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WORLD WE IMAGINE PART 3- CommonGood

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Our Purpose The world today is constantly showing us the limits of human suffering through war, famine, disease, and poverty- and can leave the average person feeling overwhelmed. Many are left paralyzed in the face of insurmountable adversity and the feeling that their actions will be insignificant. Those who do want to help often are at a loss for where to start- when I started volunteering I had to search for hours on Reddit and other forums to find opportunities near me. The barrier to entry just to help was exhausting, there was no central hub that could organize nearby events, no way to communicate with staff, and a feeling of being lost. CommonGood is an app that hopes to solve this by making volunteer and outreach opportunities more accessible at the community-level. As the founder of CommonGood, I have always believed that a better tomorrow starts from the community- so that people can see and feel the effects of their work. Our Unique Functions CommonGood will be a platform t...
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Pop Quiz Make-Up

     The Blue Sweater  by Jacqueline Novogratz had a unique and nuanced perspective on how to more effectively help those in need. I enjoyed her process from going in as a naive banker to an insightful leader and founder of Acumen. However I found myself wondering if her call to action was a bit much at times.      The main takeaway from the story was that charity itself was not the end all be all for impoverished communities in Africa- that there needed to be infrastructure built for people to thrive without outside actors. Much like the verse "teach a man to fish"- she wanted to establish a foundation on which local economies can grow by investing what she coined as "patient capital".  I really liked how Novogratz built up systems in which local leaders could lead and how Acumen itself is a non-profit.     As much as I agreed with Novogratz and her mission- I found myself wondering if her call to action was too much to ask from the ave...
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Music Criticism + My own review of

      Critics aren't here to say what music you should enjoy and what you should turn your nose up at- they're here to critique the technical mastery of the sounds, their place within the zeitgeist of their genres, and the impact they made on music as a whole. Listening to this podcast and thinking about the music critics that I follow, I couldn't help but agree that critics have lost their purpose. Time and time again I find. myself asking what the point is when all I can glean from a review is "I really liked it!" and other superficial comments that never delve into why or what makes the music good. I wanted to explore the cultural shift in music reviews, the militarization of "stans", and why honest music reviews are so important.     Tensions in America have never been higher, and the music reviews reflect that. The shift from "rockism" and "poptimism" was in response to the overly critical and serious nature of reviews from the p...
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World We Imagine Part 1

 I feel like when I think about making the world a better place my mind instantly goes big picture. Things like climate change, poverty, hunger, abuse and war all seem like things that need to end- but I feel powerless to change those things. The more I got caught up in the tragedies and wallowed in the helplessness I felt the less I had energy to help others. It took me a long time to realize that ending wars and hunger isn't my responsibility and it isn't any other individual's responsibility (unless you're a billionaire). So starting off small within your community and asking your friends to help out at a food drive or other volunteering opportunities is the best place to start. In the large scale I agree with Novogratz and how we should be conscious of our place on earth as a global citizen- I believe that initial call to action in the excerpt is too much for the average person. We are all trying to survive and get by- and I feel like we should first focus on being ...
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Random Blog Post 2- The Death of Sneaker Culture

My love for sneakers started when I was in middle school, when the pinnacle of my fashion was an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt that was two sizes too small, Tommy Bahama cargo shorts, and worst of all Skecher shape-ups. The shoes that every suburban mother of two had to work out their glutes while wrangling their kids in the grocery store- and I was relentlessly bullied for them, so I started looking at shoes. I fell in love with Air Jordans, I could recite every model up to the twentieth, who designed them, and their backstories. For example, the Air Jordan 5 draws inspiration from World War 2 fighter planes and their jagged shark teeth livery, and the 15's tongue paid homage to Jordan's iconic tongue out dunk, and how the 12's flu-game color way commemorates MJ's 38-point performance in game 5 while having the flu. I could talk about these sneakers for hours and hours! So I saved, I skipped school lunches, I did chores, I scrounged up birthday and Christmas money until ...
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Random Blog Post 1 - Gym Tips

I've been working out for the last decade of my life, from high school to a college super super senior, and I always have friends asking me for tips and tricks on how to stay consistent in the gym. I've quit and restarted gymming more times that I can count, and I've compiled 3 common mistakes I have made and continue to see others make. I'll list these mistakes along with their consequences and solutions below: 1. Pushing yourself too hard at the beginning  Leads to - increased risk of injury - severe soreness 1-2 days after session - decreased likelihood of maintaining a consistent training schedule What can be done to combat this? It's simple- just ease into training. Don't jump in the deep end and expect your body to magically be able to keep up with increased intensity, especially if you're coming from a relatively sedentary lifestyle. So it is important to go light on the training and establish a consistent training schedule before trying to lift anyth...
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Tom LaDuke- Opening Reception at Peter Medenhall Gallery

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Tom LaDuke was born in Massachusetts, but raised in Los Angeles- graduating with his bachelors of fine arts from CSUF in 1991. I knew of his previous work from his 2007 work "4pm, 1980" with airbrushing and painting canvas. The piece was an odd juxtaposition of a view of his studio overlayed on top of a still frame form the move "The Shining", and I always liked the odd sense of cold nostalgia I felt from that painting. I was very excited to hear that he was having a reception in Pasadena and I rallied some ArtCenter friends by bribing them with some cheap pad thai.  First impressions of the art wasn't great- I only saw two small sculptures that were both reminiscent of udders, and the pieces on the wall looked like blurry black and white photos. I quickly made my way over to one of the frames on the wall and got as close as I could without fogging up the glass, and I was amazed! All of the frames were graphite on paper. Tom LaDuke's technique was flawless, ...
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