I Figured It Out!
If you don't know who or what someone or something is, click the little [?] next to his/her/its name. I have found my answers. I just got back from another lecture at NPR, and it was even better than the last one.
At the one I went to last week, a gentleman named Chuck Lewis, founder and executive director of the Center for Public Integrity ("The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization that conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the world;" basically they concern themselves with finding and publishing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, whatever that is) talked about starting the Center out of his house and growing it bit by bit, dedicated researcher after dedicated researcher, until they knew more about governments and their corruption (among other things) than the governments knew themselves. That was amazing and, yes, inspiring.
Then this week, there was Deb Callahan, the president of the League of Conservation Voters... but she was late, so the first speaker was Maggie Klein, a girl a few years older than me who started a campus enviropolitical organizing group and got sponsored by the LCV. Also inspiring. Then Deb herself showed up and talked about a lot of interesting things: how people used to think the base of environmentalism was in white, middle-class America because that's who was writing checks, when in actuality some of its greatest supporters are minorities, often the most affected by environmental issues (e.g. "the black family that has to go to the emergency room once a month because two of their kids have asthma from the bad air; the Latino family whose housing project has lead paint and no one's doing anything about it), how environmentalism is an election issue even in the shadow of war, because it ties into every other issue-- if we used environmentally efficient cars, maybe we wouldn't have to go to oil wars. Most importantly (to me) she talked about how having a common goal (defeat Bush) should be historically monumental because it will bring together all the groups that should've been working together in the first place because they're serving the same people, and she said that the people who hire you as interns have a responsibility to find you a job later, because they need you. All this good stuff, plus more good stuff, plus her fiery passion, inspired me.
The last speaker was Lavinia Limon, Executive Director of the Immigration and Refugee Services of America and U.S. Committee for Refugees. She gave another amazing talk on refugee policy, her experiences with countries like Sudan and Cambodia, and all kinds of (get ready) inspiring things. I left NPR feeling really charged up—and really confused. Because during each of the four speeches I’ve heard in DC, I’ve become totally convinced that that issue—corruption, democratic outreach, the environment, refugees… each one made me think that that was the one. That was where I was needed. But what about all of the other problems that I’d already decided needed me? What about service-learning, and education in general? What about homelessness? What about animal rights? Immigrant rights? Women’s rights? Children’s rights? What about fair labor? What about the arts? What about public health? Every corner I turned in my mind or in my life seemed to be bringing me to a whole new litany of problems, each of which, I was sure, could use my dedication. It was at this point that I decided that I had three options in my life: --choose a career/life path that makes me and my immediate loved ones happy, or --choose a career/life path that solves a problem and makes me and my immediate loved ones happy, or --choose a career/life path that solves lots of problems and makes me and my immediate loved ones happy. Is the choice not obvious? Now, here is where you begin to doubt. But eve, you cry, you’re just being naïve. You can’t solve all the world’s problems. How are you going to tackle labor rights and environmental rights, global warming and drought, world hunger and American obesity, all in one go? That’s impossible! And to you I say… it’s only impossible because you’re not thinking hard enough. See, I figured it out. No matter where I go, no matter who needs help, they all have two things in common. They need advocacy, and they need money. Advocacy is the easy one. Dig this: all these organizations are always looking for someone to champion their issue, because they realize that once people are outraged, things get done. You just need someone outrageous to outrage them. Organizations are always looking for media coverage. Well, as it stands, NARAL, for instance, can count on their political friend Hillary Clinton, and NSLP [?] can count on its corporate friend, State Farm Insurance. What if a whole host of activists and organizations could count on their media friend eve ewing? Journalism seems to be the direction in which I’m heading anyway. I just need to embrace it. If I can do whatever I can to become a loud voice, groups doing good work will learn to count on me to yell for them. So that’s decision number one: quit waffling and commit to getting a degree in journalism. So long, linguistics… I’m now officially an English/journalism double major. Well, not officially, cause school hasn’t started. A technicality. So that brings us to money. Well, naturally, when I started thinking about money, I started thinking about the Annenberg Foundation, since most of my time yesterday was spent researching them and writing a profile about them for Kenny [?]. This entailed going through their grant database for the last three years, and something about that stuck out in my mind: breadth. Annenberg funds everything from Boy Scouts to ballet. So it hit me like a ton of bricks: start a foundation! This is, as I see it, the most effective way to give lots of money to lots of different kinds of important issues. So decision number two is to make, raise, and give away a ton of money. I promise you, people, in your lifetime you’ll see the Ewing name on animal shelters, music schools, museum wings…. Except after a while I’ll start naming things after other important things and people… otherwise that’s just pomposity. So there you go. Today I figured out what I’m going to do with my life. I’m going to be an amazing, renowned journalist and author, use that position as leverage to fix problems, and make a ton of money to fix problems from a different angle. But I made a third decision, too, when I remembered this quote I read from Paul Rogat Loeb’s book Soul of a Citizen: "To carry the message of a cause in a community where you are a generally respected neighbor is far better than when you do it as virtually your sole activity in public."--Karl Hess This reminded me that at the end of the day, no matter how much money or power you have, nothing beats good ol’ hard work. So I’ve resolved that no matter what, I’ll never use tools to distance myself from the real elbow grease. When I’m needed, I’ll still be there to research a report, or call an office, or write a letter. In other words, I’ll keep doing all the little things that I’ve been doing, because they matter just as much as ever, and they always will. And that’s the story of how I figured out what I’m doing for the rest of my life.
--eve host
Last five entries:
Home Again - Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004
Nashville Math - Friday, Aug. 13, 2004
Nashvillians - Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004
Nashville Tomorrow - Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004
Weekend Again - Monday, Aug. 09, 2004