Kristina Ng

Grameen and the Revolutionary Ideas it Represents

2011-11-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since reading about the Grameen Bank's foundation in Banker for the Poor, I have been fascinated by Muhammed Yunus' last recommendation to us all to explore the the "Social Conscious Driven Business Sector". This sector works like a private business in that it sells a service, but instead of increasing salaries, it intentionally allocates its profit back into the community and self-eliminates excess.

Yunus argues that social good can be just as big of a motivator and catalyst for competition as profit. The key is to design a system that so perfectly encapsulates both a demand and desired social impact.

The beauty of Grameen, is that people in poverty create their own wealth by their "survival skills". The poor aren't poor because they don't have the right knowledge, "the poor are poor because they cannot retain the returns of their labor. They have no control over capital which gives people the power to rise out of poverty." Grameen created the system of micro-lending we know today that gives people the chance they need to build their own business and reap the full rewards of their labor. In return, the bank receives interest on the loan and enough profit to continue as a business.

The Work Ahead

Grameen Bank was founded in roughly 1976 and the world has simmered on its work and the ideas it represents for a few decades already. Yunus leaves it to us to pick up where Grameen has left off. Instead of waiting for businesses to shape up, let us create businesses to shape the world ourselves.

Illustration Friday: Silent

2011-11-17T01:19:00.001-08:00

The Little Mermaid was, by far, my favorite Disney film of all time. I am often reminded that I would watch the movie all the way through and then promptly rewind it to watch it again. It's fitting to know, then, that this scene promptly jumped into my mind when brainstorming for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "silent".

How the World Works, Institutionally

2011-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

1. The Public Sector (The Government)

Accountable to: Taxpaying Voters
Gets funding from: Taxation, fees for service (transportation)
Motivation for excellence: Good will, reelection

2. Private Sector

Accountable to: Shareholders
Gets funding from: Consumers purchase product
Motivation for excellence: Profit

3. Nonprofit Sector

Accountable to: Grantors
Gets funding from: Grants, donations, fees for service
Motivation for excellence: Good will, continued grant support

4. Social-Conscious-Driven Private Sector

Accountable to: Shareholders
Gets funding from: Consumers purchase product
Motivation for excellence: Good will and profit

So what?

So looking at the world in this way reveals the motivations behind institutions as well as the foundations for the challenges they face.

How can the public sector stay accountable to its citizens on a regular, large scale basis if the vote is the only institutionalized system of accountability?
How do we create sustainable funding streams for nonprofit organizations relying solely on foundation and individual support for projects that "do good"?
And lastly, how can the field of the social-conscious-driven private sector change it all?

Three Lessons from Seth Godin

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

An Introduction

First off, as an introduction, Seth Godin's bibliography:

(1993). The Smiley Dictionary
(1995). eMarketing: Reaping Profits on the Information Highway
(1999). Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers
(2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus
(2002). The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better
(2002). Survival is not enough: zooming, evolution, and the future of your company
(2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
(2004). Free Prize Inside!: The Next Big Marketing Idea
(2005). All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
(2005). The Big Moo: Stop Trying to be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable
(2006). Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas
(2007). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
(2008). Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync?
(2008). Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. Portfolio Hardcover
(2010). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
(2011). Poke the Box

What I'm learning from Seth Godin:

1. Don't be perfect, be "good enough" to ship.

2. You don't need everyone, just enough people to get you the next round and the next.

3. We can start now, because the world is changing and there's no reason to wait.

What do you mean by community?

2011-11-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I've been shaking the etch-a-sketch of my soul lately and I know I want to pursue opportunities to build "community" - that feeling of comfort felt when one knows there are supports in place that you can turn to when you need it or want it. Community to me is what prevents people from living in desperate isolation, afraid of stepping out the front door because your legs have become weak with disuse.

The real world has a habit of socking you a good one if you're not looking closely, so I've been asking folks and reading papers to figure out what making community has looked like on the ground level. Here's what I've got so far:

Community as Social Fabric
If you start talking wistfully of days when we borrowed sugar from each other, you might be getting into changing the social fabric of social life. It is true that I live in an apartment building with strangers for neighbors, and if the programs I want to create are to encourage us to have inner-apartment parties and get togethers - I've begun to look at community as social fabric.

Community Development
This field works closely with economic development departments to provide and build infrastructure to sustain neighborhoods. For example, projects can include affordable housing, supporting local merchants, local hiring, and neighborhood events like festivals. Community development involves making sure the private, public and nonprofit sector are being good neighbors and are responsibly looking at their impact on the people living in the areas they do their work.

Community Liason
This sounds like code word for companies who want to be able to market effectively to different populations of people.

Community Organizing
This is Saul Alinsky, grassroots-and-clipboard, door-knocking community creation. The bread and butter of getting people on the block to come to the meeting and share their opinions. This is a lot of work and sounds direly necessary.

I am learning.

On Writing this Blog

2011-11-03T20:56:00.001-07:00

I'll admit, I've probably thought about this blog once a day, written something halfway, and then put it down. Part of it is I'm afraid of setting down thoughts that I will disagree with in the future. It's as if my experience of going through high school and cringing at the memory, has convinced me I should never do anything potentially embarrassing again.

But as John Gardner says in "On Leadership": leaders change, just as people change. The patient Lincoln became the activist Lincoln. We would like to freeze our leaders in time at the point where we most believed in them, or liked what they were doing, but try as we might they evolve. This doesn't make them bad or good, simply human.

I've been thinking...

2011-10-06T22:46:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers Print

2011-09-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

I visited the Steamroller Printing Festival, hosted by the SF Center for the Book, yesterday. They had linoleum blocks for people to carve their own prints into and I managed to snag the last one (sorry kids!). Thinking in negatives was surprisingly challenging - "How do I make a black line? And many intersecting black lines?" I ended up coming up with this flower scene, and may have found a new art love.

I've always admired the look and technique of printmaking, and never thought it could be as accessible as this. I'll see if I can snag some more blocks, some carving tools and a bit of paint sometime soon.

Flowers in the Garden

2011-06-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

During a sunny day I went up to the local botanical garden and taught myself the names of flowers.

Jazz in the Audience

2011-06-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

Some sketches from a little jazz performance - caught the dutiful parents and friends in the audience too.

Hula Hooper Sketch

2011-04-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sketchcrawl #31

2011-04-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

San Francisco sketchcrawlers ambled around the Mission District for the 31st World Wide Sketchcrawl last weekend. I hadn't explored the Mission Dolores area before and was amazed at the huge size of the park instantly filled with loungers enjoying the warmth.

(Click to enlarge)

BART Stripes

2011-04-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Striped shirts are amazing. Been sketching on BART lately- I get snippets of people smooshed together, looking tired or talking too loudly.

Tallis Scholars

2011-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Tallis Scholars, beautiful height soaring song.

For my father

2011-04-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

My Dad has requested an image of "someone riding on a horse on a grassy road in early spring where ice is melting from the trees under a starry sky and a moon just rising above the distant hills" for a while now, and I finally got around to it. Inspired by Hiroshige.

Rough sketch:

Final:

Variations on Love and Hate

2011-04-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

My brother suggested I listen to the Ballad of Love and Hate by the Avett Brothers.

Ink Brush portrait

2011-04-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sketch Portrait

2011-03-31T00:17:00.000-07:00

Appliance Sketch Exercise

2011-03-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Warm up sketches:

Old Sketchcrawl

2011-03-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

From January's sketchcrawl in San Francisco, lovely lovely day, not a rain drop in the sky.

Splash Page

2010-12-18T23:42:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my 3rd grade self, I've made a splash page for my website consisting of my "favorite things". See what you can find!

Yesterday

2010-11-29T21:13:00.000-08:00

Worked on my bike yesterday. I installed a basket and now I can carry anything! It's so chilly now, I had to drag my bike inside to work on it since my fingers were too frozen.

IF: Racing

2010-10-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Crawling under the deadline here for this week's Illustration Friday. The theme was racing and I wanted to capture that moment when you're sprinting down the line and you feel like your calves are going to split open from the exertion and you know you're going to use up every last bit of energy in you. Various inspirations for this piece were the Triplets of Belleville, the collective noun "a cry of hounds", and this artist.

Stealing Color

2010-10-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Over here, autumn has officially started. We're getting rain and cold, foggy mornings. I'm enjoying it more than I thought it would. The nights feel so crisp and fresh.

I drew and colored this a few days ago, inspired by comic books and seeing Jen Tong's work at APE. I still feel very naive towards color, and it's fun to mimic others' palettes.

Beneath

2010-10-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

This illustration was inspired by Illustration Friday's "Beneath" topic last week. I was thinking about how music in high school is so socially regulated. People say they all like the popular and cool stuff, but who really knows what's beneath those headphones?

Emeryville

2010-09-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

I biked around Emeryville today, through its streets of reused warehouses and railroad tracks. Pretty sunny and I got to somewhat guiltlessly read several volumes of Fables at Barnes and Noble.

Highway

2010-09-25T23:46:00.000-07:00

Been driving today and was inspired by Pascal Campion's daily illustrations to create this:

I really want to push myself to create and finish more drawings and paintings. While having lots of fun :)

Illustration Friday: Acrobat

2010-09-19T01:02:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
Today I wandered over to Illustration Friday and was inspired to participate for the first time. The theme this week is "Acrobat", and after scrounging through photos I came up with this simple, unlikely drawing.

And then I had some fun and made this animation :)

Thanks for looking!

Morro Bay

2010-09-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

If you drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, you'll run into Morro Bay, this quaint seaside town with a startlingly large rock as a landmark. It looms larger than life as we pulled into town and walked down by the estuary. If you are curious, Morro Rock is a special rock formation known as a volcanic plug.

O Museum

2010-09-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Went to a late night at the museum event and listened to Pixar Art Director, Bryn Imagire, talk about the making of UP. You can get a glimpse of my notes below. It's very inspiring listening to the process and research that is put into each film. I'm both encouraged and a little intimidated knowing that so much work is behind each fantastic moment of Pixar movies.

On the lawn, waiting for the silent film to start.

My notes from the Pixar talk: texture, experiment, research, inspiration.

And I'll throw in a pedantic college student just for fun.

Peace Lantern Ceremony

2010-09-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

Last month I attended a Japanese Peace Lantern Ceremony commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima andNagasaki. Everyone drew on four sided sheets wishes of peace and dreams of a future world. Below is my lantern and the view of the lake once the sun went down.

Cafe Sketches

2010-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Some old cafe sketches. This blog is going to be updated regularly, I say, even if I have to dig through my sketchbook to do it!

From LA

2010-09-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

I was in LA last month and got to go to this outdoor movie fest which invited a dozen or so food trucks to serve everyone. They're this new craze overtaking LA: Vietnamese sandwich trucks, soul food trucks, a fried food truck.

They projected the movie on a huge inflatable screen, placed on the far edge of a baseball field.

Some people guarded their group's spot while the rest waited in ginormous lines to get food.

People came so prepared with lawn chairs, coolers, blankets...

Art Therapy

2010-09-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

A friend mentioned an interest in pursuing art therapy, so I thought I'd self administer some to relieve stress. Berkeley summer is kicking in and suddenly people are getting sick, uh oh.

Octopi are so easy to draw, just add more limbs.

Tazmanian Devil

Fish Bone

Patience

2010-07-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by old Puritain value names (like Hope, Chastity, Felicity...) and decided to do some illustrations based off of the idea of imbuing someone with virtue through their names.

I was looking at Alphonse Mucha's "The Moon and Stars" series, which features woman draped in gowns lit by soft lights. For this, I chose a 1950s nurse as my model and symbol of patience and generosity.

25 Things About Me

2010-06-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Facebook has spawned silly habits like posting lists of "25 Things About Me" - quirky character traits and confessions your friends never knew before. They are fun to read at times though, and my list motivated me to create a little illustrated mini-series. It's not quite 25, and they are numbered randomly, but here are some juicy (kind of) secrets about me:

Catching Up

2010-06-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, so forgive me and I'll post some of the best sketches since I last wrote. I've been busy with school and then graduating and then moving, but now that everything's finally settled I should be posting regularly again.

I usually find it hard to motivate myself to "finish" sketches and art - that's what this blog is here to push me to do. I went to a landscape design professor's talk the other day and he spoke about how we come to understand the world around us by drawing it. As if spending the time to put an object's essence on paper and observing it closely is a form of communication between us and the object. I like it.

Past, Present...

2010-04-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week, and here's part of what I have to show for it. This, a research paper, getting over an unusual cold and a few shades of tan are the fruits of this week's labor.

Map done entirely in Adobe Photoshop

I was reading some cartooning advice the other day and one tip is to get your work in print as soon as possible so that you can see your mistakes quickly. This illustration looks both done and unfinished to me. I relearned the importance of having a concept behind the canvas, and sticking to it so that everything is connected.

Chess with Sunglasses

2010-03-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

Summer Sketching

2010-03-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

I've found myself outside and drawing more as the Berkeley weather suddenly turned sunny and warm this week. Memorial Glade was nearly packed in the fifteen minutes before my 1pm class. I settled down beneath some shade to draw this sketch of the library and relaxing students.

And I saw these two out of the corner of my eye a few evenings ago. Babysitter and charge, sister and sister, or mother and daughter, they were some kind of couple feasting on ice cream.

A Treaty for Warm Days

2010-03-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Pen and ink drawing

Cold days with strong winds dry my hands and make my joints stiff. My fingers move slow and my feet become numb weights at the end of my legs. My toes swell and lose feeling. The wind breathes through the cracks in the window by my desk.

On cold days I long to lay out on the grass and be warmed by the sun. To feel any kind of warmth is a pleasure.

On cold days I yearn to leisurely read at Strada, but the cold makes my nose run and my notes blow away. My hands cannot form the motions to turn the pages.

Cold days can mean rain and if you're unfortunate to have holes in your boots or broken umbrellas, this means wet socks and soggy clothes. Wet dirt trails slog through hallways and homes.

Cold days can mean colds and flus that sweep through campus like the ominous wind. Pauses in lectures set off choruses of hacking coughs and sneezes. A pack of clean, dry tissues become heaven.

On cold days, my brain slows as if a foggy layer has settled onto my consciousness. I vaguely remember days that were "too hot", and can no longer understand what that can mean. So I'm putting down, in writing, my promise to enjoy warm days that don't have a hint of the chill of winter, so I can remember and embrace the moment when my fingers are not stiff and my toes are not numb.

I was playing around with my dip pen and washes during a rainy day in February. All I needed was to look outside for my inspiration for this drawing.

L'oignon

2010-01-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Onion turned centerpiece through neglect.

On the Future

2010-01-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

To the People who will be asking me,

I am a sociology student about to finish my very last semester, capping off a four year foray into new friends, experiences and stories to tell. Standing here, writing this, thinking about my future, truthfully, I am uncertain. I've come to associate uncertainty with weakness, a feebleness to stand for something -- What do you want to eat for dinner? or What are you going to do with your life?

That last question leaves a bit of a sting, but it has a good point. I have always believed in careful preparation to maximize results. I like to meticulously reread recipes, researching the varying chemical processes that will occur and laying out the ingredients in front of me. This, however, is so that when the chaos that will probably happen -- eggshell pieces in the soup, pot over boiling -- I will be able to devote my present attention to the burning garlic than remembering how to do everything in the first place.

Similarly, we could hope that college has prepared me to become an independent human being, a recipe for success. While it is tempting to look back at my education with an expression of betrayal -- "What can I do that is useful to society?" -- sociology never promised a 401k and a second home on the beach. Sociologists seem to only exist in the university. Outside of the classroom and the department hallways, sociologists are harder to see.

Uncertainty does not need to be so frightening. Not knowing what you are going to do does not mean the world will end once I leave "student" and enter "unemployed". I kind of look forward to that day with amusement. Will I feel the shackles of academia slip from my shoulders? Will the world swirl around me like a bad dream sequence? Anti-climatically, it will probably be like having your birthday and wondering if you feel older yet.

I don't want to foreshadow my future into joblessness; I definitely don't need that. I hope to find work when I graduate, not just by refreshing Craigslist, but by researching how exactly you can work internationally, talking to people doing work I want to do and trying it out for myself--as I am experimenting with journalism through this blog. The first step is trying and comes with shaking off the fear of beginning anew.

No doubt there will be failures, but I hope my parents are not concerned about the absence of mistakes. I think they are afraid of a lack of trying, and of thinking. Twenty-one years of raising me, and I know they still get suspicious that I don't have a working brain in my head. To their credit, they are also looking for responsibility, which must be cultivated. Responsibility for myself means thinking hard and seriously about my life. For me, it must be in my terms, combined with reality's somewhat stricter terms.

I know I have grown as a person in college. I have conquered mental and physical obstacles (8th floor, broken elevator) and have come out for the better. Sociology has taught me more than I am probably aware of, seeping into my being and opening my eyes to new things. I should remember not to belittle the practice of reflexive, critical thinking. Berkeley is opening the hatch and rolling up its sleeves in preparation for May when it will gently, I hope, push me out of the nest and into the dazzling sunlight. To the kitchen chaos and grand improvisation that awaits me, I say I am ready.

Dip Pen

2010-01-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

Today I bought some non-waterproof ink to use with the dip pen my roommate gave me. It's really fun to use! I love the feel of knowing all the mechanics behind the tools I'm using, looking at the ink get pulled into the nib and watching it stream on to the paper.

2010

2010-01-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

In the past few years I've started following the New Year tradition of making resolutions that will hopefully work to guide my actions in the coming year.
In 2007 I wanted to be able to do the splits, practice violin everyday, stay organized and resolved to do what I love in life.

In 2008, I dropped the splits proposition, and decided to learn how to swim, become a morning person instead of a 2am person, and give my classes the attention and care that they deserve.

By 2009, I wanted to cut down the bucket list and created three priorities: 1. friends and family, 2. finish my work to spend more time with number 1, and 3. stay healthy in order to do both. This was somewhat pillaged from a part in About Ed Ricketts, John Steinbeck's ode to his deceased friend, in which Ed Ricketts tells his three children in a time of poverty that they must remember three things:

"Number one and first in importance, we must have as much fun as we can with what we have. Number two, we must eat as well as we can, because if we don't we won't have the heath and strength to have as much fun as we might. And number three and third and last in importance, we must keep the house reasonably in order, wash the dishes, and such things. But we will not let the last interfere with the other two."

For this year, I've returned to specific actions since I think last year could have used a bit more structure. I'll keep the same priorities from last year, but I resolve to do a couple of things everyday. Daily, I want to exercise a little, whether that be a walk to the art store or a jog around the perimeter of campus. I want to invite my friends over at least once a week, which has been sadly difficult with all of our busy schedules. As I mentioned in my last post I want to be vegetarian, and now that I'm clear from family gatherings I can actually start ("Do you want one roast duck or two?" my dad asked me, you can see why it was difficult). I snuck in a vague resolution to balance planning and action since I find myself getting caught up in the ideas of things rather than actually doing these things (like laundry). And at the end of the day, I want to make sure to write in my journal, to better document and decant my life happenings.

Before I finish, since I've already put in one large quote, I'll leave you with another, from a "30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary" book that was a lot more inspiring and educative than I expected from a dusty paperback I found in my brother's cabinet.

"Forty nine out of fifty persons don't thoroughly finish what they begin. This is what will make success so easy for you. Use your will power. Will power is often just another name for courage. Perseverance is energy made habitual. And perseverance, continuously applied, may become genius."

So here's to a new year, and may it bring us a new opportunities and resolve to work towards what we set out to do. 2010, here we come.

Food Balance

2009-12-28T23:05:00.000-08:00

Illustration drawn in Photoshop

By admitting this, I know I risk not being taken seriously, but, it's the truth: Avatar made me vegetarian.

Embarrassment over, I was pretty amazed at how I felt so revolutionized after a movie with terribly one-side bad guys and somewhat self-indulgant dialogue, but here I am. I've already learned about the facts of mass cow farms and chicken coops, the antibiotics and monotonous corn feed meant to produce the most pounds of meat in the shortest amount of time possible. If living in Berkeley didn't eventually teach you this, my introduction to environmental science class did. Yet, I had been taking the Michael Pollan approach -- yes some meat is produced in a manner I would not approve, but it is so so yummy.

When I told my brother about my vegetarian consideration, he scoffed and reminded me that I am the one that L-O-V-E-S meat. I am the one he used to buy a quarter pound of roast beef for from Cheese n' Stuff, and who would eat it in one sitting. I am the one who he bought a pillow in the shape of a t-bone steak for and who really likes it. By all means, I am one who has always loved her steaks, chicken and bacon.

What Avatar did, I suppose, was remind me to look at myself as part of a network. Even in my cold, empty Berkeley apartment, I am participating in a larger system, especially in what I eat. There are probably a lot of things I do that are not the best for the environment: use my computer a lot, take long hot showers, or throw away dozens of disposable contact lens cases, but eating meat connects to a living animal and a slaughter. I really doubt that I would be able to morally kill all of the animals I have eaten. The distance we have from our food makes me trigger happy in all the meat I consume. It's pretty difficult to remember that those chicken nuggets and patties were actually parts of animals. So, thank you Avatar, for the reminder.

While I was preparing for a final which involved potentially creating a guideline for a more eco-friendly city, I proposed having visible landfills, so that we could all see what happens to the trash we throw away. The smell and the general nastiness will probably make this an unpopular idea, but the question remains, how do we make the consequences of our actions more visible?

Perhaps, we can reverse the reminder and the motivation. Perhaps by becoming vegetarian, I am giving myself the reminder that I am responsible for things outside of my daily view. Thought follows action, my social psychology class taught me. And action derives from will, so I will go to sleep hugging my steak pillow, and choose tofu in the morning.

Welcome

2009-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to my art blog! I'll be posting new work as I make it and old work just to catch up. Enjoy!