01/29/2024
Twenty-four years ago, in 2000, The Clasheerian Order (TCO) (the predecessor organization of this entire enterprise) was "an organization ... dedicated to empowering the creative individual ... [by creating] an environment ... dedicated to encouraging the creation and appreciation of 'Quality Art.' ... 'Quality Art' ... [is] creative and original." [Peristaltic Monthly Vol. 1 Issue 1 November 2000, pg. 5-6] In practice, the slogan to tell new members or to answer the questions of "what" or "why" was, "for the creation and appreciation of quality art." However, those were the actions, not the goals, even if those actions became the goals. (https://archive.wunk.me/theclasheerianorder/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2023/04/peristalticv1i1.pdf)
The definition of "quality art" and even "art" became a point of contention. Also, the individuality implied by the "creative individual," which was the focus of the empowerment (as opposed to a creative class or group), became another issue of debate. These came under fire because they were seen as the goals in and of themselves, even if not worded as such. Art wasn't the founding goal of TCO, nor was making individuals creative, or even creative individuals themselves.
The article states the goal in the beginning: "[the] empower[ment] [of] the creative individual." Everything past that was an exercise in achieving that goal: encouraging the creation or appreciation of art and the creative process and providing a community where creative individuals can communicate and network. Because of limited resources, those later two exercises became the de facto goals. They narrowed the organization's function into an entity without a natural way of sustaining itself. [See "The Clasheerian Order Capitalism" in the same Peristaltic Monthly issue, pg. 7]
I believe, twenty-four years later, that The Clasheerian Order was a superb idea that unfortunately came at a time when no one involved had the complete equipment to carry it through. Since then, several things have developed similar to ideas that floated around the organization: social media, online video sharing, and virtual worlds (the metaverse). It is a testament to the members' dedication that TCO had as far a reach as it did since none of those things existed to help. Obviously, without passionate members, no TCO-like organization can thrive.
It seems sensible to take the effective elements of TCO, discreetly discarding those that were ineffective and pointless, and reformulate them as the foundation for a new organization with a single founding goal: empowering creative individuals. To this end, I, Asher Wolfstein, and my partner, Maus Merryjest, co-founded a new organization based on this single founding goal called the Original Pursuits Society (OPS). Original Pursuits Society https://originalpursuits.org/ is the organization that will coordinate all of my and others' efforts to serve the public, all while supporting creative individuals' projects.
A single-member limited liability company called Original Pursuits LLC LLC https://originalpursuitsllc.com/ currently exists, whose mission is "building open-source tools and platforms for creative individuals." I, Asher Wolfstein, head up this company as the single member-owner. As the sole owner, I currently make all the business decisions for the company as the lead creative engineer. Maus Merryjest participates as the lead community director of the company without compensation or ownership rights and manages social media, the second life space, and community outreach and engagement. Original Pursuits Society will have a governing-like influence on the endeavors and operation of Original Pursuits LLC (currently single-member owned and operated), which will symbiotically act as the primary benefactor of resources for OPS' endeavors.
Original Pursuits LLC has established a "Be Gay. Do Crime." initiative mostly in name only (yet to be outlined). This initiative, currently the company's sole business model, is to use profits from providing valuable services/products to clients/customers to invest in "programs, other services, open-source tools, and other materials to help empower creative individuals in their endeavors." The central notion is to use profit to generate sustainable philanthropic efforts rather than solely for the monetary benefit of the owner.
Original Pursuits LLC is interested in being paid for services that bring value to the client/customer, such as hosting a website (under Novelty Factor Hosting https://noveltyfactor.com/ ), a micro-service that processes data, consultation, and other actionable things. It has no interest in selling knowledge but in democratizing expertise by making it freely accessible to everyone. It is not interested in setting up a paywall for an open-source tool, like a premium WordPress plugin, but in developing the best tools in an open, public, and accessible way. As the owner, my payment need not be a large sum. The main currency I desire is the value generated by creative individuals using our tools and materials to empower their creations.
As a co-founder, I have thought of a large number of projects and ideas that can all come together to serve the purpose of empowering the creative individual. It seems unlikely that one man, being me, will be able to accomplish all these things within any reasonable time scale. So what is there to do? It will be more efficacious to codify the various goals and involve more than one person. Much like TCO, OPS must rely on passionate members to thrive.
https://originalpursuitsllc.com/by-gay-do-crime/
Coming soon.
