We are the generation we've been waiting for- right? Poco a poco, we'll get there. Thoughts, insights, and ponderings of a millennial committed to social justice and empowerment through work with nonprofits and post-graduate volunteer work.
Authors note: It's been a great 8 years, but it's time to redirect my efforts. I'll be keeping this blog open so students looking to get a glimpse into post-graduate volunteer life can still do so, but to stay up to date I hope you'll join my wife and I at our travel secrets and stories blog- www.twototravelandtango.com
What a crazy couple years it has been. For starters, it's hard to believe Laura and I got married less than a year ago. We had a lot of fun, bringing our love and passion of travel and exploration into our wedding, as we took our guests on a tour of "our" Los Angeles.
The UCLA and Notre Dame fans weren't too thrilled about joining us on the field where the USC Trojans play
We've also been on the road a lot, me in particular. I've been to 21 countries in the last two years. Of that list, some of them have received multiple visits like four trips to Argentina, two to Chile, and about 20 to Mexico. Suffice it to say, we've been on the road A LOT and along the way, we've picked up some tricks to the trade.
In the next 12 months, I look forward to exploring a few new places: South Africa, Tanzania, Qatar, and Hungry while returning to a few places I really loved: El Salvador, Japan, Hong Kong, and Mexico. Who knows what else might arise.
Two years ago when I managed to get Laura and I business class tickets that took us from LA to Honolulu to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bali to Bangkok (train through Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore) and then back to LA, and all for about 125,000 miles and a couple hundred dollars, friends began to reach out. "Can you help me book an award ticket?" "Hey, what's the best strategy for earning miles with credit cards and flights?" But it all came back to what I noticed were two central desires:
1. How can I travel cheap?
2. I want to travel cheap because I can't afford to do it any other way, and I realize there are stories out there just beyond my reach I so desperately want to hear.
My passion for storytelling intersected with my talent for making travel accessible. It was a match too good to be true. And so as of late, Laura and I have been busy.
In March, we started Two to Travel and Tango- a travel website geared toward millennials that yearn to discover ways to travel more affordably to encounter the stories that travel provides us. With my own hectic travel schedule and the incredible secrets and lessons learned, it just felt like it was something worth trying. Neither of us are rich people, and yet we've been able to travel as though we are. If you can travel as much as we have on our budget, I'd venture to say most people who say they don't have the money to travel and flat out wrong. It's just a matter of learning how to do it. The benefits not only of travel, but of doing it in incredible comfort are secrets we hope to pass on.
And so this is most likely the last blog post on this site. Going through the website, it's been fun to reminisce. What a journey it's been from that day I stepped out of LMU, 22, excited to work in South America and uncertain of what that all meant. In the last few years, in my work directing immersion and social justice experiences at LMU, students of mine have found this blog. We've shared some laughs: You were so CHEESY is something I am told a lot. I still am is my typical response. We've also shared some valuable conversations motivated by this blog. It turns out, that in some small way, the blog is having some of the impact I always hoped it would on people discerning post-graduate volunteer work abroad. I had a student tell me the other day that reading my two year journey, both the good and the bad, is what gave him the courage to do post-graduate service. That's more than I could have ever hoped would arrive from this blog.
And so the site will stay open for now, but I really hope you'll join Laura and I in our newest endeavor. Two to Travel and Tango is easy to navigate to and the first thing you can do in the right hand column is sign up to receive email updates. Below that, you'll see opportunities to join us on Facebook and Twitter and of course, if you use Feedly or other blog readers we've got the RSS feed available for your use.
It's been a fun journey, and I feel it's just beginning. I'm still not the writer I want to be, but my basic endeavors not only with Two to Travel and Tango, but as a freelance writer for The Huffington Post, Vagabondish Travel Magazine, and Gonzaga University have me more excited to merge my love of story and travel into what I hope is a useful site for many people, not just travel hungry millennials. So join us, I'll do my best to make sure you don't regret it. See you over at www.twototravelandtango.com
As a student at Loyola Marymount University, a professor and mentor of mine, Fred Kiesner, would always encourage his students to SOAR (Sit on a Rock). A business professor, he embraced Jesuit pedagogy and those wise words from Socrates: The unexamined life is not worth living.
So a couple days ago I took a break from wedding plans, work, and even blogging about Things to do around LAX on a layover that seems to be piling up all around and I decided to SOAR. I was turning 30, and while I didn't see it as much of a big deal at first, others made sure I was aware of their thoughts on what the change of a decade meant. Thanks to some good friends and the wise words of an old professor bouncing around in my brain, I got to put together a brief reflection on the decade that was and the decade that awaits.
Over the weekend, I accompanied a group of Loyola Marymount students on De Colores, a program that brings students to Tijuana one weekend a month to learn about the various social justice issues along the border.
On Sunday, we were among several bystanders who watched history. A door in the border fence at a place called Friendship Park was opened for the first time ever, allowing a father living in the United States to hug and hold his five year old daughter for the first time ever.
I wrote a story about it for the Huffington Post that can be found here. The message is simple: behind all the rhetoric surrounding immigration reform, we must not lose sight of what it is we are fighting about: real people. Immigration reform has a very real human face as you will see in the touching video below, now if only more hearts may be moved to see them more clearly.
“I think I just got an $8,500 airline ticket for $200 and
125,000 miles” I told my fiancé last night. We’ve probably spent
more time anxiously researching honeymoon destinations than we have actually
completing the x’s and o’s of the whole getting hitched process. We both have a
thing for travel, and I’ve become a big nerd about the way we travel,
essentially spending many a night pondering how two people on nonprofit
salaries can fly in those seats that turn into beds after sampling nice wine andeating a beautifully prepared filet mignon. Poco a poco though, I've yet to work my way into a First Class Suite (you read that right) on Singapore Airlines or taken a shower in First Class on Emirates. For some people, trashy TV is their guilty pleasure. Mine is pretty simple: airlines and travel have always fascinated me, and I feel as giddy as a kid the night before Christmas when I prepare for a big trip!
(LEFT) Portion of a three page menu on our JAL flight from Honolulu to Tokyo
(RIGHT) The seat that turns into a bed on one of our Cathay Pacific Flights
Laura and I aren’t new to this. Over the summer, when we
were both transitioning to new jobs we decided to travel for six weeks. Our
journey took us from LA to Honolulu to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bali to Bangkok
(take a breath), where we then took a train to journey through South Thailand,
Malaysia, and ending in Singapore on our way back to Los Angeles. The damage on
this trip: about $150 each and 130,000 miles using a lesser known award called "The OneWorld Explorer." This trip also was in business
class, meaning seats that turn into beds, lounges at connecting airports to
freshen up with private shower rooms that were bigger than my apartment. For more on the OneWorld Explorer, FlyerTalk is the definitive source in my opinion.
Lately, more and more friends have been asking me how we do
this. And the answer, like most good things, can be a bit complex. But when you
really look into it, it comes down to a few key ingredients: frequent flyer
loyalty, a good credit card signup bonus or two, and finding ways to get bonus
miles on everyday purchases. Let me explain:
Loyalty
I’m an American Airlines guy. Sure, from time to time (every
long haul flight) I wish I was on Virgin America, with their sexy lights, or
JetBlue, watching DirecTV live from my seat. But at the end of the day, what
matters to me are two things: how and where can I use the miles/points I earn,
and what benefits come with loyalty.
The benefits are pretty straightforward: I sit in emergency
exit rows (when not being upgraded to First Class) and stretch my legs out nearly every flight. As a platinum member of
American Airlines (someone who has flown 50,000 airline miles a year with AA and their partners) I
also earn double miles on every flight I fly. This adds up. A roundtrip from
LAX to London earns most people 10,000, I get 20,000- that’s almost a free
domestic round trip ticket right there! What’s more, I get to go through
priority airport screening, rarely waiting in line, and often keeping shoes,
belt, and jacket on when I use TSA Pre. Finally, when I need to call the
airline, I’m connected to an agent in less than one minute usually. I could go
on but the message is simple: loyalty pays dividends for me and my travel.
But where you can use miles are just as important. American,
Delta, and United are all part of different airline alliances, meaning you can
use your miles not just on flights with those airlines, but often with 20+
different partners (click the airline links to see each alliance and the airlines that are a part of it). When we went to Asia, we flew Cathay and JAL (two amazing
airlines). Going to New Zealand, we’re taking Qantas. So your miles, on a major
carrier, can really take you almost anywhere in the world you want to go!
So for me, I'm always on the look for when I can do American. If I'm booking personal travel and the cost is slightly more, I often will pick American, not only for the comfort benefits described above, but because at a certain point, earning double miles, I can rationalize it is in fact the more affordable option given the miles I will earn. It's a personal call for each person, but I've found more often than not, my loyalty pays for itself!
Credit Cards
This is what most people do to get the big miles. If you don't travel much, then you probably have to take a good hard look at it. There’s an
entire community focused on maximizing opportunities for credit card bonuses.
I’ll list a few of the bloggers I really like in this realm but I have to
confess, I haven’t really utilized this that much. I did get an American
Airlines credit card with a 75,000 mile bonus after I spent X amount in like 2-3
months (Best offer out there as of writing this is 50,000 miles). But that was it. If you
really want to go this route to rack up miles, there are blogs like MileValue
that can tell you the secrets much better than I ever could. A good bonus or
two help A LOT, but it’s a world I haven’t felt inclined to really dive head
first into... But again, most of the people who are swinging these huge miles and points trips do so because of credit cards.
Here a few of my favorite travel blogs who write about the credit card secrets along with other great tips and advice:
I don’t know about you, but I am amazed how much of my
shopping I now do online. Wedding registry- I go online, find the gift, and
send it off to the couple. Christmas, why step into a chaotic mall when I can just find a
good deal online and ship it off or get it delivered to my doorstep? Heck, why
buy a CD or even go out to rent a movie, when I can just get both on iTunes? If
you’re like me, you make a fair amount of purchases online as well, through big
brand stores. What most people never realize, is there is a way to get bonus
miles on these purchases.
Most of the big airlines now have online shopping portals,
and you need to think of it as exactly that. Instead of going straight to
Target.com, you login to say the Aadvantage EShopping Portal, search for the
store or product you are looking for and earn anywhere from 2-30 extra miles per
dollar. Looking to buy Rosetta Stone- why not get 7 extra miles per dollar
spent on that purchase? Need to go by your local Home Depot to pick up some
stuff? Why don’t you order online and have it ready for store pick up at your
local store (avoid shipping charges and wait), and earn a bonus 3 miles per dollar spent.
My absolute favorite is back when Groupon was giving 8 miles per dollar (today it is 2 miles). A friend bought a tour package to Australia
on there, and because it was a $5,000 purchase, earned 40,000 miles. But even
if you made that purchase today, you’d get an additional 10,000 miles, just by going through the shopping portal, rather than going right to
Groupon.com. The portals don’t change the price, they don’t do anything other
than help you earn.
Even if miles aren't your thing, you should still be using a portal like UPromise to earn money to pay down your Sallie Mae loan, create a 528, or deposit money into a high interest rate savings account through Sallie Mae. By using this when booking a hotel through hotels.com or for other purchases, I've been able to reduce my student loans by $400- all for taking 20 seconds and logging into a simple portal before making a purchase I am planning to make anyway.
Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments allows you to transfer $1000 from one person to another before either party is charged a credit card fee. So let's say you write a check to your roommate for rent each month- why not set up an Amazon Payment account and send it to them via that, earning miles on whatever miles credit card you utilize? If you're married and have a few different bank accounts between you and your spouse, same idea can apply: instead of just transferring the money, do it via Amazon payments. Think about it: $1,000 = 1,000 miles x 12 months = 12,000 miles a year extra to your mileage account. That's a free one way domestic ticket!
Dining
Dining is another everyday purchase that helps me build
points. Each airline has a dining rewards program some restaurants participate
in. So for me, each time I get a pizza from my favorite pizza joint, I get an
extra 5 miles per dollar spent thanks to the Aadvantage Dining Network. When I traveled a lot for work, I used todetermine which restaurant to try in the neighborhood based on where I’d earn
some extra miles. If the place looked good, why not try it, support a local establishment, and get these extra miles to boot? With both the dining and e-shopping portals, you can check if your airline participates by Googling the name of your airline and eshopping or dining program.
But how do you redeem
these miles
If you thought earning was hard, actually using your miles
can be something even more challenging. But as my two most recent bookings
show, it isn’t impossible. Our Asia trip I booked 3 weeks before departure, and it was in
the middle of peak travel season from the States. For New Zealand, we are going
there in the peak of their tourist season. The opportunities exist; they just
require some patience, persistence, and technology.
The persistence is the easiest part. Each night before I
went to bed, and each morning when I woke up, I was logging onto aa.com and
searching for reward flights. When the first leg opened up, but the return
flight home wasn’t available, I took advantage of a rule with American Airlines
that allows you to put a ticket on hold for five days. I searched for the one-way
to Auckland, found it, and put it on hold and then searched each day until
Monday, the last day, when the return trip became available. I put that on
hold, and then Laura and I made sure everything was as we wanted it to be. There's a great post on this process here.
The patience can be the hardest part. Some say the best time
to book awards are 330 days out. Often times that can be true I’m told (and it certainly worked for me and our New Zealand trip), but
sometimes, airlines wait until they determine it’s safe to open up more rewardspace (Read: They don’t think they’ll sell it) and that can be 90 days or less.
So the patience sometimes requires flexibility. Laura and I had determined we
wanted to go somewhere far for our honeymoon, but we didn’t dig our heels in
for New Zealand: we also were open to Australia, or Vietnam and Cambodia. On my
Asia trip, it was like a jig saw puzzle, holding the ticket for five days, and
each day calling back, trying to find alternative routes and days to get from
one spot to the next when at times it appeared no space was available. It also helps to become as educated if not more about routing rules than the customer service agents. When we had every leg of the journey lined up EXCEPT our flight home, I wouldn't just call and say "I want to get back to LA." I would call with knowledge of the various routes that could happen and ask the agents to check each and every route. Doing so is what allowed us to find our journey home via Tokyo, when originally the agent didn't think there was availability.
The technology is the most fascinating part to me. I signed
up for Expertflyer.com, a service that for $10 a month gave me, among many cool
features, an ability to view award space on flights for several airlines, and
also create email notifications so expertflyer would email me if the space I
was looking for opened up. ExpertFlyer is wonderful for Star Alliance (searches all member airlines) and not too bad for others, you just have to know who you are looking to fly on. Awardnexus is also another possibility to explore. Finally, there is something called KVS Tool- but I haven't yet ventured that way, but if you're programming savvy, you might geek out over it.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, if you're obsessed with travel, it's worth taking the time to really dive in and discover this world. If you know you want to do a big trip, start saving. If you're due for a new credit card, see what deals exist and if they're right for you. If you ever dine out, why haven't you taken 5 minutes to register your credit cards with one of the dining programs? Note: you can only be registered with one dining program, you can't get miles from like 5 programs on one purchase- nice try though! Shopping online, shop through a portal. Making a big purchase in store- see if the store allows you to shop online and pick up in store- and earn those miles! There are all these opportunities, big and small, that are just there for the taking. Be intentional, be savvy, and be persistent!
I hope this was helpful. I'm by no means an expert, but I've linked to enough experts where hopefully this can be a good launching point! If you’ve got questions, leave me a comment- I’ll do my best to get to them.
Finally, if you need a little extra kick to get the travel
bug, read this great blog post and then tell me you’re not itching to travel. We travel for fulfillment. Why not chase it as intentionally as we chase so much else in life?
I packed the wrong bag. Really, I wish I had a
better opener to explain one of the most powerful and profound moments of my
year, but I realize in many ways, it comes down to something as simple as that.
But I guess it really all started in 2003 when
I realized I’m a horrible cement mixer. This was when I was down in Tijuana,
Mexico with Loyola Marymount University on one of their weekend service and
immersion trips called De Colores. If you were as bad as I was at mixing cement you had two options: You could perfect your cement mixing abilities, or you could inconspicuously sneak away and play with the kids from the community who came with their parents to the house build projects.
And so it was that I came to know Eric, and
countless other kids in the local community called Tecolote that we worked in.
Eric and his siblings grew close to many of us, so much so that one of Eric’s
youngest siblings is actually named after a friend of mine who went on these
trips. On my last trip as a student, another friend Diego gifted Eric a beanie
with the logo of the service organization called Magis we were a part of.
Eric, with Diego after being given his Magis beanie.
After I graduated, the beauty of Facebook updates from friends still at LMU allowed me to learn bits and
pieces of how Eric and his family were, and time and again, the beanie was in
the photos. But the photos and updates gradually disappeared as the work De
Colores was doing moved away from Tecolote and into another community- El Florido. And before I knew
it, I was left wondering about Eric, where he was, and what he was doing.
This past September, I became the interim
Director of the De Colores service program, meaning I am now the one responsible for bringing LMU students down to Mexico. On Friday, I was frantically packing to get ready for the
trip and for reasons I’ll never fully understand I walked right past my usual Mexico duffle bag and instead grabbed a bag off my closet
shelf I haven’t used for a couple years now.
Fast forward to Sunday, and Build a Miracle, the
nonprofit we work with in Tijuana hosted a holiday party for all the people who have received a home through their organization. A young man who looked to be about 20 caught my attention. He looked different, older obviously, and yet something inside told me it was Eric.
I got to spend a good amount of time with Eric
and his family that Sunday. We exchanged stories and updates; them asking me
about other students that had been part of my time period, me asking about members of
the community that treated me like one of their own. Eric asked about Diego,
and some of the other guys in the service organization, and told me he was an
unofficial member of Magis even though his beanie had been stolen long ago. And it was then I knew, I hadn’t packed the wrong bag
after all.
You see, the night before, I had been looking
for my toothpaste and some other items I forgot to bring because I always keep
them packed in my trusty blue duffle bag. I was frustrated and cursing my error when I felt something at the bottom
of the bag: My Magis beanie. Seeing it Saturday night instantly brought back
powerful memories of Eric, his siblings, and other members of the community I
came to care about that kept me awake for much of the night. And here’s the
thing- if I had the right bag, I never would have had the beanie and I probably wouldn't have thought about Eric and his family that night. I really don't think I would have recognized Eric that next day, he would have just been a face among the hundreds there that day.
Eric, with his new Magis beanie
God has a great sense of humor. Just when I
think I have every detail choreographed, a wrench is thrown into the plan. Isn’t
that life, in ways big and small? The challenge then isn’t avoiding the missteps,
but rather in remaining constantly open to where and whom they might lead you
to.
I realized last night speaking with a couple college students I work with at Loyola Marymount University that young men and women in college today were young elementary school students when 9/11 happened 11 years ago. In speaking to these students, I was momentarily taken aback by how it was one of the few times this particular conversation was driven less by raw emotion and reflection on a personal level of what that day meant and more almost like a history lesson. It was the first time I felt compelled to tell my own 9/11 story not for my own comfort, but to hopefully educate someone else.
I was a senior in high school, and like many kids with parents were going through a divorce, my relationship with my parents wasn't great. I was difficult to communicate with, and so had spoken little with my dad but knew he was scheduled to be on a plane that day. Before those planes hit the towers, my biggest concern was a test I failed to properly study for and the status of Ed McCaffrey, a Broncos wide receiver who broke his leg on Monday Night Football the night before. That morning, the hours dragged on, leaving me wondering if my dad was alright. The petty reasons we shut off communication with people weighed heavily on my mind, as for the first time I contemplated a world where not talking to him was not a choice, but a brutal reality forced upon me. That feeling of relief when he called is vivid in my memory to this day.
Watching the towers fall, surrounded by classmates who first screamed and then sobbed as we watched events unfold, those are the types of sounds you can almost hear again so clearly when you just recall the memory. To this day, when I go to Mass, I kneel, even when most in my local church no longer do. On 9/11, my school came together to do the only thing that made sense: pray. Being in a gym, we never knelt during Mass but this day was different. One student dropped to his knees, and then another, and in under a minute, the entire gym was on their knees. That moment was the strongest I felt that entire week. Each time I am in a Church I kneel and it brings me back to 9/11/01. I am reminded to pray for anyone who saw life close it's final chapter too soon, and those who silently shoulder the burden of that loss. But it's also a hallelujah song of sorts, a Thanksgiving for the incredible comfort I felt in that moment, knowing there was a community around me ready to face what uncertainty lay ahead.
I found this reflection from Vice-President Joe Biden and was profoundly moved by it. Vice-President Biden lost his wife and daughter in a horrible car accident when he was only 30 years old. When he speaks to victims there is this clear and undeniable connection that I can only imagine comes from knowing real tragedy too early in life. I didn't lose anyone that day but like millions of people old enough to recall those strong emotions, the national loss is still a very real part of my personal identity. I think older generations have an important role in telling the stories that lurk behind the events of history. The things I remember most about some of the biggest historical events aren't what I learned from my history book, they are what was shared with me by members of generations who remember those moments as anything but a page in a history book.
I haven’t worn pants in exactly two months. I suppose
there are more appropriate ways to announce I am now working at a startup but
a bit of embellishment about my pure joy of not having worn a pair of dress
slacks for months was more likely to grab your attention.
When I was contemplating the jump to a startup a good
friend urged me to take some time to think about it. “Why don’t you wait a few
years, build up your savings a bit more, and then think if something like this
makes sense?” He had a fair point. I worked with great people and was working a job that I liked. But I could feel the passion that I used to use as a beacon for life choices slowly fading away. If I waited until I was in my thirties,
got accustomed to a nice salary and the perks that accompany it, who’s to say
I’d still have the courage to make that jump? I believe we’re equally
accountable to both heart and mind, and the heart was demanding I fight for
it’s very survival.
Transitioning to a startup can be intimidating. We all
have those days where we feel unfulfilled, but very rarely do we ask what we
would be willing to give up in search of meaning? It’s one thing to declare
you’ll follow your dreams, it is quite another thing to do just that when you
realize that dreams, the really good ones at least, often come with great risk,
cost, and sacrifice. This can be manifested in simple ways like letting go of your
comfortable salary or company sponsored health insurance for example. Or it can
be as vexing as a creeping feeling you’re not the passionate person you once
were or the capable person your new company thinks they hired. When push comes
to shove, it sure seems lot easier to never take the risk to discover if our greatest fears about who we are or who we are becoming are true or not.
My first weeks at InVenture have been exciting. And it’s not
just about reporting to work most days in jeans and flip flops. There is
something bigger going on. I’m surrounded by other people in their 20’s and
30’s who believe their work matters enough to have meaning. There are people
all around me who are as curious as they are passionate, and that informs my
work in incredible ways.
I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that for
so long I felt that emptiness in my soul that one feels when they aren’t
pursuing the work they are called to do. We can ignore the longing by trying to
fill the emptiness with meaningless distractions. Or, on trembling knees, we
can face our greatest hopes and fears, often woven into one package.
Work here is anything but easy, but that hollow spot in my
soul is being filled by a passion almost lost, compassion refueled, and
curiosity pushing me to the limits of my own understanding. This is not to say
I have attained the meaning I so desperately crave, but damned if I am not pursuing
it... in my jeans and flip flops!
I consider myself a great many things: a runner, an
entrepreneur, and a storyteller are among just a few. But unfortunately, over
the last few weeks my experience trying to obtain health insurance has forced
me to see myself as something else: a pre-existing condition.
I left my job at USC, excited to join a great start-up
working to create financial access for millions of poor entrepreneurs in India
and elsewhere. The organization is visionary, but they’re also young and thus
unable to offer health insurance for their employees at the moment. In my
excitement to do something I am passionate about, I never imagined the
struggles I would have to obtain health insurance on my own.
The cost is exorbitant. Typically $170 a month will get you a
modest plan. Two to three visits a year to the doctor for a $40 co pay. I pay
any costs beyond that, out of pocket, until I reach my $3,500 yearly deductible.
After I have paid $3,500 out of pocket, the insurance company pays 70% and I
pay 30%. So something like a broken leg, can easily set you back $7,000, and
that’s with insurance!!!
But if like me, you have asthma, things are even worse. Many
are denied health coverage because of their pre-existing condition. Me, I
underwent multiple humiliating interviews that made me feel like a second class
citizen before a top carrier agreed to carry me, for a $50 a month surcharge.
The letter I got from one health insurance company
I am a runner, having competed in multiple half marathons
and marathons. I have controlled my asthma since 1995, and never once had an
asthma attack. But these facts matter not. At the end of the day, we have a
healthcare system built less on cura personalis (care of the entire person) and
more on bottom line. Insurance companies see me as two things: a pre-existing
condition and $$$.
The Supreme Courts decision to uphold the Affordable Care
Act is a landmark moment for our nation. But it is also an intimately personal
victory for me, and the countless individuals like me who don’t think asthma or
some other controllable condition should in any way be able to influence or
limit their desire to be entrepreneurs.
I try to avoid politics on this blog, but this decision
feels more than political to me, it has become deeply and agonizingly personal.
The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare as some call it, has countless stories and
human faces beyond the thousands of pages and heated political debate. I am one
of those faces, one of countless stories affected by this decision.
America, at long last, moves slowly toward a standard of
care seen in every other industrialized nation in the world. And come 2014,
health insurance companies will be forced to see me as anything
BUT a pre-existing condition.
There is a story circulating around TV, radio, and the internet about the incredible cruelty four middle school boys showed to an elderly bus monitor this week in Greece, New York. Moments after I brought myself to watch clips of this saddening video, an old professor emailed me a story he had received from Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He simply said:
"I don't know why, but somehow knowing that 21 year old college graduates like Brittney are spending a year thinking and praying about experiences like this makes me feel better about where we are going as a society."
There is a story of heartless and immature cruelty that is the talk around so many tables and water coolers this week. But reading the reflection that was shared with me yesterday, I was profoundly moved and like my professor, feeling better about the direction our society is heading. I, like many others, have also been inspired to see people all around the world giving small sums of their own money to a fund to help this bus monitor go on a vacation and retire. Last I checked, the fund reached $550,000. The light, it seems, is still better than the darkness, even when it's seems we are surrounded by the night.
At the end of the day, we must not forget, the light is also so much stronger than the darkness in this world, if only we choose to let it be. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did. It truly was my redemption song yesterday.
Redemption Song
A reflection from Brittney Cavaliere
A second-year JV working in Washington, D.C., at Joseph's House, which provides hospice care for people who are homeless.
A dear resident lost his battle with liver cancer earlier this year. My heart ached for him, wishing he was sitting on the front porch to say, "Good morning, Shorty," or in his room listening to Bob Marley.
Watching him die was one of the most challenging experiences, but also a very rewarding one. It was a time when I felt God's presence so clearly, when I was able to bear witness to the beauty that rises out of death.
I spent most of that morning by his bedside, writing him a little thank-you note. There'd been a major change in him from the day before. His breathing slowed, there was no longer moaning or wincing, he was free of pain. As he slept, I watched, wrapped up in the mystery that surrounded me.
In the afternoon, our nurse came to find me. "He is nearing the end. If it's important to you, and I know it is, you should go to his room."
As I entered, I knelt at the foot of the bed and placed my hand on his foot. That's where I remained until he took his last breath. I stayed there for many moments after. He died peacefully, just as I'd prayed all week.
Three friends and co-workers entered the room soon after. Balaji placed one hand on my friend's leg and took my hand in the other. Tina and Sam joined us in our chain as we mourned together, grieved together, remembered together.
We began the Joseph's House rituals and lit a candle by the bed. Someone turned on his stereo. Bob Marley's Redemption Song played. The word "freedom" kept repeating itself.
That was when I knew he was free. He left this life for one of true joy, singing his redemption song.
The world lost a love-filled man, a teacher, a passionate human being, but we gained an angel. For that, I am eternally grateful.
The man is slumped in his chair and he looks dead. On a
crowded street corner, people and cars fly by, unfazed by the very real possibility
that his man slumped in his wheelchair isn’t just high or drunk, but may very
well be dead.
I know he’s not dead because when I first got to this coffee
shop, I came upon another man checking on him and indeed the man was roused
awake. But time and again, I have watched as the masses pass by.
Worse yet, a number of people walk by, turn around and stare, but then decide
to move on. But hope abounds, because I have watched time and again how when one
person stops and tries to engage the man and make sure he is alive, several
others stop, and ask what they can do to help. There is discomfort, uncertainty, and confusion, but above
all else there is a certain level of compassion and shared responsibility. And
so from a privileged place I watch the best and worst of humanity struggle to
deal with a problem that goes beyond one man in a wheelchair.
I must confess of all the social issues I care about,
homelessness is one of the most vexing. It’s hard to find the kind of "light at the end of the tunnel" hope you encounter in something like education. No, with the homeless, the weight of the charity we offer
indeed weighs heavily upon our shoulders as we are asked to work on a cause and with
people where the hope we want to believe in seems to have
faded long ago.
We’re a results oriented culture, but I really believe sometimes we're tasked to just show up and acknowledge in the other the shared humanity and dignity they themselves might not believe
they possess. Our task, however daunting it may be, is to somehow make the socially irrelevant realize how relevant they
really are.
As I was finishing this post, a man leaving Starbucks approached the homeless man. After he saw he wasn’t dead though, he did
something different. He stayed, and listened patiently for about 5 minutes as
the man spoke to him. And the man just listened. Then he smiled, handed him a cigarette, split
his breakfast sandwich in half, and then got behind the wheelchair, sharing a laugh with
the man as he helped, literally and figuratively, move the man a little closer to where he
probably really wants to be. He never noticed me, or anyone else whose eyes
were fixated on the touching scene unfolding on a gritty and busy street corner.
He did what was right most likely because his heart told him to do as much.
Some would say the odds are against us in this world. Now 7
billion people strong, there’s simply too many people, too many problems, to
pay each one the proper attention deserved. Well, perhaps it’s true, but I’ll
be damned if I don’t count myself among those who still try anyhow. How about
you? What story is someone writing about you when you least suspect it?
Google Alerts is perhaps one of the greatest things out there yet. Have a topic you care to follow closely? A Google Alert helps you monitor the internet for the latest content about that particular topic. Anymore, it's a must. You can use it to keep track of news about your company or about an organization you hope to one day be a part of. It's also a great way to monitor what sort of content is being released out there about yourself. That's right, set a Google Alert up to track anything that comes up with your name to help manage your personal brand.
One of my Google Alerts is for The Working Boys Center- the organization I volunteered with (and fell in love with) for a year in Quito, Ecuador. One of my alerts for the WBC this morning was a great link that really had me reflecting on the value and merits of doing some sort of volunteer work for an extended period of time right after college. A number of college seniors are reflecting on what's next for them, and for many, post grad service is possible in the cards. Reflecting on my own experience, I continue to see the benefits of my time in South America in both my personal and professional life.
So all this is to say, if you're contemplating a year (or two) of service after college, or really at any point in your career, I'm working on a post to really help break things down a bit. Until then, enjoy the video of one tiny place on the map that provides incredible opportunities for program participants and volunteers alike! If you know of the center, the video might take on even more special meaning. For example, the student speaking at 5:17 in the video was one of my students his first year at the Center. It's amazing to see how much he has grown up!
If you have any thoughts about post graduate volunteerism, let me know as I'll be putting together a future post.
Welcome to Timeline. Mark Zuckerberg, at the f8 Developer conference, said “We’re more than what we did recently” as he went on to announce timeline profile pages.
If you want the idea in under 2 minutes, watch the official Facebook video. Facebook has created what appears to be a beautiful mosaic that
really takes a profile and focuses it into three areas: applications, self
expression, and a users story. And they do this, all on one page. The idea,
according to Zuckerberg was to more or less move from telling the story of your
life in the last 15 minutes and actually captures the whole of your life.
Audacious? Yes. Intriguing? Most certainly.
On one hand are the obvious privacy concerns. Many say
privacy is dead and we should get over it, but I think I’m of a unique age
group that has comfortably lived adult lives pre-facebook and after Facebook
burst onto the scene. Privacy, in several aspects, still means something to us
even if at times it’s difficult to see just how.
On the other hand, I am fascinated by the potential this has
for changing the way we interact through social media. Whether privacy is dead
or not I hope is a topic of debate for sometime to come, but there is no
denying social media, in one form or another, is here to stay.
So what should tech savy (and career savy) millennials do in
response to this roll out by Facebook?
Think about your biography
Because more or less, that's what this is. A biography. No one likes a story where at the end, you knew there was so much more to it. If you decide to utilize this feature, go all in. Make it interesting. Make it uniquely you so that when friends go to your page, they do feel as though they've entered your virtual home. That doesn’t mean make stuff up, but work with what you’ve got- photos, interests,
and everything else to really be strategic about how you present yourself in
the world of social media.
About those friends of yours...
They're really the only people who should be able to see what you're up to Facebook. It never ceases to amaze me how many people don’t have some sort of privacy settings on their Facebook profile. In this day and age, there’s no excuse. Protect your profile.
Clean up your act
There’s the old “don’t have anything on your profile you
wouldn’t want your mom to see. Go a step further and think of your (future) son or daughter. An even easier rule: if you have to
pause to think about whether or not something should stay a part of your
profile, it’s time to take it down.
Talk to your friends
If there’s photos floating out there, tagged or not, that
you feel could cause you embarrassment, talk to your friends and see if they’ll
take them down. Have one friend
always posting things you rather not be a part of your Facebook story- it’s time to have that conversation or cut off
their posting privileges.
Face to face is never bad
I don’t know which is more awkward, grandparents on Facebook
or teens who don’t know how to interact in person. As we grow more accustomed
to communication through social media, the true value of your abilities to
connect with people face to face increases. Platforms like Facebook can and
should more fully enable our online conversations to serve as an impetus for
more meaningful interactions offline. As we communicate more and more over
status updates and texts, your ability to communicate in more traditional formats will
help you stand out.
As I was reading the paper a few weeks ago, I came across this line and felt my heart in my throat as though experiencing the moment myself:
"In the months after Sept. 11, Walter was preoccupied with trying to find who led him and his co-workers to a stairwell, saving all their lives. Finally, he was able to identify "our hero" — Pablo Ortiz, a Port Authority employee who had died helping others. A photograph of Ortiz's family hangs on Walter's office wall."
But also noteworthy is what is unfolding in terms of how companies are remembering
9/11 via their commercials today. Sitting here watching football on the first Sunday of the NFL, I’ve
been more intrigued with the commercials taking place between snaps than the game itself.
I wrote a few weeks back about a Chevrolet commercial for the new
Martin Luther King Jr. memorial put together by Spike Lee. The
result, as you can see below, was powerful. And he’s at it again. I’ve seen
this new State Farm commercial he's directed now 4-5 times today and it moves me each time. In short, a group of school children sing
Empire State of Mind while traveling through parts of New York, ending up at
a local fire station to serenade a group of fire fighters.
I don’t know if State Farm will sell any more home or auto
insurance based off this ad. I don’t really care about their motivation for
making the spot. It’s a fitting tribute to the men and women who lost their
lives. It says something about the resilience of New York, of America, really of humanity to never forget but carry on living.
Watch the spots below. I hope like me, you’ll be happy that
two powerful spots like these are reaching a larger audience, and framing the
story of two important events in a way any of us who believe in the power of storytelling are happy to see. If you like the version of the song, you can purchase it on Itunes and State Farm says that all proceeds will go to a national firefighters fund.
Chevrolet MLK Commercial
State Farm Empire State of Mind
Interviews and Extras in their own words (on State Farm Youtube site)
“What it’s like for 20-somethings to go looking for meaningful work- and not find it.” Welcome to the Lost Generation. The other day The New York Times came up for another name for us: Generation Limbo.
So what’s a well-educated 20-something to do? About 14 percent of people who graduated between 2006 and 2010 are unemployed. A greater chunk work in dead-end jobs that pay little more than the rent- if even that. Indeed living at home with mom and dad have less to do with laziness and everything to do with graduating college, prepared for a world that isn’t yet prepared for you.
But the real danger goes beyond the obvious financial woes and dilemmas. Long term unemployment or lack of meaningful employment can give rise to a way of thinking that internalizes the problem as less to do with an economic crisis and more to do with personal shortcomings.
So what can be done in times like these to avoid both the financial and emotional toll caused by lack of meaningful employment?
Consider moving.
Maybe it’s time for a scenery change, and nothing says employment with that change of scenery like Minneapolis, Houston, or Washington D.C. according to Forbes Magazine’s “America’s Best Cities for YoungProfessionals.” Good Magazine just released their own guide of best cities forthe young and broke, with cities like Austin and Philly making the list.
Keep a schedule
Going to bed late, waking up late, and passing 72 hours in your pajamas is enticing for all of about 72 hours. After that, you’ll need something to stay positive. Set a schedule. Work out regularly. Schedule time for job searching and cover letter writing. Pencil in informational interviews, and be deliberate in scheduling time to grab lunch or coffee with friends and acquaintances who can help you on your search (and maybe pick up the tab for lunch or dinner).
Volunteer
Countless studies show that it becomes increasingly difficult to transition from a job that requires no degree to one that does. So while working for pay is ideal, if you can afford to volunteer part time or full time in a field more closely alligned with your career goals, look into it. Is there the possibility your volunteer work will lead to full time work? Check into it with an organization you've always wanted to work for.
Go back to school
If you were planning to go back to get an advanced degree anyway, well, there’s no time like the present. Depending on what you’re planning to study, there might also be great scholarship opportunities, usually based upon academic potential. So in your schedule, provide significant time to study for the GRE or GMAT.
Teach English Abroad
Always wanted to study abroad but never got around to it? In a way, now is your chance. Teach abroad, experience a new culture, hopefully even save up a little money, and add international experience (and maybe new language skills) to your resume. WorldTeach and JET are the names most people have heard of, but check out Matador Notebook for other leads.
Reach out to your Alma Mater
Call the career development office at your alma mater and see what sort of assistance they can provide. No longer live in the area where you completed your undergraduate degree? If you went to a Jesuit university, I know you can usually contact a career center at a local Jesuit university or college to gain access to the reciprocal services they offer to students and alumni of other Jesuit schools. Didn’t go to a Jesuit university? Call your school’s career center and see if they have any similar partnerships.
And finally, going back to where we all started, keep a positive outlook, however trying that becomes. These trying times are no indiciation of your ability or work ethic. In the words of James Carville- “it’s the economy, stupid!”
The Martin Luther King Memorial officially opened to the public today! The monument will be officially dedicated on August 28th- marking the 48th anniversary since Dr. King delivered his I Have a Dream speech.
Simple lessons can be taken from King’s speech to help you the next time trying to motivate anyone- from a prospective donor to a new employee.
BLUF
In writing, this is known as bottom line up front. Give the main point away immediately. It need not be the first sentence, but it sure should be in the first two minutes of your talk. King gets to his BLUF in the first two minutes. “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free” King says. He goes on to provide powerful visuals (we’ll get to that) and then tells those gathered: “So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”
Listen to Aristotle
In Poetics Aristotle tells us “A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end”. Easy enough. And yet, how often do we fail to frame a story along at least a loose timeline? King’s speech starts in the past- “five score years ago” but quickly moves the audience along to the present reason they are gathered: “but 100 years later, the Negro is still not free.” And for most of us in the nonprofit world, the end is our ask- what we want the other person to do or believe, etc… For King that end begins (and lives on) with a few simple words: “I have a dream…”
Imagery
Storytelling in causes and nonprofits is just another word for the combination of imagination and kinship. A good story has visuals that allow the person on the other end to imagine the picture painted, and feel a connection with the people in the story. A great visual example building along “the table of brotherhood” King alludes to can be seen in this ad created by Spike Lee.
Listen
Clarence Jones, who helped write the famous speech wrote in his book Behind the Dream that the most famous part of the speech was not ever written out.
“Martin's favorite gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, who had performed earlier in the day, called to him from nearby: "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin, tell 'em about the dream!"
Martin clutched the speaker's lectern and seemed to reset. I watched him push the text of his prepared remarks to one side…I have a dream . . . In front of all those people, cameras, and microphones, Martin winged it. But then, no one I've ever met could improvise better.”
Final Thoughts
Muriel Barbery writes that "In order for consciousness to be aroused, it must have a name." Storytelling for good is simply putting a name (and hopefully a face) to what you do and why it matters. Too many nonprofits fail not for lack of good work, but an inability to tell the story of why what they do matters. Give people a reason for why their consciousness ought to care about what it is you do.
Some of my favorite links I stumbled upon this week.
Kiva is trying to spread the word- lending money to aspiring entrepreneurs is cool. And for a short time, trying it out is free. Sign up for a Kiva account here and get $25 to lend for free.
For anyone who's ever had to raise some cash for their nonprofit- a visual approach to Sasha Dichter's blog post about making the big ask.
Let's reinvent the toilet. As perhaps only the marketers at the Gates Foundation can do- a blog and a video about, well, poop. Check out the innovative sanitation ideas here.
Old school vs. new school. Challenging the traditional mindset we have on grouping organizations as for profit or nonprofit.
Managing yourself by managing your network. My friends in The New Leaders Council passed along this Harvard Business Review article about networking done well. Hint:
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