More email drama!

Yay. I sent out another class email this morning that probably pissed off another group of people.

Here's one aggro email I got in response to the not at all ill-intentioned email I sent this morning:

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from Marguerite Lamesauce [Lamesauce@gmail.com]
to Class of 2004 [dkwan@gmail.com]
date Tue, May 26, 2009 at 11:51 AM
subject Re: Best. Reunion. Ever.

Hi Dennis,

While I appreciate your email's jovial tone, I want to let you know that I think it's kind of wildly unfair for you to call a $10 donation ridiculous, and something that someone should be ashamed of. I think it's great that you can afford a $50 parking ticket without a second thought, but for many of us out there (working for non-profits, or in grad school, or, sigh, working for non-profits AFTER accumulating grad school loans) $50 is a full week's food and fun budget.

Generally I wouldn't say anything, but as someone who actually has done a fair amount of fund development work since graduation, I know how incredibly demoralizing it can be for potential donors to hear that what they can afford to give is something they should be ashamed of, not proud of. If I hadn't already given to Brown, your email's dismissal of what I can afford would have probably made me decide that my money would be better spent on a different charity. And, basically, isn't the primary function of your role here fund development for Brown? Please remember that a lot of your fellow classmates are working for the better good, and that the better good pays very little. You'll be more successful in not pissing people off.

Marguerite

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I happened to be mid-convo with our hilarious friend "Tyler" at the time that email came roaring in, so I showed it to him.

Love love love his rebuttal.

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from "Tyler" [Imgonnadonate10GstoBrown@gmail.com]
to DK [dk@gmail.com]
date Tue, May 26, 2009 at 12:12 PM
subject RE: Best. Reunion. Ever.

Dude.

You should write back:

The reason that Brown has the lowest endowment of any ivy is smart people like you who are so self obsessed that they have forgotten that philanthropic non profit work really is not worth it. LOL. Pony up some loot already. Furthermore if your debt/budget is so depressing that you are offended that I’m asking people in their LATE TWENTIES for more than $10 you should definitely consider a career change rather than wasting your energy debasing my fundraising tactics.

NOT TO BE QUOTED LOL!

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God I love my friends.

Here's the email I had written:

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from Class of 2004 [dkwan@gmail.com]
to Everyone
date Tue, May 26, 2009 at 11:22 AM
subject Best. Reunion. Ever.

Class of '04!!!

What an incredible weekend.

The weather was perfect.....so many lovely familiar faces (many or most of them looking better than ever)......there was Campus Dance... our incredible Class Party ...sidewalk dining on Thayer...getting removed en masse from East Side Pockets by the po-lice....hitting a 3am '04 dance party in the mochamp lounge......gosh, it was so much fun. I'm filled with so much Brownlove I think I might need to scream.

If you missed out, I am very sorry. BROWN FAIL on your part.

If you planned your wedding on the same weekend as your five-year reunion and forced all your '04 friends to make the most awful heart-wrenching decision of their lives? Congratulations!!!!!...but SERIOUSLY EPIC BROWN FAIL.

I love Brown so freaking much and I hope you all feel a fraction of the way I do.

The fact that I can be in a room where an endearingly idiotic former football star (who routinely rips the entire seat of his pants performing his "signature" dance move), a jetsetting Thai princess (and international bedwetter), and a man wearing a pirate costume or top hat for no apparent reason (one shouldn't ever need an excuse to wear a pirate costume or top hat) are all friends and acquaintances makes me appreciate what a special and diverse and amazing place Brown is.

Every single one of you makes our class what it is.

Brown graduates all march to their own beat, and yet I think we have a class spirit like no other.

Hopefully we'll also raise the bar on donations - destroying all other reunion classes from now into eternity.

And with that....if you still haven't donated to the Annual Fund, for the love of god please do it already.

We're about to break a class record for the 5th Reunion.

Donate as much as you're comfortable with. Even if it's just $50.

Or $20.

(I'm not going to say $10. $10 is ridiculous and you should be ashamed for even thinking it.)

www.gifts.brown.edu
www.gifts.brown.edu
www.gifts.brown.edu

$50 is nothing. $50 is a PARKING TICKET.

And if you've donated previously, the Twice as Nice challenge says that if you donate again before June 30, some anonymous Mr. or Mrs. Moneybags will match your second donation 1 for 1!

Help make the Brown you know and love even better for future generations. (Brown Police have tricked out segways now, how sweet is that?)

Don't think I don't know that many of you lied right to my face when I asked if you had donated yet.

ChrisPalmisano I'm going to kill you!

Congratulations to Jess Kingsbro on her 21.5-inch BABY!

Love you all. Sweet sweet hangin'!

-DK

--
'04 Communications
www.dkheadshots.com

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OK. After this entry I'll stop stalling and start posting Campus Dance posts already.

I just have to say that I really do love Brown with all my soul and I feel amazingly blessed and privileged to have had everything in my life set up perfectly so that I was able to attend.

Relative to other people, I had it really easy. Never had to work a student job or stress about loans. Just had to get good grades and not end up in jail. I had my life handed to me, and I shouldn't be such a jerk.

I have to thank my dad and my grandparents for paving the way for all of us. I really do admire my friends and peers who have worked really hard to get where they are.

And I know the poor ones won't be poor for long. Otherwise HELLOOOo we would not be friends!