The time I went to the Oxford Environmental Commission.

The preliminary move in most any kind of legislative-creating process is one defined by, you know, telling people within a decision-making capacity what you'd like to do. So I did this.

As per typical governance, the first people you talk to are seemingly the ones who can't vote on anything, but can kind of pat you on the back and make you feel like you're doing something worthwhile. Or shoot you down in a fiery wreck of misery and despair and sadness. So before you face people like this:

He's a real jerk, trust me.

you deal with resident "experts" on the matter, otherwise known as putting the bill to committee.

Luckily the Environmental Commission of Oxford, made up of seven persons (one being a member of City Council, one appointed by the Planning Commission as an ex-officio member, plus five citizen members appointed by Council) were not the latter of the two aforementioned scenarios. I went to their monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 6th, and told them, boldly, bravely, in the face of adversity and oppression: "I would like to pass legislation regulating the injection of waste water in the city confines of Oxford, Ohio." Or at least I said something similar, a lot less eloquently, and with much more stumbling over my words. I'm just trying to paint a picture here.

They were overall very receptive, and when they set the agenda for next month's meeting, to take place right before Spring Break, I requested 10 minutes time in order to show them my proposed legislation; I have apparently now given myself a time table of one month to do a healthy amount of research and law-creating, with intermittent breaks set aside for inconsolable sobbing, anxiety-eating, and self-deprecating blog posts about how abysmal my work is and oh god why did I choose Western and what am I doing with my li- sorry. Where was I?

Oh right, I'm in Santa Barbara California now for my conference, so things could be worse. I guess I'll post about that in the near future, while mostly just talking about couchsurfing and how awesome surfing and mountains are.

Till time next,

Dictated, not read,

Tyler J. Elliott