'Interesting' Update

Interesting? You tell me. Here's a clip of my presentation at the 2008 Interesting:NY conference in September. Unfortunately, you can't see my slides. Maybe someone out there can offer some video editing expertise and we can splice the slides in somehow? I don't know. Anyway - here I am...
Update: With the help of the esteemed Jeff Zemetis, my slides are now included in the video.

Consume®econnection Project at Interesting:NY from Scott Ballum on Vimeo.

When Friends Intervene

Yesterday, my friend Jeff and I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon playing foosball at Apartment 138 in Boerum Hill. Though it was the first time we had hung out in their game room, it is a restaurant that we used to frequent before this project started, mostly for their cheap sliders and jalapeno margaritas. I guess some of my friends still go without me (and I have attended a big dinner there while sneaking in my own vegetable turnover from Body & Soul) but I guess they miss it and have become fed up with my limited dining options. Jeff had been introduced to the chef before when he had been toying with the idea of picking up some waitstaff shifts, but yesterday he went to the bar without me and, apparently, asked to see the chef.

His bold move went over well, and within twenty minutes a skinny young guy in his thirties with longish hair and a goatee came over to check in on our game. I looked at Jeff, understood immediately, and introduced myself. Simon is the head chef of Apartment 138, and joined as partner a little after the restaurant opened 4 years ago. Originally from Key West, he worked his way up from dish washer to sous chef before deciding to brave a move to New York, figuring having both Key West and New York on his resume would get him a job just about anywhere else he wanted. Little did he know how well, and how quickly, it would work out. And now that he's head chef, building the menu for 138 and now for their sister bar in Williamsburg, he's stuck for a while. Things could be worse, I think.

Simon was incredibly welcoming and forthcoming with stories about his small kitchen, and I think plenty happy to have a new (returning) customer. Jeff and I celebrated with a slider.

A New Day

It certainly seems to change everything. Congratulations, America, on the election of Barack Obama our 44th President. How far we've come in such a brief period of time. Change can happen so much quicker and more dramatically than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.

The Elephant in the Blog

When I started this experiment in March, it was a side project, sort of a hobby almost. Something I did with my spare time on weekends and sneaking in emails and phone calls when I could while at work. I was aided by the fact that I was a in a senior position at the design studio where I worked, so my time was fairly flexible and they were extremely supportive and understanding. I've been accused by people who don't know me of being a rich kid with too much time on his hands, which couldn't have been further from the truth.

As I began to think so critically about where everything I might consume was coming from, I couldn't help but begin to think more critically about how all of my actions impacted to world around me. Where did my trash go? Where did my taxes and votes go? And what was it that I was producing as a designer, and how did that have an effect on my social and cultural environment? I had already shied away from advertising, and I had refused to do branding or design work with a strictly commercial impact, but even the work I was being asked to do, as benign as it may have been, was starting to feel inconsequential. Was it enough to not use my skills for evil? What about turning it around and only doing what I felt was good?

So the short story is that a month ago I left the design studio I once worked full time for and launched my own endeavor, determined to find work which I felt was making a positive social and cultural impact. I also assumed this would free up more of my time, or at least make it even more flexible, to pursue meetings and travel for the Consume®econnection Project.

I can't say it has made life any easier yet -- the economic downturn has severely limited the number of design jobs for non-profit organizations, and this project has proven far more costly than I expected. I've been thrilled by the interest it has garnered, but there's not exactly money in it, and all of the travel has added up. Nonetheless, I'm keeping at it as long as possible, and have made inroads at New Balance in Boston and reached out to Patagonia in recent weeks! The spirits and determination are still up, but I thought that since this is all about how this lifestyle is effecting me, I should disclose such a major turn!

Now back to work, at my local coffee shop of course.