Bonnaroo Day #4

Bonnaroo wrapped up pretty well for us, despite the fact that we all breathed in about 20 pounds of dust. We were lucky to not only have two great volunteers come out to join us (ONE organizer Kim and her friend Greg) but we also had several awesome ONE supporters who were at the show offer to give up a few of their hours to help us out. A big thanks to all of you that joined us – it was no small feat given the dust and never ending sun!

It was great to talk with so many people from around the country who had come out for the festival, learning about how they know about ONE, or, why they are interested in the issues we are working on. I am always excited to see how receptive and eager people are to support the campaign – even if they have never heard of it before, almost all of those we talk to are interested in getting involved and really resonate with this idea of helping out the world's poorest. It’s inspiring to see how many people have taken the message of ONE and ran with it – organizing in their communities, schools, and so forth. On one my favorite conversations this weekend, in fact, was with a 7th grader from New Orleans who informed me that he ‘knew all about this stuff’ and had gotten his classmates involved!

Again, a big thanks to everyone that helped us out this weekend – we look forward to hopefully seeing you again this summer!



Also, we signed up some gnomes. That was pretty cool.

Bonnaroo Day #3

Day three at Bonnaroo started out with priorities first: Brian got his mohawk fixed, as it was, well, at a bit of an angle, which made his whole head seem sort of tilted weird. Version two of his new ‘do turned out much better than version one:



Today was great in terms of sign ups. Kim, a local ONE organizer, came out with her friend Greg, so we had a few more hands to help out, plus a few Bonnaroo fans pitched in to help for an hour or so.



By the end of the day we had over 1000 new sign ups – by the end of Sunday we should have quite a few new ONE members, all in all!
Saw part of the Police set, had plans to see the Flaming Lips, but the long day combined with insane dust and dirt everywhere meant that the thought of going back to the hotel and taking a shower won!



one campaign
bonnaroo
concert outreach
lokahi outreach
mohawk
festival
activism

Bonnaroo Day #2

Day two at Bonnaroo went well – there are four of us here, and we are staggering our day, so two of us go in early and leave a few hours earlier, the other two come in late and close up, and all of us are here for the key hours. Seems to be working – we’re doing even better than we did last year, talking to lots and lots of people.



It’s been fun talking to everyone, finding out where they are from, learning about how they know about ONE, or, why they are interested in the issues we are working on. It’s nice to have people be so receptive to the campaign – even if they have never heard of it before, 95% of those we talk to are really into getting involved and really resonate with this idea of helping out the world’s poorest – and holding our leaders accountable in doing just that. There are a few ONE staffers and members of the Product Red team here too, for the show – we put them to work when we can!



Former Intern Brian gave into peer pressure and got a mohawk. Since I’m out of the running, the real question is if Dan will join in…



Dan and Brian also got to see David Cross perform last night. We listen to his comedy albums kinda obsessively when we’re on the road, he’s our anti-hero of sorts, so that was a perk for them. Carlos and I had to hold down the booth, so we didn’t get to go, but I saw part of the Black Key’s and Aesop Rock’s set, which was very cool.

Dust and dirt = everywhere!

-Brande

one campaign
bonnaroo
concert outreach
lokahi outreach
mohawk
festival
activism
David Cross

Bonnaroo Day #1

Our first day at Bonnaroo was pretty fun. We had to take a 60 mile detour because highway exists were shut down, we waited in some long lines, signed up lots of people for the ONE Campaign, and Carlos got a mohawk for clean energy. Our photo essay of the day is below:




We waited in a super long line of cars to get in.



Then we waited some more.



And some more.



Then Carlos took a clipboard and started signing up and explaining ONE people waiting in line in their cars to get in.



Then he signed up bunch of hippy kids on the side of the road that were waiting to get in.



Then we saw big horses. This has nothing to do with our story, really, but I felt like it was worth including.



Finally, we got in and were able to set up our booth.



We signed up lots of people, then Carlos got a Mohawk.



We signed up more people.

Then we went home, but we don’t have a photo of that. We realize this isn't the most exciting photo essay ever, but you get the idea: lots of people, lots of support for ONE, lots of lines, lots of dust, and lots of mohawks.

By days end we’d gotten quite a few people involved, a good start to a long weekend!

More updates soon…

one campaign
bonnaroo
concert+outreach
lokahi outreach
mohawk
festival
activism

Bonnaroo here we come...

Once again you'll find the Lokahi team at the gigantic Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee later on this month. We'll be set up doing outreach for the ONE Campaign, building more and more support to make poverty history, and we can use some help!

With Bonnaroo being as massive as it is, we are only allocated a limited number of passes, basically enough for our core team to get in and set up. But we want more people on the ground spreading the word about what we are doing, and are looking to find people that have tickets and are already going to be at the concert during the four days that would like to spend part of their time volunteering for the ONE Campaign. Volunteers hang out for a few hours: get trained by us, then float about the crowd talking to people and getting them involved. It's a great way to take an active step in fighting extreme poverty, get involved with ONE and meet new people, plus we'll set you up with some very cool free ONE swag for your efforts!



If you are interested in participating, please send us a myspace message or email us.

Again, unfortunately, this opportunity is only open to those whom are already going to Bonnaroo and have tickets, but we'll be at lots and lots of other venues this summer that anyone can join us at - go here for more info how to do so!

Thanks!

bonnaroo
volunteering
one campaign
lokahi outreach
concert outreach

Social networking sites and online organizing

Check out this article, written by one of our favorite bloggers, Danah Boyd, on the use of social networking websites and the internet for political organizing. She brings up some really interesting points in regards to how social networking sites can in some ways serve as a ‘public sphere’, and likewise the need for candidates and organizations to treat them as such. There is a lot of potential to reach out to unprecedented numbers of people – especially youth – in the upcoming years via this method, getting them engaged and involved with important issues. That said, there seems to be a trend amongst big organization and candidates to put up the same polished/pr approved messaging and image as they would in all of their other forms of communication. The lack of personalization is a big red flag – no one reads it for real, and because an online presence has such a big impact on how an organization or candidate is viewed, it will become increasingly important for web presences to become more and more ‘genuine’.

Anyway, as we are always interested here at Lokahi in ways to better link online and on the ground organizing, we though we’d pass this article on…


danah boyd
online organizing
lokahi outreach
youth and politics