The Birth of Tula

March 30, 2010 by erictula 1 Comment

The final weeks leading up to completion of the sale of my company Mitra Imaging in 2001 were extremely chaotic and wrenching. Among other things, the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington came in the midst of our final negotiations. There was no time to think through what might be coming next for me, but I did know it would be non-profit work. The accountants advised me that if that was my plan then I should set up a family foundation and endow it with some of the proceeds of the sale. ‘Sounds like a great idea,’ I said, and thought nothing more of it until I was called up the night before the signing. ‘What will the name of the foundation be?’ they asked. I had no idea of course, and very little time decide. I knew the three principles George Eastman used when he came up with the name ‘Kodak’, which I had modified for my own purposes when I came up with the name ‘Mitra’.

1. The name shouldn’t mean anything, because you’ll no doubt end up doing something other than you expect.
2. The name should look good in print.
3. The name should be impossible to mispronounce.

The name ‘Tula’ touched all three bases. It also just happened to be the name of one of the three dogs we had on our farm at the time, who was sitting beside me at the time. Tula was a black female German Shepherd who chose her friends very, very carefully. In fact she had a bit of a nasty streak–a bit of that wolf temperament–which served her well when she was on patrol on the farm. I thought perhaps that an association of her name with good works might help rehabilitate her reputation.

I see that same no-nonsense commitment to the mission in the amber eyes of the Hakai wolf who now graces the header of our website. So how has the name worked out? Well, it looks just great in print to me. It’s been impossible to mispronounce, even in the Q’eqchi dialect and probably any of the 21 other indigenous languages in Guatemala. And we done so many different things that a dark, beautiful she-wolf who doesn’t suffer fools gladly is probably as good a symbol for us as anything.