once a stable, stubborn realist and a spirited, sensitive idealist. The only catch is that he is moving forward much faster than the world seems to turn, and that unrelenting, Sisyphean friction born of engines calibrated at different speeds truly torments him. However, he will affect great, positive change in the World, all for the better; of that, I am sure!!

This second-draft I consider a final version, because I believe it truly captures the profound sincerity of my emotions and feelings toward Peter, and I believe that this final Recommendation has a gentler, but more powerful touch. I'm awaiting a response from Peter to see whether or not he accepts my Recommendation of his work as a student at the College of William & Mary or whether or not he requests any changes or further revisions. Who know's!

Maybe he has specific things he'd like me to highlight. Maybe this more personal, emotional tone does not settle well with him as appropriate for a professional development & networking profile on LinkedIn®. Maybe he'll love it and be moved by the sweet, intimate candor of my remarks. I'm sure that after reading both these draft Recommendations, Peter will have a good impression of how deeply he has moved me to reassert myself in life and to not let my tragic circumstances overcome me.

He is a shining light in my life these days; I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to work with him on the project he is spearheading: The Sierra Leone International Interns Partnership (SLIIP) Project, which is just now going to be getting off the ground, as I have taken a share of the controls and am helping to organize fund-raising for the program. Maybe with the work that I do on the SLIIP Project, he will be so inclined to offer me a recommendation for my work in return. We'll just have to wait and see!