Many organizations, especially new web startups, choose mostly inane seven letter names for their ventures because it is so very difficult to find a word that captures the essence of an idea or process. Luckily, I don't have that problem. Instead of attempting to create a weird word that might do marketing magic, I chose to stick with the one I feel best defines my life and world view. I've been known as "alexevasion" on the Internet for almost a decade now now. Why?
"Ayvazian" was the surname of my maternal grandfather's Armenian family. They fled Turkish genocide there and came to the United States around the turn of the century, where immigration officials changed the spelling to "Awagain", forever confusing its pronunciation. I read a zine (later upscaled to a book) called Evasion when I was seventeen that forever enshrined the spirit of zealous vagabond adventure in my soul. I take pride in being a person who is hard to pin down, just like the author. Though I make a lot of resources about myself available online, people still often find themselves confused as to who I "really" am. I don't offer up concise and/or linear summaries very easily, so some folks conclude that I am being "evasive".
I may be very socially and ideologically fragmented, but I do have some consistent pragmatic beliefs, especially regarding how to improve the world. I think that essential human resources should more easily accessible, or nominally "free". This generally means taking taking goods and services that are made scarce through markets or government processes and decommodifying or deinstitutionalizing them, respectively. In this, I seek to help people evade some of pitfalls that these two sectors bring to bear on them. Unluckily, most definitions of "evasion" frame the term it in a very negative light, suggesting dishonesty or ignorance. Of course, since those associations aren't the ones I want. I guess postmodernists might say I'm trying to subvert the dominant framing by associating it with a different set of signifiers.
To me, it doesn't mean evading responsibilities or obligations, but the potentially unethical compromises we are often lulled into making in our lives, through interactions within global economic and political systems. In the specific context of the Evasion Foundation, it means helping web-based social entrepreneurs evade the problems with traditional venture capital processes and the potential for getting duped in highly technical matters. If I can help folks accomplish that, it's pretty easy to get their good ideas tested quickly and painlessly.
