17 February, 2012
I realize that I have posted more than a few times about the Michael Pollan book, Food Rules, especially its illustrated incarnation. But, since feeding ourselves is a daily concern for us human beings, I think it warrants continued consideration. This delightful stop-motion video is like a spoonful of sugar for making the medicine go down. Happy weekend, AOKers!
(via Brain Pickings, as most good things are)
No Comments »14 February, 2012
I like to think of myself as Switzerland when it comes to Valentine’s Day. I don’t really swing one way or the other on the pendulum of loving or loathing it, since, in my opinion, a day prioritizing going out to dinner and gifting flowers should be any day of the week ending in “y.” The flowers don’t happen all that often in my personal experience, but the going out to dinner…. Talk about needing a *foodresolution.
Whenever Valentine’s Day swings back into town, right on schedule, my first thought is always of elementary school. The grade school V-Day traditions are possibly the best and most adorable manifestation of the holiday’s hold on our collective consciousness. I have fond memories of going to the drugstore to retrieve a package of perforated cards with my favorite Disney character plus pink and red hearts, then giving them to everyone in my 4th grade class. Combined with the inevitable holiday sugar intake, Valentine’s Day always left a nice halo effect of chumminess in the classroom.
But if you’re not 10 years old anymore, Valentine’s Day often hovers a hairs breadth from making one feel manipulated or lonely. To take back this day and declare it once more in the name of Love rather than Hallmark’s bottom line, consider sharing an AOK with someone you <3. After all, you’re in all kinds of relationships no matter your marital status, and showing one of those people that you’re thinking of them is worth it’s weight in chocolates.
No Comments »3 February, 2012
Get ready for the weekend with these lovely reflections and recollections of kindness from our first guest blogger, Stefani Beckerman! You can find her spreading the good word about the coolest up-and-coming orgs on the website she co-curates, Fresh Charities. (They featured AOK back in October!)
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KINDNESS: Spreading, in a vast number of ways, the intention to help selflessly. A collaborative effort to transform the dark holes of the world into light.
I connected with AOK months ago. After a mutual contact put us in touch, we realized that between our web endeavors, career woman/entrepreneurial spirits, and general perspectives on life and how we want to live it, we should find some common ground to help the other, because in doing so we could also help our own causes!
I was given the opportunity to guest blog months ago as well. Unfortunately, life tends to get in the way and finding the space to sit down and focus on outside projects is sometimes harder than we would like. On top of that, I’ve been spinning with anxiety about WHAT to talk about. I am so lucky to witness small and large acts of kindness multiple times a day. But for some reason, the subjects that came to mind didn’t seem “big” enough. They didn’t seem important enough. Then I realized there shouldn’t be so much judgment on what message I am trying to send. It should just be about expressing what acts of kindness exist in my world and why they are meaningful. So, it became easy, I would just start with what’s right in front of me: how I got to this point of writing this.
I moved to LA two years ago and was immediately welcomed into an amazing community of women led by Life Coach Andrea Quinn. Andrea leads a life-changing accomplishment group that offers the tools to focus our energies on creating the steps to accomplish our dreams. The group meets once a month for nine months, and once you graduate (complete the 9 months and receive all 9 spiritual tools) you become part of an email listserv of all the women that have previously graduated and all the women that will graduate in the next groups. So, whenever you want or need something, you have a huge network of people right at your fingertips. All of which whose willingness to help is remarkable. Directly and indirectly these women offer support, a deep belief in each other, and an outpouring of non-judgmental love that shines a light so bright you have to take a deep breath when you receive help from someone in this group who, at many times, you may not even know by face.
Someone in the group sent a mass email promoting the AOK blog, I reached out to the sender because it resonated with my website,www.freshcharities.com, an online community that connects users to fabulous non-profits by allowing them to search easily and find which organizations resonate and ignite the inspiration to get them involved and take action. The sender connected me with Katherine and Lynn in an introductory email not more than 10 minutes after she received my inquiry. Next thing I knew the AOK team and I were setting up a call and VOILA in under an hour new collaborations were made between inspired, smart, motivated people trying to save the world. And, in our connectedness we are empowered to make a difference and find any and all ways to unite everyone with the same mission.
Kindness is laying the foundation for big changes in this world. It’s banning together to make the world a better place; to give people the opportunity to offer their voice and then actually listening. Seeing kindness makes you smile, feeling kindness, when giving and receiving, makes you feel full. Whatever your path is, taking the steps in your journey with kindness in your ride overshadows any darkness. When light overpowers dark, truly amazing connections are made and it is in the collaboration of that strength that we progress as a community.
Thank you AOK for casting your light on the world and giving everyone and everything an open-invitation to exist together in that light!
No Comments »1 February, 2012
30 January, 2012
I have noticed a marked shift in my feelings toward food over the last year or two. Maybe it’s because I’ve reached my cultural saturation point having lived in California for a while now, certainly more fresh and healthy in attitude than my hometown, the birthplace of chicken wings. Or maybe it’s that our collective consciousness has been elevated, as the source of our food and the many scary manipulations therein have come to the fore. Where I once would gleefully accept the highly processed products that pass for food in our current culinary landscape, I now cringe and run away. Well, not really, but almost. (This does not account for the questionable origins of anything I consume after the hour of 12a or after two or more adult beverages. So now I only poison myself sometimes, as opposed to frequently. Baby steps.)
The happy side-effect of our most recent Cause Currency campaign centering around fair access to sustainable, whole foods, fruits and veggies in particular, has been a growing list of good food-related resources to share with y’all. If you need some inspiration to jumpstart the where/when/why/how of your *foodresolution or are in the market for some fresh AOK material to post, feast your eyes on the following delights….
P.S. *Flashtags live on even after new spotlight campaigns begin, so worry not, your AOKs have no expiration date, unlike the mold creatures lurking in the fridge you haven’t cleaned out in few months.
Fresh Picks:
What are your favorite foodie sources?
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28 January, 2012
A little over a year ago, I went to New Orleans for the first time to do some volunteer work with a student club from my college. Named “College Students for New Orleans,” CSNO would travel twice a year from San Diego State to NOLA and rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (yes, they’re still rebuilding).
So I was in New Orleans, having the time of my life (Bourbon Street may or may not have been visited), and was walking around the French Quarter with some friends from CSNO including Adam, the club’s founder.
Adam was explaining to us why he decided to permanently move to New Orleans after he graduated; a list that included his new teaching job, the local music scene, the Cajun food, the coffee shops, the bars, etc., but one thing especially struck me. Adam said in New Orleans, you didn’t just walk by someone on the street and ignore them as one would anywhere else. Here, you were supposed to acknowledge their existence with a ‘Hello,’ a smile, a nod, or anything else – just as long as you somehow greeted this stranger in passing.
I was immediately struck by this idea’s simple, everyday positivity. It’s friendly, fast and easy. It increases a community’s sense of, well, community! That’s cool. I thought, “Why wouldn’t you want to live somewhere where that was ‘a thing’?”
I thought not ignoring someone you’re passing on the street is a good thing. I couldn’t justify why, for my entire life, I’d so fervently, with sniper-like focus, looked away when walking right by someone on the street or anywhere else.
When I was in Singapore a few months ago, I started to tackle this personal habit. I created a small project for myself throughout the day, every day. Simply, I tried to acknowledged anyone I walked by. On my way to class, in the store, on the bus. All I tried to do was keep eye contact, throw out a smile, a nod, or a ‘Hi,’ and keep going. No small talk. Nothing fancy. Just not ignoring, just to try it and see what happened.
Now that I’m back in San Diego, I’m trying to keep this thing going because the results are actually great. Rarely is the courtesy not returned, and many people look surprised if not happy for the act. It’s nice to not have to go through the working part of your day in nearly complete solidarity – to see what some friendly acknowledgement can do. At the end of it, you’ve actually had a better day.
I like to think it adds to this greater sense of connection, and I’d encourage others to try it as well. Does anyone else already do this? Anyone not do this for a reason? Whaddaya think??
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16 January, 2012
I’m sure we’ve all meditated from time to time on the wisdom of Lao-tzu, whose proverb says, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. brings this maxim into sharp relief. The millions of moments that Dr. King infused with his philosophy of non-violence built upon each other until he and the countless others he inspired were able to surmount the greatest of obstacles.
AOK will be celebrating Martin Luther King’s mission with LIFE Camp, Inc.’s NY Peace Week through January 22nd. Led by Erica Ford, the week’s festivities bring together community activists, celebrities, and youth advocates to show the young people of New York that “peace is a LIFE style” that they can live every day.
LIFE Camp, NY Peace Week and AOK are strong believers in the ability of a grassroots movement to change statistics such as those that cite homicide as a leading cause of death amongst New York City’s youngest citizens. And it is that indomitable spirit of choosing a lifestyle of peace and non-violence every day that we seek to record at AOK. Visit the *nypeaceweek flashtag to share your own actions, or those of someone who has inspired you.
When I consider the life and times of MLK and imagine bearing witness to such senseless discrimination, I always wonder what in my lifetime will make the next generation shake their heads in disbelief. With every act of kindness and gesture of mindfulness towards another person, we chip away at the veneer that often disguises the wrong as acceptable and the good as dangerous. While it can be difficult to shake off the haze of the status quo, it is that essential first step in the thousand-mile journey.
For a startling numerical exploration into the work that is yet to be done, read Peace Week supporter Russell Simmons and Dylan Ratigan’s Huffington Post blog, Occupy the Dream: The Mathematics of Racism.
No Comments »14 January, 2012
I guess I’ll be upfront here: I’m pretty much a complete stranger to violence.
I grew up in a safe, relatively quiet community in Northern California, I’ve never been in a real fight, nor were there any domestic disputes in my family or friends’ families. When I consider it, I’m lucky I’ve never had to witness any of the violent, traumatic scenes I’ve only seen on TV and in movies. There is one instance, however, that’s always stuck in my mind.
Two years ago, I was wandering around town late one night with two buddies from high school, you know, the kind of thing where you’re bored and hopelessly unsatisfied with your hometown (even if it is supposed to be like the eighth-safest city in the country or something to that effect).
We pulled up to a familiar park a little after midnight where we planned to walk around, probably talk by the jungle gym, tire of that, and go home to hit the hay. We barely even made it out of the parking lot when two men emerged from the shadows and walked over to us.
They stopped us and asked why we were in their park. Their territory. Huh? This is a park next to a private elementary school in Sunnyvale. Who do you think you are?
“You guys bang?” one of them asked. I was confused. What? Uh, no. My friend said later it’s street for, ‘Are you in a gang?’
“Are you guys dealing?” they asked.
I’m immediately thinking, “Great, these guys are trying to start trouble. They’re joking around – they’re jerks. Just brush it off and keep walking.”
But they wouldn’t move out of our way. They kept their ground and despite us saying no, we’re not in a gang, we’re just going to the swings, we don’t want to start anything; they kept the questions coming and got increasingly intimidating. My friends started to get push back and act sarcastic – to not take these guys seriously. I started to get a bad feeling.
I noticed one of the men was fiddling with something in his hand so I looked down. Next to his pocket, slightly under his jacket, he was twirling a switchblade. I silently looked at the other guy who had his hands in his pockets. I thought I saw him feeling something in there and immediately the words ‘gun,’ ‘knife,’ ‘jump,’ ‘run,’ and ‘get out’ came to mind. I didn’t know what to do. Were these guys going to jump us? How do we fight back? How do we get out of this? This is bad.
My friends hadn’t looked down and they kept talking with the guys. The conversation was turning quicker, more hostile, and I spoke up.
“Guys, forget it, let’s just go. It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
I started stepping back, figuring they’d trust me, take my cue, get my hint, and walk away too. They didn’t. They gave me a look that said, “What are you doing? Stay here.” I kept eyeing the blade.
“I said let’s go! Guys! Let’s go, c’mon.”
I kept stepping back as the four of them watched me. My friend’s still didn’t see the knife and in my head, the only way to avoid anything more was by going back to our cars. They didn’t get it.
I kept prodding at my friends, hoping they would understand I’d seen something, and eventually they let it go. They started walking back, too, and the men walked back into the park. While we were walking back to the cars I asked if they’d seen the switchblade.
“No. They had a knife?”
They were too hotheaded and quick to stop and look at the situation. They joked and said, “Oh yeah, like what? They were totally going to stab us, sure. Okay.” Their reaction bothered me and I wanted to drop it. I didn’t think they understood that, yes, that could’ve escalated and we could’ve been hurt. That that’s the kind of thing you hear about on the news.
There was a fire station down the block so we stopped and knocked on the door, figuring it’d be the right thing to do, to let someone know there were two probable gang members with a knife in the park. No one answered the door, and after trying again and waiting a few minutes, we left.
I was just glad no one got hurt, and to this day I wonder whatever happened to those two guys. Maybe I’ve seen them since, at the supermarket or across the light at an intersection, the two of us silently going about our day, unaware of our shared history. Maybe they actually did stab someone. Maybe they got caught in a drug trade and were taken in. I don’t know. Maybe they never did anything like that again and turned their lives around. Maybe.
AOK’s partnership with the NY Peaceweek 2012 (starting tomorrow through the 22nd) got me thinking about this story, three years later. I thought of how my friends and I were lucky and how others aren’t. I couldn’t imagine getting stabbed or being involved in any sort of public or private violence. I’m sorry that so many people haven’t been the recipients of peace but instead, are the victims of violence.
NY Peaceweek has it right, ‘peace is a LIFE style.’
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31 December, 2011
It’s been a whole year since the conversation that led to the founding of AOK. Adrian Grenier, his producing partner Peter Glatzer, and AOK’s soon to be CEO and COO, Ira and Lynn Liss, were talking about bringing kindness into the 21st century. Could doing and sharing acts of kindness become part of the average person’s daily consciousness? Could this sometimes tired word be reinvigorated into a tangible, shareable, dynamic entity? Could being kind be more fun?
Lynn and Ira, with their combined experience in the social entrepreneurship space, quickly assembled a crack team to modernize and gamify this age-old virtue. What followed was twelve rapid-fire months of wire framing, graphic design, extensive coding, collaborative conference calls, free-thinking, mobile applications, road mapping, social media connection, passionate team members, treasured interns, *flashtagging, and most importantly, YOU, our burgeoning community of AOKers! You’ve guided us, you’ve spread the word about us, you’ve surprised us with AOKs of all descriptions, and you’ve inspired us.
AOK is looking forward to the new year and all of the expansions and exciting new additions to the AOK experience that it will bring. Some will come as improvements to existing features, other developments will enable new and more immersive ways for every AOKer to visualize kindness. The connection between your AOKs and their real-world impact will become ever richer.
Thank you for a fabulous first year! All of us at AOK wish all of you the world-over a happy, healthy, kind and mindful 2012!
No Comments »10 November, 2011
One the reasons why I like AOK so much is because it’s so many cool things in one package.
One part game, one part donation tool, with hints of our beloved Facebook and Twitter scattered throughout. It’s a way for social media to be incredibly powerful; not only because it showcases real-life, inspiring, and kind acts from all around the world, but in that each and every one of those acts is paid forward to support an awesome cause every month (next up is bullying!). In one app, your iPhone or iPad is a gaming system, donation tool, social media platform and documentary device. Oh, and did you know the website does the same thing?
As a result of its role as this sort of medium, AOK is also a way to voice your social interests wherever they may lie, be it with animals, people, or the environment (or all three and more). Plus, in addition to everything mentioned above, AOK can also be a way to create social action wherever or whenever you may feel the need.
A little overwhelming? I know. The end result is something that even we at AOK sometimes have difficulty explaining.
But above all, I think AOK is a game-changing piece of technology that’s just in the infancy stages of something amazing. Take a look at the video below, and tell me technology isn’t incredible, and becoming more and more incredible on an exponential scale. The possibilities are endless.
“On the Brink” shows this technological boom in one of the best ways I’ve ever seen, and has helped convince me that this revolution has only just begun. AOK, too.
Kudos to Jonna McIver for knowing exactly what will blow my mind.
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Tag your "Acts" and "Observations" of Kindness using AOK's new mobile app (available on iTunes ), and, while you're at it, you can tune in to other players' AOKs happening all around you! Mobile demo
TophDaddy is 'backing' AOK... Literally! Sport an AOK T with your area code proudly displayed on the back - and give props to cool AOKs happening in your neck of the hoods. With every shirt you buy, 50% of the net proceeds go right back into rewarding the AOK community with "Cause Currency," that becomes real-world currency, donated to causes, charities, and relief efforts! Yee haw!
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A new venture from founders of SHFT, TGO, Ludlow Kingsley & Natron Baxter