To spur conversation, I often go to the “would you rather” questions – and most I make up on my own, but I happen to have handy a set of Table Topics and sat last night with a friend picking out cards from the stack like a magician. I thought I’d share the questions we pulled with you, for your response. Mine, are below. Seemed like something fun to do to step out of the box and think about questions that are different from my regular life and normal conversations I have with people.
How do YOU step out of your box and comfort zone to explore the confines of your imagination?
1. What would you like to be said about you at your funeral?
That I was loved and going to be missed and that I put my fingerprint on the world and helped make it better, even if just for one person.
2. In what era would you most like to have grown up?
Discovery of America. I know chance of survival on the Mayflower and subsequent colonization would be hard, but still, would have loved to be one of the original explorers of America.
3. What event past, present, or future, would you like to witness in person?
In reflecting on my reflecting of 2009, I looked back at the resolutions I made a month ago and can’t believe the progress I made. I joked recently to a friend that January brought so much positive change and sheer brute force that I’ve flown through a lot of these. January was one of the best months of my whole life. I felt in control of my path, I got back on track and back to work. I received a paycheck again. I swooned and awed and danced little happy dances in my apartment when no one was watching celebrating life.
Nonetheless, one of the things I want to do in 2010 is sharing of my goals and the things I work on behind closed doors to make things happen.
First a note. My mom requires my sisters and I submit our New Year’s Resolutions to her in-person, by phone or email by 11PM EST on New Year’s Eve. No exceptions. I have dialed mine in from Cairo to Buenos Aires. My mom puts our Resolutions on paper and in a bottle in the back of the freezer to look at again the next year. I’m being bold sharing my resolutions with you here hoping that this mix of self-determination will lead to fulfilling my “official resolutions” for the year.
I develop many more goals as the year goes by, but these, well these are the starting point for the adventure and state of mind I wish to be in for 2010.
My resolutions (as I wrote them to my mom):
1) Adventure: Go skydiving, get a tattoo, visit Japan, learn to drive a stick (carry over from last year), visit one state I haven’t been to yet.
2) Professional: Attend one conference I haven’t been to before, give at least 10 talks on “cause-filled living,” publish at least 10 articles in magazines or longer form blog posts (separate from repurposing content), blog every day for one month. Write a book and get it published. In general write more, publish more, continue to build a brand around “cause-filled living.” (more…)
Continuing the birthday interviews this week and we’re kicking it off with Adam Gilman. Adam is a change agent, he is passionate about leaving a positive mark on the world and through his One Cause At A Time campaign is looking to reach millions to promote causes. It’s because of Twitter that Adam first came across my radar and when I was looking for people to interview about birthdays and making it about giving and not getting, I knew Adam had to be on the list. Hope you enjoy the interview below.
1) Tell me about your birthday and fundraising campaign. When was your birthday? Was it a milestone? What was your inspiration? What nonprofit did you partner with? Did you tell them in advance? What was your fundraising goal (if you had one) and did you reach it?
I set up the September 11th Fund to support the National September 11th Memorial & Museum / World Trade Center Memorial. The 9-11 Families for a Secure America Foundation and the Courage and Valor Organization, raising thousands of dollars a month for our One Cause At A Time Program. My birthday is September 11th, a day that will forever be a day of mourning for our country. No longer special for me or a day to celebrate. Not a milestone (43) but will always be remembered in a negative way. Our fundraising activity is not a traditional one-time event but an on going monthly process utilizing the power of online commerce. We have partnered with the Together We Can Change the World Foundation which supports our causes plus at least 12 others directly and thousands of others indirectly on a monthly basis..
2) Did you use online tools? Did you have a birthday party in person? What was your way to connect with people and tell them about this?
We use online social networking sites such as Ning.com, Twitter, and Facebook to develop awareness to our One Cause At A Time program. (more…)
The earthquake that shook Haiti last week demolished and devastated the entire nation. Looking at pictures online, reading testimonials of survivors and following the developments in the rescue and emergency response teams, I felt, like many of you, overwhelming sadness. Mere weeks after completing my Kiva Fellowship last summer, the Philippines were hit with Typhoon Ondoy, another natural disaster resulting in true devastation. I was looking back on pictures from the Philippines and wanted to share the slideshow above from when I went to visit Bernardita Dayo, a Kiva borrower that I had actually funded before I became a Fellow. Looking at those pictures, their homes located so close to the water, I’m reminded that for every picture we see of Haiti NOW, just last week there were other pictures showing THEN. The pictures above, that village, doesn’t exist in the same way after the Typhoon, now it is just a memory as the Filipino people work to rebuild their villages and homes so too now does Haiti have a long and turbulent road ahead of them. The “then” in their pictures were vibrant lives and villages with personality, history and culture whose path has now forever been changed.
When you give to help Haiti, and you should, $5-$10 is little to most of us but means the world to them, I’d like to ask you to remember that you’re giving not just to help the Haitian people out of their dire current situation, but investing in their future and the rebuilding of the parts of their society and community that helped define them.
Here are a few quick and easy ways from WhatGives!:
* Text HAITI to 90999. $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to the American Red Cross.
* Text YELE to 501501. $5 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to Yele Haiti. (see note at end of post about Yele Haiti)
* Text CERF to 90999. $5 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.
* Text HAITI to 45678. $5 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to The Salvation Army.
* Text QUAKE to 20222. $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
* Text SAVE to 20222 (US Only). $10 will be charged to your cell phone bill and given to Save the Children.
In addition to the above, I’ve also made a donation to Architecture for Humanity and I’d like to ask you to join me. Cameron Sinclair wrote a powerful article in yesterday’s HuffPost about the rebuilding of Haiti:
When we are rebuilding, do not let the media set the time line and expectations for reconstruction. I remember vividly well known news personalities standing on the rubble of homes in the lower ninth proclaiming that ‘this time next year we will see families back home.’ Some well meaning NGOs, who usually have little building experience, are even worse — ‘we’ll have 25,000 Haitians back home if you donate today.’ In reality, here is what it really looks like;
* Pre-Planning Assessments and Damage Analysis (underway, will run for a year)
* Establish Community Resource Center and Reconstruction Studio (Week 6 to Month 3)
* Sorting Out Land Tenure and Building Ownership (Month 6 to Year 5)
* Transitional Shelters, Health Clinics and Community Structures (Month 6 to Year 2)
* Schools, Hospitals and Civic Structures (Month 9 to Year 3)
* Permanent Housing (Year 1 to Year 5)
Thank you to WhatGives! for creating the widget below that makes it easy for you to make a donation in just a few clicks.
The social web has incredible power to impact change on the world and when disaster strikes, we must dig into our pockets, past where we already give and help those in need. Because we’d want the world to act the same if something horrific were to happen in our backyard. A lesson I’ve learned all too well from the amazing people here in New Orleans.
Please text or make a donation to help the rebuilding of Haiti today.
Today, I’m interviewing Meg Brogan. Meg’s passion for the nonprofit she ran her birthday campaign is definitely the strongest of any of the other interviews because she’s currently volunteering for 9th Ward Field of Dreams full-time! She’s also looking for work in the New Orleans area and I really want her to stay and hope she finds the right fit soon. She is passionate and engaging and it was fun to see her launch this campaign and see the results. I also have a soft spot for 9WFOD (as we’ll call it here) because it is New Orleans based and a really remarkable organization in the final stages of fundraising for a new field and track in the 9th Ward. You can learn more and (maybe even) make a donation HERE.
1) Tell me about your birthday and fundraising campaign. When was your birthday? Was it a milestone? What was your inspiration? What nonprofit did you partner with? Did you tell them in advance? What was your fundraising goal (if you had one) and did you reach it?
I partnered with 9th Ward Field of Dreams, a nonprofit organization here in New Orleans that I volunteer for full-time. The idea for my birthday fundraising campaign really came from the Cause It’s My Birthday Campaign. It was inspiring to see the outpouring of support shown from 7 cities toward 2 people to support 1 cause. 9WFOD set up our Facebook Fundraising page about 2 weeks before my birthday and I really wanted to kick things off right and inspire others to do the same for our cause.
My fundraising goal was $2,500 for my 25th birthday. I exceeded my goal, raising $2,980!
2) Did you use online tools? Did you have a birthday party in person? What was your way to connect with people and tell them about this?
My fundraising campaign was held completely online using 3 major tools. First off, I utilized the Causes Application on Facebook to launch my birthday campaign. This application allowed me to create my own page very simply so that my friends and family could easily donate and track my progress. I could also send messages to my Facebook friends and fans of the 9WFOD cause. I also used MailChimp to quickly and easily send emails to everyone in my personal network. My initial email announced the goal of my campaign, some basics about 9WFOD, and clearly stated how to donate. I sent subsequent emails briefly updating my contacts of my progress and urging others to donate. Lastly, I used Twitter to tap into another network and spread the word about my goal. Here, I posted links to my facebook page, progress updates, and thanked donors. (more…)
Well, I’ve been hustling and it’s starting to pay off! And I have a feeling this is only the beginning (cue backup singers). I have a few more exciting announcements on the way, and a few more projects to tell everyone about, but let me fill you in on three exciting new opportunities on my plate and ways you can get involved, give me feedback, and get engaged with my projects.
1) NOLAlicious. This is a collaboration project with Taylor Davidson and Carl Nelson. NOLAlicious is our take on New Orleans through the eye of a tourist and the emerging soul of a native.
NOLAlicious is a weekly newsletter that we’ve created to highlight upcoming events around town. Carl, Taylor and I all spoke on the same panel at TribeCon and at the time, I turned to them, my fellow digital-nomads-in-crime and we talked about what it would be like if we were all here, in New Orleans, in person together. Tired from our travels and reveling in the comraderie of experiencing this city together, we realized that intellectual curiousity came hand over fist in New Orleans and that could, quite possible, satiate our wanderlust. We would have each other and this amazing city and new friends and new experiences.
When we all did in fact land here by year’s end, we wanted to capture those experiences and share them. We wanted to force ourselves to continue to see New Orleans with a fresh perspective even after the initial newness wore off. NOLAlicious was born.
Sign up NOW to receive the very first newsletter which goes out tomorrow. And if you have tips, please send them over to me at sloane@nolalicious.com.
Other ways to connect? Our tumblr features photographs from around town, we have a Twitter @NOLAliciousness and a Facebook Fan page HERE. (more…)
Funny how time slips by when we let it. A day, a week, a month. How easy it can be to fall out of patterns and how hard it can be to break back in. Yes, if you’ve noticed, I’ve been absent from blogging these past few weeks. It’s not that I’ve been at a loss for words, or life experiences to share, I think I just needed some time to be by myself. With my thoughts.
And that’s ok right?
It has to be. I mean after all, it’s my life.
But yet I still feel the guilt. Do I say, “Oh, I’ve just moved to a new city and am getting an apartment for the first time in a year and I’m kinda freaking out and need to take this time for me.” No. No, I don’t. I feel sheepish, my head low. I feel bad, I feel guilty.
This is the way our online relationships are. We need them, but they need us, and we get used to them needing us and when that relationship is out of whack it can be hard to pick up again.
Sometimes, I see on people’s blogs that they’ve taken a break from posting. You know what I look at? The first post when they pick back up again. What was strong enough to make them push “publish?” Alternatively, I look at people’s first post ever. What did someone feel strong enough about that they wanted – needed even – to hit the fingers to the keypad and get typing?
Did they acknowledge it was their first post? Or a return to something? Or did they just dive right in?
Here’s what I know. We think, we discuss with friends and within our trusted network, we stick our toes in, we test the waters, we debate, we flounder, and then at some point we do. Add steps, take steps away. Make the time frame milliseconds or years. This is called process. We each have a process for doing the things we want to. And at the end of the day, sometimes we jump in and go. But sometimes we choose, again, to sit on the sidelines and wait. Wait for a sign, wait for a better moment, wait because we’re scared or we don’t know what to say, or worry about the outcome, or for most of the unknowns to be known. We wait.
Factors are weighted. As they should be. But for those moments when we know – just KNOW – that it’s not really the big deal we make something out to be. That it’s ok. For THOSE decisions and those moments, trust yourself enough to say, “Hey man, I got this.”
We only live once. I only live once. I’m willing to show my weaknesses (well some of them) as much as I’m willing to share my strength. I can’t guarantee these lapses won’t happen again, and I can’t say I’m entirely sorry they did. I can’t say I won’t feel less guilty next time and I can’t say for certain this moment of clarity will see me through the day. But I can say I’m getting back in the groove. And willing to have a go at it. Which, you gotta admit, is something.
Word has slowly been leaking this week as I reached out to friends in New Orleans to start looking for housing for me and to keep their eyes and ears open. And for those who know me or have been following my journey for any part of this year, you’re no stranger to that fact that I loved New Orleans since the moment I first stepped foot there in 2002, but if that was lust, than the true love came this past spring when post SXSW, I drove there to spend two months volunteering and giving back.
Little did I know that I would arrive with a tweet-up in my honor. That I would meet and come to be friends with some of the most amazing people I have every met, that I would be taken in and “shown the ropes” and that at the end of the two months not only would I have learned to eat crawfish and have a crawfish boil in my honor but that I would feel like I wasn’t just leaving another stop on my journey, but I was leaving someplace that I deeply, one day, wanted to call home.
Let’s start with the KNOWNS. I’m arriving on December 1st and am going to dive head-first into finding housing.
UNKNOWNS? Exactly what, professionally, I’ll be doing. To that extent, I am in talks about a few exciting consulting projects from around the country, there are a few job leads there that I think look very compelling and interesting and I have social entrepreneurial goals of my own that I’m looking to develop and move forward. More on all of this, but if you have any ideas for me or things makes you go hmmm, then definitely reach out and say hello.
I know some people might say – but moving from Los Angeles? How will New Orleans ever compare? Let me say this, in moving this time, I’ve realized there are three things really important to me in my choice on where to live.
1) Quality of Life
2) Strong Sense of Community
3) Social entrepreneurial and social impact environment where I feel I can make a difference
Roots of Music are marching forth to help their teacher, Derrick Tabb, become the next CNN Hero of the Year! Vote NOW, voting closes 6AM so do it NOW!
A native New Orleanian and snare drummer for popular Rebirth Brass Band, Derrick Tabb and friend, Alison Rheinheart, created New Orleans’ only non-profit music program that provides free instruments, music education, supplementary tutoring, hot meals and transportation to more than 100 at-risk youth.
I was fortunate enough to meet them both this past spring when I was in New Orleans and volunteer for Roots of Music. I’ve been a big fan ever since and am really excited to see this incredibly organization getting the national recognition it deserves. (more…)
You can see most photographs from the Philippines and my Kiva Fellowship on my Flickr account HERE (and add me as a contact if we’re not already connected).
This series is called In Transit because you really have no idea how much time people in the Philippines spend in transit unless you are there and traveling in the provinces. Developing countries share that infrastructure problem where it just take a long time to get everywhere, all the time. I spent time on commuter boats, fishing boats, buses, jeepneys, tricycles, pedicabs, fastvans, the ro-ro, walking, taxis and motorbikes. It’s hard to capture all of it, but here are five of my photos that stand out as memories of the experience.
