Periodperiodperiod blog — inspiration
Nation of Makers & Detroit, ACD 'Emergence'
The first Maker's Faire happened on the 17th at the White House, more on all of that goodness here if you didn't catch it. I'm thrilled to be a part of this building movement & that NOLA had its own mini-Maker faire this year. There are a few days left on our 'nationofmakers' discount code for FREE shipping on orders over $20 btw, good until June 30! Last week I visited Detroit for the first time, it was an inspiring experience. I'd been curious about and drawn to Detroit for many years, so I was doubly thrilled to attend + give a talk at the Association for Community Design's conference 'Emergence' in Detroit this year. I didn't realize the impressive scale of the city and only getting around by walking and biking, really only saw the center portion of the city. It was awesome to see so many incredible projects and meet so many good folks. Three of my personal faves were The Empowerment Plan at Ponyride & the TAP Gallery in Southwest Detroit. The conference is easily my favorite that I've ever attended, a pleasure to meet in person finally Patrick of the Swingsets not parking spaces, Kathleen of Latent Design in Chicago, and the good folks at D:Hive, as well as inspiring folks from Boston, Dallas, and all of the good people based in Detroit, including Challenge Detroit! If you asked me, Community Design is where it's at! Bon weekend to you & I hope that all is well in your world! - Oh yes, I almost forgot! We now have personalized blankets available on our website for an additional $40 & we were able to reduce the original blanket price to $110, hooray + see beautiful baby Nora sporting her custom blanket here!
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Detroit Pics: D:Hive w/ 'I want this city to be' á la Candy Chang
Motown is a must visit.
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The cool horses on the newel posts at Ponyride.
The Empowerment Plan - Carhart like jackets that become sleeping bags for the homeless, also employing now formerly homeless women.
The TAP Gallery.
Brush Park Mansions.
Signal Return (letterpress workshop & store) in Eastern Market.
Ooohlala, Cliff Bell's - glamourous jazz joint w/ delish drinks & eats.
In my airbnb..
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I didn't get a good picture, but can't leave out Old Miami, thank you for the great times!
Article on Authenticity & Fathers, Padres, Babbos Day soon!
Yesterday, the good folks at GFDA featured my article on creating from a place of authenticity. There's a snippet down below the photo, you can also find the whole thing here! And, a little reminder Father's Day is coming up, June 15 - if you need a card we have a lovely one for you & also a free shipping on orders over $20 offer  w/ the code 'popsmatter'! We can ship until Tuesday to arrive in time for your Papi, Vati, or Babbo. If in Detroit, I'm excited to be a speaker at ACD's 'Emergence' Conference June 12-15, here's a sneak peek of my talk. Hope all is well in your world. Summer seems to grabbing hold in New Orleans, soon to be hot, hot, hot! All my best & cheers, Tippy
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Creating from a place of integrity:
Dig deep—what would you do if you let yourself do anything?
It’s scary to trust yourself, to take risks, and to be honest with yourself, no matter what it is—professionally, creatively, or emotionally. When we do though, the most wonderful things happen. I believe that if you’re scared in some way, it’s likely that you're on the right path and the best things are ahead.Is it hard? Absolutely.As in anything, it takes the trying, doing, and practicing to achieve. When you allow yourself to be you, you will take more risks, create the best work, and discover true gratification. Curiosity, motivation, and enjoyment are unparalleled when being true to yourself.
My 2 cents on creating authentic and genuine work
1. Trust yourself. 2. Don’t compare yourself to others, don’t rush, pay attention to the details, try new things over & over & over again, don’t give up, and if something bothers you do not ignore it. Also, don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back or buy yourself a beer sometimes for keeping it real.
Create a toolkit for yourself
We have many toolkits and shortcuts given to us in our lives, sometimes it’s easy to forget that you can make your own too. I believe that life comes down to making a lot of decisions. For the tougher ones, I will lay out the core of each route and pick which makes the most sense, seems the most exciting, or is actually feasible at the time. To help in creative projects, I have ingrained these pairs as guides for my final decision making process for concepts: risk|unique + genuine|details + authentic|longevity = good to go. There is beauty in honestly feeling good about what you’re spending your time on and the great thing is, we can all have that beauty.
A life treat to see the Dalai Lama speak in New Orleans yesterday
Yesterday I bicycled over to UNO with dear friends to hear the Dalai Lama speak. Points discussed were: Compassion, connection, equality, fairness, gratitude, peace, hope, unpretentiousness, appreciation, enjoyment, & laughing. I wish that the Dalai Lama could be global president.
He spoke often of dealing with things in life with a calm center, his analogy was like the sea - the waves on the top can be turbulent, but down below there is always calm. Also of not creating expectations, which lead to disappointment. I have tried to eliminate expectations over the years and have found to be so much happier without them.
One of the questions from citizens of New Orleans at the end of the talk asked, 'Do you have doubt and how do you deal with it?' His reply involved looking at problems from many perspectives, preparing yourself mentally for problems that will arise, and keeping your calm center. If your mind is at peace you can best consider varied perspectives.
He also laughed frequently during the talk, filled with such true joy and appreciation. So humble and wishing to be treated like a human, as we all are together he reinstated multiple times, we are people. Everyone one of us around the world is born from a mother and will one day die, no one is better than another. And that this should extend to all parts of the world, animals and the earth treated with respect.
Another great question from New Orleans was, "In a world with so many troubles, how do you remain an optimist?' He replied, 'There is no other choice.'
Thank you Dalai Lama for a wonderful gift, I hope that all of our world leaders will be more like you.
Proud to be part of GOOD Ideas for Cities/Neighborland in New Orleans. Woohoo Broad to Bayou Bikeway + bikebusnola.com!
I was honored to be selected to be a part of the Neighborland + GOOD Ideas for Cities Initiative & part of the Better/Safer Biking Team this summer! Each team received $500 & a few weeks to spend on their group's project which started from Neighborland posts on city needs. Our Better Biking project resulted in the Broad to Bayou Bikeway & the textable bike to bus directions app & website bikebusnola.com! See our presentation video at NOMA here on GOOD.. don't worry it's not too long.
More about our process on guerilla signage & bike to bus app: To begin we created a survey of 'hotspots' for people to name the troublespots found on their travels through the city. With these results we then visited each site to see how we might help. Many of the trouble points or 'hotspots' were at sketchy or stressful intersections. We also found that better signage to help cyclists avoid stressful streets all together would be a big help safety-wise.
This led to thinking of bikeways throughout the city. These bikeways could be better highlighted, promoted, and developed. We re-named the Jeff Davis Parkway 'Broad to Bayou' to better illustrate which parts of town this bikeway can transport you to. Traveling again to the 'hotspots' we listed the signage needed & were lucky to find artvertising on Magazine could make our signs beautifully, on reflective aluminum to boot! they are such a delight to work with!
The bike to bus app/website helps everyone achieve cross-town destinations more quickly. Lucky to have team-mate Joel Carranza [app developer & web-guru] on board, he was able to use the recently released RTA data for bus info! If streetcars could add bike racks [especially from mid-city] this could also be added to this new transport web. The app is not only for smartphone use, as it texts you the directions, making it accessible for more people.
Big thanks to GOOD & Neighborland for making this happen, absolutely happy to be a part of! See a full list of projects here. Also, one of my fave signs below, this was later voted to be changed to 'stressy route' to be a little friendlier to the younger folks..
and one of our early tests up in the LGD creating better communication for cyclists, equalizing the information given regularly to cars.
Also, we got tagged! We feel legit : )
Excited about New Orleans Entrepreneur Week!
Mardi Gras, then Foburg, then Entrepreneur Week! [With all kinds of things tucked in between]! Wow, NOLA - what great energy! March 19 - 25, next year I will squeeze in SXSW also.. This weekend I'm excited about BirdProject being at The Front! Honored to be a part of this awesome, all-animal content show. Spotted a nice article in Entrepreneur magazine today on L3C's - 'The new double bottom line' & Virginia is getting close to bring B-Corp's to its entrepreneurial citizens, I know a few who are chomping at the bit!design love: just take a minute, or two!
can you do it? the challenge to simply take two minutes to enjoy the digital ocean break, thank you donothing for2minutes.com!
basics: food manifesto
please read this food manifesto by mark bittman - i wish these changes could all start and be underway tomorrow! why wait? why not today!!
i wholeheartedly and stomachly agree, this is incredibly important to our health and the good of the world.
inspiration: Deborah Bial & the Posse Foundation
I saw an inspiring talk as part of Tulane's New Day Speaker Series - incredible! Deborah Bial started the Posse Foundation based on a child saying "I wouldn't have dropped out of college if my friend's had been with me." Now the Posse Foundation has thousands of success stories and Deborah is a MacArthur Fellow. They are currently working on bringing the Posse Foundation to more cities including New Orleans. Posse works with kids who may not have the best grades or money to pay for school, they select people based on their leadership abilities and using non-traditional selection methods to send them to the best schools in the country. Cheers to Posse, I shed a few tears during this lecture it was so inspiring!inspiration: TEDxTU videos are up!
I helped an inspiring, incredible group of Social Entrepreneurship students at Tulane plan TEDxTU last semester [Fall 2010] and now the videos are up online!