STEEMIT: No Country for Old Men

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On February, this year, I celebrated my sixty years. I'm old, are not I?
Indeed, if I look back, ...how many things I did! But (let me say it) how many things I’m still doing!!!

I can tell a lot of stories. And in every story, through my memories and my experiences, I can talk about worlds and memories that belong to everyone… And Steemit is a place were to tell stories!

In my previous posts I have already written something about my past. And something about what I’m doing now. My experience in the Dolomites, in last summer, for instance.

https://steemit.com/travel/@marcodobrovich/marco-s-stories-four-days-walking-in-the-dolomites-day-1-a-matter-of-style

https://steemit.com/travel/@marcodobrovich/marco-s-stories-four-days-walking-in-the-dolomites-day-2-i-m-not-afraid

https://steemit.com/travel/@marcodobrovich/marco-s-stories-four-days-walking-in-the-dolomites-day-3-these-shepherds-are-crazy

https://steemit.com/travel/@marcodobrovich/marco-s-stories-four-days-walking-in-the-dolomites-day-4-the-adventure-is-over

In these months I had the opportunity to learn something about this community: Steemit is not a Country for Old Men!
Steemit is a world for those who want to do things. For those who want to look, read, remember, discover, learn, ...live!

This is why, despite my sixty years, I recognize myself in Steemit.
But I realize that I forgot to introduce myself. So, Viva Steemit! …and let's start with my own story.

The years of youth

When we were kids (and, later, boys), in the “fabulous” Sixties…
In those years we did not have any awareness of it, but the war was over only fifteen years before. It seemed to us a very far event, but ... it was still there. Italy was still a poor Country. The schools were full of children: 30, 35 in each class. And in the afternoon we used to play on the street. With a rope, with a ball, with a stick, …

Have a look at this my previous post, if you want to have an idea of one of the games we did:

https://steemit.com/story/@marcodobrovich/marco-s-stories-children-s-games-of-the-60s-1-three-three-down-down

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In Rome, where I live, old buses ran for the city. And everyone could finally buy a car or, at least, the famous Vespa. My family had a large tissues store in the old center of the town and in the evening, with the dark, my eyes were captured by the shimmering lights of shop windows.

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Do you remember the movie “Roman Holiday”, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck?

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And ”La dolce vita” by Federico Fellini, with Marcello Mastroianni? I’m talking about those years…

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My father died when I was sixteen.
We are four brothers and it was not easy.
In those years I studied to become a pilot of airplane and I played basketball.

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To have some money in my pocket I did some simple job: gardener, porter, ...and even the bricklayer. And latest, when I was twenty, with my brother and our girlfriends, we even opened and managed a brewery - pizzeria for a period of almost two years!

But above all, in those years, I loved working as carpenter. In those years I learned to work with wood. I designed and realized my first pieces of furniture for friends (initially) and my first customers. My first steps towards the architecture...

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To tell the truth, I also played volleyball and water polo. And I ran the 400 and the 800 meters. And I started playing tennis and skiing in winter. Well, I didn't spared myself!
But basketball was my favorite sport, and even today, after almost forty years, I still play, every Monday, with my old friends of a time! All ex-champions in the A-League, the highest Italian championship.

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The work

In the meantime I joined the Faculty of Architecture.
But then, I did not start working as an architect right away. Mine was ...a long ride through so many different experiences.

I was still a student when I started working, with some regularity, as graphic for a great publisher. Then, in the 1980s, I joined the United Nations.
From the bottom I slowly made all the steps towards an important role. But, at the beginning, I worked in the internal supermarket, then as porter and, later, as a messenger. And then, still, as photocopier. And in the telex room ...

It makes me laughing: young people do not even know what telex is!
From Africa, Asia, from anywhere in the world to quickly comunicate with the Headquarters, you could use only two tools: the phone (the cell phone did not exist yet) or telex. They should call by phone, ask to be connected and then write from their offices on a typewriter. And a typewriter in the Headquarters, in real time, printed what was written there. No fax… It's not even worth telling!

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Then, finally, after almost six years, I found an appropriate role within the Organization and I started working as an architect. But the stubborn and unusual (and also amusing) way I managed to get the result deserves a separate story. It's amazing how I managed to make myself known by the system!

Today I am a U.N. (but not only) consultant for office organization and maintenance of offices throughout the world. With this assignment, two years ago I was in Gabon. But much more interesting was my experience in Afghanistan in 1997, when the Talibans conquered Kabul and all United Nations offices were moved to Islamabad, in Pakistan. It will be another of my upcoming stories.

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Yes, as I said, today I am a U.N. consultant. Because, in the late 1980s, I wanted to make new experiences and I left the Organization.
For one year I worked as a Marketing Manager in a large Italian company. I wanted to learn something about that world and the world of communication and publicity.

But I did not stop. My curiosity has led me to radically change my work again and I accepted a role as a designer and a planner of exhibitions and congress in another great architecture company.
And finally, in 1994, I found my own company, specialized in organizing events, communication projects and fundraising activities.

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And today?

Today it’s, finally, easier. But I don’t forget how hard it was to join this target.

Introducing my speech, the Chairman of IV Sustainability International Forum, held in Rome in 2012, said:

"Thanks to his diversified vocational training, as well as an unorthodox creativity developed outside the academy, he is renowned as one of the most eclectic and innovative figures in the panorama of marketing and communication, particularly committed with ethic and cultural issues."

Wow!

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In the last years I was called by Publicis (First Communication Agency in Europe and Second Group in the World) to expand its competences in the field of the integrated (olistic) communication.

I’ve also coordinated a group of professionals, experts and university professors to carry out a Territorial Planning of Local Development through the Promotion of Tourism in various regions of Italy and of Magreb.

I worked for the last Mayors of the city of Rome on cultural projects and I even taught at the University with a workshop on "Sponsorships in the field of cultural events and holistic communication".

Last but not least, I continue to cultivate my love for architecture by carrying out two or three projects a year. Not more. Otherwise I would not have time to follow them properly.
Here below, photos and link of the last realization: a restaurant designed with my son Filippo. He is also an architect.

https://divisare.com/projects/340961-filippo-mattia-dobrovich-giacomo-foti-ristorante-filodolio-cucina-extravergine

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And I still love singing in a choir, every Wednesday. And play the piano, guitar and saxophone. I do not play them so well, but I enjoy it very much!

Photo
From 1 to 9: Stock photo, from internet
From 10 to 29: Personal archive