just a girl in a whirl

cross-post no. 6

2010-02-10T14:51:00.001-05:00

How to Build an Interior Window

cross-post no. 5

2010-02-10T14:47:00.003-05:00

Re-Retail Value: The Best Salvage Shops Across The Country

cross-post no. 4

2010-01-17T23:14:00.001-05:00

It's 10pm, Do You Know How Much Energy You're Using?

cross-post no. 3

2010-01-02T14:53:00.001-05:00

Paint, Insulate, and Fenestrate... by the Numbers

cross-post no. 2

2009-11-28T12:28:00.001-05:00

Design-As-You-Go

cross-post no. 1

2009-11-28T12:19:00.005-05:00

The 2 articles I wrote in competition for my own column on Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest, which I won. Stay tuned for future posts!

In West Virginia, A Home Built with Love... and Strawbales

The Little Black Box Holds the Big Green Secret?

LEED study tips

2009-06-20T19:28:00.006-05:00

For those of you who are studying for the LEED AP exam, I am posting my advice. Please note that I took the LEED-NC 2.2 exam, which has now been replaced with the USGBC's new tiered accreditation exam system. Still, take what you can from this.

What I was told:
- to read through and memorize the LEED AP Walkthrough (LAW), including the key information for each credit and the overview of the LEED Registration/Certification Process
- to memorize the WIMSEE Chart, the ASHRAE and ANSI Charts (available in the LAW), the Exemplary Performance Chart, and the LEED Rating by Score Breakdown... and to be able to quickly reproduce them on scratch paper at the beginning of the exam for easy reference

*Note: Already you should note that this strategy relies heavily on the resources available on the website InTheLEED, which are extremely useful but also speckled with errors. (If something doesn't look/sound correct/complete, it probably isn't. Cross reference frequently!)

What I did:
Attempting to follow the conglomeration of advice that I got from various websites and friends, I started off by going through the entire LAW very slowly and taking detailed notes. I then practiced writing out all of the charts and reviewed my LAW notes repeatedly. Yet, I was having trouble memorizing what amounted to about 65 pages of letter-number combinations, and the idea of it was overwhelming. So, a few days before the test, I began to change my strategy to what ended up being a much more successful one...

What I Would Do If I Had to Do It Over:

1) Start by reading through the LAW Introduction, LEED Registration/Certification Process, and Tips/Tricks sections. Skip the credits for now.

2) Next, read the LEED NC 2.2 reference manual. Even if you've used it hundreds of times, taken courses and workshops in LEED, and are a specialist in green building, YOU CAN'T GET AROUND READING THE REFERENCE BOOK.

Reading through the LAW may make you think that you don't need to read the reference manual because you have a nice, concise Cliff Notes version of it right in front of you... but I found that the details wouldn't stick in my head reliably until I finally sat down and read through the reference book. Moreover, the reference book includes all sorts of tidbits of information that you don't need to memorize but should have vague recollections of for the test. You can't get that stuff by reading the LAW.

Luckily, you don't need to read the whole reference book -- especially if you already know a lot about green building. For each credit, just read the 1st summary (in the grey block), the Approach & Implementation, and the Submittal Documentation. Skim over the calculations, noting what information is required to perform the calculation (but you don't need to know how to DO the calculation). You can skip the Introductions to each section and the Considerations sections unless you are new to green building, in which case, it's best to read them.

3) Use the study guides provided at the back of the LAW to get comfortable with filling-in-the-blank with information about each and every credit. It's not a perfect study guide, but it still helps. You don't have to do this perfectly, but it will reinforce your familiarity with each credit.

4) Begin to memorize the charts and practice writing them out quickly. Total credit scores needed for each rating, WIMSEE, ASHRAE/ANSI, Exemplary Performance, and the Submittal Phase for each credit. Familiarize yourself with the Decision Maker for each credit, but don't stress over it.

There WILL be a handful of ASHRAE/ANSI questions on the test (though there weren't as many as I thought there would be), and you should not only be able to match the reference to the credit, but you should know what the reference standard is all about. So read the description of each ASHRAE/ANSI in the reference guide and memorize a keyword for it.

Example: "ASHRAE 90.1-2004 -> EAp2, EAc1, EAc2, SSc8 -> energy-efficiency"

You won't be asked directly what the threshold is to achieve exemplary performance for a certain credit, but you will be asked how many points you can get for a certain level of performance... so you need to know the base and exemplary performance %s for each credit. Focusing on memorizing the Exemplary Performance Chart will help you to remember what the regular credit thresholds are when needed.

5) Next, read through each and every Submittal Template (available here). This will help you to familiarize yourself with what information is required to be submitted for each credit. I did this at the last minute, and I'm very glad I did!

6) Take at LEAST 2 practice tests, if not 4. I learned at least as much by suffering through the practice tests as I did by doing all of the other studying, because it shows you how the test questions are typically phrased and how they might be picky about things.

The test questions aren't tricky but they do require you to be very precise... and precise in the test-makers' way of thinking -- not your own. Most questions require more than one answer and there's no partial credit, so you'll lose the point if you misjudge even one concept! And, again, the practice tests are helpful for learning extra tidbits that you won't find addressed anywhere else.

7) Go back and review the LEED Registration/Certification Process. You'll have lots of detailed but easy questions on this. When in doubt, just remember that the USGBC is trying to make the least possible work for themselves, so the answer is always the one that would require the least effort from them. Thus, everything is done over the internet. You can only ask for CIRs at certain times. The purpose of a LEED AP is to facilitate the certification process (not to make the building green!), etc. Also, make sure you understand the ID/Exemplary Performance rules.

8) A few last odds & ends:

Know when to use a MERV 8 filter and when to use a MERV 13 filter. Know which Green Seal / SouthCoast standards are for paints, seals, adhesives, etc. Know the different between pre- and post-consumer recycled content, as well as some examples. Know some examples of rapidly renewable resources. Know when you can include furniture and/or MEP equipment throughout the MR credits. Know when you can include a green roof in your site area calculations and when you can't. Know the different types of on-site renewable energy that count for EAc2 and how that relates to EAc1 and EAc6. Use the glossary at the back of the LEED NC 2.2 Reference book to memorize the difference between Solar Reflectance Index, Glazing Factor, Visible Light Transmittance, etc.

Know some general things about green building, such as a rectangular buiding running E-W is more efficient than a square, which is more efficient than a N-S rectangle. Know that having lots of windows means better natural ventilation and potentially less cooling load but definitely more heating load in the winter, etc. Review the Synergies section in the LAW.

Then, you'll be ready to pass your test! Good luck!

list no. 4

2009-02-10T19:56:00.004-05:00

Pretty soon, y'all are going to start thinking that my blog is nothing more than lists of factoids about me. I promise to stop soon. In the meantime, the latest, greatest Facebook fad has forced me to write another 25 things about me... and then another 5. And then 25 about my boyfriend, Marcus, and then 25 about our relationship. I'll leave Marcus out of this for now, though. Enjoy reading another 30 things about me before I go back to writing things of substance.

From my Facebook page:

1. I have a blog, where I recently wrote 100+ things about myself. I'll try not to reuse any here, and, instead, use this as an opportunity to be even more self-involved than normal. :-P
2. My boyfriend and I have been talking about writing 25 things about each other, but I'm afraid to find out that I don't know 25 things about him. I'm going to try after this.
3. I often tell people that I'd never met an Asian person (or most any other race) before I went to Carnegie Mellon. This is only partly true. As far as I knew, if you weren't black, then you were white. And we only had a few black people in my town anyway. But looking back, I realize that we occasionally had a foreign student whom I'd quickly become BFFs with for a brief time before their family ran screaming from our WASPy town. So, Vina from Vietnam, Reema from Iran, Ingrid from Mexico... I remember you and now know that you were not white! :) (As it turns out, I'm practically married to an Asian guy now, but I forget that he's not white all the time.)
4. I went to CMU, in part, because I wanted to meet people from other countries. I didn't think I'd ever get the opportunity to go out of the country. They taught me that it's not that hard, though.
5. I once unwittingly starred in foot porn in Paris. (I have extremely high arches.)
6. The very first time in my whole life that I ever slept in a room by myself for more than a few days was during my senior year in college. It was very difficult to adjust to.
7. I still was terrified of needles until I was in college. And until about the same time, I couldn't sleep unless my bed was up against a wall, because I couldn't get over the idea of someone coming up behind me while I was sleeping. Until sometime in high school, I showered with the curtain slightly open so that I could keep an eye out for Psychos, and if I had to go into the basement or the attic, I would run there and back, because I was afraid of someone hiding there. As much as I talk about fears that interrupt my life as an adult, I didn't realize until right now that I had so many growing up. My fears now are quite different.
8. I've studied Latin, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and American Sign Language. But all to a pitiful extent and for different reasons. One of my great regrets is that I didn't get to study a language intensely and become fluent in it when it would have been easier.
9. When I was little, I would introduce myself to people by saying "My name is Julia, and my birthday is July 31st in the summer."
10. It is extraordinarily difficult for me to find shoes that do not make my feet bleed. Over the years, I have gone through dozens and dozens of pairs of heels, flats, loafers, sandals - cheap and expensive - and have yet to find anything that is "work appropriate" that doesn't also result in some sort of problem. After running a 10k once, I found out that even my sneakers had caused one of my feet to bleed so much that my sock was half-soaked in blood. The result of all of this is that I'm extremely bitchy when people tell me that I'm wearing inappropriate shoes (or no shoes), and I have scars all over my feet.
11. My hair was blonde when I was little and has gradually turned to a medium brown over the years.
12. I wrote a 10th grade English paper about the phrase "Ignorance is Bliss", claiming that self-awareness is the ultimate virtue. For the paper, I coined the term "bovinarianism", which I explained as being "state of being cow-like and ignorant to the world, and the belief that this is a preferable state of being." Of course, I was an anti-bovinarianist. But the older I get, the less sure I am about that. :-P And the more I think that the ultimate virtue is pro-activeness. I still think the ultimate vice / fault is apathy. Or willful ignorance, perhaps.
13. I absolutely cannot stand to see/hear Carson Daily, and I cannot understand why he's on tv at all. I feel like 99% of anyone that you'd randomly choose on the sidewalk would be a more talented interviewer and tv personality than him. He's not just neutral -- he's bad. Very very bad. And annoying.
14. I'm a somewhat obsessive fan of NPR.
15. I sleep with my mouth open frequently.
16. In May, Marcus and I went to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. We snorkeled, caved, and saw old Mayan ruins. We stood on the side of the road in Guatemala waiting to catch a chicken bus to Belize. We haggled with the border patrols. We started a fight between cab drivers. We were filthy, sweltering, freezing, eaten by bugs, sunburnt to a crisp, under-slept, over-laiden, and had a really amazing time.
17. My favorite bar in the world (so far) is a tiny little cubby at the back of a used bookstore in Antigua, Guatemala. It serves only tequila and beer, and it's called Dyslexia.
18. I grew up eating salami sandwiches with Mancini's bread almost every Saturday of my life. Still one of my favorite things in the world.
19. Growing up, I tried many things: Basketball, soccer, softball, gymnastics, then finally swimming stuck. Piano, saxophone, clarinet, and then I finally stopped trying. :)
20. In high school, the car that we were made to drive / be driven in was a 1981 Ford Bronco that was brown with orange stripes. We called it "The Poopmobile." It was older than I was and had an unknown number of miles on it, because there was no 100,000th mile digit on the odometer. There were metal shards sticking out of the dashboard, the ceiling was falling down, the car exhaust came into the car through the heating vents, there was no AC or radio, and you had to climb over the front seats to get to the back seats. We hated this car with a passion.
21. I spent a lot of time in high school working on technical theatre activities: set construction, stage management, run crew, crew head, etc. I still really love theatre -- particularly high school theatre, which has an energy behind it that you really can't find anywhere else.
22. My favorite classes in high school were calculus and ceramics. Math and 3D Art led me into being an architect, I suppose.
23. I was a computer science wiz in high school (to the extent that you can be), but I had to leave 1/3 of my AP Comp Sci test blank because it required you to write a program that would output various histograms. And I didn't know that a histogram was just a bar graph... So all I could do was write "I don't know what a histogram is!" in that section of the test.
24. Despite a giant panic attack that almost caused me to leave the LSATs in the middle, I freaking rocked that test. :) And then decided not to go to law school.
25. I have been eating spreadable cheddar cheese (Cracker Barrel) on crackers since I was old enough to eat solid food. (My boyfriend refers to this as my "cold-packed cheese food" habit.) It was my favorite food until I first had Welsh Rarebit, which was my favorite food until I first had fondue, which is probably still one of my favorite foods. If you want to please me, you pretty much can't go wrong with cheddar cheese and a good crusty bread.

1. Grapefruit is my favorite fruit.
2. Banana Cream Pie is my favorite pie, but Tartufo is my favorite dessert.
3. I have a somewhat random love for African a capella music, gospel choirs, and a few Christian songs (even though I'm not Christian): Ave Maria, Amazing Grace, A Gift to Be Simple, Nearer My God to Thee... and a few songs that the UU church likes to use: This Little Light of Mine, Go Now in Peace, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, etc. I guess the uniting factor is that they have simple melodies and no instrumental accompaniment. Not that I have anything against instruments at all.
4. If a band has a fiddle or an electric violin in it... or a regular violin, even... I'm automatically enamored. Which makes me realize that I also have a thing for bluegrass.
5. I was born at the very peak of Leo-dom. July 31st, which makes me as much of a lion / fire / sun-sign as you can get, I think. (I'm not an astrology expert.) But my kinship with the sun has been longstanding. My "Indian Princess" name when I was little was Glittering Sun. My favorite color is yellow. I have often referred to myself over the years as a "sunchild" in various writings. The most amazing piece of art I've ever seen was the Sun exhibit by Olafur Eliasson at the Tate Modern in 2003. I tan extremely easily and it lasts a very long time. I spent my first 18 years soaking in as much as I could get before I had to resign myself to darkened libraries, cafes, and studios. I have seasonal affective disorder, amongst other things, and just found out that I have a vitamin D deficiency -- you get vitamin D from the sun! And my super-duper D supplements make me feel like I'm laying on a beach in heaven under the sun. :) One of my favorite songs is "It's the Sun" by Polyphonic Spree. I love love love the sun.

list no. 3

2009-01-02T06:28:00.009-05:00

Below is another list inspired by Amanda. It was really hard to write, because I, unsurprisingly, have far more than 100 things to say about myself.

To start, here are some things from Amanda's list that I have to echo. My comments are in parentheses.

____
13. Don’t play too rough with me. I bruise like a peach. (Mostly I bruise myself from leaning with my elbow on my leg or bumping into things.)
29. I want a job where I feel like I am making a difference in people’s lives.
33. I use ellipses way too much. (-- and dashes.)
34. I hate shopping for pants because I am so freakin’ short. (For me, it's tall.)
48. I am the most sensitive/emotional person that I know. Sometimes this makes my life harder than it needs to be.
53. I am in love with Gilmore Girls and seriously sobbed my eyes out when the last show aired.
61. I still harbor ill feelings towards my high school archenemy. (For me, it's college.)
62. I sometimes wonder if I am a hypochondriac. (But really, I just have a profoundly bad immune system.)
64. Litterbugs enrage me.
70. I have no rhythm.
71. I drink red wine and wheat beer. (For me, it's white wine.)
72. I never turn down chocolate.
76. I am always cold. (I wear a scarf most of the year... even with a tank top. It works somehow.)
82. I have horrible posture.
83. I am trying to live greener.
84. I am scared of pretty much everything. ("Everything" would be an overstatement, but I get worked up with nerves/panic over a far-more-than-normal number of things.)
86. Iron and Wine’s “The Trapeze Swinger” is the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard. (I listen to it when I need to weep.) I cried when I heard it live. (I cried when I heard "Upward Over the Mountain" live.)
88. I could sleep for days. I never feel rested.
89. I’ve never stolen anything... Unless you count pirating music and personal wireless Internet connections.
91. Sometimes I wake up feeling like I was just talking to God. (I never feel like I was just talking to God, but I wish I did.)
99. I have short stubby legs like a daschund. (I have very unusually long legs.)
____

100 Things About Me

1. I've been 26 for 5 months, but this year has been so tough that I haven't mentally celebrated my birthday yet. I may end up skipping from 25 to 27 without ever hitting 26.
2. I have 2 cats named after the muppets, Beaker and Bunsen. I dreamt that I gave birth to them and treat them like I did.
3. I have a big Big Idea list. And far too many dreams for how much time and energy I have.
4. My favorite dessert is tartufo.
5. I'm somewhat of a ham.
6. I was always a model student.
7. In 4th grade, I was racing my dad in the swimming pool and accidentally swam into the wall with my eyes closed. I broke my front tooth in half and wasn't able to have it capped (due to my braces) until 8th grade. So I spent 4 years with a half of a front tooth, and now, if you look closely, you can still see the line between my real tooth and the bonding.
8. I do a lot of things that other people are too embarrassed to do: go to restaurants alone, ask people out, talk to strangers, dance in front of crowds, have difficult conversations. It's not that I'm immune -- it's just that I do it anyway.
9. I try very hard to do things despite being afraid or uncomfortable. This is at least in part because there are so many things that I am abnormally afraid/uncomfortable with. I can't stand the idea of being limited by my own brain, though it is a constant struggle.
10. One of the best things that anyone ever taught me about myself was that I can be quite funny.
11. I have been in love 3 times in my life.
12. I'm 5'11" and 135-140 lbs, which puts me just at the bottom edge of normal weight... but, growing up, I was extremely abnormally (but naturally) skinny -- so much so that it was what I was known for. When I was a senior in high school, I was 5'10" and 104 lbs! I'm still adjusting to not being known as the skinny girl, though I look far, far better now than I did growing up.
13. Because I was so thin and tall, I was always told that I should be a model. I secretly loved that idea but didn't really take it seriously. When I was in college, I was scouted on the street by Wilhelmina, but I didn't follow through with it for various reasons. When I moved to NYC 5 years later, I sent them my pictures, but they never called me back. Now I really regret missing the opportunity. It's one of a few real regrets that I have.
14. I actually have terrible posture, and I don't photograph well.
15. I think that the best 3 things ever made -- above all movies, books, music, etc -- are the following podcasts: This American Life, Pop!Tech, TED.
16. I prefer to be barefoot or in flops, for various reasons. I once got in trouble at work for letting a consultant see me without my shoes on... now I try to make sure that I work with people who judge my work by my work and not by my working style.
17. I hate the concept of "professional attire" and all of the justifications made for judging people by their appearance. Unless your appearance is directly related to your product, simple good hygiene is about as far as the rules should extend.
18. I detest the word "inappropriate" and people who use it.
19. I dislike the word "boss" -- I prefer to say "the project manager" or "the director" or such things.
20. I am easily disgruntled by disrespectful authority figures. But as much as I bitch, I'm actually a huge goodie-two-shoes and strongly desire praise.
21. I'm majorly influenced by others' opinions -- real or imagined -- and most of my inner drama is caused by the clashing of my own feelings/beliefs/abilities with that of others'.
22. I'm slowly learning to distinguish between the opinions of others & myself that should be listened to and those that should not.
23. Altzheimer's is the most devastating thing I can imagine. Unfortunately, I'm extremely predisposed to it. I pray for a cure regularly.
24. I went to my prom by myself.
25. I sometimes have panic attacks. Particularly when I'm exhausted and can't go to sleep, when I'm on planes, and when I'm away from home.
26. I hate feeling stuck.
27. The only way I can get pants long enough is to buy extra-extra long and hem them. But that's extremely expensive, so I rarely wear pants that are long enough. I find it extremely uncomfortable.
28. I am cautious about buying things that will go out of style and prefer things that are very flexible. Thus, very plain clothing and home-decor. Refinishable, reconstructable, characterless furniture. Some small, replacable pieces of flair here and there.
29. I almost always am wearing: jeans, flops/sneakers, 3 shirts in different solid colors (tank, short sleeve, and a long sleeve that is on me, my waist, or in my bag), and a scarf. Regardless of season.
30. I am a true jack-of-all-trades. Music is one of a few things that I have less than no talent for... and, for all of the arts I dabble in, I believe that it is THE highest, most important, most powerful art form.
31. I have always wished that I could dance, act, and sing. Again, less than no talent. But I do it anyway (to the dismay of many), and I believe that that is one of my best qualities as a person: ability / willingness to enjoy things that I love despite embarrassment.
32. I am both very big picture and very detail-oriented at the same time. And I'm very anal about both.
33. I was the first person in my family to go out of the country.
34. I love to watch supernatural horror movies, but I can't handle the really twisted psychological ones.
35. Saving Private Ryan didn't even make me wince, but I can't watch a scared, confused, or hurt animal. Not even a cartoon one.
36. I adore Halloween and all darkly romantic, gothic, and creepy things.
37. About 5 years ago, I had a bad experience in which I felt as though I died. I continue to feel like the person that I was before is gone and that I'm a new person now. Some people say that I just grew up, but I can't stand that explanation.
38. The old me loved (too) deeply, (too) readily, and (too) consistently. The old me was blessed with a great sense of wonder.
39. I am over $150,000 in student loan debt. I talk about it almost nonstop, to the discomfort of other people, but I still think it was the right (or only) decision for me. However unjust it is to fall so far through the financial aid loopholes in this country.
40. I have a notably large smile.
41. I am intrigued by Nostradamus and apocalypse theories.
42. I studied abroad at the London School of Economics. It was my 2nd time ever on a plane and my 1st time away from Pittsburgh for more than a week. It didn't go very well.
43. My second trip abroad -- a 6-week backpacking trip to Europe-- was the best experience of my life. London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Rome, Florence, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, London.
44. I wish I could marry all of my friends and live all together forever. I still am not sure why that can't happen aside from lack of imagination.
45. I have a strong distaste for arbitrary social norms.
46. I flunked my driver's test repeatedly when I was 16. All due entirely to nerves.
47. I struggle a lot with guilt. Often concerning my sleep schedule.
48. I am essentially an entirely open book. It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but it sometimes makes other people uncomfortable. Ask me anything.
49. I would go to school forever if I could.
50. I still USUALLY believe that I can do anything in the world if I want to. I hope to hold on to that feeling as long as possible.
51. When I was 6, I was feeding carrots to the horses and ponies at the stable where my sister rode. The ponies started fighting over my carrot and began to kick each other. I got kicked over on my face in the mud and a horse walked across my back to take the carrot. He stepped just a few inches below my neck, which would have likely broken and caused death or permanent damage. Instead, I survived without even a broken back -- just a frantic trip to the emergency room and 3 weeks of bed rest.
52. I have a whole hell of a lot of thoroughly-vetted opinions but love to be influenced by people who know more than me. I love to debate with people who are well-reasoned and can't stand talking to people who aren't.
53. I am highly-critical but have flexible standards.
54. In my mind, you don't have to be rational -- you just can't be irrational.
55. I am most productive between the hours of 10pm and 2am.
56. Absolutely nothing makes me happier than being with my friends.
57. I want to teach college someday.
58. I am ill-or-injured to the point of minor-or-major disruption more than half of the days of the year. Mostly minor, though.
59. I grew up in a tiny suburb of Pittsburgh called Pleasant Hills. The firehouse rings its alarm at 6pm everyday, and nothing ever happens there. Except for a lot of fundamentalist propaganda and ingrained bigotry.
60. My dad grew up in the same town as me. His brother married the girl next door, and my mom's parents moved nearby when I was little. So, growing up, I had 2 sets of grandparents and my cousins' grandparents all within 2 blocks of my house.
61. The town that I grew up in was so full of bigotry, propaganda, ignorance, and irrationality disguised as Christianity, that I became an atheist in rebellion. Once I got out of there, I settled into a healthy agnosticism, but with a quick temper and hightened skepticism for the religious that I'll probably never lose.
62. I have a very thorough and strong set of ethics based in social responsiblity.
63. Beyond that, I think that it's hard to know much for sure, so I choose to believe what I wish to be true: That all life is connected by a single unifying force running through. That people are basically good. That the natural balance of things is tipped, even slightly, away from suffering and towards peace.
64. I'm very idealistic. Unapologetically so.
65. I believe that there are things far worse than death.
66. I have only ever been able to touch my toes once. After several weeks of regular yoga class attendance.
67. I am so interested in everything that my specialties have gotten broader and broader to the point that I seem to know a little bit about everything and how to do a little bit of everything. It has its pros and cons.
68. I love Pittsburgh and will defend it to the death.
69. I have strong, negative feelings about Hootie and the Blowfish.
70. I have no idea how to talk to little kids or the elderly. I'm afraid that children's parents will think I'm bad at dealing with their kids... and I can't seem to help but talk to very old people like they are children. And then I feel horrible and scared.
71. I have worked 1-3 part-time jobs while going to school full-time or worked full-time while going to school part-time or some other combination thereof since I was 15 years-old. Up until 6 months ago, when I left school and have been unemployed ever since. Now I am a housewife by circumstance, but not by choice.
72. It never occurred to me that I could be an architect until I saw it on a college application, even though I spent my childhood drawing dream houses, setting up play-cities, and designing preferrable school buildings.
73. I am terribly vain and, perhaps, a bit overly-introspective
74. I love, love, love word games.
75. I started journaling officially when I was about 16, with a set of rules that included "No ripping out or crossing out pages" and "No being embarrassed of what I think, write, or say." I have over 15 volumes of journal to this day... but talking regularly to friends, boyfriends, and therapists has ruined my need/ability to write for many years now.
76. I was very quiet before I started journaling. Then, I never shut up.
77. I'm either really competitive or else I can't bring myself to care, depending on the situation.
78. I am a humanist, an environmentalist, a feminist, and am very liberal. And I can back it up.
79. I saw some blatant sexism while I was growing up, but I didn't realize until after college that the tools and concepts we use to think, argue, create, govern, etc, in this society are subtly but decidedly masculine in nature. And now I realize how far we still have to go on that front.
80. I love architecture but can't stand most architects.
81. I can sleep anywhere, anytime. And usually with my mouth open.
82. I fully believe that hell exists on earth. It may exist in an afterlife, too, but I've never met a religious person who has the foggiest notion of what hell really is. And I can promise you that landing in it has absolutely nothing to do with whether you believe in Jesus Christ.
83. My morals indicate that I should be a strong vegetarian, but I simply am too weak-willed on the issue to uphold it. I willingly acknowledge my hyposcrisy and apologize profusely to the animals. I actively fear that I'll be forced to suffer a thousand painful deaths as retribution in the afterlife.
84. I give a very high percentage of my income to charity. But I'm also very poor.
85. There's nothing like a good head massage.
86. I have wanted not-to-be-alive two times in my life. I wanted not-to-be-dead, too, though.
87. I swam competitively for 7 years even though my school district didn't have a pool. I won all of the "hardest worker" awards, but I wasn't the fastest. Still, I was the first person from my school district to qualify for the city championships in swimming. Later, when I had fellow swimmers, our relay came in 7th.
88. My events were the 500 Free and the 100 Back. I had to swim "exhibition" during another school district's swim meets for my first 3 years of high school, which meant that I had to swim my events alone, during the intermission.
89. I went to school board meetings for years to get a pool built at our school. My parents, with others, formed a nonprofit to build a community pool & fitness center. They had architectural plans and several million dollars raised, but due to a lot of politics, it was never built.
90. During my junior year of high school, I got up at 4:30 in the morning to commute to one host high school for secret morning swim practice, had classes at my high school, commuted 20 minutes to a different host high school for approved afternoon swim practice, and then went back to my high school for theatre practice. Came home around 11 and did homework and went to bed. I have no idea how I survived that.
91. During my senior year of high school, our school board rented us pool space at yet another high school. We formed a team with about 4 experienced swimmers, close to 30 novice freshman girls, and a handful of boys. I was the captain, and my girls' team beat my old host team in our first ever meet... and we went on to win our conference championships with an unbeaten record.
92. My swim team ballooned to 80+ kids in the few years after I graduated -- the largest sports team at my school by far -- but the school district refused to build them a pool and eventually cut funding for the team.
93. I am absolutely crazily against cigarette smoking. I essentially lose all respect for people when I see them smoke, even casually. But, yes, I have tried a few puffs before.
94. One of the few universal truths that I know is that nothing is permanent. I simultaneously am comforted and discomforted by that.
95. I swear like a truckdriver.
96. I don't believe that there's anything wrong at all with swear words, but words that are derogatory towards groups of people are heinous in my book.
97. When I was little and my mom would take us to the playground, I was so afraid that she'd make us leave before I had gotten to try out each piece of equipment that I'd immediately run around as fast as I could and try each thing once. Then I'd spend the rest of the time playing with my favorite things. This pretty much mirrors my adult life.
98. I never saw my grandfather not-smiling.
99. I worry a whole lot about people and animals suffering.
100. My favorite color is yellow.

list no. 2

2009-01-01T23:22:00.008-05:00

In no particular order...

30 Things Before 30 (July 31, 2012)

1. Complete a triathlon

2. Become fluent in French

3. Become fluent in Spanish

4. Work in a developing country for at least 3 months, cumulatively

5. Live abroad for at least 6 months, cumulatively

6. Take a tree climbing class / trip

7. Write a short piece of fiction

8. Make a dress from scratch

9. Act in a play

10. Keep up in an advanced yoga class

11. Maintain a weight of 130-145 pounds

12. Get my architecture license

13. Start a nonprofit organization

14. Attend the Pop!Tech and TED conferences

15. Give a lecture at a conference

16. Teach a class

17. Write a political / philosophical manifesto

18. Buy out my entire book wishlist

19. Design / build an eco-friendly house

20. Go to Africa

21. Make a short film

22. Be credit card debt-free

23. Find a job(s) for at least $80k/year

24. Meet someone famous (for real, not in passing)

25. Scan & archive all of my journals

26. Get to know all of my aunts, uncles, cousins and my parents better

27. Write each of my friends a really good love letter

28. Show art in an exhibit

29. Do something enormously special (once in a lifetime) for Marcus

30. Do something enormously special (once in a lifetime) for myself

list no. 1

2009-01-01T23:04:00.007-05:00

An acquaintance of mine, Amanda, who is a much more prolific blogger than I am, has a penchant for making lists. Though I don't know her very well, I've found myself inspired to various ends a few times now while reading her blog. One of the things that she has inspired me to do is to make a few bucket lists. I'm beginning with 2 of them: the first for the new year and the second for the rest of my 20s, and I'll keep you all apprised of my progress in time.

36.5 Things in 365 Days (2009)

HEALTH & WELLNESS
1. Swim laps - 18 times
2. Go to the gym / cardio, abs, strength - 36 times
3. Meditate - 10 minutes x 36 times
4. Attend exercise class / yoga, salsa, ballet - 18 times
5. Floss - 120 times
6. Be able to touch my toes

CREATION & EXPRESSION
1. Finish all rolls of film currently in my refrigerator, using all cameras I own at least once each
2. Develop Ronette's wedding pictures by hand
3. Sell a photograph on Etsy
4. Sell a handmade craft on Etsy
5. Learn to play & sing a song with my guitar
6. Write blog posts - 36 times

LEARNING & GROWING
1. Finish Rosetta Stone French 1, 2, and 3
2. Read a French children's book
3. Finish all of the books that I've started
4. Finish my mini-biography
5. Write in my journal - 1 time/month
6. Refresh / become proficient in all of my software

CAREER & FINANCE
1. Finish my master's degree
2. Find a job(s) for at least $60k/year
3. Get my website up and running
4. Set up an Etsy store
5. Get my LEED accreditation
6. Find 3 new clients for my company
7. Incorporate / set standards for my company
8. Set up a retirement / investments account
9. Get on budget

TRAVEL & SIGHTSEEING
1. Take Marcus to Paris
2. Complete our NYC To-Do&See List
3. Go home to Pittsburgh - 9 times

GOOD EXPERIENCES
1. Model for a photoshoot or runway show
2. Have a picnic in the park
3. Cook with recipes from the Veganomicon - 18 times
4. Go star-gazing
5. Play in the rain
6. Phone, lunch, or coffee with a friend - 72 times

THE EXTRA .5 (not really .5 at all)
1. Find answers & peace with my health
2. Find answers & peace with my spirituality
3. Find answers & peace with my personality, talents, and possibilities

repost no. 1

2008-11-26T02:00:00.006-05:00

I stumbled upon this old article that I wrote for my grad school's academic journal. Thought I'd share it since I've been too busy to post in a while. Warning: It is boring.

From Local Vision to Global Action: UN-Habitat and Agenda 21

All international organizations attempt to solve some of the world’s greatest problems, and some international organizations attempt to solve all of the world’s greatest problems. The United Nations is the latter type of organization, sensibly confronting global problems with global policies but struggling with the sheer magnitude of its ideas and its structure when it comes to implementation.

Much of the UN’s efforts are devoted to the creation of global standards intended to improve the lives of individuals throughout the world. The institution provides a medium for the fusion of local opinions into global consensus, producing lofty policies that are disconnected from the intended beneficiaries. In order to reconnect, however, the institution must also provide a medium for the fission of global visions into local actions.

With the generous assistance of a FLAS fellowship from the European Studies Center, I have been studying the process of localization, by which international organizations attempt to reconcile the rhetoric of the crème de la crème with the realities of the poorest of the poor. By examining the experiences of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN- HABITAT) in localizing the goals outlined in Agenda 21, I am assessing the ability of global organizations to effect meaningful change for local people.

Agenda 21 is the authoritative publication on sustainable development, which was developed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. UN-HABITAT had begun to incorporate the goal of sustainable development into its global vision just before the publication of Agenda 21, when it established its Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) in 1991. In 1995, the institution established a sister program, Localizing Agenda 21 (LA21), to further implement the agenda. Together, the two programs act as the medium through which UN-HABITAT localizes its mission of providing “socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.”

The SCP process focuses on the institutionalization of participatory decision-making processes in partner cities. Through an expert environmental assessment of each city and increased stakeholder representation, it is hoped that a permanent process of sustainable planning will be established. While the program is flexible, adaptable, and replicable, its effectiveness relies largely on the quality of individual involvement. Despite an intention to include community representatives, results have varied. A “successful” process, to the experts, is characterized by full participation and hard-won consensus among stakeholders. Decisions reached in this manner may be socially-sustainable, but there seems to be little evidence that they need be environmentally-sustainable.

The LA21 process focuses more directly on the implementation of sustainable development in partner cities. Proceeding in the manner of typical community design charettes, the LA21 program brings experts in sustainable urban planning, architecture, and transit, to name a few, together with stakeholders to create plans and designs for the city’s development. Like the SCP process, the results rely largely on the quality of individual involvement. Increased expert involvement results in more fully-developed and environmentally-sustainable plans at the expense, perhaps, of a degree of stakeholder control and social sustainability.

The two programs take different approaches to localizing Agenda 21. Each combines the expert support of an international organization with the first-hand experience of community representatives in different ways. SCP and LA21 complement each other by providing cities with the tools and skills to engage in early-stage sustainable planning and the knowledge and experience to engage in late-stage sustainable development.

Together, the programs provide a reasonable and comprehensive strategy. Yet, both programs have faced some challenges in cultivating local participation and balancing expert involvement. The success of UN-HABITAT in reconciling rhetoric with realities to effect meaningful change for local people has depended, and will continue to depend, on the ability of the experts to educate and motivate the local population—and then to step back.

si, tu puedes

2008-07-10T22:33:00.008-05:00

In May, my boyfriend, Marcus, and I took a trip to Central America in honor of our graduate school graduations. For him, it was a chance to explore and unwind, but for me, it was so much more. You see, I’ve spent the last eight years griping about world poverty and the last four studying it. But, until May, I had never been to a developing nation in my life, and I had never seen with my own eyes the problems or the solutions in action.

Just outside of Antigua, Guatemala, about a 45-minute drive through the mountains, there is a small town called Santiago, which is home to AFEDES, the Women’s Association for the Development of the Sacatepéquez Region. Here, 11 indigenous women run an organization with roughly 34 chapters and 1,000 members. A true grassroots organization, AFEDES was founded by women who believed that they could improve the quality of life in their region by working together. And so they have.

AFEDES runs programs that empower women academically, economically, politically, psychologically, and socially. The women of AFEDES provide loans to help families send young girls to school and loans to help local women with their small businesses. They run workshops to educate women on women’s rights, sexual health, civic engagement, and financial management; they provide a forum for women to discuss issues of gender, self-esteem, and community. In May, I visited the organization to learn more about one specific program—a program that I helped fund through GlobalGiving.

When Marcus and I decided to travel to Central America, we also decided that we wanted to do it responsibly—we wanted to give something back to the people and the places that would give us new experiences and lifelong memories. So, we each made donations to a grassroots program in every country that we would visit. AFEDES’s Foot Loom Training Program was my Guatemalan pick, and they, together with GlobalGiving, invited me to visit the Santiago office in person, so that I could finally see with my own eyes a solution in action.

From Antigua, Marcus and I, along with Corinne (a fellow traveler) and Elba (our Spanish interpreter), hired a car to take us to AFEDES. We were met there by Claudia and Milvian, who talked to us about their program.

The Foot Loom Training Program is a special course in which local women are trained to weave using technology and methods that are traditionally available only to men. By helping women develop these skills, AFEDES gives participating women the opportunity to generate income for their families—in some cases, for the first time.

The 4-5 month-long course progresses at a flexible rate for each woman (typically 1-2 lessons per week), so that the training does not compete heavily with the individual’s responsibilities at home. And while some husbands are unhappy about the time that their wives spend at lessons, the women who have completed the course have found that their husbands are ultimately pleased with the increased household income, that their children have greater freedom to stay in school, and that they, themselves, benefit from the occasional distraction from life that weaving represents.

In addition to training on the foot loom, AFEDES supports participating women by helping to establish an international market for their textiles. Through their store, Tu Puedes (You Can), AFEDES buys the textiles that participants produce and sells them in the international market. The organization also works to bring in large commissions for current and previous trainees, and it uses the revenue generated through its store to fund the training of more women. To date, AFEDES has trained 16 women on the foot loom and is hoping that the revenue generated by Tu Puedes will eventually make the organization self-sufficient.

Traditionally, this is the part of the story where I should make grand and poetic statements about the organization, its members, and the impact that the visit had on me. The truth is that I found AFEDES impressive and its women inspirational. Perhaps having focused for so long on the problems of world poverty left me pessimistic about the efficacy of the solutions. Or, perhaps being so far away from it all caused me to measure success in the millions of lives changed rather than the dozens. Because, though I have long been a proponent of grassroots development, seeing it with my own eyes has made me realize just how impatient I’ve been.

The women of AFEDES are real, and the lives that they have changed are real. Our job in the developed world is simply to fund them and others like them, and then to fund them again. On and on, being patient and satisfied with the seemingly small—but truly huge—impact that they have on real, live persons just like ourselves.

You can help the women of AFEDES put their solutions into action by making a donation through GlobalGiving. And, until you can see it with your own eyes, you’ll be updated with progress reports from the field.

Special thanks to Milvian and Claudia for sharing their story and to Elba Johana García Aguirre for helping me hear.

rfa. no. 1

2008-07-01T00:59:00.006-05:00

Last fiscal year, I inadvertently gave something approaching 10% of my income to charity. (This is probably only a slight exaggeration.) And that's all well and good, except that I was a grad student living far below the poverty line (not much has changed). Finally accepting that making donations with my credit card is a bad practice, I am on a philanthropic hiatus until further notice. (Ok, I still have one automatic monthly donation that I need to cancel... soon...) To make up for what I'm missing, I'll use my blog (hopefully sparingly) to make some specific requests for action. This one is a forwarded request from PostSecret. My appeal, this time, is short and sweet.

To those of us who understand and to those who, thankfully, never will:

Donate to 1-800-SUICIDE.

if sleeping was a sport...

2008-06-16T04:43:00.014-05:00

Well, let's just say that I'm a talented sleeper. Sleeping, in fact, might be one of my greatest talents. I can sleep for hours, flat on my back, in the middle of a public park... like Dorothy in the poppy fields, except my opium is grass pollen. (Far less exciting a trip, as I understand.) And my days would consistently consist of only about 8 hours if I wasn't so ridden by work and guilt. (Mostly guilt. No, work. No...)

Luckily for me, I have the pleasure of knowing several other champion sleepers who keep me feeling semi-normal. But, as my boyfriend (like those who came before him) enjoys pointing out, I have one marvelous quirk worth capturing on film. And, like those who came before him, he has done just that.

The result of this is that I am slowly gaining a collection of unsolicited photos of me sleeping. And, since I'm up working (a late night, not an early morning) at an hour of the day that I almost never see, I thought it appropriate to share some images of what I would be doing otherwise.

See if you can detect the quirk from these photos. Hint: It's easier than finding Waldo.

Enjoy.

remaking the map

2008-04-01T04:11:00.011-05:00

Before I became an obsessive fan of This American Life, I thought that map-making was an obsolete art. What could we possibly need to know that Google Maps can't already tell us?

Well, plenty. Though, I'm sure that Google's working hard to narrow the gap.

For me, it started with TAL's episode called Mapping, which tells the story of 5 unexpected ways of mapping our world, including one story of a man in Raleigh, North Carolina who mapped his neighborhood by the location of Halloween pumpkins each year. While listening, I imagined the neighborhood aglow with flickering, orange pumpkins, and then I imagined the houses and streets and children fading away to whiteness... so that all that was left was a giant sheet of paper covered with incandescent, orange dots. (I still love the image in my head, though the artist's image above is quite nice, too!)

Sometimes, mapping is a process of filtering information so that the mapmaker can make visible a pattern of easily-overlooked phenomena, thereby bringing about a new understanding of a place (as was the case with the pumpkins). IDEO's Eyes Open website, however, takes a different approach. Here, mapping provides a forum for a study of classifications. Not "What qualifies as a Pumpkin?", but "What qualifies as a Beginning?" Mapmakers added their thoughtful interpretations to a map of Beginnings this month, including a cafe where one contributor starts her day with a 20-minute wait and a perfect cup of coffee.

In its book form, Eyes Open: New York approaches mapping as a process of highlighting serendipitous discoveries so that individuals can unite around a shared experience. As opposed to a typical tourist map, this one boasts odd destinations and the exclusivity of being in-the-know.

The ability to create and share custom maps online is being pioneered by companies like DeepLocal, which provides Maphub. The site not only allows users to map their world by pumpkins, Beginnings, or anything else they can dream up, but it provides a powerful tool to nonprofits and government agencies seeking to gather and disseminate information to the public. The Southside Tag Tracker, for instance, allows residents of the Southside neighborhood of Pittsburgh to report new instances of graffiti to public authorities.

Another organization, Green Map, provides a similar service: the ability to create and share custom maps online, with a dedicated focus on sustainable community development. Over 400 communities worldwide are using their custom maps to locate local green assets and make informed planning decisions.

As smartphones with GPS capabilities become more and more popular in the US, allowing for on-location interaction between individuals and custom map databases, I expect that we'll begin to see even more evidence that map-making is far from obsolete; in fact, it is a brand new art.

sustainability = simple, good design

2008-03-31T19:36:00.016-05:00

Sustainable design is nothing new. I prefer to think of it as a reawakening and a reassessment of our priorities as designers and as humans. Sustainable design is, simply, simple, good design. For the environment. For communities. For occupants. And, yes, for economics. After all, humans have been building shelters since time immemorium, gradually perfecting designs that worked with the environment to keep occupants safe, healthy, and comfortable. All without the convenience of the electrical grid.

Passive design refers to the optimization of a building's form, envelope, structure, positioning -- anything that is not part of the building's mechanical/electrical systems -- to minimize the need for external energy inputs and to maximize the safety, health, and comfort of the occupants. Somewhere along the way, we got sidetracked for awhile -- enamored with our big machinery -- and forsook passive design for the opportunity to build anything anywhere, regardless of the environment, the community, the occupant, or economics. Technology gives us the ability to build a glass house and keep it warm even in Northeastern winters, but it does not give us the commonsense not to. Sustainable design, in many ways, is simply a welcome revival of the commonsense that has historically informed our designs.

The tripping point for the building construction industry seems to be the enduring misconception that sustainability and economics are at odds. On the contrary, many sustainable practices (read "commonsense practices") are entirely free; those that require a higher initial investment should pay for themselves in reduced utility bills, increased worker productivity, and so on. Indeed, it is that glass house in the Northeast that is at odds with economics, and it's time that we set the record straight.

Postgreen, a real estate development firm in Philadelphia, is setting out to do just that. With its new $100K House, the company is proving that sustainable design is affordable design. The 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath house will be situated in a vacant urban lot and will utilize passive design strategies, such as a living wall that will help to shade the house from the hot summer sun and block the house from cold winter winds. Not only will the house be affordable to buy, but it will be affordable to live in -- Postgreen has set a goal of making the house 50% more energy-efficient than the 2004 International Energy Conservation Code requires.

Read about more sustainable features and follow their progress here.

goodbye, heath

2008-01-22T17:52:00.007-05:00

This blog was never intended to become a source for gossip-mag news -- or, really, anything that might particularly reveal the teenage girl that still dwells inside me somewhere. But, I just received a txt from a girlfriend of mine breaking the sad news about Heath Ledger's death, and I can't help feeling a personal loss. It seems like every one of my girlfriends is experiencing similar feelings at the news this afternoon.

I never knew Heath Ledger -- never claimed to... never made an attempt to -- but like so many young women my age, I grew up with a lasting crush on this actor that evolved from occasional teenage fantasies to the respect and admiration that one has for an accomplished peer. He was a truly talented artist. A person that was down-to-earth enough about his art and celebrity to make light-hearted films and yet serious enough to use his art and celebrity to take on one of the most challenging roles ever written -- aimed at breaking down social perceptions and prejudices in today's version of racism. I tend to claim people like Bono and Angelina Jolie as my "favorite" celebrities... but Heath and the rest of the individuals involved in Brokeback Mountain deserve at least as much credit for using art and celebrity to change the world. For that, I admired him.

And yet, the girl in me keeps coming back to his personality. To me, he always seemed too quiet and mysterious for me to actually "work" with. And by that, I mean "marry." Hehe. But I admit that the dreamy 14 year-old in this 25 year-old pragmatist dared to let it cross my mind a number of times over the years.

Handsome, yes. But above all, relatable. Around my age, living in Brooklyn alongside the other 20-somethings, with a beautiful 2 year-old daughter at home, and having been so genuine in his expressions of love for his ex-fiance, Michelle Williams (who always just seemed like our girlfriend-next-door rather than a distant supermodel). He *seemed* like a truly nice person, and I'll go ahead believing it, though I never met him.

And though I feel silly having been caught dreaming about marrying -- or even just being friends with -- a sexy, Australian actor, at my age, I can't help thinking that all of us girls must feel a little caught today. Why else would this stranger's death feel so personal?

I feel sad to think that he was so sad that he took his life (if that's what happened) and wish he had known how many of us out there -- against our young, professional pragmatism -- felt deeply that there was something about him that was worth knowing.

p2p microfinance tools

2007-12-13T11:41:00.003-05:00

As an addendum to my last post, I’ve outlined some of the p2p microfinance tools that are available out there on the internet. Enjoy!

GlobalGiving

GlobalGiving is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that runs an internet marketplace for international development projects. In its Marketplace of Good, a p2p microphilanthropy tool, potential donors find nearly 500 pre-vetted projects run by individuals or small groups around the world. (Ex. helping David Sowerwine bring pedal-generated light to Nepali villages.) By allowing these projects to compete for donor dollars, the marketplace encourages the success of the best, most creative projects. Individuals are able to give donations in suggested amounts to pay for specific project needs, or they can contribute whatever they please (min. $10). In exchange for their donations, individuals receive regular progress reports directly from their recipients so that they can keep track of the use of their donation money. If, at any point, a donor becomes displeased with the way that their money is being used, s/he can invoke the GlobalGiving Guarantee and receive a donation voucher to put her/his funds toward a new project of her/his choice.

Kiva

Kiva is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco that runs an internet marketplace for small business ventures around the world. Though very similar to GlobalGiving, Kiva is an example of a p2p microlending tool rather than a p2p microphilanthropy tool. Instead of soliciting small donations for development projects, Kiva solicits small, no-interest loans for venture capital. Potential lenders can browse through dozens of pre-vetted entrepreneurs and choose their favorite recipient, making a loan of any size (min. $25). (Ex. helping Sonnia Tigrero buy beads for her jewelry-making business in Ecuador.) In exchange for their loans, individuals receive regular progress reports from the loan officers who oversee the recipients’ work. Lenders also receive repayment of their loans on a regularly scheduled repayment plan, and they are encouraged to reinvest the money upon receipt.

Microplace

Microplace is a subsidiary of the eBay corporation and is involved in p2p microlending, with a business model and interface that is very similar to Kiva. Having been launched only about 1 month ago, Microplace provides a smaller selection of pre-vetted entrepreneurs and requires a minimum investment of $100. Unlike Kiva, Microplace is a for-profit organization that offers interest-bearing investments with a less direct connection between individuals.

Modest Needs

Modest Needs is a New York-based nonprofit organization that specializes in domestic p2p microphilanthropy. Through its website, potential donors browse requests for assistance from individuals who are incurring sudden, unexpected living costs. (Ex. helping a woman in Brooklyn buy beds for her children.) Individuals can read about the recipients’ experiences and needs and then make donations of as little as $1. Donors receive thank you notes in return.

DonorsChoose

DonorsChoose is a New York-based nonprofit organization specializing in p2p microphilanthropy for education projects in domestic primary and secondary schools. Donors browse requests from teachers for specific materials needed for classroom instruction and make a donation of $1 or more. (Ex. helping a kindergarten teacher in Chicago buy a carpet for her children to gather on.) Recipient teachers are required to make the individual-to-individual development model a part of their classroom curriculum and to provide photographs, impact statements, expenditure lists, and thank you notes to the donors in return.

Women for Women, International

Women for Women, International (WfWI) is a London-based nonprofit organization involved in p2p microphilanthropy. Unlike other p2p microfinance tools, WfWI does not provide a portfolio of potential recipients to individual donors. The organization matches the individual donor and recipient, establishing a peer-to-peer connection that involves a set $27/month donation and a pen pal relationship over the course of one year.

who’s down with p2p? (yeah, you know, ME!)

2007-12-13T11:34:00.002-05:00

Sixty years ago, international development was based on a model of nations helping nations. It wasn’t until several decades had passed before there was a significant push for nations to help people more directly—first with “basic needs” development and then with “human” development. Over the years, the face of those doing the helping changed, as well. Intergovernmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, and finally small, grassroots organizations gained a major role. The model of international development evolved to include smaller and smaller actors.

Today, the idea of who can and should be involved in international development keeps expanding. It seems like every time I turn on my tv or radio, pick up a magazine or go to the movies, I am personally solicited by some A-list celebrity to get involved and make a difference. Bono asks me to wear a ONE campaign bracelet to support HIV/AIDS work in Africa, Angelina Jolie asks me to donate to the UNHCR to help displaced children in Southeast Asia, or Don Cheadle asks me to read his book to learn how to end the genocide in Darfur. Public awareness is at a high, and, more than ever before, the individual has become a major director and supplier of development funding.

When Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his work with the Grameen Bank, the eyes of the world turned to microfinance. Suddenly, all things “micro” were given newfound respect, and support spiked for small international development projects that engaged and impacted individuals directly. Because of his and others’ pioneering work, the individual has become a major user and beneficiary of development funding, as well.

The way I see it, the last sixty years has been a long process of democratizing development. In other words, international development isn’t just about countries helping countries anymore. Now, it’s about individuals helping individuals – empowering the people.

A growing number of NGOs, powered by some computer geeks with big hearts, are providing new internet-based, peer-to-peer microfinance tools that make it possible for individuals to help individuals in small and direct ways. Through these systems of p2p microfinance, individual donors gain access to new giving opportunities and individual recipients gain access to new sources of funding. Both the individual donor and individual recipient are empowered in a way never before possible.

So...

Who’s down with P2P? (Yeah, you know, ME!)

dyk? no. 1

2007-10-01T00:28:00.005-05:00

Statistics are tricky but important. I'll try to share some that I think aren't widely understood. Tonight, the topic is foreign aid, and our stats come from Jeffrey Sachs' The End of Poverty...

"The United States is spending thirty times more on the military than on foreign assistance in 2004, $450 billion compared with $15 billion.... Americans, on average, [believe] that foreign aid accounts for 20% of the federal budget, roughly twenty-four times the actual figure." (pg. 329)

If you aren't someone who is already actively outraged by the state of the federal budget, you should be :) Not motivated enough to read through the piles of government reports? Just check out this simple visualization. See if it comes close to lining up with your priorities.

the best place to start is at the beginning

2007-09-27T21:55:00.004-05:00

Hello. My name is julia brooke hustwit, and this is my first post on my first blog.

It's taken me a long time to get here. 6 months or so since I created this blog and 6 months of stalling on the first post due to busyness and muddledness and so on. I am a failure of a perfectionist, which simply means that I have all the stress and obsessiveness about trying to get things and keep things just how I want them... but, as I'm obviously doomed to failure, I then get to enjoy the self-imposed guilt of never quite managing it. I suspect that much of that is typical of being a 25 year-old girl. And, I imagine, that most of my writings will be easy giveaways of my demographic. But I'm not here to apologize for being young or a woman. If anything, I'm here to shout it.

My biggest concerns for this blog are that it will compete (i.e. take away the very rare and small bits of time that I have) with my journal-writing and that it will feel like another thing looming over my head that I can't quite keep up with. I'm not sure yet how to separate the things that I would write in my journal from the things that I will write here... but I think, as it goes, that I will have to figure it out along the way. No sense in hesitating anymore. :)

So, bear with me through my long & weaving streams of consciousness... my over-cerebral-ness, my made-up words, and my anger.

And let's get started.