This is by far the crochet project I’m most proud of: decorating the office of the ONG i volunteer in (it’s an international adoption agency, and those are all pictures of the families… They’re the cutest thing!).
But since this is still a work in progress, and my creative abilities are a bit limited, I thought I could ask the many talented people on this site for some ideas on how to complete it.. we need something on the trunk, that seems a bit bare, and I don’t like how it ends on the top (that is some cable trunking we covered up with the string, but I don’t know how to make it less evident, more natural-looking…)
Please help me I want to make it the most beautiful wall ever, for the kids that always run to it looking for their picture, and for the new families that come in, so that it really makes an impact.. I’m very confident we can make it!
Volunteering is going so well! I’m two weeks in and have already held and snuggled different species, ages, and personalities lol!
Some are really good eaters and others aren’t as interested which of course makes things tough, and I suppose that’s good because it forces me to work on my patience ;). I’ve already indirectly experienced loss which stinks, two weeks ago a baby squirrel was brought in, he was only a week old maybe two, and he’d been attacked by a crow. It was super sad cause he was so little his eyes weren’t even open yet, and he had a bloody little nose from the attack :(. We fed him and got him to eat that night, but next week when I came in… he wasn’t there :(. I know it’ll happen, I’m just not looking forward to the day I open one of the squirrel baskets and find one has passed :(.
Aside from that inevitability, I really really love what I’m doing and how I’m helping! It’s a fun crew too - a few women my age and a few the generation above me. Apparently in late May there’s a slow season so they have a mid season party that involves lots of wine and sarcasm, which is something I am SERIOUSLY looking forward to! It all takes place at one of the women’s homes that had a huge deck we all hang out on and shoot the shit.
So happy I pushed myself out of my social comfort zone and did this :). It’s the first thing I’ve done for ME in a lonnnnng time.
In Five Things, Szabó Dorottya discusses how contributing to the OTW’s Fanhackers project is like organizing fannish events, plus their dreams for the project’s future. Read more athttps://otw.news/five-things-27c70f
In Five Things, Frost talks about what OTW’s Systems Committee does and what the challenges can be of working for it, plus bouncing around fandoms old and new. Read more at https://otw.news/five-things-21a7a2
We live in a world where a job isn’t necessary to make money.
The minute I understood this, my life was forever changed.
Jobs are great: they give you experience, opportunities, contact with people and a good learning foundation. This is especially helpful for recent college graduates; jobs get us started in the real world, we start taking on responsibilities and our life suddenly seems to have a bit more structure and purpose to it.
So yes, jobs are great when they’re fulfilling and enjoyable.
The problems start when the job becomes a drag: the thought of work depresses you, your mood darkens, you sigh and complain. Even as college students we’ve experienced this: working part-time at a fast food restaurant/bar/supermarket isn’t the most exciting thing in the world.
So I am a big supporter of checking out other options before getting a traditional job (or never getting one). The options really do depend on each person, so why not try one out? Not only will this earn you a different set of skills useful for a future job, but you’ll also get to experience something unconventional and new. Pretty cool for a college student/grad.
Here are some possible alternatives to a job (from least to most risky):
1. Self-employment/freelancing
Instead of jumping straight into the workforce, why not try offering your services directly to clients? It could have something to do with your degree or not, it’s up to you. Self-employment and freelancing range from online tutoring, to building websites and to Ubering around. The most important is to know how to hustle and have some discipline: the money comes in only when you’re working.
Self-employment doesn’t work for everyone but it does have some pretty sweet benefits. You get to set your own hours, you can choose who to work with (maybe not always, but still) and if it’s online you get to work from anywhere!
Check out UpworkandFiverr to see what kind of services freelancers are offering. Is there anything you think you could do?
2. Build an online business
It’s amazing: starting a business has never been easier. How? With the beautiful internet. 50 years ago you needed funding, permissions and experience. Now all you need is a wifi connection, a tiny bit of money, some hustle – and you’re done. The hardest part is the hustle: willingness to learn and not giving up. As with any business, online businesses require discipline, consistency and a goal. It’s just a little easier to get started when it’s online.
Don’t have an online business idea? No worries, here are two great ones for you:
A blog
An online shop
Blogging really is an online business: you provide content for your readers (some kind of research) and you can earn money through affiliate sales, ads, sponsorships, etc. What you’re reading right now is from a blog/website. I treat Financially Mint like a business: I produce content, I answer comments and try to make it a good experience for the reader.
Online shops are another cool business idea. I tried creating one (check Money Experiment 2) and really see this is a good business venture. You basically act as the middleman connecting the product with the client. It’s called drop-shipping and can be very lucrative if done well.
Other options include Youtuber, podcaster and other forms of content production. They all require some kind of initial effort without guaranteed return (like all businesses). Not for everyone, but another cool alternative to the 9-5.
3. Travel volunteering
Don’t want a job but want to travel? You still have options. Volunteering in general is another way to live without a job.
You could either DIY it: pay for the plane ticket and see where life gets you. People have done crazy things: travel the world on a bike, camp for weeks, volunteer in exchange for accommodation and food, you name it. It’s proper ‘Into the Wild’ kind of stuff. Maybe a bit extreme, but hey I’m just laying out options.
A safer and more viable option is doing travel volunteering through agencies such as STA TravelorProjects Abroad. You basically volunteer abroad and get housing and food in exchange. It’s all monitored and it’s mostly programs for gap year students. Pretty fun.
4. Creating
If you feel you’re particularly good at creating something, why not sell it? This could be writing a book, producing music, creating art, etc. Create something, market it and sell. Once again, you’ll have to put up an initial effort with no guaranteed return, but if you get it working it could be pretty fun. Eventually you could even turn it into a proper business (but hey, only if you want to).
People who have done this are Veronica Roth (author of Divergent series) and Bret Easton (author of American Psycho). And there are tons of students who sell their art on DevianArt or promote music on Soundcloud. Turn that hobby into a money-making machine.
5. Military
It’s not actually that risky (unless you’re actually sent off to war), it’s just not an option people really think of. But it’s worth mentioning.
Maybe a year or two in the army could help you figure out what kind of job you want or what you want to do next. You may find that you want to go back to uni and study something else, or that you really like the military and want to stay. Those years in the middle will help you gain discipline and even motivation to work on what you want to do.
You’ll be earning about the same than if you were at an entry level job, plus you’ll get some good benefits by not having to pay utility bills, healthcare, etc.
Find out more info on the Army and think of your options.
There’s a reason why this one is at the bottom of the list: risky af. You’ll need experience and some money to get started and succeed- but it’s still an option. If you have enough for a house deposit and calculate a good cashflow, that could be enough to get started on the property market. From there you learn and you experiment: how about trying the stock market? Or dare I say cryptocurrencies?
Once again, not for everyone, but for those who like to live on the edge and don’t mind the possibility of going broke at 23, it could be an option.
What’s pretty cool about all these options listed above is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to only doing one. How about becoming a self-employed proofreader and doing some blogging on the side? Or starting a drop-shipping business and experimenting with investing? Or even getting a traditional job and just treating these as ‘side-hustles’. It’s amazing the amount of flexibility we can achieve nowadays.
The main reason I included the more unusual alternatives on the list is to show you that you really don’t have to go down the traditional path and get a normal desk job if you don’t want to. No one is forcing you to (if your parents are, tell them to give me a call). Maybe you’d be down to try out the military, or travel the world out of a backpack, or even lose all your money on the stock market. The possibilities are endless, and the world is at your feet. It’s your life and you’re young – you get to choose what to do with it.
Teen volunteer applications for this summer will be up on the website on Monday, April 11th! All teens ages 13 and up and entering 7th-12th grade are welcome to apply!
In late 2019, fans assembled to save Yahoo Groups after Verizon decided to shut down the mailing list service. Approximately 300,000 fandom groups have been saved. The Yahoo Gedden project has reached the fandom identification stage and can use your help. We need to identify the fandom for each group so that the data can be sorted by fandom. You can work at your own pace and the work will be done via a shared Google Sheet. No software or other tools needed besides your phone/computer and access to the Internet..
See the spreadsheet link for details on how to help:
Hey folks, this is just a bit of a personal ramble about what I’ve been up to lately instead of, you know…posting art like I feel I should.
I moved to a new town (for work) riiiight when the big COVID shutdown started, because that’s just how life goes. So I’ve spent a lot of time volunteering my sewing skills to make hospital gowns for the local medical teams. Our group made over 1200 gowns! And it feels incredible to be part of something like that.
Speaking of being a part of something bigger, I just came back from the #Justice4BlackLives protest in Niagara Falls, which had an INCREDIBLE turnout. The 500 or so expected to show up grew into the thousands. Plural!
The Black Lives Matters movement is one I wholeheartedly support, and I think it is our responsibility as white people to use our privilege to amplify black voices. Whether it’s going out to protest, donating, writing letters to your representatives, or challenging racism when we see it everyday life. I know a lot of young people especially feel like the world is going to shit and we’re helpless to stop it, but that makes it too easy to sit and do nothing. Small steps do make a difference! And eventually they lead to bigger ones. This was my first protest, but it’s sure as hell not going to be my last.
Part 1 of the inspirational story Paul Venet told to the volunteers in our program to teach English to Ukrainian Refugees in Bulgaria. Thank you to the volunteers and Fulbright Bulgaria.
If you would like to volunteer to teach English or Bulgarian to Ukrainian refugees, follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/4dm29m5z
Having you all in our family means so much to us! Today, we hope to encourage you to check out all our pages as we have added a few or revamped them. Plus, bring attention to pages we’ve always had that not all our KD family may know about like our other social media accounts!
Social media has been paramount in extending our reach to help kitties, and that’s thanks to our followers like you! From a single share, a like, and/or comment you’re helping us to save lives! THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR ALL YOU DO AND CONTINUE TO DO! Without you we couldn’t do what we do!
Here is a handy list of pages, and if you could pass this post on, we’d be furrever grateful.
Sharing this post would be a gift to the kitties!
Check Meowt:
Main Fb Page: Great for helping us network cats & is the hub of out everyday efforts! We post ALL our content here. It’s the main hub of the rescue action: https://www.facebook.com/KittyDevoreRescueNetwork
Our Adoptable Kitties: The lighter side of KD. No shelter cats, just adoptable, volunteer opportunities, fundraisers, and rescue efforts for those who want to help but don’t want to see the cats still in the shelter: https://www.facebook.com/KittyDevoreRescueAdoptableKitties/
Videos Of Devore Shelter Cats: More than just an intake photo, and invaluable to networking the kitties still in the shelter: https://tinyurl.com/videosofdevorecats
Barricades is run entirely by volunteers, and we’ve already had so many fab people chip in their time and energy to make the con a reality! Now that the event is approaching, we’re in need of people for specific roles - so whether you’ve already volunteered with us, or just have an interest in doing so, we’d love to hear from you!
What we need: The main role we’re looking to fill is Zoom hosts. Every program item needs a volunteer to host the Zoom session, so that the presenters will be able to focus on their paper/panel!
Time commitment: As much or as little as you like! To keep things running smoothly you’d be hosting at least 1 programming item, so anywhere from 1 hour upwards!
When:During the convention, as well as a 1-hour training in the weeks before–we’ll consult you about your schedule.
Zoom host tasks:
introducing the session and the presenters by name
letting people in from the waiting room
muting and unmuting audience microphones
facilitating Q&A by keeping track of raised hands or questions typed in chat and relaying questions to the panelists
keeping an eye on the clock
recording the session, if everyone on the panel has opted in (audience members will not be recorded; for sessions with live Q&A, the Zoom host will stop the recording before Q&A starts or take questions via text chat only)
screensharing, if presenters prefer; some presenters will be handling this themselves —for presentations with prerecorded sections, playing the recordings within the Zoom session
You don’t have to miss any programming to be a Zoom host! If you already know you want to attend a session, and you’re comfortable with the requirements, this is a great way to help out. We recommend that you be comfortable having your camera on, at least during the intro and Q&A portions of the session, but if that’s a problem for you, it is also okay to set your screen to some other graphic.
Other volunteer tasks: Captioning. We have some prerecorded presentations that will need to be captioned. Presentations and captions will be in English. We could use volunteers who have experience adding closed captions to video files, and who have the necessary software.
How to get involved:join our planning Discord! The training itself will run over Zoom, but the details for it and organisation of it will be managed through Discord.
If you’re interested and have any questions that aren’t covered in this post, feel free to get in touch!
I’m not into the victim thing. When someone is sharing their experience with me about some unfortunate thing or circumstance, I generally see them as someone strong who has endured something, or perhaps they’re telling me as a forewarning.
That’s what this is. It’s not boohoo stuff. It’s frustration stuff, and anger stuff, and “how can people be so stupid” stuff, but it’s not victim hierarchy…
I hate volunteering, but I’m such a sucker for it. I operate a good portion of my life out of guilt, so when my daughter’s school asked me to help with their Fall Festival Fundraiser, I caved and said okay.
My first idea was making balloon animals. I got a how-to book from the library and tried to make cheerful puppies, rhinos, and giraffes, but I ended up with latex arrangements that looked like something between livestock genitalia and objects suitable for organ transplant.
Then I thought I’d work up an act with a trained monkey, but the simian I’d borrowed from a friend took off down the street with a fistful of my obscene balloons and ended up frightening some old people in a barbershop. Animal Control now has me on their super secret pet-owners-to-watch list.
Finally, I decided to do a psychic act. That was all it was supposed to be, an act to raise money for the school. I didn’t think anyone would be fooled by it. I assumed most of my customers would be children, and I planned to tell each one that I saw a new pony in his or her future, and that their parents secretly planned to buy him or her a four wheeler and to expect it parked next to the tree on Christmas morning. For the adults I’d planned to tell folks they would soon meet someone special, travel to an exotic place, and maybe their in-laws would die soon.
I covered myself in purple and black scarves which made me look like Stevie Nicks on a thin day. I couldn’t find a crystal ball, so I had to settle for a holiday snow globe with smiling reindeer inside. I set up my snow globe on a rickety card table inside a camping tent, and I waited.
My first customer was a large woman in a jogging suit who demanded that I contact her cousin Kitty and ask her where she hid their grandmother’s recipe for hazelnut lemon logs.
I stammered with uncertainty for a moment. “My powers don’t extend that far,” I said. The woman had a look on her face that told me she was expecting the real deal for the three dollars she was paying. “Just tell her it’s for her cousin, Millie,” she said, leaning into my card table.
“Actually, I just tell fortunes,” I said. “And I have a strong feeling you have doughnuts in yours.” I don’t know why I said that. It was just one of those impromptu things that come into my mind sometimes when I’m trying to break the tension of a situation with levity.
Millie put a hand on my snow globe. “You have to tell her I need that recipe. It’s the only copy left, and I can’t remember where it got put. If she could just tell me how much nutmeg and lemon juice to put in.”
Now, anybody coming to this fall festival could see that my claim to the psychic realm was dubious at best. How I got the only nut job in town for my first customer just proves my personal theory that I am a magnet for people who need therapy.
“I need that recipe,” she said. “I’m hosting the Garden Club meeting next week and I need those logs.” She was pushing the table into my stomach and she was beginning to sweat on my snow globe.
“Why don’t you bake some oatmeal chocolate chips instead?” I suggested. “Everyone likes those.” She looked at me as if I’d suggested she served up some mashed potatoes mixed with dog hair.
“Kitty always made them for the fall Garden Club meeting, and if I don’t make them it’ll be our first fall meeting without those hazel-nut lemon bars.” Millie looked as if she were going to cry, and I was starting to panic. I pulled off my head scarf and folded my hands in a serious steeple. “I’m sorry. This is just a fundraiser. I don’t really have the power to speak to the dead.”
“Dead?” Millie snapped. “Kitty isn’t dead. She’s in a coma.”
“How long has she been in a coma?” I ask, because no other response that comes to mind seems right.
Millie relaxed her hands a little. “It happened July fifteenth at our family reunion. She was riding in one of those little paddle boats at Callaway Gardens out on the lake and somehow she fell out and hit her head. I kept yelling at her to stop trying to stand up and wave at everybody like that but she wouldn’t listen. Now she’s laying up at Grace Rehab just like a fish on a dinner plate.”
Somehow the picture of Kitty at the rehab center lying there with her comatose hazelnut secret was too much to bear. I grasped my snow globe, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. The sun light outside my tent dimmed just at that moment, and I could hear Millie sucking her in breath. I wanted to peek one eye open, just to see if she was buying it. I didn’t.
“Kitty is far, far away. She’s waiting to cross into the light, but she can’t go yet.”
“She’s still alive,” whispered Millie.
I opened my eyes, then shut them once more. “Yes, yes, and she says…she says a half a teaspoon and an eighth of a cup…respectively.” “An eighth of a cup,” Millie snapped. “I should have known.” She muttered to herself as she fished $3 from her purse, shoved the bills at me, and made her way out. Watching her from my tent entrance I saw her get into a long yellow Caprice and say something to a man sitting behind the wheel. I could almost make out her words as her lips moved, “An eighth of a cup.” The man nodded as if he’d known all along, but he kept his mouth shut as he backed out of the parking space and they were gone. At first I felt a little guilty for taking her three dollars under what felt like false pretenses. But I guess sometimes we need to hear what we already know to make it feel more real.
Just then a little kid came running at me waving three dollars up in the air. His father, a tall good-looking man with black hair trailed behind. I made my mind up then and there that this kid had twin puppies and a trip to Dollywood in his future.
When I lived in America I was a regular on Spindale public radio in North Carolina. These essays are from my collection that aired on WNCW.
Cathy Adams was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first novel, This Is What It Smells Like, was published by New Libri Press, Washington. Her short stories have been published in Utne, A River and Sound Review, Upstreet, Portland Review, Steel Toe Review, and Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, among others. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University’s Rainier Writing Workshop and now lives and writes in Xinzheng, China, with her husband, photographer, JJ Jackson.
