#createathononcampus

This is the third time I have rewritten this. I am having trouble expressing myself in regards to CreateAthon. For starters, it happened. That's true. I won't say it was fun, but it was totally awesome. It was insanely rewarding and I'm very happy our presentation to the client went well. That said, it was not a water balloon fight underneath the highway overpass. It was some seriously stressful work. This was like the last week of every May and December, except now I could let down whole groups of people in addition to myself.

I didn't get tired. I didn't have time for that bullshit. I was busy. I had to move. We were sharks. We were swimming. If we had slow time, I'd go continue the rivalry we established with ACTS or UPS. I couldn't stop working. My team was awesome. Everyone did an incredible job. Bradley made an amazing marketing and outreach strategy for our client. Shannon helped me understand exactly what the hell a website is supposed to do and what works (all this while super sick. She left around 4AM, which was amazing considering she started off the day being ill). Milgo and Nicole both killed it with design, while Raven saved us an hour with some really tight writing. Even Cody, who was stepped in at 4am after an entire day mentoring, helped keep our feet to the fire with his design work on the website.

(Most of) The mentors were great. This one may not be what I'm supposed to write about, but I'm not going to dance around it. We had some real annoying (I danced here) mentors and some great mentors. Grant Mizell and Jolinda Smithson were huge parts of our success. Peyton, Tara and Christina were on-point when we needed them. Chad Woods, Joel Austin and Nelson Johnson on the various gO! teams were indispensable. Then we had some people who slowed us down and got in the way of what we were doing. There was a reason we hung our "STAY OUT!" sign early in the morning. I know that they were as excited as we all were and really wanted to help. I don't blame anyone for that. I blame them when they forgot that we (myself, and by the end of the night especially, my team) were the best advocates for our client and I have no patience for the person who walked in and asked why we didn't have [x] done yet. I know that I speak on behalf of my team in this regard; I tried being cool initially [I am known for a certain hot temper] and I was met with an immediate "why did you let that happen?" from my people. Let me sum this part up by saying that we do not hate criticism and I certainly don't think we were above it ever; but when people walk into a room and assume knowledge and take condescending tones then I'm tossing you out.

Social media is timely. I made one Tumblr/Facebook and Twitter post the entire night. And I love Twitter. I still had 40% of my battery when I left the building at noon. They gave me a camera. I didn't do anything with it. There was NO TIME. Actually, during the midnight check-in I said as much to someone on the gO! team about that and they responded "I knew you wouldn't." Ugh. I hate video. But I did make a podcast out of it! I expected it to be much longer and have much more energy, but there was no time. I'll post that here when it comes out. Just no time. So it's over. The event, anyways. And I loved it. Despite the complaining, the stress, the mentors, the rumors and everything I loved it. That was the highlight of any Spring Break (and a couple semesters ago I jumped out of a plane on Spring Break). My team was awesome and giving that presentation in the morning felt awesome. That the client liked the work meant a lot. I told Bradley as we were wrapping up I was getting a little emotional. I lied. I was getting really emotional.

I felt amazing when we were done. I stayed up til 2AM the next day. I had dinner that night at the Camel, just to get back to the meet and greet.

Jacob here.

Holy crap, I'm busy guys. Team WECC is kicking ass. I sent everyone out for a break, so now is Jacob time.

I'm alone, in a dark room, in my wifebeater, music cranked, writing copy. It's Super Rad.

Everyone has a story, whether its good or bad we embrace it because it is our story, and for the most part we have the greatest effect on it. The story of ACTS is one that is still growing its at the very beginning still introducing the setting and characters, in some peoples opinion the best part of a book. I feel the way I connect with ACTS is that my story is also just beginning, the characters and settings are still being put into place but come this time next year we will be beginning building up to the next chapter after life in school.

  Another wide belief is that everyone has a spirit animal one that describes them in every way, ACTS I feel is much like Bambi, a new born deer, learning how to walk at a good pace and eventually making it to the ability to RUN, with the help of CreateAthon ACTS will be up and sprinting in no time. The story of ACTS I feel like right now is a bit fuzzy, but clarity is soon to follow.

I couldn't find the video of Bambi walking for the first time but, walking on ice will have to work:  

I do! The West End Community Center is located at 8102 Ridge Road. It's right off of UofR, but we'll forgive them for that. (this is a rivalry that exists, right?)

As the name suggests, we're talking West End. According to Wikipedia, this is Short Pump, UofR, Willow Lawn, VMFA, Innsbrooks After Hours and Echo Lake. It is also where the Cheeburger Cheeburger is, which may be the most important part. Minced garlic just plopped on your burger. No kissing, but a happy, healthy heart (it works that way).

What's happening out that way? I hear Willow Lawn is getting redone. Steve Miller Band coming to Innsbrook. Mummy exhibit. Probably too many geese at the lake. Some lucky guy is driving the train for kids at Short Pump.

I think when I was asked to write about my clients space they meant something more... metaphorical? That's not right, but you get it what I'm saying. My client doesn't have an 'issue space.' They're looking to improve the community by hosting events from the area. My clients space is the building. We're selling space. In the West End! Come rent it!

"But wait, Jacob, why did you say Cheeburger Cheeburger was the most important thing on Wikipedia?" Because we haven't added the WECC to the Wikipedia yet. If we're listing landmarks that should be part of it. Maybe I learned from this Tumblr entry that I need to learn about making Wikipedia articles.

If theres one think I know that I am exceptionally good at, it is making lists. Lists help me to somewhat organize this crazy place I call my brain. I've decided to make a list telling my feelings about CreateAthon. 

(The most important) I am more than ecstatic about the final product, the fact that I have worked hard to help create something that will completely change the way my organization will conduct business. The change will always be for the positive, no matter what way I have helped them they will be on the up, not to say they are not doing this on their own, just that they will sky rocket after CreateAthon is all said and done.

One thing that I didn't expect coming into CreateAthon was the amount of work involved this both excites me and scares me at the same time, which is in fact a strange feeling. The best thing about this opportunity is the challenge that it brings, but it is a challenge that I have taken wholeheartedly and no matter how worn out I am this will be a number one priority. 

I am excited to finally get the ball rolling and see how things are going to pan out during and after the event, and FINALLY figuring out who my team is going to consist of. 

The networking opportunities and future ventures coming out of participating in such an awesome event also make me very happy. Happy in a way knowing that if I want to eventually use my super hero powers for good to save the world I am more than capable. 

The final thing that makes me ecstatic is the actual event. All I can hope for is that my team is ready for some crazy stuff, because I myself am quite the crazy person, they also have to like loud random music and those strange wee hours of the morning conversations even one has about those really weird topics. For example "Why does my arm have hair?" Ha ha.

I've have found some pretty cool videos to share too one about CreateAthon at VCU and another by Leslie Jensen-Inman who talks about the 4 P's: Passion, Purpose, Promise, and Pursuit, which are 4 pretty good words you can use to describe CreateAthon on Campus.

The 4 P's video- its 45 minuets long but more than worth it. 

There are two types of comedians (for now). Storytellers and jokey guys.

I love storytellers. They are phenomenal. They can take you on an emotional journey with a solid five minute yarn. You'll laugh in the middle, you'll get excited, you'll feel sad, you'll dismount. Inevitably someone else will walk away with your story and get every detail wrong but still really enjoy their version. The people they share it with will also enjoy it. And if you told a good story than the meaning and the purpose is still there. I am not a storytelling comedian. My buddy, James Brook, who co-hosts Comedy At Pie every Saturday at 8pm (214 N Lombardy St) with me, is a fantastic storyteller. He's got this whole thing about a muffin and a hipster and it cracks me up every time. However, I know the basic story structure. I love to write stories and I do it very very well. Performing a story is difficult. It's really difficult.

You have to be flexible without losing any of the meaning. Someone should be able to jump in and figure out what's happening in a few seconds. 30, at most.

The worst thing you can do after walking in on the middle of the set is to lean over and ask someone "What's going on?" Now you've pulled them out of the joke too. Anyways, I can write stories. I know how to hook people in, grab their attention. To relieve the tension, build it back up. How to lead people to false conclusions so that the ending twist is really surprising. But I can't do it verbally.

It's probably an insecurity thing. When I'm telling a joke and people start drifting off I need to be able to berate them. I can make a snide remark and everyone jumps back on board. Storytellers have to commit. You can't change the dialogue (easily) and get back to it. That's scary. You could do 6 minutes of silence and walk off to a smattering of half-hearted piteous applause.

For today's blog I'm supposed to write about what kind of change my client makes. I realize I'm breaking the fourth wall, but after that last weird prompt where I was asked to compare CreateAthon to mature medusozoa I am happy to have something NORMAL to write about for once.

So the West End Community Center is, and I want you to think about this, a community center. It's different from every other organization involved in CreateAthon in that it is strictly a facility and that's it. They do not have some philanthropic goal or strategy to help kids or the disadvantaged.

That does not mean that the WECC doesn't make a difference. I won't release any of the identities of their renters but I will tell you that they have clients of their own who are benefiting from their existence. Each one of the renters, although from different backgrounds and assembled for (sometimes very) different reasons are all contributing to the character of the neighborhood.

I've lived in neighborhoods without any community meeting spots. No parks, no community centers, maybe someone rented out the elementary school one every two months for a private event.

It was boring. We never ate girl scout cookies, because the girl scouts never came out. I never drove past a formerly empty gravel parking lot that was suddenly packed with cars and ended up eating potluck BBQ and square dancing by the end of the night. Without community centers I never got to see poorly designed flyers for terribly named events stapled to a cluttered street light pole.

What the hell kind of life is that? Answer: A boring one.

Those are the sort of people that the WECC serves. So next time you're in line at the Super Market and you see someone loading their cart full of dixie cups, paper plates and Mountain Lion soda you'll know what's up. VCU students get jaded because we're right here in the middle of this campus. One night my ex girlfriend and I were walking through the Commons and she saw a poster for free swing dancing lessons. Whether or not I should be swing dancing, we got to go and that's because the university serves that function. And it's fun (if you have natural rhythm). Not every neighborhood has a VCU, but some have a WECC. Some don't, and those people spend a lot of time indoors wondering what everyone else is doing in their own houses. Answer: Wondering what everyone else is doing in their houses.

No, but really guys. CreateAthon is a pretty intense little monster. If I look at it from the surface it doesn't seem that impressive. I meet with 11 other students and Peyton Rowe twice a week. Most of the time it doesn't seem like we're doing much. Maybe a draft of a creative brief or some light conversation about our client meetings. Then there is my client, whom I speak with over the phone and e-mail. Sometimes somebody will ask me if I'm "doing CreateAthon." I'll say yes, they'll say "cool" and we'll talk about something else.

Going deeper and outside of my perspective is where we see the whole jellyfish.

I'm just one arm. At the end of my arm is my client, her facility, her board members, her renters. In the center is me, my relationship with her, my team. At the top of my arm we reconnect to the classroom.

The classroom is that gross, snotty head-part of the jellyfish. My arm connects to the classroom, where Peyton (who is much more intellectually than whatever mechanism reminds a Jellyfish to drift) ties everything together. She has the idea and is pushing us through the ocean.

Each other student has their own arm connected to the head, with their own clients and literally hundreds of people, per arm, who are going to benefit from what we're doing. In the end we will end up benefiting thousands of people.

It matters.

So all of us arms are floating out in the ocean being pulled forward by Peyton in her jellyfish head. But the Jellyfish doesn't just appear. There are other jellyfish. Tara and Peyton collected the applications, sorted and selected the NPOs and then set up our meetings.

We've got a printer jellyfish.

In our group (what is a group of jellyfish called?) VCU itself is just another jellyfish, floating around and enabling and promoting us.

Then there is the Go Team. I don't even know what they do, but they're always busy themselves. And everyday it seems like there is a new member or two operating in the background, checking in with our Jellyfish head Peyton. No fish, but an ocean full of Jellyfish. That's CreateAthon - kind of a slimy, poisonous and tangled mess of jellyfish and tentacles operating smoothly out in the ocean. And that's disgusting. But not really, because instead of being snot-creatures we're helping organizations who help people who may go on one day to help others. And frankly, CreateAthon has been pretty helpful to me too.

I am really difficult to get along with. I'm pretty dismissive and don't like immersing myself with the department. If I'm not in class I just want to be alone. Not that I don't work well in a team or with others, just that I don't want to hang out. Or I didn't used to.

These guys are pretty cool though. I can actually walk through Temple and know people in any given hallway and they'll know me too. So CreateAthon may just be the most helpful Jellyfish in the world.