Here is a list of three things, I bet you have no idea what they have in common.

• 1. Seth Godin’s book Linchpin.
• 2. Howard Zinn’s book A Peoples History of the United States.
• 3. An organization devoted to teaching high school kids about Christ’s love called Young Life.

Each of these relates to the gift culture. An idea that has been squashed out of our capitalist world. “I give you a gift so immediately you feel obligated to give me one. Then we’re even. We don’t give out of love,” says Seth Godin in his latest book. And it’s true. We do very much give to receive.

I drew the connection between these three things tonight while talking with a new friend. The discussion was about relationships with Christ and how the Young Life program specifically builds them. The idea is to get involved with the people you want to grow with and grow Christ in. This is a great challenge in America. The number of kids involved, willingly or unwillingly is small. In Africa, he said, specifically where he went to minister in Ethiopian villages, two-thirds or more of the kids of high school age were involved. He said the numbers trump the involvement here in the States. Why is this?

Howard Zinn discusses early settler trading in A Peoples History of the United States. When Europeans arrived in America and Africa they traded goods with the natives. What they noticed was that the natives would trade two or more times the value of what they were receiving. They were dealing with a gift culture. One that valued relationships and supporting their fellow man. The European settlers quickly took advantage of this through their greed driven capitalistic desires. Do you see where I am going with this?

it is hard for people in America to relate to Christ. We are not a gift society. We want only to grow ourselves and not our fellowman. This mindset has been engrained in us for nearly a millenium by our European forefathers and their culture of capitalism. Africa while touched by today’s capitalism, has still been able to hold onto their root culture, the gift culture. It is no wonder Christ flourishes amongst the African nations.

How can we create and change our society to be a gift culture on any level, not just sharing Christ’s love?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Download the original music by Lara Bonner – Vagabond Boy.

Actors in order of appearance – Lara Bonner, Dylan Endyke, Seth Nenstiel.

Special thanks to Brian McCormick for helping film.

Shot using a Bolex camera on Kodak Tri-X Reversal Film 16mm 200 speed.

Directed, filmed, cut, produced by Seth Nenstiel.

Please watch the video with headphones for the best sound image relationship. I suggest watching it at least twice to pick up on some of the images and establish a deeper meaning. Some of the motifs should be clear.

Anyway, have a look for yourself and all comments are welcome!

The second is a 13 by 19 print photo essay about Five Guys Burgers and Fries coming to Ithaca, New York. Please take a look and comment/critique!

Seth Godin’s blog appears in my RSS feed. I read what he has to say–some of it gets me, some of it doesn’t. When I read about his November sessions, I immediately wanted to attend. Then I noticed the cost of each session and nearly fell out of my chair.

I can’t afford to go to any of his sessions!

Instantaneously I asked myself what people paying for his sessions would want? A way to show that they have been their of course! I thought to myself, is there going to be a photographer there? Would someone be documenting the people attending the session?

Not only do I feel that this would be desired by the attendees to show they were there, it could be a money maker for the photographer–selling pictures back to the attendees, to a news source, or just to draw traffic to the photographers blog–it also is great publicity for Seth Godin in general.

So I am firing this off into the world wide web in hopes that Seth sees it, contacts me, and I get to attend as the photographer for a session or two. I am passively doing this because if he invites me, great, if he doesn’t I wont have to skip class for great opportunities!

Lesson learned, creating utility for others opens doors for even more utility to be created.

Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them.

Sean Connery in Finding Forrester

This quote embodies my last few weeks of photography.
I have taken thousands of photos.
Many of them not good.
However, I have been watching other photographers work.
I see the commitment a lot of them have.
I understand some of my teacher’s methods.
I am beginning to feel my own words.

What I have begun to learn is beyond than the 10,000 hours rule.
I have started to understand what deliberate practice is.
It is organized.
Structured.
Consuming. Exhausting. Taxing. Hard. Demanding. Not fun.
At least not always.
It’s work. Work that I recognize I need to do and am beginning to resign myself to doing.

Right now I need to submerge myself in deliberate practice.
It’s the best thing I can do.

Here are some Autumn wallpapers that I took and you can have.

I felt like earlier this year, for a two month period, I was learning great.
Everything was easy, I had it in the bag.
This might be because I put God first. Got in the word every single day, early. Like 10:30.
Heck, I haven’t even been out of bed before 10 since last Thursday.
Maybe I need a schedule?
Maybe I need to practice what I was doing from February to April before I got thrown off track.

I should make it a priority to spend time with God instead of rushing my verses before I sleep.
Everything will balance again, not that it’s bad now.
I just feel like I am doing it alone more and more. I say thank you, but is it enough?
Doesn’t He deserve more than a few words before falling asleep.
I am treating this relationship rather casually.
Gosh.

So here is my reminder to get back on track with God and to do things correctly.
Throw some time at it.
That is how you become good with anything.

Click here to view the embedded video.

1. Should I be a part of the American Marketing Association and Students in Free Enterprise?
2. I took pictures of a To Write Love On Her Arms tabling.
3. Pointers on starting a small group Bible study.
4. Where can I find a good web statistics tracking service? One that lets me know where traffic is coming from on a visit by visit basis.
5. What should I be looking at for photography best practices/currentness/inspiration?

1. Immediacy of information
Twitter is a great place to learn about breaking news. Many times regular people will actually expose the story quicker than organized media.

2. Pertinence of information
Twitter is a great place to find information pertinent to what one wants to know about. Asking questions is always a good way to get feedback about products, businesses, etc. People will respond.

3. Twitter can provide a nonintrusive connection/communication with child
Whether a parent wants to know how their child’s day is going or want to drop a quick piece of information, it is a great way to interact with kids with out smothering them. Plus a child’s tweets can be sent to any device receiving SMS’s or RSS feeds.

4. Interaction with people in similar line of business
Twitter is a great place to meet people in the same line of work. It is teeming with business professionals and companies that want to get their message out. This is a great place for one to see the competition and interact/adapt to and with it.

5. Get satisfaction
Twitter is a great way to voice opinions. Companies are listening and many will respond to what is said about them–good or bad. It may also be used to guilt children into doing something with a well placed @ reply.

6. Exposure to culture
Twitter will expose the ‘secrets’ of modern culture and provide many learning experiences that add value to everyday life.