Figuring out how to write a blog like a semi-adult

The irony of me writing this blog entry today is not lost on me. I spent the majority of the day reliving my two previous blogs (from 2004 and 2005) with my old Fordham roommate, Erin, over G-chat. This primarily was comprised of us sending each other the parts that made us laugh and/or cringe the most. Mine, at least, have now been "deleted" from the greater internet, but still saved as a word document, for posterity. In case I ever want to look back at what I thought the world needed to know when I was 19. This included such gems as a glowing recommendation that everyone run out and see Dodgeball, which I claimed was hilarious. Sorry, 19 year old me, it kind of wasn't. It also served as a reminder of what happens when two relatively crazy people (who both love being right) are picked to live in a room together, and given computers through which they can have conversations in addition to the one they are probably having out loud. We found out what happened when we stopped being polite, and started looking up old state license plate images on the internet. If only our lives had been taped. 

ANYWAY, later I had a conversation about these blogs with Jake, which made me realize that I'm no longer 19/20. I'm now... older than that, and I'm witty and funny (his words, not mine) so I could write something that I might not hate reading five years from now. The biggest problem with my previous blogs was that I generally focussed on my daily happenings more than anything else. So for once I'm going to try to write about something that I spent some time thinking about and talking to people about, and what conclusions I came to. 

My topic of choice is also the trendy disaster of choice (I mean that in a completely respectful way, of course): Japan

Now, I've never been as on top of the news as I should be, and not having a TV for the past few months has made my knowledge of news events even more shameful. I have been kept in the loop on the key events (Egypt, Libya, Japan, Sheen) by Facebook, Bill Maher, Russell Howard and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! It's not a combination of news sources I'm proud of, but it gets the job done for the time being. I'm also doing my best to keep up on select American programming while away, which includes my precious American Idol. In light of the Japan tragedy, I noticed that suddenly every episode of Idol included information for the average American to text a donation to the Red Cross. I realize this is a convenient and effective way to get large masses of people to give money to one central organization. However I think this is a lazy solution, which psychologically removes some of the gratification associated with giving (like it or not, lots of people give because of what their giving says to others). If you send a text, and get some response which I'm sure thanks you for your $10 while telling you that you'll see it on your next bill, that's really not much. And then by the time you get that bill, if it's $10 more than usual, most people will likely forget that they've even donated. They're more likely to think they went over their minute or text limits. They might have even forgotten there ever was an earthquake in Japan, thanks to the 24 hour news media.

I also don't think that asking middle America to give is as effective, nor would it produce as much money as incentivizing donations from larger corporations. Yes, I'm aware they all have a percentage of their budget set aside for charitable donations, and I'm also aware that I don't know the ins and outs of the process, but with more coverage I think that companies might be motivated to give more. They always want to do things that will make middle America like them more, and that would be a great opportunity. 

This being said, I do understand it allows people without the means to physically offer aid, or who can't give in large sums, or don't know where to send their money, an easy solution to that problem. Hey, just send a text! We'll take care of the rest for you! I have to imagine the wireless providers get some massive kickback for that though. 

Lastly I think it's a shame that more coverage isn't given to the results of these massive donations. We just give and give for a month or so, and then we move on to a new disaster or fabricated disaster. People rarely say hey, what did you do with our ten dollars?? Did you feed people? Build homes? Buy some fancy machine that helps pour water on that nuclear reactor? What?? We don't care. Because again, everyone has already moved on. Charity: done.

Ok, so I've spoken to my parents about this, and we had a nice little chat where they convinced me that being allowed an accessible way to "help" is important to the American people. Fine. Then I spoke with Erin who has also since moved on from her younger blog days, and is now my source for anything I want to know about the workings of international aid. She also disagreed with me on some things, but sent me some stuff as a follow up (because she's awesome like that). What she found was this guy who agrees with me, for the most part. I particularly enjoyed his suggestion that America doesn't always listen to what other countries actually want and actually ask for. But then, even better, she sent me some helpful aid facts. And I do love me some facts. 

My conclusion? I guess I don't know. Erin says the texted money could at least go into an emergency fund for the future. So maybe I'm of the mindset that we should be planning for disasters, at least a little bit. Like so many things in the world, we only worry about the result once it happens, but don't plan for it or look at the root of the problem. Maybe next time. Besides, do we really want to help them get their country together again so quickly? Not really. I mean, only the ways in which it directly affects the US. But where is that line, between looking out for number 1 (we are), and thinking of a global greater good? I certainly have no idea.

Ok, in memory of my older blogs, and how kind of great it was to be 20 in the Bronx: 

Went out this past weekend to a party that one of Erin's friends was throwing, and that was pretty fun, and then of course we hit up Tinkers afterwards like always and due to some uh... "donations" on behalf of Dan the bartender... we got "free" Pugsley's.

2011 explanation of unremembered "donations" from Erin: 

I do kind of remember this now

we sat there for like, an hour

and he never picked up the tip

so we just took it

That hour was probably more like five minutes, in a very busy bar. So... we stole.