Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

thoughts

Hindsight

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Can I just put something in perspective for a moment?

My free time has been devoted to event planning on at least a weekly basis since November of 2007. That’s one and a half years of constant event planning.

We spent two months planning our engagement party. Then wedding planning started in the background of planning LP’s There’s a Stage on My Lawn for last May (coming on the heels of my major advertising event at work, which I adore).

Then wedding planning was in the forefront while I background assisted on LP’s Summer Mixer. Towards the end of wedding planning was honeymoon planning, as well as the beginnings of planning LP’s BYM Fest. And, since the wedding it’s been lots of BYM Fest (plus my major advertising event at work, which I still adore).

So, as of Sunday I will be NOT planning an event for the first time in eighteen months.

Wow.

My Whole Crushing Life

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About fifteen years ago I started writing a novel called “Crisis Team.”

It was about being a high school student abducted by a secret organization, and having super-powers. I made Gina read my latest drafts every week in health class.

The particular deux ex machina of the early bits of the novel was that the narrator (AKA me) discovered a super-powered, super-portable laptop that was wirelessly connected to the entire network of the super-secret organization.

Fifteen years later my internet handle is “krisis” and I am writing this post from the back of a SEPTA bus on my 10″ mini-laptop, now empowered with a mobile broadband connection that lets me post from anywhere in the city.

In conclusion:

(1) I am now living in my imagined life; the only difference is that I am a rock star rather than a superhero.

(2) I have to get used to writing posts short enough that I won’t miss my stop.

Addicted to Twitter: Intro

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They say you can make or break a habit in just 21 days. If that’s true, today is the official confirmation of my Twitter addiction.

I had no plans of getting into Twitter when I made my first regular post on April 6. I was merely checking out the network for a project at work. Yet here we are three weeks later and I’m hooked.

Those three weeks happened to overlap with Twitter hijacking the news cycle, from Ashton’s joust with CNN to outrage about overhyped swine flu. Suddenly everyone was on Twitter … Oprah! My mother!

As with any phenomenon, the hype obscures the hit. My next few blogs offer a personal peek at my 21-days of forming a new habit. If I can get addicted, you can too. Start by following me.

The Life, It Is Good

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Last week I spent an evening writing about Tori Amos (which will surface here next week). In doing background research I came across the following quote:

A lot of people think darkness is making somebody emotionally defecate on themselves. That’s baby demon stuff. … These baby demons can be wonderful in some ways. Wonderful in some ways, highly conscious in some ways, but until they’ve done their work on their shadow, they are more concerned with the power of seduction and the control over another Being than anything else.” (Lucifer, per Tori, Piece by Piece)

I’ve been conscious of that lately – about the difference between having a negative opinion and trying to make someone doubt themselves. I’m a critic by nature, but I don’t want to be that baby demon. I don’t need anyone to feel bad to make me feel better. I’d rather give light than emanate darkness – especially not impotent baby-demon darkness.

Think about it that way – that everything you do either provides lightness or darkness. Every encounter – writing a record review; bumping into someone on the bus; being disappointed by a family member – in each instant you have a binary choice to make. Will you try to shed some light on the situation? Or, make it blacker – make it pejorative and hateful?

We all know that I don’t like warm weather, but I have to say that I appreciated our high-degree days this weekend. I sweat out all the toxicity I was fostering. The sky sucked it out of me like venom from a snake bite, and it oozed off me like tar.

I feel like I’m back.

Everything is local … even currency.

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I’m a pretty jaded news-browser, but this USA Today headline got my attention: Communities print their own currency to keep cash flowing.

Yes, in the United States.

It sounds a bit dubious in concept, but the practice is sound:

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

In the BerkShares system, residents can buy the local currency directly at the bank. Effectively, entire communities are locking into the same Gift Certificate system, and using that purchasing leverage to slightly lower prices across the board. It’s safer than buying gift certificates to a single store, as many Circuit City customers discovered earlier this year.

The missing element in the article is … who manages the cash? Are banks holding it in escrow until the money is spent at stores, and then reimbursing store owners who submit used bucks? And, what happens if a resident buys in and then wants to buy back out – do the local dollars exchange back to cash at the same rate they were bought?

Also, I’m interested in the counterfeit angle. Real money is one thing, but what could these local currencies possibly be printed on that’s safe from duplication? I’m sure the things can’t be photocopied – it’s easy enough to buy coded or watermarked stock – but what about bootleg versions? All it would take is a designer with a keen eye and a closet full of paper catalogs. Even a complex serial-numbering system wouldn’t help detect fakes at the register.

I’d love to get my hands on a piece and see if the designers at work could comp one that would pass muster.

HuffPost has some further coverage, and is seeking additional examples from readers.

Editor’s Note: Check out the comments for detailed answer from Mark Herpel from Community Currency Magazine. Note that the BerkShares system is using AB Craine, which supplies the US Mint. I’m sure other community cash programs – like the one in Detroit – might not have such high-end business partners.