Geek As Citizen

Geek Catalog Update for 9/21/2014

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Sorry I missed last week – got sick and got hammered at work and in general was miserable-busy. When I wasn’t sleeping. I did get some updates this week to the Geek Catalog – and as always check out Geek or Community focus.

Here’s what got added this week:

 

Comics

  • Literacy
    • Reading with Pictures – Promotes literacy with the use of comics in the classroom. Heavily oriented towards ways to get involved!

Space

STEM

  • Ocean Preservation
    • Oceana – An international organization focused on sealife preservation and marine issues
  • Wildlife Preservation
    • World Wildlife Fund – Focuses on preserving and protecting wildlife and related environmental and pollution issues.

Video Games

  • History
    • Video Game History Museum – A video game history museum that covers a wide variety of subjects, histories, games, and focuses
  • Military Support
    • Military Gamers – A community and support network for military and former military gamers from the US military. Promotes healthy gaming and support.

Writing

  • Writing Skills
    • Wonder Writers – A charity that promotes writing and writing skills for young people from grades K-12.

The Dark Side Of “Do What You Love” – Psychology

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eyes mind thoughts building mystery

So the series continues, where I take a break from my usual positive approach to look at why the job advice of “Do What You Love” is probably going to crash and burn for you. Sure, I think that’s a good piece of advice, but it’s only a piece and that’s the problem. It’s not the big picture.

So it’s time to stick our faces up to the problems of the idea of “Doing What You Love” for a living, take a deep whiff, and acknowledge how much the situation stinks.

Last time I looked at how the circumstances of your birth and situations outside of your usual control could destroy your dreams from the get go. There was also the added bonus of realizing how a-holes may be biased against you just for how you were born to top it off. Extra frosting for the depression cake as it were.

But let’s get away from situations and look at what is probably wrong with you when it comes to “Do What You Love.” Though there’s the added advantage of admitting you just may be deluding yourself with your dreams, so you can fix that.

Read more

Geek Catalog Update 9/7/2014

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Child Reading Magic Library

Here’s the latest Geek Catalog update for those of you interested in civic geekery. You can find the entire catalog sorted by geek interest and community focus as well.

Comics

  • Charitable Work
    • Heroes Alliance – Cosplayers who use their skills for charity and community events.

Computing

  • Charity
    • Free Geek Chicago – A Chicago nonprofit that recycles used computers and parts to provide computers and job training to those in need.
    • Free Geek (Portland) – A Portland nonprofit that recycles used computers and parts to provide computers and job training to those in need.
    • Motor City Free Geek – A Detroit nonprofit that repairs and recycles computers, teaches and educates, and works on Open Source.

General

  • General
    • Geek Market – A philanthropic company in Ottawa that provides markets for geek artisans, promotes community, and raises money for charities.

Video Games

  • Charity
    • Extra Life – A gamer organization that supports the Childrens Miracle Network via personal sponsorship.
  • General
    • Childs Play – The famous organization that provides games and consoles for hospitalized children.

Writing

  • Literacy
    • Stan Lee Foundation – An organization that builds alliances among various groups to promote literacy.
    • Might Writers – A Philadelphia organization that supports writing and literacy by providing free classes and teaching.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.