Monday, April 22, 2019


Celebrate Democracy Storyboard

Did a lot of work creating a video to celebrate spending money and vacation in the only two states in the country that have complete democracy for voting rights. Yes, Maine and Vermont are the only two states to allow felons that are incarcerated to vote. Nowhere in any plea deal does it say that you will lose these rights; it is just one of those collateral damages that you suffer after being coerced into plea deals.

Socially conscious consumers can support these states by vacationing there and buying their products rather than other states. Many states are moving towards the leaders in this type of legislation, but some incentive might help them.

Monday, April 15, 2019

Life's Too Short to Be Divisive!


When you click on the slideshow, one still has to click on Present, on the upper right of the tool bar, and then click on the play arrow on the bottom left of the screen's presentation bar. SEE THE BOTTOM LINK PLEASE.


Timeless Legacy Continues On!

I used WeVideo to make a video honoring my Dad and the Irish Music groups that he helped found  many years ago. This is the second time using this program so it was nice to improve upon some things like controlling the audio transitions, yet I still don't think they are smooth enough. Audacity's transitions were much smoother, but at least I figured out how to do it this time. I still need to narrate louder, as I didn't want to turn the bagpipes down any lower to lose the effect. I like this program except for the audio transitions. I feel it is good enough to pass along to family, friends and my Dad's musical buddies so I am very happy with it.

As far as a final project storyboard, I didn't have time to do the storyboard. I have done them in my other class and I liked your link better than the other ones I had been using, but the video took up a great deal of time organizing all the photos from everyone's collections.

My idea is to do something with the voting issue as I have been, and will be, pushing this for the rest of my living days! With only 30-60 seconds, I can really have no more than 10 photos. The music will be upbeat and the message is to praise those states that allow all citizens to vote. Vermont and Maine are the only two states that allow inmates to vote, and only about 14 states allow convicted felons to vote. I think we should buy products from the states that allow full-voting rights and boycott those that consider it a privilege. I will definitely use my banner that I created in this class and I will use other campaign photos, but most importantly I will offer a place to register to vote.  I really want to expand the idea of consumer influence into the realm of supporting those states that have full-voting rights.

Monday, April 8, 2019

FIRST RUN OF CAMPAIGN IS 26.2 MILES



Wow! If this works when I am done writing, I will be very pleased once again as I used these newly acquired animation skills to advertise not only our kick-off weekend for our campaign but our best display of Vermont Humanity in the Vermont City Marathon. For anyone who has not been to this event, let alone run in it, it is simple an amazing outpouring of love all throughout the city of Burlington.

I looked at all the templates before going out on my own, but I didn't really find one that was what I wanted to do, and I kind of got lost in a Business Ethics template that I thought might apply nicely to my intentions to disperse another campaign message. Hence, abandon the templates and persevere for creativity and meaning. My audio recording at the end was really low, but by this time I had been working all day and was exhausted so listen carefully is my advice to my listeners, lol.

Overall, the stage area was easy to work with and the timeline was too. I wished I had used the library more, but I got going on a theme and it worked for me. In the properties area, I would have liked to see more things like underlines, but I may have just missed them. I was a little overwhelmed throughout the whole experience, but I am happy with my product.

I encourage all people to go to the Vermont City Marathon and cheer people on! I will be running in the shirt with 2020Vision printed on it and I will be running in memory of my dear friend and campaign manager who took his life on the fear that he may go back to prison where he was illegally detained for almost 4 months before he would let me assist him legally. Criminal Justice Reform must happen immediately before another beautiful life is lost.


Monday, April 1, 2019

Podcasting the Voices Nobody Hears!






I managed to get this first Podcast done for the most part. It isn't quite edited to 10 minutes, but it's close. I did get to have a great conversation with one of our fellow CCV students that happens to have a nice 4.0 GPA. I have a lot more to do but I am taking care of funeral arrangements and felt it was better to present what I am doing rather than worrying about finding more time in a week where it won't exist. Now, hopefully I will be able to get it into the blog.

I did compress the differences in the volume of the voices, but not enough so I will have to work on that aspect. I did edit out about 7 minutes, but I would like to have some good lead in and lead out aspects. Overall I am happy to have lined up several people interested in doing this project and hope to let people see the wonderful humanity being wasted in these terrorist-camps we call prisons.

I had some technical difficulty but I think it is up and running.

https://www.screencast.com/t/ChTmLyYY            Podcast of the Voices Nobody Hears!!


I guess these attempts don't work, but I tried the Google Drive trick and we'll see if that works!   

Monday, March 25, 2019

We Must Care For Our Most Vulnerable!






I recorded this audio recording of a Eulogy that I have been preparing for my Dad's eminent funeral. I did a lot of splicing out of stutters and pauses, but I didn't try leveling out the sounds through the effects tool because I felt that it was important to change the tone, but maybe that is more for volume control. I will have to continue investigating.

This is a great way to practice speeches because you get to see how the overall delivery of the speech sounds and then you can find the visual area where a mistake may be or where there may be a spot for deleting some of a pause.  It really was as easy as pushing the big red button to record and to push new to start another one. As I am writing, the audio file still reads "uploading video or cancel" so I am not quite sure what is going on. 

Now I tried Screencast because the video option never worked, so I hope this works for people.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Google Docs Translates for 83 Languages



In beginning to understand the Google Docs web-based free software, I was immediately drawn towards the "Tools" area that had "Voice Typing" and "Translate Document" tools to use for creating your Google Doc. Back in the 90's when I was using computer voice recognition programs for students who struggled with language skills, the technology just wasn't practical enough to use with any sort of ease and efficiency, but this is an amazing dictation tool. Being able to translate what you just dictated into the computer is another amazing gift to have, and one that I want to be able to use for our campaign. I am so glad that I was given this assignment to be able to discover something so valuable right under my nose.

These tools of inclusion were the ones I focused on teaching the class, but then I couldn't get it to upload from my phone to the computer because of the size of the video. I still haven't figured this part out so I can't exactly finish my assignment the way I planned. I am working on alternative methods right now!
my terrible instructional video with no sound yet

Well, I guess I am human after all. I think everybody knows that I am providing hospice and memory care for my terminally ill Dad, and this week has been a little difficult. It's a 24/7 job between my Mom and I and he is now unable to get out of bed and is on oxygen, and for the first time he is showing that his fight is over. I am tired and I have tried so many ways to try and use these products, but my fight is over right now as well. I just can't get things to work, even with my new found love for technology. Sorry I have nothing to share with the group. The video doesn't even play after I tried the 5th idea to have it work. There is always tomorrow. 

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Inclusion--Is Our 2020-Vision!




Go Fund Me Site for Doug Cavett for VT governor

Listed above are some better attempts of accessible links for "Our 2020-Vision Campaign." No longer am I using "https" addresses, and I have tried to spell it out as to what you are going to find. Learning how to do any of this is a challenge in and of itself, but being aware of the need to learn more accessibility techniques is a challenge I welcome. I will continue to try and improve these sites as I stumble my way to initially get it published in whatever way I can manage. I am very grateful to have learned of these needs as early on as I have.

In reflecting upon inclusion and accessibility in regards to "Our 2020-Vision Campaign," it really made me stop and think about how many things I have been doing to try and please the sighted person rather than providing adequate accommodations for those that are visually impaired. I like the idea of "Universal Design" and looking at the "opportunity of design to empower everyone!" I will continue to look for these opportunities to empower everyone as I move forward in producing our multimedia campaign, and I welcome advice as to how to create these accommodations since I am barely learning these things for the first time ever. Compassionate communication, cooperation and collaboration is the way of "Our 2020-Vision Campaign."

It should be noted that the VTDOC outright refuses to make accommodations for anyone required to take the Risk Reduction Programming that allows Vermonters to come home to their families upon completion of this program. The bottom line is that many benefits of the program are denied to Vermonters with disabilities. As taxpayers, we pay approximately fifty lawyers in the Attorney General's office to protect the VTDOC in their outright violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. "Our 2020-Vision Campaign" disagrees with protecting this approach of a reduction of benefits as the accommodation allegedly made.

I have also witnessed people who are in the care and custody of VTDOC with mental health issues locked into segregation as an "accommodation" for their disabilities. I have witnessed retaliation and punishment as an answer to these same people trying to stand up for their rights as people with disabilities. Another common accommodation is to take the 504 status away once someone enters into VTDOC. There are enough contracted counselors, providers and other professionals that are willing to compromise their integrity in order to keep their lucrative salaries with the State of Vermont. If we can't comply with these laws in a real way, the politically correct legislature means nothing.

I know I have to learn more and I will.




Monday, February 25, 2019

Plugged-In and Platform Posted!

https://sites.google.com/view/dougcavett4vtgovernor--e-portf/home

www.gofundme.com/dougcavett4vtgovernor

Thanks for checking in with our Vision for Criminal Justice Reform this week. Currently, we are spending $175 per day for a fellow CCV student and campaign manager to sit it jail day after day because VTDOC hasn't made approving his residence (his freedom) a priority! If he's not out by Thursday, he could be dismissed from class, costing taxpayers even more money in loss of revenue and grant funds. Why??  This exemplifies why this was the most exciting week as far as making exponential progress in getting our message (and Platform) out through the ePortfolio application of digital media (See Link Above). I have found this site extremely easy to use, in order to cover a lot of information through on-site pages, and also using links to other sources of information. I am considering discontinuing our website just because of the simplicity that this site provides for adding new information as time goes forward.

I really enjoyed incorporating photos that I had picked out previously from our assignment to create our campaign's logo (the banner). I don't feel that they fall into the realm of "slide junk" because they all represent the marketing of our State as well as "Our 2020-Vision Campaign." I also gave the credit that was due for the photos as well as that for myself in creating the site for "Our 2020-Vision Campaign." (An interesting copyright conundrum) They also worked very well to make the pitch for registering to vote and/or making a contribution for the things that Vermonters feel most passionate about. As this is a work in progress, I was happy to be able to make "buttons" for the first time, and I hope to use these to give the reader more areas to explore. I am being conscious to be consistent in the ease of navigating this site. I still have other options to explore including finding fonts and color schemes.

Apps are totally new to me! I am just starting to figure it all out, but it seems like you just have to open them up like Webware, but I found that some do cost a nominal fee, and they do appear to get downloaded on my iPhone. I like the concept of Webware, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn where everybody can use them simultaneously with no need to install or un-install. I don't see Apps taking over this type of Webware, although I do use Spotify and the Nike Run Club Apps and they are quite sophisticated considering how little input I provide for them. Freeware, on the other hand, is more of a marketing gimmick I suppose, and marketing gimmicks always get replaced. I downloaded a Chemistry-Molecular Structure program because they just didn't have these available while I was teaching Organic Chemistry, and I thought it would help me review for some Environmental Science debates in the upcoming future. I found this on the CNET blog; both CNET sites had lots of examples to choose from.

What I would like to see is some Apps for following government spending. If it did anything at all, it would make them accountable for what they are spending, and where, at the time that the money is being taken out of the coffers.  Former Governor Peter Shumlin, and his administration, still use the ballpark figure of "at least $200 Million" lost on looking at Single-Payer Health Care, and can't  or won't give Vermonters any clearer picture of that spending, yet he was elected twice on this unfulfilled promise.

If people knew how arrogantly The Department of Corrections wastefully throws away hundred dollar bills as fast as they can, in order to increase their budget for the following year, maybe real reform and real economic growth would result. Does anybody know a software engineer that wants a project to work on?? In my opinion, Freeware would not suit this purpose, Webware would probably do, but lower product demand would make it more of an App project. What do you think??



Please remember to Vote, it will take two minutes to register online with the link listed above.

Most Gratefully, 
Doug

Monday, February 18, 2019

Vermont Needs Criminal Justice Reform, Now!


Thank you so much for checking in with us to see what you can do for Criminal Justice Reform. Voting and visiting our brand new website, listed directly above, are the best ways to be that change you want to see. The website will be undergoing constant updates, so please visit us often and be  ready to give us as much feedback as you have time for. We appreciate all of your help and support. 
  
If you want to take 2 minutes right now to register to vote online, please go to:
www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/voters/registration.aspx, and click on "Register to vote online."

My experience in bringing this grassroots campaign into the world of digital media has not been easy for a novice like myself, but I made the executive decision to invest in an upgrade on our domain name in order to take full advantage of bringing our message to as many people as possible. Instead of a dot-com or dot-net domain name, we are truly what our name says we are, a website for "Solutions."  

We used the Wix website builder, but my technological competence level is struggling with design issues, yet both our research and basic intuition make it very clear that the message is the most important aspect to focus on. I can't wait to get to this stage. It has been proven that content items, like links to voter registration sites, have as much as 10-40% impact on our viewers, while style has virtually zero impact. Of course these two aspects work together synergistically as the data suggests. The Header Text (153%) and a Bold Directory Link (220%) both provide the biggest impact on turning "browsers into buyers." Grassroots we are, but that doesn't mean we won't be using the best analytics we can to have people join in on our campaign. (It's not exactly something we need to "sell," it's just letting people know where they too can be the change they want to see.)

"Web design is the creation of a website and web pages to solve a communication problem," and that is exactly what we are doing, solving a communication problem. Vermonters have been throwing away $200 million dollars a year on a Criminal Justice System that openly declares that it is using that money to create more crime in the neighborhoods of Vermont. (See 28VSA 1b, and VTDOC policy #371, 4.2) I will get a link eventually, because this is the communication that has been hidden for so long. If you feel a little angry or frustrated about this, that's good. It takes evoking emotion in an issue on a website to get people engaged and ready to solve the problems through immediate action.

My research on communication through websites stated that our brains like order, left to right, top to bottom and just saying what you need to say, similar to my immediate call for people to take the time to register to vote. Just as I will include links to these statutes and policies that make you wonder why someone hasn't already stopped this waste of money. (Remember, crime pays the one-percenters very well!) This website has to let you know how to be a part of using that $200 million to assist your own desires and not just the one-percenters. Websites are a two-way street, browsers achieve what they want and site operators achieve what they want as well. I was very glad to learn what HTML, CSS, PHP and all the history of Browsers were, now I have to deliver the product for our campaign.

For more proof of why Vermont needs Criminal Justice Reform, please click on the link below to see how this man got five years in prison for a correctional officer making up a false story about a piece of paper allegedly stopping to hit her in the nose and glasses, when the uninterrupted trajectory of the paper was accidentally caught on videotape. These are the links a website needs to draw attention to the subject, with real proof.
https://vimeo.com/user95131696/review/317398625/d0f53c264d



Monday, February 11, 2019

Don't Be a Number, Vote!



"Be the Change You Want to See,"
 Mahatma Gandhi

This posting reflects on the Grassroots approach to creating a multimedia digital portfolio for "Our 2020-Vision Campaign," in a Mahara Journal Format.

The Audience it is intended for is my classmates and instructor at CCV, but it is also for all Vermonters to see how they too can "Be the Change [They] Want to See."

The Topics discussed this week will include, but not limited to, social bookmarking, photo editing sites, and who's controlling who, us or the machine (computer)? I happen to see our government as the machine, and isn't our government "For the People," and not for itself?

The Purpose is to reflect on how these topics relate to formulating something real, out of something theoretical. (i.e. a government for the People, out of a government Of the People and By the People)

Let me first start out with discussing "The Machine is Us/ing Us," by Michael Wesch, Asst. Prof. of Cultural Anthropology, at Kansas State University, because this really relates to why I'm learning to do this and also my painful experiences in trying to learn this.The very first thing he discusses is what I have the most difficulty with, that being the flexible nature of digital text. The ability to add links to anything and everything is awesome, or should I say the ability to look at the links added by someone else is awesome. Having little or no experience with any computers, software or Internet because our State believes this is a way of correcting people and/or growing our economy, has left me completely inflexible. My current problem is that my banner is not being recognized by the server?? Who knows, but I did stretch out some of these atrophied muscles to produce several campaign banners with scenes of Camel's Hump and layered with encouraging "Vote 2020" images and text to point people in direction of my name and position of governor being sought. I incorporated all this flexibility that Mr. Wesch spoke about, by constantly inputting my perseverance into the photo editing sites of PHIXR, GIMP, Photoshop, Flickr and Pixlr. The output really is only as good as the one doing the input (lol), but the embedded photo of my son and I (above) was photo done in PHIXR. Eventually I learned how to get some free downloads and trial memberships from Adobe Photoshop to do what I really wanted to do which was to find some iconic Vermont pictures and layer them with text for "Our 2020-Vision Campaign." The bottom line is that the machine is still using me because I don't have enough knowledge yet to completely defend myself from the machine hiding my work and dreams. This is not unlike our government hiding the truth from the people because the average person is not versed in the language of the law, nor do they have the time and money to defend themselves against the one-percenters' input into our government. Flexibility with our machines and our government will only be fully realized when we all have equal input.

Social Bookmarking and the del.icio.us website sounds like a phenomenal idea. I am one that loves to gather information, and I have often complained that our public schools suffer greatly from teachers not sharing their coveted, prized lesson plans that they don't want to share because of the hard work they put into creating them, but this social bookmarking avenue begins to breakdown the time needed to research issues. When I was in prison, we did this by collecting templates of cases we had won, and redistributing them to all the others being abused, illegally imprisoned or otherwise having their civil rights knowingly violated by our State officials. I haven't had a chance to investigate this site yet, but it is definitely for me in distributing and gathering facts about our government operations that everyone should know about. I am not worried about the amateurness of the folksonomy on these types of sites because we should all be looking at things with a critical thinking. Most of our government news is like "His-story,"  but instead it is their story, not our story.

These "Plain English" tutorial sites are fantastic! If you are like me and know nothing about everything on the computer, Internet or social media sites, this guy is your guy to listen to. I went from Social Bookmarking, to RSS, Social Media, Blogs, Social Networking, Wikis, Google Docs and Google Reader. This is how someone has taught the machine, which in turn is teaching me, and I in will then use to teach people with "Our 2020-Vision Campaign." I am in CT right now running a campaign with managers in Newport, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Johnson, Jericho, etc. etc. and it is all through these multimedia avenues that I have just learned in the last month of being released from the clutches of domestic terrorism at its best.

The RSS way of having the news come to me will be crucial, especially since I don't have the constant barrage of local Vermont news flowing at me in CT. Also, I just don't have the time to be hunting it down with having to learn, manage and apply all these other campaign necessities. I have for the first time had a Facebook account and really enjoy it, but at some point I will have to branch out again to experience Twitter and others.

Even though our machines and our governments use us to get the input they need to work for us, it is still our responsibility to find out what they are hiding from us and how to stop that from happening.  I am so thankful for the guidance I am receiving from CCV, my constituents, and this wonderful digital multimedia world. Now, if I can only outsmart it one more time to present our new banner.



I did it with a little help from my niece at the University of Kansas, Thanks Courtenay!! We changed it to a jpg file instead of pdf. I still am not really sure what I am referring to, but it is here. Then I enlarged it to fit the page. The vision lives on. Please register to vote. Thanks, Doug

Monday, February 4, 2019

I Have Become a Face and not a Number.
 
 
#40577 is No Longer!
 
Today's posting will follow the "FATP" format, and illustrate the effort needed to overcome the abuse suffered in that euphemistic world of "Corrections."
 
Form - Mahara Journal
Audience - Classmates and Instructor (All of whom can become conscientious voters)
Topic - The Long Tail, Social Media, and Cloud Computing
Purpose - Synthesis of and Reflection on This Week's Resources
 
Guiding Questions:
1.  How has the Long Tail, Cloud Computing, and Social Media influenced my life?
2.  Why do I need to know about these things in my field?
3.  Why might have your instructor opted not to use the Cloud for this course.?
 
1.     Now that the most important part of my life isn't performing the "naked monkey dance," required by our State "Correctional" officers for their enjoyment and my ability to avoid being locked into a prison cell eighteen hours a day, I am happily influenced by the Long Tail, Cloud Computing and Social Media every waking hour of the day. Every morning I venture into a new and exciting part of these worlds that I have never seen before. Albeit, it is scary as well, navigating the possible traps of signing up for things that I've never worked with before. I have an entire notebook set aside specifically for passwords and usernames. I have memberships with all sorts of groups, organizations, and businesses who all want my attention from the moment I awake--and I want their attention as well. It really is a part of the Self-Actualization process that Maslow and Chris Anderson spoke about in "A Synthesis of Free". In fact, I had this discussion with a fellow inmate right before leaving the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, VT.  We were advocating for any possible use of the Internet for inmates, even if it were highly censored, like communist countries.
       By 5am, I am down to check my emails, then my emails from my "Candidate's Committee," who have a direct link to "Corrections" and I have to use a censored email service that charges outrageous prices. (Definitely not "Free" to communicate with slaves, literally or figuratively.) They are slaves because the 13th Amendment says they are, as well our Vermont Constitution in Chapter 1, Article 1 (eventually, I'll learn to add a link here). I then check my text messages, a whole new concept, but the only sure-fire way that my nineteen year old son will answer me. I then tackle my two online classes that both have to do with using technology, and proving that I still have the mental fortitude to persevere through all sorts of unknowns. After having my mind opened to all these new possibilities of using multimedia applications, I try to sign up and use a new application each day, just so that I can feel the maximum amount of frustration and elation simultaneously. Bottom line, I love it! Although I am still coming to understand all the applications of the Cloud, I believe my Apple Music is lost in this Cloud somewhere, and I am glad to know that I don't have to "buy the taxi" as Tim and Michael so appropriately described it for an old guy to understand. I am sure the Cloud will continue to increase it's influence in my life as my life continues on in the "Free" world. As far as the Long Tail influencing me, I guess that as soon as I start finding Apple tunes to pay for, or some other sort of site that allows me to find all these "misses" then I'll be a winner too. For now, I've only had 21 days of freedom and influence, in a direct way; I'll keep you posted as we journey onward to the race for governor, using a self-produced, multi-media portfolio for our campaign.
 
2.     It is so important for me as a gubernatorial candidate and as a future governor to be able to use these items in a way that I can communicate with the citizens of Vermont, and to know how these things are affecting our State's population on an individual basis.  The Cloud concepts of: 1. Scalability, 2. Instant Availability, and 3. Saving Money, are all obvious advantages for individuals, businesses and government operations. This makes it imperative for me to fully understand the infrastructure and it's applicability for making appropriate use of the Cloud technology. Also, being able to explain to folks the wisdom of venture capitalist, Kevin Laws, and his observations that: "the biggest money is in the smallest sales" and that "the most successful businesses on the Internet are about aggregating the Long Tail in one way or another," is very important for our Vermont economy, especially our more rural areas that are still struggling to have broadband Internet services. The whole idea of the Long Tail opens up markets for that "99%," or as Vann-Adibe describes the "misses," found in products/services which could be provided by any of our creative and entrepreneurial Vermonters who lack big start-up and marketing monies. I find the Long Tail, Cloud Computing and Social Media absolutely essential to my new field of public service, hence my reason for a  planned, total-emersion into all applications immediately upon my release from VTDOC.
 
3.     I honestly do not know why we are not using the Cloud, but I have a few ideas. Maybe it is because we wouldn't be able to access all the information in a group format. In other words, maybe one of the Cloud's limitations is that it can only be accessed by individuals that set it up or have special access. Maybe it's because we are all in different remote locations. This is an area that I will have to further research, but I look forward to seeing how and why this decision was made and how it will affect my use moving forward.
 
All in all,  every assignment we have is an awesome adventure of learning and fun for me. I truly believe this is the avenue of Self-Actualization, and until we infuse it into the oppressed segments of our population, we will suffer as a society. Thanks for tuning in, and stick with me as I move into my fourth week of being exposed to these multimedia applications. Please register to vote, it may be the only way we keep this awesome privilege. (Another place I wish I had a link for you to register online.)


Saturday, February 2, 2019

First Official Letter to the "Candidate's Committee"

January 16, 2019
 
Re: Official Announcement of "Our 2020-Vision Campaign" and first official letter to the  "Candidate's Committee."
 
Dear Committee Members:
 
Congratulations! We have persevered through incredible adversities to succeed in having a voice in our State's decision-making, and now, we have the best job ever! Simply stated, our job is to improve the lives of our friends, families and neighbors--everyday. Greatest of all, we come from such diverse backgrounds, and offer such unique talents and perspectives, that we will succeed in "Being the Change We Want to See."
 
The next two years will prove to be very exciting and beneficial for establishing our platform for Criminal Justice Reform. On Sunday, January 13th, I left the Northern State Correctional Facility and headed to St. Mary's church in Newport, where, very unexpectedly, our faith and courage in our mission was indirectly recognized and blessed by Fr. Rijo Johnson. Our mission further manifested itself in visits to the Judd House and Teen Challenge to briefly converse with our fellow committee members and our neighbors in need, before finally arriving in Burlington to set up our campaign headquarters and visit with my adult "foster children." On January 14th, I met with the Vermont Secretary of State's Office to review campaign finance regulations and the procedures for filing the "Candidate Registration Statement," with the State of Vermont. On January 15th I received the official State-embossed certificate, declaring the intent of candidacy for the position of Governor.
 
The unique choice of our "Democratic/Republican" party affiliation assertively puts forth our ideology of breaking down barriers and creating massive opportunities for Empowerment, Education, Employment, Equality, and Justice. Our platform starts with Criminal Justice Reform, and does not end until everybody has a voice in making a difference through peaceful and harmonious actions. We need to raise the bar of dreams and expectations to the extreme, because Love conquers all.
 
Today, January 16th, and as promised, we launch "Our 2020-Vision Campaign" on my Mom's 84th birthday. A special thanks and shout-out to Darren Couture and Angel Felice for the beautiful blue rose for Mom--she loves it!
 
Thanks for all your encouragement and support; together, we will do this.
 
                                                                           Most Gratefully,
 
                                                                            Douglas Stewart Cavett