Social September; How will you 'Disconnect to Reconnect'?

“Dad – are you okay? It’s been three hours since you checked your blackberry” was my sister’s introduction to my dad in her wedding speech. The ensuing guilty laughter of all those who could relate (or were sneakily updating their facebook under the table mid-speech) is a telling indicator of who –or what – has the upper hand in our relationship with technology. 

Whether playing Words with Friends while crossing the road or sitting on iPads while having coffee with friends, Social September encourages people to connect with each other – by disconnecting. It is an initiative to raise funds for the Reach Foundation, which promotes the mental health and emotional wellbeing of vulnerable young people.

Photo: Social September Facebook 

Funnily enough, Social September is using our addiction to all things techy – facebook, twitter, the whole social media sphere – to get this message across. Recognising the critical role that technology does play in facilitating our social lives, super socialite and founder of Social September, Bianca Venuti-Hughes, is encouraging us to be more conscious of the where, why and how we do it. Don’t quit facebook – but stop checking it when with company. Keep an eye on your emails – but not over dinner with your girlfriend (or at your daughter’s wedding). Answer that SMS – when you’ve finished our conversation with your mum. 

Founder Bianca Venuti-Hughes reconnects using old-school technology

Launching at the stylish Mezzaluna Ristorante Italiano in Potts Point, ambassadors roved the floor with giant plastic phones as guests admired the sparking Sydney skyline. Maria Venuti, the larger than life entertainer of Mad Pizza fame, stunned the crowd with a powerful rendition of “That’s what friends are for” as the connected crowd tweeted, checked in and instagrammed pics of the event. 

Photo: Social September Facebook

As the clock ticks past midnight tonight, we will farewell winter and commence our springtime socialising – so go to www.socialseptember.com for more info, register to host a Reconnect event, or take on a personal Disconnect challenge for September.

Guest Post: Why I’d rather give to Leisure Suit Larry than to charity

Guest post by Prashan Paramanathan

It was the mid-90s and personal computers were starting to find their way into every home. Dial up modems were still screeching and the Y2K bug lay on our doorstep, ready to destroy all that was good. Our family had just got its first PC (with its top-of-the-class 128MB hard drive) and I, the typical 13 year old boy, was just discovering computer games.

Adventure games were the hot genre of the time and alongside Police Quest, Hugo's House of Horrors and Bubble Bobble, stood - I'm a little embarrassed to say - Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of Lounge Lizzards. Larry was a dodgy, balding 40-something lovable-loser type in Las Vegas and you were trying to help him pick up. It was more comical than raunchy.

Larry has lain dormant for well over a decade now, so I was more than a little surprised when he re-emerged a few weeks ago on Kickstarter, a US-based crowd funding site. The creator of the Larry series, Al Lowe, was looking to raise $500k to remake the Larry game, and strangely, well, disturbingly, I felt myself compelled to give to the ‘cause’.

Now, despite working in the non-profit world for over 4 years now, I’m not very good with giving money in general. And so, as I was clicking the donate button for Larry, it suddenly dawned on me what I was doing. Did I really feel more compelled to give to Larry than I did to, say, World Vision?

Disturbingly, the answer to that question felt like a yes.

It made me ask around my friends – did they give to charity and how did they decide whom to give to?

The response I got was oddly contradictory: they wanted to connect, interact and contribute to the non-profit world but also had a healthy dose of distrust, distance and disillusionment with “charities”. I heard a lot of “I don’t really know how they spend their money” and “I don’t know if they’re any good”.

As I pondered this some more, I realised that what I was really hearing was this: “If I’m a young, 20- or 30- something professional, the traditional benevolent ‘charity’-model doesn’t really speak to me”.

So, what should you do if you’re a socially-conscience young professional wanting to connect to the non-profit world?

Here are two really simple things:

• Be trendy, eat social enterprise-style: Social enterprises are essentially businesses run for a social purpose. For some reason, the most common types seem to be food-related. Two of my favourites for the Melbournians are STREAT (coffee/food carts run by homeless youth and Scarf (borrows restaurants to train marginalised young people in hospitality). 
• Find your tribe: There are plenty more people like you out there. In Sydney, they hang out at many places, but three of my favourites are Emerging Leaders for Social Change (ELSC), Think Act Change and Young Social Entrepreneurs. It’s pretty simple, just turn up and see if you like it.

To make it even easier for you, I’m working with a mate (that I met at ELSC) to create Chip In Australia, a site that profiles some of the best Australian non-profits and social enterprises to make it even easier for you to connect to them.  You can check us out here.

STREAT's Stop Homelessness the Delicious Way campaign

And, if it all goes well, who knows, I might even be able to find something better to give to on there than Larry.

During the day, Prashan Paramanathan dons his non-profit consultant outfit but after five he spends his time writing for The Education Report and tinkering at Chip In Australia.

Like Lifeafterfive on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lifeafterfive.

Guest Post: We all scream for ice cream at Ben & Jerry's Sundae Sessions

Guest post by Amanda Barbera

I used to think a choc-top at Hoyts was a treat. But now I’ve been spoilt - by Ben, and by Jerry.

The Ben & Jerry’s annual “Sundae Sessions” Big Charity Launch, held on 5 February by the Bondi Pavilion, shook up the ‘Sunday night at the movies’ tradition which, up until now, I knew no better than to love.

Gone are the 40 minutes of commercials and yet-to-be classified previews of movies starting sometime next year. Left behind are the rip-off buckets of popcorn, Malteasers & other confectionary you’ll get venomously ‘shhh-ed’ at just to open. And no longer do you need to glaciate in cinema sub-zero temperatures and worry that the person you’ll sit down next to after a bathroom break is not the date you arrived with at all.

Pre-movie entertainment is a festival in itself, with sunset performances by the Winter People, Hungry Kids of Hungary and The Cat Empire perfect choices to get the audience grooving. The vibe was as playful, carefree and fun as, well, a sunny Bondi Sunday afternoon! Maybe it was the sun coming out and the magical beach backdrop; maybe it was the free games & charity prizes. And it’s a sure bet it was the free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream handed out all evening long. Like the Strawberry Cheesecake? Try Chocolate Fudge Brownie! Demolished Sweet Cream & Cookies? You’ll love New York Super Fudge Chunk. There’s no better way to test every flavour out there than with a licence to keep coming back for more. If you hadn’t realised what the finest, super premium ice-cream tastes like before, you’ll be screaming for the stuff after. 

When it’s time to sit down and watch the inspiring documentary, ‘Life in a Day’, we grab a beanbag, super warm blanket and cocoon under the stars.

And the best part? There’s a story behind every brand and this one’s driven by a social conscience and dedicated activism towards tackling some big global issues. Working alongside ‘Tunes for Change’ and The Cat Empire, the evening raised $20,000 for Australians for Cambodian Education (ACE) to help educate severely disadvantaged children and break the poverty cycle in Cambodia. The proof really is in the ice-cream. 

Johnny Hammond (Ben & Jerry's), Chloe Hamersley and Rich Coombes (Batlow Cider)

It’s another Ben & Jerry’s reminder that ‘capitalism can cure’, and support for the message couldn’t have been easier tonight – EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

Bondi Openair is running from 29 January to 4 March on the Dolphin Lawn next to the Bondi Pavilion.  Ben & Jerry's are hosting Sundae Sessions with free ice cream each Sunday.  The full film schedule can be accessed here.  

Lifeafterfive* attended as a guest of Ben & Jerry's Australia.

CANTEEN National Bandanna Day

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world"

Anne Frank

28 October 2011 is Canteen's National Bandanna Day.  Sydney's Martin Place was awash with street art, bright bandannas, and smiley teens cheerily raising awareness of a serious cause.

 

 

More info can be found at http://bandannaday.com.au/

More pics are on the Lifeafterfive* facebook page.

ELSC presents 'The Economics of Happiness'

The King of Bhutan introduced the world’s first Gross National Happiness (GNH) index in 1972, a concept which has since been adopted by governments in Europe and Canada.  Monitoring indicators of a nation under the pillars of sustainable development, cultural values, natural environment conservation and good governance, the purpose is to ensure focus by governments on contributors to happiness and reduce the emphasis on GDP growth as a measure of success and prosperity.  The GNH is based on empirical research literature of happiness, positive psychology and wellbeing.

It was under this banner that the Emerging Leaders of Social Change was established.  Initiated by a pub conversation (where ideas have a habit of brewing), the group aims to bring together young professionals in the corporate, public and non-profit sectors as a forum for sharing ideas and collaboration.

A core focus of the ELSC is to encourage Australians to participate in The Big Conversation, an initiative to assist the federal government understand what our society values when determining indicators to feed the National Wellbeing Framework being developed by the government.

“'Going local' is a powerful strategy to help repair our fractured world – our ecosystems, our societies and our selves” Helena Norberg-Hodge

The trend towards localisation and away from globalisation was the topic of discussion at the most recent ELSC ‘collaboratory’, where Helena Norberg-Hodge’s documentary The Economics of Happiness was screened.  While alarmist in its description of the  ‘8 Inconvenient Truths of Globalisation’, the positive impact of society's movement towards sustainable communities and increased connectivity with those geographically close resonated with the audience.   Pointing to examples such as local food movements, growers markets and eco-villages emerging in big cities around the world, those interviewed in the documentary outlined the social and economic benefits of what it calls ‘economic localisation’.

These benefits include;

• Understanding the impact of our choices, made easier when the supply chain is contained within one’s realm of influence;
• Environmental benefits, with less energy being consumed when goods are produced and consumed locally;
• The retention of ‘grandmother’s knowledge’, the strengthening of community bonds and a sense of belonging.

While the film was emotive in presentation, its underlying message was strong enough to provoke discussion about everything from challenging the status quo, individuals’ own experiences of localisation and how this applies to our society.   

ELSC collaboratories are described as intimate events where like-minded emerging leaders meet to share, explore and challenge their way of thinking about topics related to the social sector.   A wonderful opportunity to be challenged in genuine debate about topical issues, the ELSC addresses the growing desire of gen-Y to meaningfully engage with the community while building successful careers in a range of commercial (and other) sectors.

If your corporate job has taught you something useful to others and you’re itching to share, don’t miss the next ELSC collaboratory on the innovative application of Design Thinking.  You might just learn something.

Buy tickets to future ELSC events at http://elsc.eventbrite.com/

Cancer: Meet it, treat it, beat it

Ben Peacock, author of Lessons from My Left Testicle, was at a buck’s weekend three days before surgeons were slicing open his stomach, “placing his guts on a tray” to remove his lymph nodes, and then squishing them back in. 

Experiencing sharp pains in his back, he told the audience at the Garvan Institute that he “did what he was supposed to do” – kept drinking alcohol to (unsuccessfully) ignore it.

25 year old stockbroker Tim Cussell put off visiting a doctor when strange symptoms (of what turned out to be Stage 3 bowel cancer) arose because of the unpleasant prospect of a stranger poking around his nether regions.  Finally finding time to visit a doctor, he was immediately booked into surgery and warned that he could die on the operating table.

Cancer; Meet it. Treat it. Beat it was the topic of the Young Garvan Forum’s most recent event on the 26 May.  Young Garvan was set up to educate and inform the seemingly bulletproof younger generation about health issues and the importance of medical research. 

Hearing the magic words “You. Have. Cancer” slams the door shut on one's previous life only to send them whirling through a vortex of hospitals, chemotherapy and radiation.  Ben told the forum how “everything in life is suddenly put on hold” – career, travel plans, plans to start a family - with all energy focussed on the daily rollercoastal of survival, specialists and treatments.

Medical oncologist Dr Catriona McNeil and Dr Darren Saunders, a senior lecturer in Medicine at UNSW provided tangible examples of recent medical research breakthroughs, stating that while cancer is the number one disease killer in the 18-40 year age group, survival rates have never been better.  Dr Andrew Penman, CEO of the Cancer Council NSW, emphasised cancer as a social issue with a heavy impact on both patients and the wider community.

With a newfound appreciation of how precarious life can be, Tim focused on enjoying what was great and letting go of the bad - bought an apartment, proposed to his girlfriend and changed careers.   He is organising a fundraising dinner for 2012 to raise funds for Lifehouse at RPA and the Bowel Cancer Institute.  As Ben Peacock soberly reminded us– “it’s not a given that everything will go according to plan”.

Lessons for the invincible Gen Y?

• Visit a GP when something doesn’t feel right
• You’re never too young to get your affairs in order
• It can happen to you – so keep an eye on the important things in life

Join the Young Garvan Events & Fiestas facebook group to be informed of future events.

*Photograph from http://www.learning.net.au/allribbons/younggarvan.html

Watching everyone else who is watching everyone else...

A quote from the weekly newsletter of Rev Graham Long of the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross...

"A lovely old guy who is a regular at Wayside has just sat at my table and decided I could shout him a cup of coffee. He's lecturing me about how much the Cross has changed in the past 20 years while I'm nodding and writing. I suspect that every morning here is the 'morning after the night before'. There seems to be lots of people walking up and down the street, observing others who are doing the same thing. Just over the road at Porky's there is a girl in the doorway, watching everyone else who is watching everyone else."