Thursday, April 20, 2006

Read This First

My name is Julie Buck. My hair is brown, but sometimes blonde and usually a bit curly. As my friend Emily used to say, "Your hair is delightfully disheveled." I fancy myself an artist and make experimental film and large-format realistic collages, and sometimes even exhibit my art. I live in a fifth floor walk-up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My favorite color has been blue since 2nd grade, when I had to change from my original favorite color--brown--because my cousin Steven told me that people who like brown smell like poo. I am a Sagittarius, although I'm not really sure what that means. My sister Michele says it means I must be hot, which must be true, because Michele is hot and she's a Sagittarius too. I like Andy Warhol. And I actually like ramen, which is a good thing, because I'll probably be eating a lot of it in the next three years.

That's because I recently decided to give up my day job and apply for graduate school. The thought of going back to school at age 31, after nine years away, is a little scary--but the super thrilling part was getting accepted to the graduate program for film at Columbia University in New York City! The not-so-thrilling part? Figuring out how to raise the necessary $57,000 for tuition and living expenses.

I started to ask around for money. I asked my mom, and my siblings, and my cousins, and my friends, and the neighbors, and the neighbor's monkey for cash, checks, even small pieces of jewelry I could pawn. I even started saving myself! I've been standing around in Harvard Square with a plastic cup and a sign which reads, "Please, help send Julie to grad school." So far, these activities have yielded about $10,000, which is a lot, but unfortunately, not nearly enough. (I knew I should've gotten an accordion and stolen my neighbor's monkey.)

So then I called my sister Suzanne. "Sooz, what is to become of me?" I cried. "Should I sell one of my kidneys on the black market? Should I harvest my eggs and sell them to a fertility clinic?"

"No, no, no, silly," she said, "just reach out to your friends on the Internet. If people know you're a nice girl--well, a mostly nice girl--who wants to go to school, they're bound to help out!"

So that is how we came up with the idea of the Give Buck a Buck website.

The way I see it, if I can get 40,000 people to donate a mere dollar each (or 4,000 people to donate $10 each), no one's wallet will suffer--and I will finally be able to get the complete education I've been longing for since I graduated from college nine years ago. Even if it means I'm stuck eating nothing but ramen for three years.

Think about it. If you could make a positive difference in one person's life by donating a dollar, would you do it? Well, wouldn't you?

Click here to see the ways you can donate.

5 comments:

Man said...

First congrats on going back to school I took ten years off and now I'm finishing my degree.
I wish I could send you something but I'm as broke as they get.

I take that 1 train uptown everyday, I've seen Kevin Bacon and his wife on the trains so you as a film student will have fun.

Good Luck

Alice said...

Okay Ms. Talented Buck I would like to contribute, but I need another option. Paypal and I are currently in a bit of a disagreement... can you provide an alternative method of contributing?

BTW... I gave you a shout out at my blog. I hope it helps!!

Unknown said...

So, you're smart enough to get into college, but not smart enough to get your own damn money?

Brilliant.

Anonymous said...

Seems to me *this* is a pretty smart way of getting the money. No more horrifying than seeking out scholarship funds.

Tole said...

I think it's great that you managed to get together so much already - and are brave enough to do something like this.

I wish you the best of luck in your quest to raise funds, and also in your studies.