Song of the week

Grateful

Last night I had a gathering at my apartment, which impressively managed to bring together nearly every single friend I've made in Spokane. It's always an interesting experience when different groups of friends come together under one roof, but I would call last night a great success, and it meant a lot to me that so many people would celebrate a quarter century with me. Here's to you!

Song of the Week

Song of the week

Why I'm leaving Spokane after my Service Year

I came to Spokane a little over six months ago. About six months from now, I intend to leave Spokane.

My time in Spokane has been a huge learning experience. I came to get away. I came for adventure. And I came to see if I could make life work in the mountains. I don't regret the decision.

Spokane is a tough town for young people. I'm not original in saying that. Yet one of the things I like about Spokane is the various communities that pop up around trying to create a space for young people. The (currently down) Spovangelist, Spokane Faith and Values, various gathering spaces like The Shop, Jones Radiator, Boots, and Zolas. I joined the UU church right as a young adult group was starting. Young people are involved in non-profits. Project HOPE has an incredibly young and awesome Board. Through all these connections, I found that a lot of young people like myself were just passing through, looking at Portland and Seattle as places to relocate to. Putting words in their mouths isn't fair, but I got the impression that for many of them, staying in Spokane would be accidental, not intentional. And I didn't want to make that same accident.

After some professional success back in the Midwest, I learned that I found my happiness in the life I kept outside of work. I worked a rewarding job 60+ hours a week. I worked a shitty job up to 80 hours a week. But it was the life outside of work that kept me even-keeled emotionally. I'm proud of myself that my time in Spokane is marked by social success. I once said to a friend that I may have liked Minnesota better (though I didn't live through the horrible winter they just had), but I was happier here in Spokane.

Despite the social success, it's a struggle to see myself staying here and finding a person to start a family with. Too many young people leave; some come back once they find a partner. As I was sending personal emails out to colleagues and friends about my intent to leave at the end of my term, I was struck by how many people understood what I was going through. Two people shared stories of their own - leaving Spokane, finding their partner, and moving back to have a family.

I don't know what my plans are. All I know is that by deciding I'm leaving, I get to focus my efforts on finding a job and home in another place. I hope it will be long term - I haven't enjoyed the feeling of just passing through. Yet by being public that I intend to leave, I also hope that helps balance the changing incentives I face. I know it's tough to maintain difficult partnerships are harder when I'm just passing through.

I still have a decent chunk of time left, and I intend to make the most of it. Looking forward to it - and if the days keep staying as beautiful as today was, I think it will be great.

Song of the week

Pop Culture Enthusiasm

I have to recommend this post by NPR's Linda Holmes. It's a brain dump, but a fascinating one about the trend in TV networks and their relationships with fans. I could add how much I think adding #hashtags to a show is stupid, and the feeling that they (who? the MAN of course) don't get it, but Linda sums it up perfectly. Here's my two key quotes:

"In fact, what has emerged from a lot of big-business attempts to monetize enthusiasm is a deep distrust of anything that looks like "viral marketing." "Viral marketing" is viewed almost like price-gouging or antitrust violations: it is a bridge too far when it comes to trying to make money."

and:

"You'd think enthusiasts would understand this, that they'd have enough familiarity with the workings of television supported by ad sales that they would know it was about breadth and not depth in most cases, particularly for broadcast. But they don't, really. How can you tell? Because when they lobby a network to keep a show, even on broadcast, what they put on is a grand demonstration of passion. They send nuts, soap, candy bars, potatoes, they fly banners and take out ads — they're showing depth, not breadth. It hurts to hear as someone who loves something, but if you're passionate, they're not worried about you."

There is absolutely a tension in my generation between the producers of culture and the consumers of culture. An entire identity- hipsters - is based on finding cool things before they are mainstream. Being taken to its extremes at this point yields the rise of the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement. And within that is the assumption that culture is collectively owned and we all are entitled some level of access to it.

And so, it frustrates me deeply when there aren't structures to support the monetization of enthusiams. I respect the heck out of HBO, but it annoys the heck out of me that I, a cord-cutter without a TV, cannot watch their shows legally. I would chip in a couple bucks for access, but it is not available. Rumor has it this may change, but not yet. Likewise, it annoys the heck out of me when a friend watches Parks and Recreation through an unblessed site which gives no royalties back to NBC and the production company.

Several years back, I made the conscious decision to watch TV and movies through legal means. I understand that TV stations primarily count their live viewers, but I wanted to show that making it available online legally was (a) something they should be doing and (b) a way to gain some monetization. Models like Hulu, Netflix, and Spotify offer a fantastic way to increase access, decrease pirating, and send some money to the artists. Something like Spotify is ideal, in that enthusiasts, aka people to listen to albums over and over again, send money to the artist each time, unlike original models of purchasing access one time. To those not utilizing these legal models, I challenge you to support these business models which increase access and allow monetization of our enthusiasm so that we keep getting more great content!