#camp interactive
By now, the bloom is still on the crowdfunding rose, but it’s not nearly as dewy fresh as it once was. Whether it’s the backlash at celebrities who use the system to gain independence from their corporate overlords, the inanity of certain projects, or the fact that the hard unglamorous toil of charity is still not fully compatible with a browser-eye-view of the world that values short, hot, and sexy (content-wise), the process of using direct-to-donator approaches to cut through the bullshit and amass necessary resources without having to kowtow to (too many) middlemen is still valid - it’s just being marketed now, which distorts any idealism that’s run through it.
Tim is one of my best and oldest friends and he has seen me through many phases of my life, often seeing me at my worst. He’s a strikingly noble person with a mind the size of a country and an iron sense of community that he’s retained despite New York City and associated elements’ best attempts to dispell or deteriorate it (remember, it’s harder for people to sell you stuff when you don’t feel alone).
And you don’t know him. You very well never may. (Though considering how small this city is I’d be unsurprised if you did.) What’s worth knowing is that he’s running the NYC marathon in November for the simple reason that he’s a runner who wants to make money for an organization about which he cares a great deal. They give STEM classes and training to high school students who’d otherwise have the socioeconomic deck stacked against them. Pretty fucking awesome stuff.
I lived with Tim for a year and a half, while he was teaching school in Connecticut and commuting from New York. It was grueling. He spent his time teaching, commuting, and running. He never became bitter, and now, he’s in a better place - and he’s giving to a cause he aligns with, using the hard-won skill of being able to beat the shit out of your body over long distances.
I don’t expect that you’ll read this and immediately donate; that’d be insane, right? Altruism to a Tumblr stranger’s friend makes little sense without the element of trust. Sure it’s tax deductible. Sure it’s good to give. But there must be more to this. So here’s what I’m proposing:
If you find it in your heart and pockets to donate to Tim’s fundraiser, send me the email confirmation at [email protected], and in return for your generosity, I will write you a brand new short short story, and either post it for all to see to remind people of your generosity, or keep it just between you and me, whatever you prefer. And Tim will beat the shit out of his body using the streets of New York as a weapon, and high school gets get a bigger slice of the pie of chance.
