Another Winter Sinks In — Reflections on A Year After Ben

Today is officially the anniversary of my dear best friend Munch2's (Ben Walter) death. Well, perhaps it was yesterday, December 20th since today was yesterday in Shanghai, China where he passed on. The present is already the past elsewhere. I never thought about how the day of a person's death is not a universal day in the universal moment experienced by all on this planet. For example, Martin Luther King's death date varies across the globe although the actual time is a universal moment.

I thought often as the days rolled closer to today or yesterday, what I could have done to prevent this tragic direction. Could I have been nicer to him during our college years? Could that have changed the course of our future? Our fate? Throughout this year, I kept thinking that on that particular day, munch2 would still have been alive. However as of yesterday or today, time has folded into himself... an entire year will emerge soon that starts the years where I cannot reflect on how just a mere year ago, he would have been alive.

I learned during this one year the human capactiy to float above the darkness. As humans, we always seek to find a plateau in our suffering. Like ocean waves, the water falls yet rises again in constant flow. However, I also recognize that there are some losses that define a person and this one touched the most beautiful places of my heart. As humans who have truly loved someone or something, we carry these wounds, these scars that leave us different, indifferent, tougher, softer and more sympathetic to the suffering of other that reveal a heart that can feel for others. Munch2's passing and the death of several others around this time has led me to reflect that what makes us human is universal.

Munch2 could have done so much for the world... I can only do my best to make his legacy and beauty live on elsewhere.
This year, I offered gifts from Oxfam Unwrapped in memory of my dear munch2: 12 textbooks for children and training for teachers in a poor region of the world. Hopefully the love I felt in my most profound friendship can blossom somewhere else and that his life is recycled elsewhere in the hopes of others renewed.

Much love to you, dear Brains... always.

- siming
www.jsiming.com
December 21, 2006

Tips for Giving to Non-Profits and Charities

Apparently many people tend to make charitable donations around the holidays so I thought I’d share my advice in case you're looking into charities to support.

I strongly recommend doing the following:

• Check out Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), a 501C non-profit organization works to guide intelligent giving. According to their site, they say, “They help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on over five thousand charities and by evaluating the financial health of each of these charities. They ensure our evaluations are widely used by making them easy to understand and available to the public free of charge. By guiding intelligent giving, they aim to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace, in which givers and the charities they support work in tandem to overcome our nation's most persistent challenges.”
  
  
• Read Charity Navigator advice on smart giving: ”Top 10 Best Practices of Savvy Donors:“
  

... The site suggest several tips that I would like to summarize and emphasize in particular that I find to really important points in particular:

1. Identify and Prioritize Your Values. Support non-profits that have targeted outcome goals
   and are not too general with their objectives.
   “Smart givers generally don't give reactively in a knee-jerk reaction. They don't respond to the first organization that appeals for help. They take the time to identify which causes are most important to them and their families. And they are specific about the change they want to affect. For example, they don't just support generic cancer charities, but instead have targeted outcome goals for their giving, such as providing mammograms to at-risk women in their community.”
   
   Basically, really think about what your values are before you feel guilty and just give money to whomever sends us pleas for help. Personally, I get tons and tons of mail from all these non-profits who get my info from similar non-profits to whom I donated money previously. FYI — Non-profits often share your contact info with other non-profts that share similar focus so think about where you’re donating money b/c you’ll soon be hearing from other similar organizations. I have been guilty of repeatedly giving money to organizations that send me info rather than really researching the organizations that interest me. I recommend that you first take time to evaluate what issues matter the most to you and then research through charitynavigator.org for the non-profit that does the best job at what you care about. For example, say you care about environmental-related causes, but you will find that various non-profits take on a different angle or focus. In my experience, there are firms that focus on protecting wildlife or endangered animals affected by global warming, others that focus on preserving natural resources and national parks, and then others that focus on the effects of environmental damage on people. When I thought it through, I realized I cared more about environmental dangers that more directly affect human lives foremost. Also, there are non-profits that focus on short-term emergency care and then there are non-profits that focus on longer-term strategic planning i.e. Do you want to feed someone a fish (or veggie if you’re vegan) today when they are hungry and desperate, or do you want to help teach them to fish so they can eat later everyday?
   
   
2. Concentrate all Your Giving on Only a Few Non-Profits.
   Donate and work on very few organizations rather than give to a bunch of them at a fraction of what you could give to just one or two organizations that really meet your passionate concerns (see above). Personally, I've been overly diversifying my own contributions to a various non-profits since I have felt guilty about not giving money to non-profits who would have "wasted" their money writing to me and sending me all their endless free address labels if I didn't reward their efforts.
   
   
3. Donate to a Charity in Honor of Someone You Care
   Another point (not mentioned to on the Charity Navigator site) — you can always donate in honor or in memory of someone as a gift for people who already have everything material they feel they need. You can also donate in memory of someone to honor their memory so they continue to “live” on in your good deeds done in their name and send a note to someone alive who would feel happy to hear that you care.
   
   ***I noticed this rather fun “gift” idea on Oxfam (they get 3/4 stars on Charity Navigator for excellence):
   www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com
   (Gifts that help others around the world. Their site states, “Need an unusual gift? How about a camel or a water pump? What about a coffee mill or an emergency toilet? This holiday season, give a gift that helps people in need.” They allow you to send a card to someone you care about this donation in their honor.)
   

Happy Holiday and giving! :)

- Janet Si-Ming Lee
Principal Designer, Siming Cybercreative

Holiday Arts & Crafts Shopping, and Grand Opening of the Boston ICA!

Support indigenous international arts and culture or works by local artists. Check out these links to learn more about these great places to buy unique, holiday gifts that support the arts. Visit the new Institute of Contemporary Art at their grand opening on Sunday, December 10, 2006.

1. Cultural Survival Bazaar holiday sale of indigenous art
   Saturday & Sunday, 11 am – 7 pm
   Hynes Convention Center — 900 Boylston Street
   
   - Support hand-crafted, fair-trade work from around the world when you buy your holiday gifts here or purchase art for your own home.
   - I believe that all the vendors pledge 40% of their proceeds toward the cultural survival group’s mission to promote indigenous folks’ rights and fair-trade.
   - For more details: http://www.cs.org/events/bazaar/index.cfm
   
   **** Their collection will be even bigger than the one in Harvard Square. I bought a bunch of stuff last week in the Harvard Square one
   
   
2. South End Holiday Market
   (SOWA) of local New England artists
   Saturday, 10 am – 8 pm, Sunday, 10 am – 6 pm
   Cathedral High School Gym — 74 Union Park Street, Boston
   
   - over 75 artistans’ stuff for some creative inspiration – Their stuff looks pretty hip and funky
   - For more details on the participating artists:
   http://www.sowaholidaymarket.com/participatingartists.htm
   
   
   
3. Mass Art Student & Alumni Artwork For Sale
   Monday – Saturday (Dec. 4 – 9), 10 am – 7pm
   MassArt Tower Lobby — 621 Huntington Ave, Boston (E line)
   
   - Featuring original works of glass, ceramics, painting, jewelry, photography, sculptures, fibers, and more. Sales benefit artists and support student scholarships.
   - For more info: www.MassArt.edu
   
   
   
4. ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) GRAND Opening Reception
   SUNDAY (Dec 10), 9 am - 9pm
   Introducing the brand new ICA on fan pier!
   http://www.icaboston.org/about/news/grand-opening/
   
   - The ICA officially opens with a free, 12-hour community open house. Come tour our new exhibitions, grab a free family guide, and enjoy a variety of events including performances by Snappy Dance Theater, Alloy Orchestra, the Either/Orchestra, a live DJ, and much more, plus face painting, balloon sculptors, and animated films by New England filmmakers. 
   
   

Tips for Holiday Shopping with Ethical Considerations in Mind

As the holiday season descends (or rather POUNCES) on us, I found a few cool sites online to check out that you might find helpful as you think about where to shop for gifts for others that reflect ethical considerations. For example, you could buy green/recycled products made into cool stuff, fair traded goods, organic, vegan, handmade products, etc.

• Ten Thousand Villages (”Fairly Traded Handicrafts from Around the World”)
  http://www.tenthousandvillages.com
  (I’ve seen their stuff in Cambridge area and I support their fairly-traded, BEAUTIFUL handicrafts from around the world theme and I thought I’d add it in. They even have gift registries so if you wanted to have a wedding gift registry, consider this place. Personally, I love beautiful, ethnic stuff. They make for great gifts for those with exotic or artsy tastes.)
  
  
• Greater Good (”Show Where it Matters”) affiliated with Oxfam and found through a link on Oxfam site
  http://www.greatergood.com
  (They have some really FABULOUS, beautiful ethnic stuff priced pretty reasonably as well as mainstream popular vendors. You can also give unusual gifts like $40 to pay a teacher's salary in Afghanistan or $90 for business grants for rural African women. Certain products that you purchased will then translate to a percentage of profit going to a cause of your choice posted on the site.)
  
  
• Oxfam Unwrapped
  http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com
  (Gifts that help others around the world. Need an unusual gift? How about a camel or a water pump? What about a coffee mill or an emergency toilet? This holiday season, give a gift that helps people in need.)
  

These sites below were mentioned on the MSNBC "Today" show and listed on its site:

• Viva Terra (”Eco Living with Style”)
  http://www.vivaterra.com
  (I think they are one of the more tasteful and interesting sites listed here with some really nice products that you guys might want to give to folks. I like their dining and kitchenware particularly as well as their home decor items in particular. This site is geared toward women site visitors or gifts for women.)
  
  
• Hip & Zen (”Modern Lifestyle Products that Nurture the Body and Soul”)
  http://hipandzen.com
  (If you’re seeking some nice clothes and accessories for women and some items for men, babies from many brand collections, this is the place since they have a larger collection for women than most of the other sites on this list. They have limited collection of home decor items though. A great feature of their site is that it indicates whether a particular product is fairly traded, recycled, vegan, handmade, natural, organic, etc. They offer some urban punky cool stuff like laptop bag from recycled movie posters.)
  
  
• Branch (”Sustainable Design for Living”)
  http://www.branchhome.com
  (looks like a pretty nice site with some good options)
  
  
• Our Green House
  http://www.ourgreenhouse.com
  (eco-friendly baby products and stuff for an eco-friendly home if you have a kid or want to give gifts to someone with children or for baby showers)
  
  
• GreenKarat (”Ecologically Responsible Jewelry”)
  http://www.greenkarat.com
  (some nice jewelry designs that you can buy for yourself or for others. They can customize a jewelry design to your specs I think)
  
  
• Earth Friendly Finds
  http://earthfriendlyfinds.com
  
  
• Green Feet (”The Planet’s Homestore”)
  http://www.greenfeet.com
  
  
• 2kh.com
  http://2kh.com
  

(Of course, another cool idea is to also shop from local artists to support grassroots artists which I like to do as well :))
** I don’t get paid for any endorsements above so these are impartial suggestions based on things I thought people might find useful along with my commentary on these sites after reviewing them a little.. :P

- Janet Si-Ming Lee
Principal Designer, Siming Cybercreative