Androgyny, Here I Come

As evolving technologies continue to prove how intrinsically linked we all are, the sociologist in me often wonders if there is actually any moral worth to the individual.  There absolutely is, but the truth of the matter cannot be denied...

...as a community of human beings, we're closer to one another than we'll ever realize.

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Some Really Do Suffer In Silence

Sometimes I think we've no idea how much we truly have...or how much we've actually taken.

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Nonprofit Suneil Or: To Those Of You Who Just Aren't Getting It Right

Oh snap, Nonprofit Suneil made a rare guest blogging appearance at Convio's Connection Café today.  He tried to keep it real.  Enjoy.

To Those Of You Who Just Aren't Getting It Right

This is all very simple. If you think it isn't, you're just making life harder for yourself.

• In the summer of 2009, I joined the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM) as their Chief Communications Officer. At that time, there were more than 300 separate Girl Scout pages on Facebook. GSSEM was not one of them. We'd no Facebook presence whatsoever.

• Three months into my gig, I created, launched, and marketed GSSEM's first Facebook Page. It was very simple. No videos, apps, or flash. 

• Within one month of launch, GSSEM's Page had garnered 1,500+ members. Within two months, we were the second largest Girl Scout Facebook page in the world. Our members posted, commented, and interacted at higher levels than any other Girl Scout page out there.

Convio recently contacted me to write about my social media successes, particularly within the realms of online engagement. I think they were hoping I'd reach into my nonprofit toolbox and pull out a couple of my top-secret formulas to Web 2.0 success. You know, dole out a few tips, a few tricks. Viola!

The truth is the entire time I crafted GSSEM's social media strategies, I didn't do one thing out of the ordinary. Nothing special, nothing unique. When it came to GSSEM's Facebook Page, all I did was follow the Online Relationship Building 101 rulebook. You know, the one you've heard countless times before.

1. I researched all my target audiences for GSSEM's Page. I found out what they wanted and needed. 

2. I then crafted the Page, giving it the appropriate format and environment which fostered those wants/needs.

3. When it came to marketing GSSEM's Page, I promoted it in places where I knew my audiences would be.

It was that simple. No secret formulas, no ingenious tips. I just educated myself on the set of e-strategies that had worked for others in the past...and then I applied them to my job.

I say all this to emphasize two facts:

First, it's not 2005 anymore. Social medias might be ever-evolving, but they're far from new. There are plenty of resources out there, all of them pretty much saying the same exact things on how to craft a successful online campaign. These frameworks have been crammed down your throat at nearly every nonprofit conference or seminar you've attended. Really. Online engagement is not difficult anymore. If you understand it, it's almost like painting by numbers.

Second, it's 2011. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if your nonprofit doesn't understand how to successfully engage your audiences online by now, it's probably time to admit to yourselves that you're messing up an easy deal.

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When dealing with achievable pursuits, organizational failure occurs because either a company doesn't understand the task at hand or they simply don't care. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking otherwise. When it comes to online engagement, there are only two reasons why you're not obtaining the obtainable. Either your nonprofit doesn't understand how to engage their audiences online or it doesn't want their attention bad enough.

The solutions are simple though.

If you don't understand how to create a successful social media platform, then ask for help from someone who does. That sometimes means paying a professional to come and teach you how to do it. (And no, that doesn't mean having them DO the work for you. It means having a consultant help you UNDERSTAND how to do it yourself.) 

If you personally don't care about spending the time to understand online social engagement, that's fine too. Just find the staff in your organization who do care about it. And then give them your full support. Let them run free with their knowledge and expertise. You'll be surprised how much more productive your online campaigns will be when you give them to someone who actually feels passionate about social media.

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Now this is the point in the blog where you all heavily roll your eyes and say "Gosh, this is all so elementary. You're telling me stuff I already know."
Are you sure? Do you really know it?

Let me make this as clear as possible. Online engagement isn't rocket science. It's easy and uncomplicated...and like everything else in life, you're either going to succeed or fail at it. If you're succeeding, then good for you! This blog post wasn't written for you.

But to all of you who missing the mark and just don't know why? Well, this isn't about some strange, newfangled medium that's just too mysterious or allusive for your nonprofit to conquer. This is about your organization not coming to terms with the fact that it doesn't know - or want to know - how to follow directions.

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Dr. Dre Meets Burning Man: If Only I Could Make This Stuff Up

A letter to Nicole Threatt from the one and only, Andre "Dr. Dre" Young. At the time, Nicole was married to LA Laker's starting point guard, Sedale Threatt (click on letter to enlarge).

• Burning Man is currently one of the largest non-music-based festivals in North America. The week-long event has grown radically every year, attracting over 51,000 participants in 2010. In September of 1995, six months after this letter, Burning Man started charging an entrance fee ($35). Tickets for 2011's festival range from $210 - $320.
  

• California Love was universally heralded as the comeback single for acclaimed hip-hop artist, Tupac "Pac" Shakur. Shakur had been serving a 55 month sexual assault conviction for the gang-bang of a stripper (a crime so egregious the judge deemed it "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman"). In the fall of '95, after serving less than a year of his sentence, Shakur was released on $1.4 million bail pending a court appeal. A week after his release, he recorded California Love. The song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went double platinum. It is currently rated the 341th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone.
  

• On May of 1996, a freshly-divorced Nicole entered into her second marriage, this time with Dr. Dre. They've been together for nearly fifteen years and have two children, a daughter named Truly and a son named Truth.

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Four Years Behind The Curve Or: Sometimes If You Listen Close Enough, You Can Hear The Sounds Of Silence

Okay, Sean Kingston, so let me get this straight, you're giving me two choices, here...

OPTION 1: We can take a magical journey into public squalor, enjoying the spiced luxury of being chased by middle schoolers as they try to murder us with various kinds of gunfire...

OR...

OPTION 2: We can get totally wasted on a tropical beach?

Either way, it's up to me?

Timothy Fuller had it right from the get-go. Life really is just a series of trying to make up your mind!

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My Top Five Cookie Monster Hip Hop Videos

This post's pretty self-explanatory, so let's lead right into it...

FOURTH PLACE - SO YUMMY

Crafted in the summer of 2005, TheHeadHunters So Yummy pioneered where others feared to go, fully capitalizing upon C. Monster's confectionery obsessions. Originally uploaded in YouTube's infancy, the video was blunt, simple, and in ya face. At the time, it screamed at viewers with a creative intensity that was nowhere to be found on the video sharing site.

Compared to today's viral video, So Yummy comes off as crude and maybe even elementary...but back in the day, it was a visionary masterpiece. Like all first loves, this video holds a special place in my heart. Get your angry on, Cookie!

THIRD PLACE - ALL FOR THE COOKIE

A giant leap in the evolutionary chain of Cookie Monster hip-hop videos. Pieced together in sideshow format by Crsttarocks, this clip was one of the firsts to showcase the comedic benefits of Muppet rap-parody.

It was a perfect fit too. Nobody was more deserving than C. Monster to take on Limp Bizkit's Nookie. Can anyone even remember a time when that monster wasn't doing it all for the cookie?

That's what I thought.

SECOND PLACE - NO PIE

I can't even begin to tell you how many levels of adorable staticelectris retains, quietly squawking out No Pie, a tender hip-hop rendition of TLC's No Scrubs. Clocking in at 3:40, No Pie is a full-fledged Cookie Monster song, the first I'd ever heard or seen on YouTube. The stand-alone picture leaves much to desire, but just wait until you hear the hook. Your heart will absolutely melt.

Oh, and if that isn't enough to garner second place, that prepubescent boy you hear singing? He's actually a 24 year old woman.

FIRST PLACE - MONSTER

It doesn't get much better than Barely Political's comedic troupe, Key of Awesome. Produced less than a month ago, you can definitely tell that Cookie's lyrical content has excelled by leaps and bounds, infusing a more balanced, yet infinitely more hilarious Monster.

More than killer rhymes, this is a complete YouTube video, filled with props, costumes, and multiple green screens. Hyper parodies of Kayne West, Bon Iver, Regis Phillibin, and Nicki Minaj serve only to enhance Cookie's screen time, making him come across as the monsterish monster of all time. By no means is this video perfect, but it is pure genius. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

HONORABLE MENTION - SESAME STREET

While this vid pales in comparison to any of the above, I'd be remiss not to include Sesame Street's delayed take on Cookie's hip hop skillz. It's a decent stab at the genre, enough to prompt an honorable mention. One significant moment of notice does come at 0:15. Sweet, sweet dance moves, Cookie!

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On Opening Closed Doors.

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." - Norman Cousin

Buried deep inside my heart is an ever-diminishing window of opportunity, one that I've slowly and brutally pried open over the better part of this last decade. I can't even begin to recall all the late nights, fruitless encounters, and steadfast frustration that's gone into this venture of mine. The process has been exceedingly difficult, often flirting with self-abusive...but I'm happy to say I'm weeks away from feeling confident enough to take that leap into the vast unknown.

I've to admit though...now that my feet properly dangle over the edge of this rabbit hole, I'm scared senseless. I've been preparing for a nearly unreachable moment. Odds are, I'll give it my best try, then watch as I thoroughly fail. Trust me, I know how this all ends. It features me succumbing to a disappointment so intense and scarring that I doubt I'll ever fully recover.

And that's downright frightening.

2010 has allowed me to realize several cornerstones of my life, one being that I tend to focus a disproportionate amount of my time either existing in the present or planning for the future. As a result, my past gets sidelined, transfigured into a hazy blur of what once was. Seriously, "blur" is the keyword there. More than often, I find myself having sincere trouble remembering rather prominent events of my life. You're telling me, I once had a job reintegrating ex-felons back into society? For a whole year? Do tell!

These last six months I've made the effort to closely examine my past...and appreciate it for what it was: different, unique, and maybe even a little bit extraordinary. What I'm found is this: life is not simple. It's complex, unknowable, and mainly out of our control.

I plan on traveling a path that offers very little ease or security. Overcast by a rapidly-growing wasteland of other people's failures, its going to take an incredible amount of determination (and sheer luck) to get anywhere near success. It sounds like a lot...but dammit, I'm going to take the plunge, even in spite of the fact that it will likely crush a very vital and tender part of who I am. Do you want to know why?

Because I want to live.

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