El Gaffney

Blog Action Day: Running Homeless

Today is Blog Action Day, an annual event (in its second year) where bloggers post about the same issue on the same day to “raise awareness and trigger global discussion.” Exactly a year ago, bloggers united to bring the environment to the web’s attention. I wrote about greenmail, my friend Kim’s green-tip-filled e-mails (which she’s still doing). This year the topic is Poverty.

We are allowed to interpret the theme as we see fit, which could have been a bit of a daunting task. However, I was excited that a thought immediately popped into mind about what I should write. Last night while watching CNN election coverage (which is pretty standard these evenings), I noticed a promotion to Vote for the CNN Hero of 2008. It gave a quick look at a few of the nominees, one of whom caught my full attention.

It was Anne Malhum, the founder of Back on My Feet–”a non-profit organization that promotes self-sufficiency of Philadelphia’s homeless population by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.” (I’m sure great care was taken in crafting that mission statement, so wanted to use her words.) Anne would pass a homeless shelter every morning on her daily run, and one day an idea stopped her in her tracks. What started as one small running club has become so much more (at 5 shelters in just 15 months) without losing its core principles of discipline (that running can show you what your capable of) and community (that life’s a lot easier when you don’t go at it alone). She doesn’t provide food or shelter, rather shoes, structure and support to the homeless. And she provides inspiration for all of us.

What a great coincidence that I saw this last night. Read more about her great story here.

Tags: action, blogactionday, blogging, nonprofit, poverty

Do Day: Pic, Quote and Video

It’s a busy one and figured the help start-up shout-out would do for the Do Day, but thought I take a hot second to hook everyone up with a little mid-week motivation (or assets for presentations).

via katie

Brands have grown up using content to communicate.
But do we really need more content? Or are we tense enough as it is?
Perhaps there are other things brands could do, rather than adding to the ever-expanding infinity, to be entertaining or useful. To earn some attention.
Someone has to help alleviate all this tension.
Could the future of brands be in collation, curation, aggregation, dissemination, navigation, catalysation (insert other words that end in -ation of your choice here) – rather than traditional creation?

-faris articulating (or more appropriately, his articulATION of) something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately

via greg

Tags: action, Friends, obama

Do Day: The Foggy Monocle

From TFM:

Greetings, Kind Sirs,

Have you ever blacked out on Irish Car Bombs? Been thrown out of a bar before the sun went down? Watched yourself get visibly fatter while taking down two Double Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s? Gotten scolded by a stewardess for being an intoxicated loudmouth? Indulged too heavily on a soiree’s delicious finger food and subsequently nuked the bathroom? Tried to drunkenly save face with a girl that rejected you by saying, “I don’t need any new friends?” Been too drunk and too broke to pay for your cab? Argued with your bank because surely they have your balance wrong? Spent the morning watching after-school HIV prevention films at a free AIDS clinic? Had your girlfriend’s niece ask you why your stomach is so much bigger than everyone else’s at a family function? Have you ever recounted one or all of these stories in lurid detail to your buddies over Instant Messenger?

If you answered “yes” or better yet “indeed,” then, you, sir, are a gentleman, and we, the dastardly webmasters at TheFoggyMonocle would like to salute you.

Interview with one of the founders (the one on your right) to come soon…now.

3:18 PM me: could i email you 3-5 questions about it
interview style – and i’ll post the answers
3:19 PM James: yeah totally
or we could do it as an IM interview to fit in with the theme
3:20 PM me: nice idea…how did you decide to create this site?
James: we always talked about having a blog together and the gentleman joke is recurring for us whenever we behave badly and i had a backlog of all these funny IMs/Emails recounting bad behavior
so i figured my friends would too
i hope it catches on
3:22 PM me: how did you decide to call it “the foggy monocle”?
3:24 PM James: All gentleman require a monocle — it’s old-timey and it also aids your eagle eye in spotting various opportunities. After a long night out full of much drinking and carrying on it often gets foggy, and so you IM and your email your buddies to get the full story on what went down the previous evening and hence de-fog (is that word?) your monocle.
3:26 PM me: if it’s not it can be soon. what must a gentleman never do?
and the converse, from what must he never abstain?
3:29 PM James: A gentleman never second guesses his decisions. He lives in the moment and goes head in to any situation, no matter how big of a dumbass he’ll inevitably make of himself or how much he’ll hurt in the morning.
3:32 PM me: where is the best place to get a monocle?
3:33 PM James: The monocle store. But be warned, lines are often long, so if you have an engagement planned with a lady, you might want to stop by well in advance so as not to arrive tardy.
3:36 PM me: ha. i had no idea how you’d respond. good stuff. and one final question: any night-spot recommendations for the monocle-wearing gentleman in nyc?
3:38 PM James: discussing with Dane
3:44 PM Erik: A gentleman will adapt to his surroundings and become comfortable wherever he is, given that there is appropriate amounts of liquor and women on the premises. Be it a club or a dive bar. Occasionally though, the best company is found in the later. But the most important part of the equation is the liquor. A true gentleman must first have half a dozen shooters before talking to a lady.

The end. Now go visit.

Tags: action, blogging, foggymonocle

Age of Conversation: Part Deux

Basically anytime I can justify giving Hot Shots and Topper Harley a shout-out, I’m going to take it. Though I missed the AoC 1 bum rush this weekend, I didn’t want to be the only participant not spreading the love to my fellow co-authors or promoting the first book (from which all proceeds were donated to Variety, the Children’s Charity). I’ll be putting some words (and hopefully full sentences) to paper for the second AoC book with subject: Why Don’t People Get It? Specifically, I’ll be writing about “Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation.” More to come, but until then, here’s the list of contributors to AoC 2 in all its glory…

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Tags: action, aoc, books

Do Night: Don’t Haiti the Player

Probably (read as: definitely) an inappropriate title for the spirit of this post, but I couldn’t help myself. There’s no rule that says do-goodery can’t be coupled with a little silliness (maybe there should be), and I wanted to inflect my voice into the setup of this post since I’m going simple to copy and paste an email from a friend—and fellow strategist—below. As he acknowledges, you likely get a lot of RFD’s (Requests for Donation) but I’d rather hear about them (especially the personal ones) and help if I can (and connect) or just be inspired by the people making a difference. It’s not easy to ask for help (especially monetary), but those who do not ask…you know the rest. Here’s Alain’s e-mail:

An Orphanage in Haiti

If you’re anything like me you’re bored of hearing pleas for help. Well, I’m sorry to say that herein lies one.

In this case it’s something much closer to home. Quite literally actually. The house my mother was raised in, in Port-au-Prince Haiti, has been converted into an orphanage called Enfant Haïtien Mon Frère. My 81 year old grand-uncle has run the entire operation for the past 40 years and helps place kids with families — either safely at home in Haiti or somewhere else abroad.

But here’s the thing. These kids have come from the worst situations imaginable. Some come from extreme poverty, others have fatal diseases like HIV, and others are literally found abandoned in the streets. As you would suspect, Haiti is no home for kids in need.

My brothers, my dad, and I are all going to Haiti in early April. Partly to visit family and the country. And partly to bring some form of help to the orphanage.

So that’s what this is: a simple ask to donate money or stuff to this little Haitian orphanage.

The truth is that money is only one way to help. And often times it’s a tricky thing to ask for. So if there’s anything you can donate (ie, clothes, toiletries, toys, etc.) please do so. Just contact me, keeping in mind that I literally will be delivering things by hand. (My office actually has donated some computers, so that’s cool.)

Please feel free to pass this along. Thanks for even considering this and sorry to bombard email.
Alain

How to send money electronically?
PayPal is the safest and easiest way to send money.
Send whatever you can to alain@sylvain.com.

He lists some other things to send (i.e. children books in French) and his address, but I figured I’d keep that private. If that type of donation appeals to you, leave a comment or shoot him an e-mail. Thanks all.

Tags: action, charity, Friends