Crowdfunding

As my facebook status indicates, I am indeed just watching the numbers scroll up next to LeVar Burton's smiling, wrinkly face. I predict that it will reach it's million dollar goal by the time I am done writing this.

I think crowdfunding is great, my Kickstarter profile shows the 7 projects I have backed. I have contributed to indiegogo campaigns, GoFundMe, and wedidit campaigns to name a few. I work with philanthropic organizations and my colleagues have asked how we can connect our foundations with folks on Kickstarter, to provide one angel investor cover the fundraising goal? They are onto something about connecting foundations with individuals online, but I don't think Kickstarter is the right platform. Kickstarter is exactly that. You want lots of individuals to donate so you actually have product to distribute, people to read your book, listen to your music, come see the play, use your deck of cards, play your board game. We should start connecting funders and foundations with individuals on GoFundMe and grassroots organizations that are not as well known. The Reading Rainbow Campaign will probably be the most successful project in the history of Kickstarter, they hit a sweet spot! The bulk of individuals donating are 90s kids waxing nostalgic about their childhood and they are now at an age where they have income to spend, and they probably have children they want to expose to the same joys of video field trips.

What's funny is this is not the only crowdfunding site I've been keeping my eye on. My friend started her own crowdfunding campaign for her band and their new EP. They just made their own version of a crowdfunding page on their website and set a goal of $10,000. The page has an accompanying video and a sliding scale of perks. I frequently check the page to see the total amount donated because I absolutely want them to reach their goal and it's fun to watch the progress bar move higher and higher. I now have both of these crowdfunding pages open, Reading Rainbow is at $955,838 and growing by the second, and Ivory Hours is at $2,476 and hasn't moved all day (probably because they update it manually at the end of the day) Also, Ivory Hours does not have a massive fan base of millennials with disposable income (yet) and they are also promoting to a generation that prides itself on obtaining music by not purchasing it. Ivory Hours really needs a kickstart! They need people to purchase the album, and listen to it and love it! LeVar Burton could have funded this whole project himself and people still would have flocked to purchase the product. I understand that he wants to provide the program for free, but I don't think he needs a kickstart in the same way emerging bands from Ontario do. So please, watch the music video for Mary. Be moved. Go to their website. Buy the album and dance to it with your mom. 

Do I want a Kenyon man?

Susan Patton’s advice that women must find a husband at Princeton is misguided for many reasons, but one being the word “husband.” What I experienced in college is socially women do not go to find husbands, we go to find partners. “You’ll never have this concentration of extraordinary men to choose from as you do during those four years” No Susan, you will encounter extraordinary people with whom to form relationships for the rest of your life. I had many partners in college. Not the romantic kind, nor the kind that Patton describes we should find while at an elite liberal arts college. They were partners intellectually, socially, creatively. I met many people in college with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. We laugh, we cry, we fight, we make-up. We send correspondence with loving regards, we call one another to catch up, we send silly notes on facebook. These are the people I want to be my traveling companions, next-door neighbors, surrogate aunts and uncles to my children. Patton says find a husband, I say, find a partner or two, or more. We put so much pressure on finding “the one,” but I have amazing partners in the numerous friends I met at school. Is there someONE out there who can support and challenge me the way all my friends do?

And of course I want a life companion, but that is a lot of pressure to put on one person. Will I find that one person? Will they attend musicals with me? Will they compromise with my bossiness? Will they cook better than I can? And will I be able to reciprocate? Will I be the person they can depend on for richer or poorer in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live? It’s scary to think about, especially as an anxious and worrisome person. Will they be able to comfort me through my explosions of emotions? Will they know never to tell me to “calm down” because I feel condescended towards when I am unable to control my own emotions?

Also, why are our intellectual equals, our should-be husbands, exclusively at these elite schools? That is less than .01% of the population of the world. (.005% if you are only looking for a romantic partnership with only half of the socially constructed gender binary.) By marrying someone from the same elite college, we are not securing our intellectual companionship, but perpetuating the standard to marry someone of your similar class background. There is companionship beyond class. There is intelligence beyond academia. There. I said it. Marriage is not based solely on being your capacity to analyze Durkheim. One of my favorite anecdotes of my parents’ relationship is when my mother offered the advice, “Marry someone smarter than you” my father replied, “I did.” My father’s reply means that both believe they married someone smarter. Reflecting on the people with whom I have been “romantically involved” I was not attracted to them based on our intellectual likeness. Less than half have earned a Bachelor’s degree. My attraction to them was mostly based on timing and some based on their ability to dance.

Men are intimidated by a smart woman and often marry someone of lower intelligence, so women need to snag the men while they are still in college? Way too often the responsibility, or blame, is placed on women. “She was asking for it,” “she should have been more careful,” “she needs to find a husband.” One again, women are forced to abide by a man’s agenda. We don’t need to tell women to get a good man when she can, we need to tell everyone to find a partner when they are ready. Not an intellectual equal, not a trophy wife, not a breadwinner. We need to encourage seeking equity in relationships. We need to encourage seeking love in relationships.

post-commencement

The question posed to me most aften this weekend was "Is it weird being back?" In regards to returning for a visit four months after graduating from Kenyon. No, it was not weird. I needed the flood of familiar faces and hugs and repeating "I'm living in Minneapolis with an Americorp position" a thousand times. I found myself squealing every time a friend identified their class year, especially the new seniors.

I recognize fewer faces, and I think funny looks from first-years proved that we feel mutual non-recognition, but I hope they all found my anonymity a sign that they are acclimating to Kenyon because they can identify that I am not a student. A 2012 alumni could be judgmental, or bitter towards the class of 2016, replacing our well-earned places as Kenyon students, but I couldn't help but think as every unknown face passed by, "What groups did they sign up for at the activities fair?" "What are they going to lead on campus" "Are they going to join Crozier/POV/WKCO/all of the above"

Kenyon was the same, but Kenyon is very different. I don't like the nickname "Wiggle Ground" for Middle Ground 2.0, the second floor of the library was hardly recognizable, though the remodel doesn't make me cringe or have flashbacks to the chair and table at which I sat for the majority of my junior year, writing papers and feeling all the feelings. The only "weird" moment came when I walked into Bucket Haus, though is now ECO/PEAS, yet has hints of the inaugural residents. The stairway was sporadically spackeled to cover the flaws caused by the wall of awesome, and the falcon lives, though now on the first floor.

The constants of Peter, Crozier, Peirce (a fantastic assortment of desserts including the fanciest pudding cups I have ever seen, sorry Drew, I couldn't get a photo. Through I probably would hide it from you anyway) and friends filled me with joy. I know I will forever feel comfortable on that campus, comfortable to walk and talk and comfortable to engage and confront. Amidst the love and the lolligagging, I understand Kenyon is dealing with outsourcing drama, a new sexual misconduct policy and President Nugent leaving at the end of the year. The Kenyon I attended does not exist in a vacuum, I am still processing and learning from the experiences I had and the classes I took. The relationships with friends are still growing and changing, I would be denying myself the chance to learn by trying to freeze a time and place that has passed. 

people today

33 days of officially living in Minneapolis, and I have randomly encountered 2 familiar faces. Thats an average of running into .06 people I see a day that I know. Which is in fact much higher than I thought it would be in a big city. The first person was Victoria Malawey on the bike path. I recognized her voice saying "on your left" and she stopped when I called out "Victoria Malawey! It is Ellen Blanchard!" That was probably only the second time I have ever called her Victoria to her face. Then, this evening while walking to the lake, I greeted a co-worker running by on the bike path. So far, I only see .06 people a day, but with a 100% bike path encounter rate.

Another crazy random happenstance was walking back after swimming, I saw a couple pushing their small child in a stroller. The wife had on a shirt screenprinted with the shape of Michigan. I complemented her and she immediately asked if I was from Michigan. I replied that I am indeed, from Petoskey. They stopped in their tracks and exclaimed that their last name was Petoskey. That could either mean they are Polish (Petoski) or they are related to Chief Ignatius himself. Their lineage is unclear because a great-distant-relative was adopted. Though they are from metro Detroit and they do enjoy sharing the name with a place they visit often. 

Learning doesn't end after college.

The most important piece of advice I received at Kenyon college, from Peter Rutkoff, while in his office for the first time as his advisee.

My job training begins tomorrow, and I could not be more excited! Because if I spend another idle day in this apartment I will spontaneously combust, it is only so many times that you can bleach the bathtub, vacuum the porch, clean lighting fixtures, change lightbulbs, or do dishes (though I will be doing endless dishes because we don't have a dishwasher #chorechart)

Even though I have not officially begun my employment, Peter proved correct (obvi) because here are a few lessons I have already learned after college:

Transitions are difficult, but even more difficult is sudden and abrupt change, for example, packing up all of your belongings in the 7 hours after you walk across the stage to accept your diploma, getting on a plane and 8 hours later being on another continent, saying goodbye to friends you only had  21 days to get to know, loading your car in a day only to unload it 2 days later and 500 miles away.  (digression--transitions are wonderful moments of opportunities opening before you--but they are also full of stress, emotion and uncertainty)

I am an extrovert. Obvious statement is obvious, but truly, I gain all of my energy from other people. Having spent a lot of time alone in Ghana, at home, and now in two weeks in Minneapolis it is painful to do things without others. Which leads me to a final lesson for the evening...I am a big fish. Yes, it's true, I grew up as a big fish in the small pond of Petoskey (though we are so blessed to have the enormous lake out our windows). Petoskey is a small enough pond that I can walk into every single store on Lake Street and know the employees, and some customers (maybe not in July, but definitely in April). Then I moved to Gambier, Ohio which is basically the same set up with the privileged exception that majority of the population is immersed in academia, and between the ages of 18-22. Now, I still claim my identity as a big fish, but now I am swimming in a GIANT OCEAN. This is the third time I have found myself as an anonymous in the community. The first being in high school, you don't have much social clout as a 14-year-old, but eventually, I directed the student-produced play and spoke at graduation...then at Kenyon, it took at least a year to teach everyone where my hometown is located on the Michigan hand-mitten, but eventually, I co-managed Crozier, started the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, and directed "Speak: Women's Voices from the Hill." At Kenyon, I sometimes dreaded leaving my haus because I knew I would have to greet, chat, or interact with every person I saw. Now, I dread leaving my house because I know I will pass by more people in one block than would be on the path to Pierce at lunchtime, and I will recognize no one. At the moment I am pretending that what I need to do here, in this new community, is subscribe to some e-mail lists, attend meetings, and in a few years I will be a quotable notable woman of Minneapolis. Well, that reality check is in the mail as I slowly convince myself this "real-world" is nothing-Nothing-NOTHING like anything I have ever experienced. At least, let's hope, for the moment.

the way we live

I had a hard time collecting my thoughts in Ghana to write a relevant and cohesive post. It's not that I was entirely overwhelmed or suffering intense culture shock, I think I got caught up comparing every anecdote to India, which I wanted to avoid. Ghana was nothing like India and I too frequently thought about them in the same string of consciousness.

I was in Ho, in the Volta Region of Ghana for 31 days, living in a hotel, with meals prepared by a kitchen staff. We also had cleaning service every day and could drop off our laundry when needed. Luxury, if you ask me. A few moments without electricity and a few more without water, but a headlamp and reserve water buckets eased the inconvenience.

The focus of each day was in the morning, whether vaccinating animals in a village or teaching in a school. We visited many villages surrounding Ho: Kpenoe (pronounced PEN-way, but I liked saying it phonetically ka-PEN-oh), Wegbe (WEG-bay), Kpetoe (PET-way), Akoefe (A-KWEF-ay) and Akrofu. Even though we were in the villages for a short amount of time we circumnavigated to get to as much livestock as possible, so we got to see the layout, interact with the people and really get a feel for the personality of the village. Even though the communities are close together, they had different atmospheres. We got to know the people of Kpenoe the best, we visited the most often and vaccinated tons of goats with the help of many women and children. Something I noticed was the variety of goat enclosures. Even though it was the same village, people built pens, fences, and walls with different materials, different sizes, different shapes. Wegbe was in a beautiful location at the foothills with lots of cinderblock structures and a landfill. We visited Akoefe when all the farmers were out in their fields, so it was desolate but when we returned to vaccinate chickens, the people were very nice and it was clean and organized. A huge part of what I learned in Ghana was getting to know the different villages and witnessing the diversity of living styles within a 20km (roughly) radius.

Now, back at home, I cannot help but notice another comparison to India. I am feeling a greater shock coming home from a month in Ghana, where I did not experience intense culture shock like I did for three months in India. I think coming back from India I was so excited to be home, in my own bed, with my family, and drinking tap water that I embraced my cultural reentry. But in that short visit to Ghana, I am startled by the things I do here at home. Jumping in the car and driving to the beach, going to the dentist, making dinner, weeding in the garden. I observed everything in Ghana, taking note of how they do things, how they live life, and now I am doing it to myself. I feel I need to remind myself "this is how I do things," "this is how I live my life," but because I am in a time of rapid transition I don't think I have figured out how I am going to live my life.

Scattered thoughts.

Sorry it has taken me a week to collect my thoughts about Ghana. I want to share the little snippets I think you will enjoy:

The typical greeting is: "Hello, You're welcome" and the response is "Yoo" or "Yoooooooo" and then they giggle because we know how to respond.

The city we are in (Ho) is primarily Christian, so the names of shops are:
God is Good Hair Salon
Emmanuel Auto Parts
Thy God mini Mart
End Times Hair Salon

We are eating at our hotel, so I don't know if we are getting the full authentic experience of Ghanain food. But we are eating rice, chicken, and tilapia. The interesting dishes are spinach stew and steamed bread. The most delicious foods I have had so far are mashed yams, sweet bread and pineapple. all fruit for that matter.

The patterns of clothes are beautiful, and today was market day, so we pushed through the crowded streets full of dizzying colors and smells. Carts overflowed with fruit and fish.

Adventures thus far:

We visited a village to de-worm their goats and I handled some goats to squirt the medicine into their mouths. I talked to the goats to try to settle them down. I would have passed out stickers for all my good patients.

African dance and drum classes are absolutely amazing. My body pours with sweat and my hands throb with pain, but it is so satisfying. Last night, the Kekeli Kids performed for us and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time until Victor pulled me up and made me dance.

Victor is our Ewe language teacher. He is stubborn and really arrogant, and moves really fast in class, but it is great! (He is not a sweet and gentle Harshji, but no one could replace Harshji)

Today we went to a primary school and Sunshine (that is her nickname) Emily and I read books to the 4th and 5th graders and did a project with them where we cut out words from newspapers and made sentences and poems. Some of the best sentences:
"Golden Immortality"
"Ghanains have the power"
and
"Beware of the Elephants"

That's all for now! All my love!

Ellen