re·al: English [ree-uhl, reel] – adjective
1. true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent: the real reason for an act.

re·al: Spanish (ray-ahl] – adjective
Translation to English: Royal
1. of or pertaining to a king, queen, or other sovereign: royal power; a royal palace.

Real Madrid CF, based in Madrid, Spain, is one of the most powerful, lucrative and popular club sports teams in the world. It averages about 75,000 fans per game in attendance and pays it’s player an average equivalent of $6.2 million. The locals call the sport it participates in football.

Real Salt Lake, Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, is not one of the most powerful, lucrative and popular club sports teams in Utah*. That honor would go to the city’s National Basketball Association participate, the Utah Jazz , let alone on the international scene. It averages 16,000 fans per game in attendance and it pays its entire team $1.6 million. The locals call the sport it participates in soccer.

The definitions of “real” and its translated Spanish twin “royal” help explain the discrepancy in popularity and financial success between two clubs with ostensibly similar names. If you ask a Spanish speaking individual, with no knowledge of the club, what Real Madrid CF may be, the chance is strong that this person will deduce, simply from the clarity of the name “Royal Madrid Club of Futbol”, that it is the Madrid-based football club that has a perhaps self-aggrandizing, but historically significant (and, indeed, very real) tie to royalty.

If you ask an American individual, with no knowledge of the club, what Real Salt Lake may be, the chance is strong that the person will stare at you blankly, or perhaps, ask if it is some sort of extension of the Utah Tea Party. You see, there is nothing “real” about Salt Lake – in the context of either the Spanish or English – except for that fact that it does, despite what its average attendance may suggest, exist in some tangible context. The team is neither “royal” nor is it representing what it truly stands for, an American colloquialism called “keeping it real.”

Similarly, FC Dallas, the Texas-based soccer club, is not a football club, as the “FC” would suggest. Because Americans don’t call it football. They call it soccer. As any American with a beating pulse can tell you, the real football team** oh yeah, another thing: they call them “teams” and not “clubs” from Dallas is called the Cowboys. They’re nickname, it should be noted, is America’s Team.

As coomunications or public relations practioners, we think there is a message strategy solution to every issue, and usually we are right. But something that practitioners tend to overlook is that for a message to be effective, the issue itself needs to be sound***. Of course, as any practitioner can tell you, it is also something organizational officials in general tend to overlook – or flat out ignore . What US soccer is dealing with is an issue that can’t be resolved solely by messaging.

American soccer’s communicative message is clear: The worlds most popular game, here in the USA! This message is ineffective though, because the product is ineffective. Major League Soccer – the 17 year old professional league in the United States – has simply taken the aspects which make soccer popular throughout the world and apply that to an American public. But the American public already has their own popular games and their own culture that has developed within those games. They don’t want an imported culture, they want a fundamentally changed soccer that fits within the already established sports culture in the United States.

MLS is misguided to impose the European perspectives of soccer on Americans. American football, baseball and basketball thrive in the States specifically because they are wholly American games with wholly American personalities. While naming your team after an influential team abroad may gain international attention (or, more likely, snickers) it is simply not going to register with the new American publics you hope to persuade.

This is an important lesson in public relations**** as well as, clearly – and perhaps more appropriately – marketing that cuts both ways. An American practitioner would do well to keep the case of American soccer in mind when dealing with a new European public. Just as you can’t sell a European knockoff to an American, you are going to have a hard time approaching your European publics from an American perspective. What are the unique characteristics of your publics? How can you cultivate your issue or message so that it adapts to these lessons?

An insightful case study, keeping within the realm of sports, would be the way that basketball – a wholly American sport – has been accepted throughout Europe. The clubs have not imported Americanized names; there are no Madrid Bulls or Bologna Lakers. Perhaps more importantly FIBA, the European basketball governing body, has adapted the rules to emphasize the technical aspects of the game that suit the culture that has developed around soccer; namely fundamentals. They have communicated to their prospective publics that this isn’t the American game, this is a European one***** right down to the name FIBA, a clear parallel is drawn to the instantly recognizable soccer governing body, FIFA . From both a messaging standpoint and a practical standpoint, FIBA has done everything the MLS has not, and so basketball has thrived in a formerly hostile foreign climate.

Every four years at this time Americans read countless articles like this about the country’s resistance to the world’s most popular game. Either they’re on the cusp (this next generation has played soccer since they were 5; they’ll love it!) or they’ll never get (it’s not aggressive enough; it’s not American enough).

What’s over looked in these argument is that simple messaging is not enough. The youth soccer argument clearly points to excitement and even interest in the game. But cultural differences in how the game is presented and how it is communicated have prevented the US from fully embracing this foreign product. Not only does soccer in America need a technical overhaul that takes into account these cultural differences, but it needs a communications strategy that takes these very same differences into account. And that’s a lesson that should apply to all communication and public relations practitioners.

*That honor would go to the city’s National Basketball Association participate, the Utah Jazz

**oh yeah, another thing: they call them “teams” and not “clubs”

***Of course, as any practitioner can tell you, it is also something organizational officials in general tend to overlook – or flat out ignore

****as well as, clearly – and perhaps more appropriately – marketing

***** right down to the name FIBA, a clear parallel is drawn to the instantly recognizable soccer governing body, FIFA

Rome, Rome, Rome, Rome,
Focus looking forward the Colosseum
Oh no, what did I say? What can I say?
Rome, Rome, many tears have fallen here
I’ll be driving, you look the other way
- Phoenix, Rome

It’s unfortunate, but typical, that I haven’t reflected on the past month in Italy until today – my final day in this beautiful and complex country. I walked through the archeological site of ancient Rome between the Modern Capitol and the Ancient Colosseum and came to the Arcade at its Western edge – with its panoramic view of the city and the ever present St. Peter’s Cathedral. The view provided a reference point for past month; an exciting, educational and unique experience in a country I have always dreamt of visiting.

It rained, of course. Which is fine. Some of my better final days have been marked by rain. It’s good. It makes one considerate. Every step counts; every action has implications. The rain adds a touch of melancholy that increases nostalgia and serves reflection well.

The sight of the Roman hillside, rolling and populated, is awash with the legacy of the Mediterranean. The topography perfectly encapsulates my vision of this area of the world, from that which I’ve seen (Tangiers; Malaga) to that which I hope to one day see (Athens; Istanbul; Jerusalem).

And it’s just now that I realize this trip is more than just a check in the box of world sites. It was an opportunity to learn, grow and advance – experientially, romantically, educationally – as a person on the whole.

While it appears I’ll be heading back to Europe in just one month, I still acknowledge and appreciate what this trip has meant. It marks a new chapter in my life (many new pictures, really). My first big adventure since leaving the security of my job (as well as the first big adventure with a new person in my life). But as the final class of my graduate studies, it is also the end of a chapter.

And so I sit on a bench, overlooking both Rome’s past and present, and see the cranes of construction that mark its future. And I can’t help but to see the parallels. Italy is my present; it marks just how far I’ve come, but also just how far I have left to go.

Perhaps one of the strongest messages our esteemed professor has stressed is that there is not a single European perspective.  There is a European Union, sure, but it is no where near a One Nation movement towards a United Europe that a communications professional can approach strategically.

In fact, in many of these countries, there isn’t even one nation. For example, I’ll point to the elections this past weekend in Belgium. A Flemish separatist party became Belgium’s largest on a platform calling for reform of French and Dutch speaking factions that, if not resolved, will result in the Dutch faction splintering off.

[New Flemish Alliance Leader Bart De Weaver] has made no secret of his belief that this is only a step to full Flemish independence, but his genius was to position himself as the most radical of the mainstream leaders, pushing the status quo as far as it can possibly go without triggering an existential crisis. He dangled before Flemish voters the idea that, armed with a thumping mandate from them, he would have the power to demand a constitutional structure that finally reflected the Flemish view of reality: that Belgium is made up of two societies, in which a thrifty, centre-right, Dutch-speaking north should no longer have to subsidise a poorer, welfare addicted French-speaking, socialist south.

Internal division rearing its head seems to be a trend. In elections last week  Slovakia produced moderate gains for their center-right parties, but produced a huge backlash of nationalism. Jan Slota, the head of the country’s nationalist party warned that “Homosexuals and Hungarians will begin to rule this state.” Similarly, Geert Wilders anti-Islam Freedom party showed strong gains in a recent election that nearly ended with the controversial extremist who wants to end all Islamic immigration to the Netherlands in a prominent ministerial position.

To keep with the tone of personal experience we have flourishing on this blog, I’ll point to three examples I have seen in the three weeks I have been in Italy.  In Florence, my travel companion and I were approached in a butcher shop by a woman who began a long and protracted declaration- in Italian – of the heartbreaking sadness she has witnessed in Florence over the past two decades.

My companion – who understands Italian quite well – and myself – who does not – can conceivably pass as Italian, so we nodded our heads politely and added the occasionally sympathetic “si” and “perche?” Afterwords, my companion explained that the woman complained that the tourists and foreigners have taken her once beautiful city and overrun and destroyed it – with graffiti, excrement and general filth.

At a hotel along my journey the proprietor explained a run-in with a German customer. “From now on, no Germans. No!”

Finally, and perhaps most controversially, I add a simple observation. Who are the beggars is Italian cities? I have seen no obvious Italians – only Indians, Africans and Roma (Gypsies to be un-PC). I found this startling.

Contrast this with the homeless or those asking for money in the United States. It is largely African American and Caucasian. I can not, for the life of me, ever remember an instance of a Hispanic, Asian or African asking for money in the United States.

My observation is that immigrants (both legal and illegal) have a status in the US that doesn’t appear to transfer to Italy. And their presence in Italy seems to put a strain on traditional Italians.

Now, any good sociologist will tell you that the plural of anecdote is not data. And I’ll agree. But this is a trend. And taken with the political gains (votes, however, are quantifiable) in Belgium, Slovakia and the Netherlands it adds up to a very real and very significant problem that must be taken into account when dealing with Europe from a public relations standpoint.

It would appear that there isn’t one Italy, one Belgium, one Slovakia or one Netherlands. So how could there possibly be one Europe. If there isn’t one Europe, there certainly isn’t one European Perspective.

So while I have learned a lot about Europe and its individual countries in this class, and a lot about public relations and corporate communication, I can honestly say that I haven’t learned a lot about the European perspective on anything (short of football). Except that it is more intricate and has vastly more layers than the countries themselves. And maybe that’s the lesson after all.

In a previous update, I mentioned that Mike had contacted a number of names associated with Turiysk through the geneology website Jewishgen.org. Mike has made some great progress with this effort, and a number of people from Turiysk – living in both America and Israel – shared their stories with us. The tales exemplify the precarious location of Turiysk in the period ranging from World War I to World War II.

As a borderland, the town and neighboring villages were under constant siege and the threat of violence was always close at hand. Through one response we have reason to believe that the village at one point was completely destroyed, then resurrected just across the Turia River. We plan on following up with these stories, hopefully conducting some interviews for the documentary.

Another respondent pointed us to this website, established by former residents of Turiysk and their offspring who have emigrated to Israel. From the site, we learn that Turiysk first appeared in 1094, as a small community built by Jews along the Turia River. The location, it seems, was under constant siege, being occupied at least six times, by six different neighboring countries. During World War I, the Germans occupied Turiysk – but as we’ll see in just a moment, it may have been a less aggressive occupation.

Post

Synagogue in Turiysk

One story we want to share, that particularly stood out, was that of Bathshava Chizik Landau. The story of Shava – as she was know – was relayed to us by her granddaughter Estelle Hardin. According to Estelle, Shava lived in Turiysk from her birth in 1886 until immigrating to the United States in 1920 – the same year Joseph returned to Turysk. Shava’s amazing story occurred during World War I, in 1915 or 1916. While we haven’t established factual verification of this story, it is a tale that is too good not to tell. And I’ll let Estelle handle it:

At some point during the First World War, there was word that the German army was on the edge of town, and they were threatening to invade and advance on the town of Turiysk. The mere thought put fear in the hearts of the people. The town’s people decided to hold a meeting to discuss what to do. It was decided that they needed to elect a spokesperson to represent their town. The only people left in town during WW I were elderly men, women, and young children. This spokesperson would have to go alone, and be the sole representative on behalf of the entire town. He or she would have to walk alone to the far edge of town, and would have to be brave enough to speak to the invading German commander and try to convince them to leave their town alone, without so much as being able to carry a gun for protection.

My paternal grandmother, Shava Chizik Landau was about 28 years old at the time. She was the one who was chosen by the town’s people to be that stoic spokesperson. Since Shava was considered the strongest woman in town (personality-wise as well as physically) the town’s people felt that she could stand up to the German soldiers and convince them to leave their town alone; she was the one chosen. Knowing full well that she was the sole support of her children, and she could have been killed on the spot, she accepted the challenge with full knowledge she would not be armed; yet she never feared.

Shava Landau with son Sam Landau, 1945 (courtesy Estelle Landau Hardin)

When the day came, she was ready. She plowed ahead, walking along lonely dirt roads to the far edge of town with a strong determination to save the town–her town and her family–from the German army and keep them from overrunning and destroying it. She had to walk through the German lines and come face to face to talk with the military commander, and try to convince them to bypass the town. She knew that getting the opportunity to communicate with them was risky, but necessary.

Because German and Yiddish language were so similar, when Shava stood face to face with the German commander, she accomplished her mission–she talked the Germans out of advancing on their town. As she spoke with the German soldiers, they were able to understand her. She informed the Germans that the people left in Turiysk were no threat, and not worth bothering. Since there were no Russian troops left in their town–and it was just a simple little village, with only a few remaining people, she pleaded for them to be left alone. She had chutzpah! There is no record of the exact words that Shava spoke as she talked with the German commander, but somehow she was successful; indeed. She was a hero; she saved the town. Shava new no fear at any time in her life! She was “some kind of woman!”

Some kind of woman, indeed. And a testament to the sad – yet inspiring? – history of this area. Mike and I are learning a lot about this area, this situations it endured and the people it produced. We hope to continue to learn and receive more excellent feedback that helps to not only construct our story, but learn more about a significant era and area of world history, as well as Mike’s personal familial past.

I’m taking a two week course in Bologna on Public Relations and Corporate Communications in the EU. We had our first meeting last weekend and the course looks to be informative and exciting (follow our class blog here).

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t psyched for the non-class aspect of my trip. Beforehand I plan to visit Venice, Florence and spend a few nights in Tuscany. I’ve never been to Italy, and, honestly, I think what I’m most looking forward to is the food.

So World Hum caught my eye today with an enticing piece by travel writer Rick Steves on his gluttonous trip to Verona. In that piece, Steves asks only the tough questions:

Giuliano brings a plate of various cold cuts—glistening in a way that lets you know it’s nothing but the best—and we ponder: If you had to choose between salami and cheese in life, which would you choose? We both agree that it would be a terrible choice, but we’d choose cheese.

I think I could live off of cold cuts, cheese and wine. Actually, I’m sure I could live off of just one of the three – any one. But I’m damn glad I won’t have to make a choice like that posed by Steves.

*Speaking of which, stay tuned the next few days. I’m heading up to Ellis Island for a research trip tomorrow to shoot some video, collect some interviews and take some photos. Obviously I’ll try to post some of that here.

A family member of Mike’s passed along this 2000 Cincinnati Enquirer piece on a man from Turijsk, Ukraine – the same town as Joseph that we hope to visit. Samuel Boymel encountered a situation similar to Joseph Kershner, albeit 20 years later, when he witnessed the death of 12,500 Jews, including his family, at the hands of German soldiers and Ukrainian militia and police

“Loif, mine kindt, loif,” he said, repeating the words his mother shouted to him when he was 12. Translated, it means “Run, my son, run away.”

It was Aug. 23, 1942, when 6,000 Jews were being marched by Ukrainian police and militia and German soldiers to the Walner brick factory, near the town of Kovel in Ukraine.

“As we were turned uphill to a dirt path, panic broke. There were screams because all of us believed we were being marched to our ultimate destiny,” Mr. Boymel said.

He ran into Rostov Forest in the town of Rostov, about nine miles away. That was the last time he saw his family.

On that day, 6,000 Jews from Turijsk and 6,500 from the nearby village of Shtetis were executed. He spent much of his life from 1942 to 1945 on the run, sleeping in pig pens and cattle barns. He said he was given food by a Ukrainian farmer and his daughter, and that a Ukrainian soldier helped him escape.

While Boymel’s horrifying experience was not directly related to Joseph’s, it does exemplify the type of acts commited against Jews in Eastern Europe that can rattle ones faith in humanity and beyond … though it should be noted that the same spirit that led Joseph to risk his life and the many individuals who helped Boymel escape does its part to restore that shaken faith.

It is, indeed, incidents like Boymel’s and Joseph’s that led to this Economist designed redrawn map of Europe. (via Kottke)

In Britain’s place should come Poland, which has suffered quite enough in its location between Russia and Germany and deserves a chance to enjoy the bracing winds of the North Atlantic and the security of sea water between it and any potential invaders.

It’s the sort of sublime reality that, perhaps, you can only laugh at the accuracy of. But this history emphasizes the indomitable of someone like Joseph Kershner, who clearly must have recognized the historical odds he faced in returning to a land and legacy he had done his best to cast off, and why his story is all the more compelling.

Dear Kickstarter,

Two weeks into this, both Mike and I have to admit, we are surprised, excited and grateful. With 71 days to go and over 40% funding, it is hard not to be. The outpouring of support – not only in terms of giving but also who has given – has been overwhelming. Our very first supporter was my High School prom date! I’ll thank Facebook for that (and Erin, of course. Thanks!). We’ve received donations from a couple Mike has not even seen since his Bar Mitzvah. And while my Hebrew is non-existent, I do know that a Mitzvah is a good deed, and Mike and I consider each donation as a deed we will repay – with a finished screenplay and a documentary to boot!

Since the project has been progressing here on Kickstarter so splendidly, perhaps you’d like to hear how it is progressing offline as well. We’re both finishing up some other projects right now, but I have been spending a considerable amount of my personal time researching Poland in general and writing. We’re feeding new ideas off of each other constantly and meet up on G-Chat a few times a week to share our thoughts and develop the individual scenes.

It’s strange where inspiration comes from. Mike sent me a text message in the middle of the night with an idea for a visualization of how Israel Horder’s important letter reaches Joseph. It’s a damn good idea and I don’t have the foggiest clue how Mike came up with it.

I was in a Grad class two weeks ago and a visiting lecturer made an off-hand comment about the American view of history. It jarred something loose in my head and, right there in class, I scribble 5 pages of thoughts and dialogue for one of the most important scenes in the entire film.

So the story is developing and we are moving closer to our goal. What’s next is a trip to New York to meet with some of the records organizations Mike’s grandfather contacted when he first began putting this story together. Mike contacted Jewishgen.org, an organization that traces Jewish genealogies throughout Europe and may be helpful with gathering research. We also plan to visit Ellis Island to shoot some preliminary video and to visit a plaque engraved with Joseph’s name. It’s all very exciting to us – and hopefully you too. And don’t worry, we’ll be sure to keep you updated here on Kickstarter.

For those of you who have given, know that it fills our hearts with joy, our bodies with fortitude and our minds with ideas. Thank you for your support so far, wish us luck going forward and – with almost 60% left to go – tell your friends!

Yours in inspired satisfaction,
Zack Sherwood
Washington DC
May 3, 2010

At the heart of this social economy is the the web (more accurately, perhaps, digital technology), which redefining long-held economic structures. An example of this is digital (e)books. The economics of the publishing industry developed under conditions such that pricing was based on physical production of a hard (or paper) bound physical object (less writer’s fees, agent fees, editors, advertising, etc., etc) that had to be stored, shipped and either sold in stores or delivered to the home. Digital technology has led to a profligacy of digital book editions which remove the economic costs of the physical product. reproduction is as easy as a click and shipping is as easy as a download button. But the publishing industry cannot seem to grasp how this upends their world. That is, they cannot come to terms with the core principal on which their entire industry rests: How much do we charge for this product?

(Now, that’s not to say that the printed book industry is going to disappear. It isn’t. But one has to concede that the “publishing” industry need to at least recognize that the market is shifting in a new, digitally dominated direction)

And no one within the industries themselves seem prepared to answer these questions. No one really seems invested enough to step back and say, we need to tear this whole thing down and start from scratch. It’s a lazy approach, but the motivation not to change is probably more fear than laziness. As Shirky points out: “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”

So what seems to be happening – and I’ll use the tired case of the newspaper – is that these institutions are failing. They cannot (or will not) reassess their situation, will not tear it down to start again, so they are, then, inadvertently tearing themselves down. And in their place step the startups that Shafir aptly profiles.

At the same time, we have a more social atmosphere on the web. The explanation for this is simple diffusion theory. That is, ideas and technology spread through a society through social networks and interpersonal communication. Facebook spread so quickly for this very reason. Your friends are on it, therefore you are on it. The same can be said of Foursquare, Tumblr or Kickstarter. These organizations use existing social networks to propagate their platform and spread it through society. At the same time, the users capitalize on their social networks for economic transactions.

I’ll point to the case of Kickstarter because a) it’s an excellent example and b) I have experience using it. Shafir writes (with my emphasis added):

When I went to Kickstarter, the projects that were seeking funding included everything from a documentary on Asian-elephant conservation and a project that will cover the funding to send journalist Ted Rall to Afghanistan to a pair of Brooklynites who make artisanal soda. People can put up whatever they want, and the people behind the projects agree to give their funders something from the venture. So if you give $10 to the artisanal-soda folks, you get a coupon for two free sodas, but if you give $50, you’ll get a printed tote bag, a mix CD, a coupon for four free sodas, and a handprinted card with one of their soda recipes. Give more than $500 to Rall and you’ll get personally thanked in the acknowledgments section of his book plus signed copies. People set a funding goal for their projects, and funders don’t get charged unless a project reaches its goal. It’s a way of not only encouraging creativity but also making consumers feel more connected to the things they buy. (Kickstarter takes a commission of 5 percent of all projects that get funded.) The biggest project funded so far was for $85,000 for a book of Obama-campaign images, Designing Obama, by Scott Thomas, the campaign’s design director.

“The value is in the exchange,” says 33-year-old Chen, when we go down the block to Schiller’s for a snack. Chen looks like a surfer, with shoulder-length black hair; he wore a navy hooded sweatshirt over a T-shirt. Born and raised in New York, he spent a few years in New Orleans and still owns a house there. “I think that’s how you create an economy, and a commercial market that is sustainable, rather than seeing donor fatigue enter into it.”

Chen sees the power in returning control to the creative producer, the way it could upend much of the way culture is produced. “If you’re in music and you have a record label, if you’re in fashion and you work for a studio, you are giving up the mass bulk of your intellectual property right off the bat,” he says. “And with Kickstarter, you keep 100 percent of your own intellectual property.”

Kickstarter is an economic platform in and of itself. It’s a marketplace for ideas, essentially, where projects are both funded and sold. A successful Kickstarter project is a project that connects with what Kevin Kelly calls the 1,000 true fans.

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

So Kickstarter offers a potential platform to gather your 1,000 True Fans and enter into an economic transaction. You aren’t just asking them to give you money so that they can create your work. You are offering your work to them in return. They key isn’t to say “give me $500 to make my documentary so I can become rich and famous.” The key is to say “give me $25 and I’ll make then give you this documentary that otherwise wouldn’t exist.” And therein lies the social aspect of the economy.

So the Social Economy is less about replacing economic structures as creating a new column. This is something that get’s overlooked in the hype and hubbub over the next great technology. There are always going to be Blockbuster Films (I mean, maybe not forever and ever and ever, but you know what I mean). But what we see is the rise of the niche for people to create products which heretofore wouldn’t have existed and to actually make a living and a profit from those products. And these niche products have more of a chance than ever of jumping into the mainstream, because they rely on social networks. That which built the project will also spread the project.

Then, last weekend, as I was wondering around DC I ended up in a used book store. By pure happenstance I came across a section on photography and sticking half-way out of the shelf was The Amateur Photographer’s Handbook (6th Edition) by Aaron Sussman. Now, the book is 48 years old, but it was in pretty good condition and just 6 bucks, so I picked it up. It’s a pretty useful little book, contains excellent insight and is endearingly quirky in it’s prose. Sussman’s passion over photography really comes through in wonderfully descriptive metaphors.

One day you’re walking around grim and growling, like Herman Melville just before an escape to sea. Then, suddenly, you have a loaded camera in your hand and all is well.

Which, you know, is 100% correct … and encouraging!

I’m glad I picked up the book, though, because after my first roll of film it’s clear I have some learning to do. (This is a lie. It’s actually my third roll of film. The first I accidentally re-coiled back into the roll before taking one shot, and the second I neglected to properly press the release button, split it in half, and then exposed it to sunlight while figuring the former out. Blagh!) I thought I wasn’t too-bad a photographer with my Canon Elph and my iPhone, but my suppose-to-be rich and colorful shots of DC’s famed Cherry Blossums turned out faded and pale.

Then yesterday I saw this chart, and all was clear; I definitely have a long way to go.

Today I am happy to announce my first project: Mike and Zack’s Righteous Journey.

My good friend Mike Kershner and I are writing a screenplay telling the true story of his Great Grandfather, a Polish-Jewish Immigrant in America in the first few decades of the 20th Century. One day, Joseph returned home from his successful tailoring business to find a letter from his wife’s family back in Poland. Jews at the time were targets of Pogroms, their family was no exception and they were now hiding out to avoid persecution. They needed Joseph to come save them.

It’s a beautiful story filled with determination, grit, sacrifice and love. And we’re going to write about it. Kickstarter is a super-cool microfinance community that allows writers, film makers, artists, photographers and other creative types to realize their dreams. I say a community, because each contributor becomes a part of the project. They share in the success and receive “rewards” for different donation points. Each project gets from 30-90 days to raise a specific amount of funding … if it fails to reach it’s target in the allotted time, the project does not go forward and the donation is never charged.

I’ve participated in a few Kickstarter projects in the past, and I can say that it is very rewarding to receive a copy of a book from someone who put it all on the line, quit their job and dedicated their life to one of their goals. That’s what I’m doing, and I can appreciate the type of risk something like this is.

So, if you have the time, head on over to Kickstarter and check it out. Maybe you’ll find a way to become a part of a project that resonates with you, or maybe, like me, you’ll find the inspiration to follow your own dream.