San Diego!

I'm starting to wonder why I didn't go to school here (kidding). It's so nice! Everything is right next to the ocean... no complaints here! Last night we stayed with some of Sean's friends from Invisible Children (another non-profit who does some cool, cool stuff in the realm of social justice-- check them out!) We had a really great time with them, talking about our awesome organizations and the great work that we are both doing.

This morning we decided to start to check out the city, and drove down to the USS Midway & checked out the giant statue of the sailor kissing his girl (see picture). It was great fun!

Our first screening of tour was at High Tech High in San Diego-- the kids there were pretty great! Unfortunately, the documentary ("Hiding") still wasn't finished, but they were troopers & watched Seoul Train instead.

Now we are hanging out in Balboa Park. It's so beautiful here. We're loving the San Diego weather & scenery! I can't wait to meet more people & to do more screenings (especially once we get "Hiding!"-- on SUNDAY).

Next screening: Sunday in San Diego. Organized by the Invisible Children Regional Managers :)

LAUNCH NIGHT!

It is [almost] time. Tonight, we are celebrating all of our hard work with a launch dinner & [hopefully] watching the [hopefully] completed documentary & then packing up the vans! Apparently we will be here until at least 2am tonight (well, tomorrow morning, really). That's all for now... time to get busy! :)

2 DAYS TO LAUNCH!

The West coast team is gearing up for a great tour! So far, we have 51 screenings booked, well on our way to our goal of 70-100 screenings over the next 10 weeks. We are super stoked for our first week on the road-- we will be in San Diego. Perhaps will will check out such awesome things as the San Diego Zoo, the pristine beaches, and maybe even Sea World (assuming it's all free, of course...)

After that, we will head to my lovely hometown of LOS ALAMOS for screenings at LAHS & Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church on October 1st! (So all of you Los Alamos people have no excuse to not be there... unless, of course, you do have an excuse). I'm really excited about that-- New Mexico was kind of my pet project during booking, since we weren't supposed to go there originally.

After New Mexico, we head back to Arizona, then Utah, Idaho, Vancouver (Canada), possibly Montana, Washington, Oregon, and then back to California! I am super excited for launch day, for all 4 LiNK vans to head out on the road together! It's going to be pretty epic :)

Oh and hey. The documentary might even be ready by the time we launch... it's in the final production stages (fine tuning, etc)!

:)

And the Countdown Begins...

We launch for tour in T-4 days. Crazy!!! (Well, that is assuming we get at least 70 screenings booked by Thursday). This weekend has been crazy busy, but fun :) On Friday, we went to an Asian-American "Rock the Vote" event at the Ford Theater... and got to meet Lisa Ling and her husband, while supporting voting! It was put on by one of LiNK's donors, so we got to meet her as well.

On Saturday, we went up to Simi Valley for a screening of "Inside North Korea" at a church, kind of as an end to the summer tour. It was nice to get to see a screening in action, espeically since the executive leadership team were the ones who did the actual presentation-- so we just had to observe. Since we were up in that area, I was able to spend some time in T.O. for the last time before heading off on the road. Fun times!

Today, we went to another donor's house for what was supposed to be the premier of "Hiding." Unfortunately........ it's not done yet :( So our host showed us a documentary that she made & is releasing shortly, called "Macho Like Me," about her experiment to transform herself into a man, and experience the world from the Men's perspective for 6 whole months. It was a great film & some interesting insight into the opposite sex (and it was quite amusing, too). We viewed it at her house... which actually has a built in movie theater. By far it is the nicest house I have ever been to. Daaaang.

When we got back from that, we washed & waxed & cleaned out the 2 vans that are not in the shop, so as to get them ready to go out on the road! Now they are all shiny & pretty (just need to be vacuumed). Too bad 2 of the vans are still in the shop, including the one that (we assume) the West team will be driving around the country!

This week will be full & busy of more booking, and one last mock screening. Tomorrow night is our pass/fail mock, so hopefully that will go well! :)

ring.That.BELL!

The west team (Kelley, Jane, Sean)


Wow. It's Wednesday... and it feels like the past three days have actually been about three weeks long from the long hours here at the office. But it will all be worth it in about a week when we launch tour!!!

Here is how my week has been so far:
Monday: Work 7am-9:45pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 12 3/4 hrs
Tuesday: Work 7am-9:30pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 12 1/2 hrs
Wednesday: Work 7am-10:15pm (2 hours of break for lunch & dinner)= 13 1/4 hrs

In 3 days, I have almost worked a normal-person's 40 hour/week full-time job (I've got 38 1/2!). Not to say that that is a complaint at all! I have been doing some cool stuff & talking to some really amazing people. Yesterday, we got to head over to USC to the Korean Studies Institute for a session with the director there, David Kang. It was really insightful, and also made me reconsider the places that I want to apply for grad schools (which, mind you, I will be doing from the road).

So the reasoning behind our long hours is so that we have plenty of time during the day to book screenings and then we do various trainings at night. We have been doing Mock Screenings to prepare for once we are on the road (Intro to the film, the Pitch/how to get involved, and Q&A). That is definitely a fun time (and also extremely nerve-wracking).

Now here is the current count for screenings (by region):
West Coast (Tomato*Coast) 33
Northeast (NorthPeace) 33
Southeast (SouthBeast) 28
Heartland (aka Midwest) 43

The first team to get to 50 is being treated to Chic-fil-a from our VP, Justin! In order to actually launch next week, we have to have 70 screenings booked PER ROUTE! So the next week will be full of wishing, waiting, and pestering people to get their screening agreements in! And of course, for each agreement that comes in, we get to ring.That.BELL to signify that we got another screening booked! :) So far, I have had the awesome privilege of ringing it 4 times... and I'm hoping for about 24 more times!

Sooooo... If you want to follow the West Coast (Tomato*Coast) team, you can check us out on Facebook (West Nomads), follow us on Twitter @westnomads (https://twitter.com/westnomads), or read our Blog (http://west.linkglobal.org/)!

Well, time for another mock screening!

Booking Hiding

Hiding Trailer from LiNK Global on Vimeo.

Well, I seem to be having a more positive response from people about booking a screening of "Hiding." I booked my first screening on Thursday, and have gotten a very positive response from most everyone since then. I'm pretty sure I am expecting 2 or 3 (or even more) screening agreements to come in tomorrow!

The exciting news about all of this is that the TRAILER for "Hiding" came out this weekend! They called us into the office on Friday night at about 11:30pm to show us the completed version, and it was released on our website last night around midnight! It's super sweet, and everyone should watch it!!! :) Enjoy...

Late to bed, early to rise

Booking.

That is my life for the next 2 1/2 weeks. I have been & will be trying to convince people how important hosting a screening is. The documentary that we are showing portrays the stories of five North Korean refugees who are in hiding in China, and their stories of escape to Southeast Asia.

These particular refugees were rescued as a part of LiNK's "The Hundred" campaign, where the goal is to rescue 100 refugees as soon as possible. The five who this documentary is about were able to be rescued directly as a result of the summer tour & the hard work that those Nomads put in. The funds that they raised went straight to a rescue mission, and made it possible for us to create, & soon show, this documentary!

So now the fall tour has to show up those summer Nomads! Our goal for EACH team is to raise enough money ($2500 for 1 refugee) to save 4 refugees-- 16 total!

We are also working to bring about greater awareness about the human rights crisis in general. I know that even though I am a highly educated person, a year ago, I had absolutely no idea about this human rights crisis, even though I was studying North Korea in depth in my International Relations class. I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have had, and especially for the ones that have led me to this organization.

So to impress upon you the urgency of this situation, (and our regional managers impressing it upon us), the Nomads now are in the office at 7am, and working until at least 5pm each night. Today we got to meet Laura Ling, one of the journalists who was captured on the North Korea-China border last spring. She told us her story & really encouraged us to keep on keeping on, which was really great.

And now, back to booking screenings :)