Interview with an anonymous donor

I decided to work on John Bloom’s interview with the anonymous donor because I believe that donating anonymously is one of the highest standards of philanthropy. This truly connected with me as I realize that being an anonymous donor is a very hard thing to do, and I wanted to learn from this donor about how I can personally practice such an act. The two things that stood out to me from the interview were the donor’s interest in meditation and her belief in the paradigm shift.

 The donor believes that meditation guides her towards the right path. Even though she’s careful about using the word spiritual, she does believe in having an enlightened mind. She has trained for various years, by herself and with a Tibetan lama, to improve her meditation skills.  She believes that the process of meditation cleanses her and lets her soul learn from her mistakes. This allows her to connect with not only her inner soul but also with the soul of the universe and this is what allows her to be philanthropic.

The donor also believes that we are in a paradigm shift. She explains it very nicely in terms of how a human grows from child to an adult and experiences change in his views and personality. She equates the world to being at that stage where it is just getting out of its teenage years – years of arrogance, denial, and a lot of ego. She says the world is at a stage where a human is when they enter their 20s. They understand their parents better and realize that they still have a lot to learn and discover. She believes that the people who can observe this shift have to be the ones to build a bridge for a smooth transition into this new world. And hence she is a part of the philanthropic world, doing her part to allow for a good transition.

I really enjoyed reading about this donor, her learning process and why she believes in philanthropy, As a person who wishes to be a part of the philanthropic world one day, it was a wonderful interview that told me to believe in my inner soul and my instinct and help the world move forward.

The Genius of Money - Chapter 12

In chap 12 of “The Genius of Money,” we discuss two artists and their work – Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. They both produced art pieces that took inanimate objects and iconized them, giving them a new meaning and making an individual stop and think about these things they see and observe in everyday life. The main focus however is Roy Lichtenstein’s painting of a ten dollar. This gives the dollar bill a whole new iconic image rather than just a commodity.

The author John Bloom discusses how money has become an iconic thing in our economy. It was supposed to be a means towards an end once upon a time, however today money has become the end. The economy is controlled by the world of commerce and business and the idea of a free market is more of a myth than a reality. Few people control the market and it seems like the free hand market economy no longer exists. He realizes that a ten dollar bill doesn’t even have the same value anymore because the value relies on the government and they can change it anytime by printing more money.

The chapter discusses how these paintings reflect the rise of money as an end rather than a mean in the 1960s. With the optimistic market after the World War II, money was idolized. It held more power and the lust for money was growing strong. The painting by Andy Warhol also shows how replication can dilute the value, and a simple idea of the government printing more money can take away the value of a ten dollar bill so easily. Hence money is not as important as it seems, and due to the control on money and the market by the government and the businesses, it is an even more dangerous commodity to play around with.

The Genius of Money

In chapter 8 of John Bloom’s “Genius of Money,” we learn about the artist George de La Tour who had a very unique style of painting. His paintings and the stories of paintings always had a single central light form – a candle. This candle created shadows and light, illuminated certain faces and hid others, telling the story in the painting and portraying it as realistically as possible.

In the chapter, Bloom discusses a specific painting by George de La Tour called “The Payment of Taxes.” The painting discusses the government’s system of taxation and how it impacts the poor and the middle class. It shows an old man opening his purse to pay taxes to the collector, while the collector tightly holds on to his bag of money. It also shows another man using a candle – the only source of light – to help the old man see better but the actual purpose is so everyone can see the coins better. There is also another man, clad in rich clothes, with his face hidden in the shadows. He portrays the rich government and corporations that are not taxed as much as the middle class old man who bears the burden of the government. The painting displays how money operates, how it is the center of most things and how we are all attached to it i.e. we could be the government or the tax payer or the collector in our own lives.

                                                           The Payment of Taxes

The question that it leaves you wondering with is that are taxes ever good? Do they ever support the poor and the public? Should the rich be taxed equally or more than the poor? Should taxes be abolished because they only make rich governments but poor citizens? The chapter is only three pages and can definitely be expanded upon to get a better idea of the tax system and how we play a role in it.

YouTube Famous!

Have you been on YouTube? I am sure you have. Did you enjoy it? What did you watch? A Cat video? A how to do something video? Do you follow a YouTuber? Today the answer to these questions is mostly a big Yes. YouTube has revolutionized our lives, changing the idea of entertainment and creating a community of artists that can produce not only what the viewers desire but also what they think would be fun, creating gross challenges to fun activities that ask for viewer participation. This new medium has also created various stars - YouTube stars – as we like to call them, e.g. Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, Joey Graceffa and so on. So what made these YouTubers popular? How did this medium come into existence and what has it done for the world? Read on as we try to discover some answers.

YouTube came into being in 2005 as a website where people could share their videos and thoughts on whatever they like. Today it has turned into a name that almost everyone is aware of and is often used as a search engine to find anything from music to videos on how to fix your car. As the medium became popular, so did the many people who started making videos. Most popular YouTubers today have been a part of the YouTube video production since 2005, slowly building up the community of viewers and subscribers. These YouTubers get paid for the number of views they receive and through the merchandise that they sell, turning their names and channels into brands. These are regular individuals that started out with a passion to entertain or share what they care about and YouTube has given them them the platform to support themselves financially as they do what they love.

But has YouTube also created value for the community besides entertainment? Yes it has. YouTube has been used by various people to bring awareness in communities about topics such a bullying in schools, hate crimes, LGBT causes, animal rights and so on. Many people have used the platform to spread word about funding a special project, e.g. Tyler Oakley – one of the most popular YouTubers - raises money for LGBT support group, The Trevor Project, each year on his birthday. He raised more than $500,000 for the organization during the fundraiser. Many similar projects have brought light to social issues in our communities and rose funding to support charity organization working to solve these issues.

Today YouTube has become a popular medium for sharing videos. It has done well for the art community, providing it a platform to produce what they desire and be their authentic selves. It has also given the viewer a chance to share their opinion on what they like to watch and what they wish to see improved. It has also become a way of raising awareness in the community about social, political and economic issues, dissipating knowledge to common man and raising funds for charities. So the next time you’re on YouTube, think of all the good things it has created and share a video if you are passionate about something.

Here to Save Our Eco System

I have learned so much about the food I eat from Michael Pollan’s book “Omnivore’s Dilemma.” Last few weeks have been an eye opener for me, making me understand what I should be eating and where food comes from, what is healthy, what is organic and what is good not just for our bodies but also for our eco-system. The last part of the book discusses hunting but the part I liked the most and promised to discuss in the last blog is the story of small private farmers. So do you wish to eat healthy? Do you wish to help the eco system? Do you wish to know the origins of your food? Than follow along in my journey through Pollan’s book about small self-sustained farming.

Pollan after his journey through industrial farming and industrial organic farming decided to visit a private small farmer, Joel Salatin, who is known for sustainable farming. Salatin is a hardcore believer in the non-industrial methods of farming and when Pollan asks him to ship some meat, he refuses saying if Pollan wants to experience sustainable farming, he will have to visit the farm, as the food produced at his farm is not meant to be traveled long distance, it is not industrial. This starts Pollan’s journey of discovering smaller farmers.

What we learn from his experience at Salatin’s farm is that these small local farms are highly self-sustained, and by self-sustained I mean they produce everything they need, unlike “industrial organic.” Salatin’s farm has all kinds of animals, from chickens to cows to pigs and rabbits. They all work in an eco-system where they help each other out. Grass is their main form of sustenance. The cows eat grass – not corn - creating manure, which is then worked upon by the chicken to remove insects, helping new grass grow. All kinds of animal waste are used to fertilize the lands, and no chemicals are used at all. This leads to healthier meadows where not only are the animals very happy but so is nature. The land is more fertile because it is not overcrowded or over used for its resources through the use of chemicals and high amounts of plants in a small area.

The cost of this might look high and the system might seems inefficient, especially considering that Salatin has a whole big section of his farm covered in forest area that can be used to grow crops. But that is only if we think in industrial terms that have been hurting our eco system terribly. In reality, the forest and the sustainable farming system, creates the benefits of little to no pollution, fertile land, and clean water resources. The benefits therefore outweigh the cost. However our system looks at these farms as inefficient and costly because we do not put a dollar amount on pollution but we do put a dollar amount on our food.

 

If we think sustainably and long term, we realize that farms like Salatin’s are highly important for our future and eco-system. They preserve nature instead of destroying it and maintain a balanced system which is overlooked in industrial farming - which is all about specializing in a single item and producing as much of it as possible. We have to realize that our costs of industrial farming are very high due to the pollution we create and the harm we bring to nature.  Just because this cost is not visible in the short term, does not mean it will not harm us. Today, we are realizing that climate change is an issue and that didn’t happen overnight, it took years and today we are realizing the results of our actions. However, we still continue to follow the old industrial methods that need to be changed if we ever hope to see a healthy climate again. Sow what we need to do is support these small local farmers, buy their produce and move away from industrially produced food and hope that we will create a positive change for ourselves and our environment.