Last week I got an email from fellow Idea Camp-er Daniel Li, Senior Developer and Web Strategist for International Justice Mission. He gave me the heads up on a campaign that’s starting this summer. So I thought I’d share it with you today…

A slew of riders from around the country and passionate about the issue of modern slavery will be traveling the underground railroad. Under the guidance of Venture Expeditions, the team is starting from Mobile, AL on June 26th and finishing in Buffalo, NY on July 30th. The tour is designed to bring you along with the riders and experience the thrill ride of emotions of 5 weeks on the road. The crew will be stopping in each city to join up with celebrities and musicians, host rally’s and talk with thousands about how they can make their communities safer against human trafficking.

Why does this matter?

In the summer of 2007 I had no idea that modern day slavery was happening and when I got the news – it was like a load of bricks on my chest. At the age of 31, I felt like I had just found out about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny in the same minute. Most likely if you’re reading this you’re already aware of trafficking and it’s prevalence around the world and specifically in the U.S. So here’s my challenge/encouragement to you – Awareness is great, and it’s important. But if you’re aware, take steps to make others aware.. and once you’ve got a group together it’s just the beginning of your journey.

What does that look like?

If you live near one of the cities where the tour is stopping make a plan to attend. Bring your friends and while you’re there you’ll meet others who are like minded. We’re doing it in my community of Pasadena and it’s very encouraging.

Make a donation – all I have to do is start to picture myself in the shoes of one of the 27 Million slaves in the world and I find it very easy to give financially. Get Connected – Sign up for email updates, or text updates. Share it with your friends and community on facebook, twitter and tell your Aunt Lorraine.

The last piece, if you’ve got questions about any of this, shoot me an email or facebook message or tweet at me. I’ll be around today and I love meeting people who are passionate about this issue.

So let’s get Active – Check out the links

IJM’s Vimeo Channel – chock full of videos and rider testimonials

Below is a quick interview I did yesterday with Amy Roth from IJM

Big high fives to powerhouses Grafik and Capital Idea Ventures (CIV) for their work on getting everything ready to go in such short order.

PS. I didn’t get paid for this… because that would be lame.

Usually the Friday Morning Meeting is a filmmaker term used for the meetings that take place the Morning that your movie comes out.  It’s important for cast and Crew to have good meeting because it ensures a good showing for their next project regardless of the box office take. This is also the pinnacle of buzz surrounding a movie.

I have a Friday Morning Meeting too.. and it’s one of my favorite things to do in Los Angeles.

Each Friday that a big blockbuster is coming out my good friends and I head to our local cinema and take it in. The group is diverse, from producers to writers and cinematographers to the an enthusiast like myself.  It’s a great time because LA movie theaters open at 10 and we can usually beat the rush and the hype to the box office while making our own opinions about that weeks movie.

There something about getting a cup of coffee and sitting in a mostly empty theater with other enthusiasts taking in the big film of the week.  The movie is usually followed by a conversation over lunch about the movie and it’s a real treat to hear about it from the different perspectives from the true film auteur to the ‘splosions guy.

We kicked off this season of fun this past weekend with Iron Man 2 and it was a great time.  It’s hard to not be a fan of guys like Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. in this movie. A great continuations

Soon we’ll be checking out the highly anticipated lineup of the summer with films like Inception, The A-Team, The Other Guys, Predators, Toy Story 3 and pretty much everything in between. I love the guys I get to experience these films with and it’s usually a lot of laughing.

Do you have any film rituals?

This was taken at last night’s Burbank City Council Meeting. Most civic buildings have old pictures of Police Squads and Firehouse staff – but this was a whole new level. I got to ask the Fire Chief about it. It went like this:

(Please keep in mind that the fire chief in Burbank looks like Mr. Incredible before superheroes were outlawed, he’s massive!)
Me: Hey Chief
Chief Incredible: Yeah?
Me: These pictures are amazing, I’ve never seen anything like this. Explosions in the background and taking a team picture – what a wild idea!
Chief Incredible: It was a hot one! The hair on the back of our necks was singing while we got that shot.
Me: Really? No way!
Chief Incredible: (laughing) Yeah!
(he then slaps me on the back with his giant arm)

I don’t consistently dream big enough.

Here’s why – last year at this time I was looking forward to an easy week of work (3 days with Thanksgiving Holiday) and wasn’t really sure where life was taking me. Some recent interpersonal breakthroughs and healing were happening but professionally I really didn’t have much of a plan.

And then WHAMMO! In the week of my birthday a scandal had broken out at my workplace and as a result I was probably going to be laid off. Looking back now it was very Charles Dickens “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” There was the struggle to keep it together and at the same time I was a ball of anger.

It was the worst because I didn’t know what was next. It was the best because of the same reason. I was emotionally kicked out of the safety net I had created for myself. It was like that moment in Fight Club where Ed Norton’s loses his apartment and his world crashes – it was no different for me.

I tried to find work all over Virginia and came up with nothing. I contemplated moving to DC when I was offered a really neat chance. The option to move to LA and work on a film project. Move to the west coast AND have a paying job. I didn’t have to worry about housing or transportation. The decision wasn’t that hard considering my alternatives.

So I moved and met a great group of people. A community of people who care about excellence, each other and making the world better than the way they found it. I’ve been handed some really amazing opportunities and blown some along the way too. This year hasn’t been easy but I’m enjoying the stretching.

I’d view this last year as a HUGE success for me and I’m very thankful and overwhelmed with gratitude to my community here and back on the east coast.

If I can encourage you, I’d say this; take the risk, dream bigger, imagine yourself doing what you love. Seek out the tools to do what you’d like to do, research, stay up late, wake up early, talk with your friends about what you’re doing and working on. It’s scary but it’s worth it. Malcolm Gladwell just released an extract from his new book Outliers on “pure Genius” and he says it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on something. It breaks down to 2-3 hours a day for 10 years. We take for granted the genius that we see in The Beatles, Rockefeller and Bill Gates. Gladwell shows it was their passion and their pursuit that made them stand out. Read it here.

So why don’t we try it as a bit of an experiment. The conversation goes 2 ways. I’ll start with telling you some of the things I’m thinking about and working on and then you can leave me comments or send me an email with what you’re working on and any feedback you have on what I said.

What I’m working on – (there is no cohesion to this list, it’s all stream of consciousness)
I’m trying to figure out a pitch to get funding on a short film that is set in an independent bookstore. I thought that the short split into 3 webisodes combined with a fun website that encouraged visitors to the site to connect to their local bookstore. As far as I know it hasn’t been done before but experience tells me their may be a reason for that.

In December I’m taking some serious time to travel and see everyone in my family. Make those connections stronger and really enjoy my family. I plan on doing some serious reading.

The Drop – it’s come to an irreversible point. A decision has to be made to continue with it or not. I really like the idea of talking to people about what music they are into and what I’m listening to at the time. I’ve got a great bunch of people around me who are ready to move forward but I’ve got to get it all together. My hesitancy is that I foot the bill for the Drop and it needs a new financial model. The audience is still there (average monthly podcast downloads this year are approx 16,500)

Web development – I’ve really been enjoying working with some incredible non profits this year that have incredible heart to help people. To me this is a double whammy, doing fun work and giving these organizations the tools that fortune 500 companies haven’t even put into effect yet.

With the SAG strike looming, business in SoCal would change pretty drastically if the strike actually happens. (AND another year of awful TV, tell me a story – not Flavor of Love) I wonder if there would be a market then for digital TV stations – how fast could I collaborate to have one started. Could quality independent content trump reality TV? What do you think?

Ok, that’s it for me – your turn. Dan@PortnoyMediaGroup.com