I’m sorry. Not just for the title of this project which was…mmm…lacking… but because it’s taken me so long to summarize my volunteering experience. I kind of got back handed by life about a week after I cut my hair and I’m still trying to stand up. The good news is I have almost found my footing and expect to be my old snarky self shortly. At this point I should say something profound about the 50 volunteer projects and how they changed my life. Of course they did - anything I type... [Read more]

I think this volunteer episode is better told with bad photography (see below). Disjointed thoughts on my final volunteer mission: It’s fortunate that I was doing this haircut for charity and for this blog or, honestly, it would not have happened. The morning of the scheduled chop I was face down in bed with my hands stretched beside me like a drowned Ophelia mumbling, “It’s for the children. I’m going to look like Peter Pan on Broadway. It’s for the children.” Days earlier I had... [Read more]

“Have fun being the person everyone avoids eye contact with.” – My brother, Austin, upon hearing that I was going to collect donations in front of Macy’s as a Salvation Army Red Kettle Volunteer. What are those stalwart Salvation Army employees or volunteers thinking as they stand in the cold collecting your donations to feed the hungry during the holidays? Not sure but here’s a cross section of my thoughts on the occasion. Upon arrival in front of Macy’s – Three and a half hours... [Read more]

Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I’d rather not belong to. –Gilda Radner Every non-profit organization needs volunteers to do promotion work. If you work in marketing or media, can write a decent press release, know how to solicit donations, or throw a fundraiser then there is no charity you can’t help. I avoided promotion work so far because this blog is promotion work and I didn’t want to be redundant – that and writing about promotion work is BORING. However, during... [Read more]

Definition of “Work Day” from Raegan’s Definitions and Translations of Common Entertainment Industry Terms Part of speech – noun 1. A day, way too close to opening night, in which the cast and crew of a show descend upon the theatre or performance space to build the entire set, block the play, build the costumes, fix the wiring in the theatre, and learn their lines. 2. A theatrical right of passage identified by boxes of pizza, cups of coffee, power tools, and stage mothers. Used in... [Read more]

The art of the American Bake Sale is almost dead - it’s on a respirator in critical care next to the beds occupied by the homemade lemonade stand, baseball cards, and the family road trip. Participating in a bake sale was on my list of volunteer activities from the beginning, but for the life of me I could not find one to help. No schools wanted help because I wasn’t a parent or student. Clubs seemed to think I was a weirdo for wanting to donate cookies and cupcakes to their cause. And everywhere... [Read more]

“Popping noises are not supposed to come from calf muscles.” That was my last thought before my left calf muscle caught fire during a 5k jog in preparation for the Gobble Wobble in Santa Monica. I hopped around on my good leg and spewed a string of inventive profanity (sorry moms in the park near by), but what I thought was a cramp didn’t go away. Limping home I realized I was out of the race on Saturday, which was going to completely screw up my volunteering schedule. I only had one option... [Read more]