Bill is my name

» Podcast: Telling Stories That Sell

Jessie and I were interviewed by Tipping Point Labs for their digital content creation podcast for our project Stuffed Robot. The interview went over great, and I am super happy with the final result. Give it a listen if you have the time, the robot goodness is right at the beginning. link. (via tpl)

This past weekend a coworker and I went into the wetlands of South Eastern Louisiana. We went to see a memorial for all the victims of Katrina in St. Bernard Parish. We passed through a number of tiny fishing villages and on our way back we stopped at a dock that had a sign up that read, “Shrimp for Sale”. This pirate of a man shoveled us up some shrimp and gave it to us in a bag. He asked me what I was doing in Louisiana and I said AmeriCorps. His reply was, yall deal with much shrimp in that AmeriCorps? I didnt know how to respond.

Ordered by most used:

people pretty orleans time project jessie awesome little called life robot june weekend artist reading wake house video elsewhere feel

Conflicted viewpoints

Lately I’ve become extremely conflicted about social networks. Even though I work for a non-profit, its strange that part of my job is to use social networks to basically advertise for the them. I can’t shake the feeling that I am infiltrating a place where people are genuinely communicating, and tricking them into doing something for the community center.

At the same time, I don’t think that organizations should be excluded from social networks. Its a good way for people to informally and easily communicate, as well as provide an open platform for discussion around that org. I think a lot of it just comes down to my own mindset when I enter facebook/twitter/vimeo on behalf of an organization. If I go in looking to honestly communicate with other people interested in my org, and with the hopes of collaborating or helping them in any way, I would feel good about what I am doing. But going in thinking, how can I get as many of these people to donate money, not only doesn’t work but makes me feel dirty and wrong.

My AmeriCorps*VISTA position is at a place called the Community Center of St. Bernard. St. Bernard parish is directly east of Orleans Parish, right past the 9th ward. Simply put, the Center provides low-income residents the resources they need to meet basic needs while living in St. Bernard. They provide a variety of services, the most popular being the food pantry (where a family can come and get a free box of food once a week). Something that they also do that I like is they have all these desks lining their space where they invite other local non-profits and organizations to come in and provide their services. Organizations like Food Stamps, Louisiana Spirit (crisis counseling), and legal and medical aid organizations. So the place becomes a kind of one-stop location to people who are in need of help.

During my year I am supposed to do the following (as far as I can tell): Optimize their social media/networking outlets, help develop an online fundraising campaign for the christmas season, and to create a catalogue of cause-based marketing examples. Right now I am still toying around with different social networking sites to see what might work best to keep in contact with other non-profit organizations, volunteers that pass through the center, and local St. Bernard residents.

Holler for updates.

This is the parish where I am working right now. The artist in me sees great oportunity in so many empty buildings, but another part of me makes me feel bad for even thinking that. These buildings were people’s houses. Who am I to go in to their community and make an art piece from the remains of their past lives? Reminds me of what KK Projects is doing in St. Roch, New Orleans.

My gut says yes to this kind of pulic art…but there is something disrespectful about it. You would really need to have both the communities consent and involvement.

ccstb:

Found in the 2009 New Orleans Index. Over half of all the buildings in St. Bernard Parish (bordering the east side of Orleans parish) are abandoned. Crazy.

To save a little bit of money this year (because my Americorps stiped is tiny) I’ve been volunteering at a farmers market on Saturdays. Its a good way to get free/local/delicious produce in exchange for time instead of money. If your ever in NOLA, def check out the Hollygrove market.

I just returned from a week long Americorps orientation in Boston. According to wikipedia there are about 70,000 people currently in Americorps, and I’m in a sect of Americorps called VISTA (which has to do with poverty and capacity building) and has around 7,000 people. Then inside of VISTA I’m part of a group called the Digital Arts Service Corps (which totals about 50 people) of who were at this orientation. The DAS corps works with non-profits (mine being the Community Center of St Bernard) to better their media/technology. I really like the idea of DAS corps and I’m happy/excited to be a part of it. I start Monday.

On a side note, I thought I had grown out of my highschoolish awkwardness at events like these, but I definitely have not.

Before my Americorps service starts I had to run through these tutorials online to make sure I understand whats expected of me. The pic above is from the website that taught me different things inside different buildings. Below are some interesting facts I pulled.

I can’t do any outside work for extra cash. Including playing gigs with a band, one-time work like mowing someone’s yard, or selling crafts I made. (stuffed robots!!)

I can’t engage in voter registration, provide voter transportation to the polls, or solicit monetary contributions for a political candidate.

I can’t provide religious instruction or conduct worship services, or ask people to participate in activities related to my religion.

These snowcones, or snowballs as they are called here, were delicious. They were made with shaved ice instead of just crushed hard unpleasant stuff that I’m use to. They were also served in cups, not paper cones that disintegrate halfway through your eating process. I got Bananas Foster with Condensed Milk - so good. We got them from a place called Pandoras.

NewOrleans+Americorps+Awesome

Conflicted viewpoints