Forward Under 40

Tonight I went to an awesome panel discussion with 4 recipients of the University's "Forward Under 40" Award.

I got to eat dinner beforehand with 2 of the recipients: Josh Bycel, a comedy writer who founded OneKid OneWorld, and James Kass, who founded Youth Speaks. As they were talking they referenced Dave Eggers, a "mutual friend," who wrote the book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." I tried to read this book but I had to put it down after about 15 pages because I found it annoyingly self-indulgent (Which is funny because I remember thinking that his inner commentary, in th book, at points resembled my own). However, my love for him was renewed when I saw his TED talk about how he started the education nonprofit 826 Valencia, which has done amazing work.

I asked the entire panel, as they were all involved in nonprofit work, the question that I pondered here. All of them (although a little biased) answered with a resounding "Yes, efforts for the social good belong and have the ability to be successful and sustainable in the nonprofit sector."

I thought that since I knew all of the things the panelists were referencing meant that I was well read or something like that...then I realized it's just that I spend WAY too much time on the internet.

Then I won a 1GB flash drive at the event raffle.

I spent today before I went to class laying on bascom hill in the sun.

...it was a good day.