From a Marathoner with Love

Dear Friends, Fans, and Family,

To those of you who’ve supported me by donating funds to Team for Kids, running with me, or cheering me along my training, thank you. I couldn’t have come this far without you.

As you know, this part of the world has been ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, and I have no words to express my sadness and heartbreak for the victims of this storm. That it has begun to polarize our community about such a life-affirming event as a marathon further breaks my heart. So many of us have spent months training for a challenge designed to makes us stronger and raised donations for very worthy causes, and I believe in this marathon and that it should continue on Sunday. I believe we each should run with our heads held high, celebrating 26.2 miles of this amazing city and the inhabitants who now fight daily to keep it running in every way.

Although I think it practical and important to keep the marathon’s spirit, income and revenue rolling despite this difficult time, my heart does truly goes out to my friends especially in Staten Island, Long Island, lower Manhattan, and NJ, as well as those affected in other localities. Throughout the days leading up to the race and on Sunday, volunteers are encouraging runners to donate to help victims of the disaster. As participants, may we use this moment as a call to volunteer our time or donate as we can and not turn away from those who need our help. As spectators, please meet us with a cheer rather than a protest for our months of hard work.

Let’s not turn our backs on each other in this time of need. If you need disaster relief or volunteers elsewhere, please post where we can help in the comments. If you have a donation to give, please begin with the Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief here: http://www.redcross.org/hurricane-sandy. If you’d rather give to another similar organization, this Huffington Post article provides some good tips for giving well to the disaster relief efforts.

If you’re interested in giving also to Team for Kids, please send your donations in the way of my friend Kristen Kasarjian’s page. She’s running for the same charity I am and still needs to reach her goal. We all have goals, after all… Some of us want to finish a race, some want to replenish our incomes so we can pay our bills, some of us want heat, water and electricity, some of us need a new home. It’s the energy and beautiful stubbornness behind people like marathoners that make this city great. Please don’t hide behind the glow of your television, computer, and smartphone while criticizing people bringing revenues and hope to a city we love. If you want to help, unplug along with those who have no choice and look for an opportunity. I promise you, there are plenty… and if I can help, please tell me how.

Gratefully Yours

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” To those of you who have helped me raise over $3000 for Team for Kids for this year’s ING New York City Marathon, you have made possible one of the major experiences of my life and the motivation and encouragement of countless children who will benefit from your donation. Thank you! One of the many beneficiaries of your kindness left me a voicemail the other day… this is who you have helped.

Still haven’t had a chance to contribute? Meet Kristen Kasarjian, an amazing friend of mine running the race for the same amazing charity. Please help her reach her goal, since I’ve already reached mine! Anyone who donates at least $100 to her campaign can still sponsor a mile in mine (I’ll think of you during the marathon in the mile of your choice)… Just let me know when you do. In the meantime for me, lots of training continues, as I keep running to prepare for the 26.2 mile course I get to complete on November 4. Today, I ran 16 miles, and I get to train in some of the most beautiful areas. Here’s your bird’s eye view into some of my favorite runs so far. Thank you, thank you, thank you for making it all worthwhile. I can’t wait!

An Early Run near Bard College

Run in Palisades Park

Sunlight in Palisades

Back in the city

Join Me for My Birthday!

Rarely do I invite the world to an event, but in this case, I believe it’s a just cause.

Join me today, August 3 (my birthday!), in celebrating youth and fitness. This year, I’m running the ING New York City Marathon on November 4. It’s my first race ever, and each Saturday, I run more than I’ve run in my life at one time. This week, it’ll be 8 miles! I’m learning so much about nutrition, motivation, and my own limits and can only imagine what it might benefits I might have reaped if I had learned these things at a young age, like these kids in Team for Kids’ running programs. It would mean so much to me if you could take a moment to check out my website at Team for Kids and consider joining me by making a donation. Reaching my fundraising goal would be the best birthday present ever.

http://www.runwithtfk.org/Profile/PublicPage/7834

Run with Me

On Skydiving for Pearls, you can pretty much count on the fact that I love to seek out peak experiences. Bucket list items, challenges, excursions from the realm of safety and predictability. Why? Because when I push my boundaries now in the relatively secure confines of experimentation, then the real, unavoidable trials will later meet a stronger and more stubborn foe. As a bonus, I’ve discovered priceless joy and peace in activities I once feared or disdained.

That said, some strange part of me wants to suffer through these adventures like the heroine of Hunger Games or some similarly daring and adventurous paragon of courage. In hindsight, I think that same odd spirit in me relished dreading skydiving, as the only one of my group of twelve friends who honestly never wanted to try it. Despite my initial fears, I loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Although it may take some time to gather the motivation (and money) and feel the drive to try it again, if I had to choose one day of my life to keep and loose the memories of all the rest, I would save the day where I plummeted from that very tiny plane. Hands down.

Recently, I’ve chosen a new peak to pursue that I also kind of dreaded: running in the 2012 ING New York City Marathon. In some strange imaginative portion of my brain, I expect to hate it, push through it, and succeed. Running for an extremely worthy charity, I also have the fabulous temptation of fearing not only injury, dehydration, heart and cardio concerns, and nutrition but also raising the required amount of $100 for each of my 26.2 miles.

Somehow despite the obstacles, including some ridiculous runs on which I’ve strayed onto wooded paths and tiny, busy highways, I had fun today on my four mile run. Achieving something new always feels great, but after my five miler on Monday and standing all day at rehearsal yesterday, I did not expect the sense of relief and renewal I experienced at the end of a surprisingly peaceful time. The nourishment of my food afterwards felt real and incredible, and I appreciated the dining commons at my summer gig at Bard Summerscape with no palatable annoyance at the influx of kids at their sports camps or the increasing predictability of food offerings. No. Those black-eyed peas and local baby plums amused me to no end, and my body teems with a consistent life and vigor I haven’t felt in a few years.

Does this make me a runner? We shall see. In the meantime, lucky me who gets to enjoy pursuing what I know will be a hard-won goal this November. As for the charity, I’ve chosen to run for Team for Kids, an organization that provides coaching, motivation, and inspiration for children in New York City, across the United States, and in South Africa. Focusing on inner city (can you imagine running in the city without a coach as a child?) and/or low-income schools, they give kids an opportunity to stay active, prevent childhood obesity, qualify for scholarships, and feel the genuine rush of health and of achieving something real.

So it appears the silly, grinchy side of me who longs to suffer will at least have to wait while I enjoy living as an example for the children I hope to help with Team for Kids. For my friends with me upstate at Bard and in the city later this summer and fall, please join me in a run if you like and can suffer my still slow pace. For everyone else, please consider contributing to Team for Kids in support of my run. I have a birthday upcoming on August 3… Feel free to think of it as a gift. I know I do.

The Weather Monster

If you haven’t heard already, I’ve decided to run in November’s ING NYC Marathon for Team for Kids, a great cause promoting fitness for children in low income schools and preventing childhood diabetes. Please take a moment to visit my fundraising page, read about all of the great work Team for Kids does, and consider contributing to help me reach my goal.

As for my other goals? At the top of the list of course lies finishing. I also would ideally love to run the entire race, although as my first ever running event, I will happily walk if needed to arrive at the finish line. Truthfully, as a fresh-faced marathon newbie, I feel nervous to begin training for this next major Skydiving for Pearls adventure. How will I manage keeping my nutrition and energy elevated, with my regularly low blood sugar levels? Will I stay motivated and injury free? And seriously – rain? Cold weather in the fall and early spring training? Can’t I just run this thing on an indoor track somewhere?

Today I faced my first fitness challenge with a bit of a weather monster. Everyone has their dragons to slay… Mine? I hate the cold. That said, I also adore skiing! Vacationing in Okemo, VT has brought me a lot of fun, and we had a tremendous day on the slopes yesterday. Moguls kept me on my toes, and my body had an excellent workout. Still, I felt a bit unsure on shorter skis than usual and rarely ski without taking a private lesson, so I signed up for the following morning at 8:30 AM private. Early, but cheaper and with far fewer people on the slopes.

When I left our studio this morning, I thought the freezing rain might stop soon. Not so much. Kevin, my fun and knowledgeable instructor, helped me work on my turns, edges, and balance. Despite my fogged-up sunglasses (I promptly bought new goggles after my lesson ended), I loved challenging my mind and body to improve upon a sport I enjoy and revisit only once a year at best. Honestly, I can’t wait to go back out this afternoon and try out my new techniques… After the rain stops.

Racing down my final hill in my lesson, the hail stung my face and made my glasses almost unusable. The cold began to seep through my soaked ski pants, and I realized the water from the wet ski lifts had permeated down to my now quite cold skin. As I contemplated whether more expensive gloves might protect my hands better, I considered my upcoming marathon training. I will not likely want to run in freezing rain, but with the marathon in early November, I probably won’t.

Having enjoyed today’s lesson despite close to the worst weather conditions I can imagine, I learned another lesson I hadn’t quite expected. All of the things that can go wrong pale in comparison to the potential for growth, fun, and new experiences. Weather doesn’t matter really, and even the cold doesn’t sting quite so strongly when the heart starts racing for a fun sport or a good cause. I imagine the children who benefit from Team for Kids learn that truth well. Having slayed my morning weather monster, I feel much more confident and can’t wait to start running for those kids. This marathon, and training for it, might actually provide me with as much fun as the challenge itself, no matter the weather.

Save Kara Morgan!

Save Kara Morgan… or just help her fund her film project on Indiegogo. Yesterday, I wrote about Kara and her consistent bravery in creating amazing and bold comedy. Today, she looks to fund An Alien and a Fugitive, a project conceived and constructed by Kara and her creative partner Heidi Tungseth. Her fundraising campaign will deliver all funds collected by them until January 31, and you will have the opportunity to someday say, “I knew her when…” Someday, this girl’s going to be even more famous. Help her get there!

An Autumn Awakening

This last day of Autumn, I find myself surrounded by the common theme of new dreams, uncharted challenges, and new adventures to discover. Last week, blessed by four completely different performances for which to prepare and perform, I had the opportunity to check in with my incredibly talented and diverse friends and colleagues. One friend had just produced her second one-woman show. Another contemplated her next steps to her rise to hopeful fame, while a third shared her desire to sing jazz despite not knowing quite where to start. Bold steps by brave people.

Taking me to a black belt Aikido test, another adventurous man opened my eyes to the calm intensity of a challenging practice that intrigues me, and I had the chance to watch even a handful of elderly participants test for their black belt after years of training and discipline. Finally, at a party hosted by some invaluable friends, a photographer friend Michael Chadwick convinced me to run a marathon with him. So, for next Autumn, I’ve decided to run the ING NYC Marathon to support Team for Kids, a non-profit organization working to keep children active and combat childhood obesity. I’ll have more information in future posts, hopefully including details about a team to join if you’d like to take up the challenge with me! In the meantime, please consider helping me get off to a running start with a donation of any amount.

In the similar rush of these changing seasons as Autumn comes to a close, New Year’s seems already upon us, and my friends and I contemplate actions of almost spring-like renewal. In celebration of the rebirth we each have when we wake to a new day and open ourselves to new possibilities, I leave you once again with my dear friend and hero, Kara Morgan. Her ability to create her dreams literally and figuratively, always with a dash of humor, inspires me regularly to take the leaps that scare me most. May we all have such courage to wake up to our dreams this holiday season.

Rouge AIDS Walk 2011

Yes, I went rogue today and completed my AIDS Walk route two days prior to the actual event. With so many diverging events, rehearsals, and commitments, I realized late in the game that I simply cannot do them all while adhering to my professional responsibilities and paying my rent. Singular day off, meet rogue AIDS Walker.

Having at least one friend with HIV, I find myself somewhat unable to ignore the facts. Despite medical advances and prolonged life spans for most victims, a cure for AIDS does not yet exist. Carrying complicated and painful side effects for some and an unrealistic pricetag for most, these drugs have quieted the storm but not solved the epidemic.

On Sunday, thousands of people will walk to support funding for continued research, honoring those who have died and those who live yet affected by AIDS and HIV. I, having walked the official full six mile route today, will sign in to validate my donations, walk up to my church job, and join my amazing team of friends for brunch afterwards. I’ll miss the celebrities (this year AIDS Walk NY boasts participation of “Modern Family stars Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Broadway Star Audra McDonald, Matt Bomer of White Collar, Two and a Half Men’s Conchata Ferrell, Glee’s Dot-Marie Jones, Project Runway alums Mondo Guerra & Jack Mackenroth” in their lineup, and last time we walked past Tim Gunn), the festivities, and the fun freebies along the way, but I’m happy to have found the time and a way to make it work. Hopefully with our help, so will the researchers dedicating their lives to a cure. Donate today, if you can.

AIDS Walk Team lotsafun in 2009

A Night at the Museum

Times in my life quite like the present don’t present themselves terribly often. Never before have I had so many varied jobs and gigs at once. Within the coming month, I rehearse and perform an intensely musical puppet play, prepare and perform April in Paris (my French-themed recital featuring Eugene Sirotkine and Benjamin C.S. Boyle), rehearse new music written by Sarah Small for our Tableau Vivant and a music video, and begin rehearsals at the Metropolitan Opera to revive our production of Orfeo ed Euridice with Mark Morris.

Meanwhile, because many of these gigs still leave me mostly unemployed, I’ve taken a side job or two in art modeling, in focus groups, and with the charity auction ibidmobile team mentioned in last week’s post. With little money and only two fully open spaces on my calendar between now and April 25, every second, penny, and friendly face feels almost painfully precious. Given the recent news of earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation leaks, and explosions, all from one unexpected event, perhaps I ought to continue this attitude throughout and beyond each of my busy days.

Last evening, I had the chance to earn a little money again with ibidmobile, a somewhat tiring but important job helping to facilitate silent auctions for charities. Five hours on my feet with an ipad, talking over music and hundreds of guests? Not a situation I generally would seek out as a singer who needs to rehearse in the morning. I could have grumbled about at least a handful or two of things, as any work provides such an obviously tempting atmosphere for complaints. I may have even heard one or two from other employees in passing.

Instead of joining in, something came over me tonight in a very exciting way that required no alcohol whatsoever, and I hope to take it from last night into each of my every endeavors this month. No, at last evening’s Nightingale-Bamford School charity event, I chatted with friends about fun auction items near NCG 1350 and the Andromeda Galaxy at the American Museum of Natural History while waiting for the guests to arrive. I helped at least a few people win their coveted experiences, wines, and lunches, ran into a friend who works at the school, and met a drummer interested in hearing me sing for his world music group. When for a brief moment signal interference paused the auction, we danced with incredibly fun and generous guests under the blue whale. At the end of definitely my favorite of these events thus far, a great girls’ school had raised a very significant amount of money for tuition and scholarships.

Tomorrow brings more recital rehearsal and an evening of running from a puppet with a club. I hope you’ll join me here and in person for the rest!

Soon = Wolfy’s Journey DVD Release
March 31 – April 10 = Don Cristóbal
April 16 = April in Paris, A Recital with Abigail Wright and Eugene Sirotkine/
(April 17 = Private Music Video Filming with Sarah Small)
(April 23 = High Fall Stunt Class)
April 29-May 14 = Orfeo ed Euridice
May 23, 24 TBA = Tableau Vivant at Skylight One Hanson
(June TBA = Skydiving trip #2 – join us!)
July 29-August 7 = Das Liebe der Danae

In the Flesh and Online, Two Honest Quests for Social Good, Day 125

Sitting on a crowded subway on my way home from a sublime meeting with Sarah Small at her apartment, I feel a strangely beautiful connection to the people around me, in a way I haven’t quite felt since traveling through the city on September 12, 2001. I remember the faces of the New Yorkers taking public transportation or walking along the street who, despite the horrible tragedy, connected with each other on a profound level in knowing glances and even in prayer. Countless citizens of the world volunteered, donated, and came together in a spirit of unity for the greater good without any hope of profit for themselves.

Today, the black-capped, flannel and Fila-wearing cyclist managing his bike, iPod, and MacBook next to me feels at this moment less an awkward and unwise stranger I might judge than my brother, connected somehow by the fact that we all come from stardust. Not a response to national catastrophe, this present epiphany comes from my time spent connecting with Sarah through stories told, artistic visions revealed, and music shared. Oh, how an hour with an inspired and naturally vulnerable person transforms my view of the world, tweaks and calms my inner monologue, and increases my love, kindness, and empathy toward others!

Do I sound like too much of a hippie? True, I will perform nude on Saturday, and our first rehearsal occurs tonight. I have to bring a robe. While I will refrain from revealing too much of Sarah’s vision for this Tableau Vivant, I can assure you it will indeed be alive. Exploring the most human and commonly profound experiences in life, this will doubtless bring together the performers and audience in a shared energy I have likely never felt to such a degree. Promoting an awareness of us all together in humanity brings us further from hate and war and closer to patience, acceptance, and each other. If that makes me a hippie, bring it on!

For those less organically inclined, today Mashable offers Social Good Day. No, I didn’t make a mistake; rather, one of the largest blogs and the creators of Social Media Day have teamed up with the 92nd Street Y this U.N. Week to bring attention to the possibilities of using social media to create positive change in society. In fact, had I noticed sooner, I as a blogger could have had access to briefings from the U.N. Summit (previously far more closed) all week through a digital media lounge established at the 92nd Street Y. Monday, we could have attended their Social Good Summit with celebrities and industry leaders discussing new media’s potential role in addressing the world’s challenges.

Why care about the impact of social media on the world? As I blog, tweet, post status updates, and check in on Foursquare, some of my friends have asked, “What’s the point?” We all still know someone without a Facebook profile, either because they need to enforce their own break from cyber-stalking an ex or because they tire of seeing everyone’s business. In Edward Norton‘s speech from Monday’s summit (a complete recap of videos from the Monday are available here at Mashable.com), he starts by describing his initial adverse reaction to sites like Facebook and the overwhelmingly personal nature of most friends’ updates and posts. Discussing his company Crowdrise and how they enable individuals to evolve into effective grassroots fundraisers for charities, he uses the average social media user’s “impulse for personal narrative,” to give anyone a platform to show others and herself how one looks at herself “as an agent of change in the world.”

In short, go to the website. You’ll find a fun and addictive interface designed to help people volunteer, raise money for favorite foundations, and exchange ideas with other members looking to support something worthwhile. In the video, Edward Norton tells a story about a woman in the United States and a woman from England who found each other through Crowdrise supporting similar causes.  Presently the two, once strangers, travel to Africa to work together with funds raised from their online platforms for change.

Crowdrise isn’t the only organization with this concept, and many more new companies have started to pave the way for us to use social media as a tool for more than keeping up with friends or self-improvement. Still, we have so much work to do in the world! Mashable and (RED) first initiated Social Good Day to raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals, a challenging but crucial set of priorities developed by the U.N. to raise the quality of life for a large percentage of the world’s population suffering from extreme poverty, disease, poor education, gender inequalities, and many other woes.

Our world’s governments can only do so much to empower change; surprisingly, each of us can help. Let’s not wait for another tragedy to prompt our compassion and sense of humanity. Start today on Social Good Day. Offer someone your seat on the subway and look around to see the individuals around you as you travel from place to place. Watch some of the videos from Mashable’s summit or read the news in English from another country across the world. Volunteer, raise money for your favorite charities, or just support one. A little effort from many people can help so much. If you’re the more inventive type or someone who likes to debate ways to create your own version of change, leave work a few minutes early today. Find a Mashable Social Good Day meetup near you and discuss with other passionate people how we can all make a difference. I hope to hear all about it.

Happy Social Good Day!