Red Ops: Target Selection Complete
This is Red Leader speaking. We have confirmed our fund-raising targets for the Red Ops contest. The cities/regions appear below, in alphabetical order:
- Albuquerque, NM
- Brownsville, TX
- Buffalo, NY
- Camden, NJ
- Columbia, SC
- The Dakotas
- Detroit, MI
- Joplin, MO
- Northridge/Dayton, OH
- West Virginia’s northern panhandle
This is the order in which we’ll tackle them, too, since alpha order seems the most randomly equitable. Remember, first strike is May 21, 00:01 hours.
The pre-mission checklist, as of this writing:
1) shop our fabulous prize list (or email me at bunting at tomatonation dot com to contribute one; gift cards/emailables especially needed)
2) suggest projects for the relevant cities and regions, sending them to the email above and following these guidelines: three (3) links per person; high-need schools only; project headlines should not contain flagrant usage errors; preference given to creative/unusual project requests
3) get ready to destroy these targets — we will have some match money, but as always, it will come down to y’all, so plunder the toll tray in the car, skip lattes for a week, sell something on Craigslist, or shave a ten-spot off your tax-refund check, and let’s get this done, because these communities are screwed
And finally, Gold Five’s enduring words of wisdom:
Tags: Red Ops
What a great list! My only concern is Camden, NJ — at present, there are only two projects on the DC web site from Camden. Maybe you could stretch it to the region, by including the higher-need schools across the river in Philadelphia?
I am so psyched!
@Deb: …And one of the projects has a horrendous spelling error repeated twice in the first graf. Sigh. Let me mull that over; we could just knock out the entire county, also. Thanks for the heads-up; everyone else, feel free to suggest other tweaks.
Also on the Jersey tip: we could knock out all high-poverty projects in my home county (Union); we could wipe out the Trenton projects (there aren’t that many) (also, Trenton’s motto — “Trenton Makes, The World Takes” — is so pathetic, there’s got to be a riff on that); we could stage The We-Heart-Cory-Booker Dash Into A Metaphorical Burning Building (That Has No Construction Paper In It) on projects in Newark. I don’t even know where to start with Paterson. If anyone thinks of a gimmick, let’s hear it.
If there’s any project about raising the self-esteem of Trenton, let’s start there! “Trenton Makes–The World Takes?” Geez, Trenton. I do too call! I’m calling you right now, aren’t I? Did you get the sweater I sent? It was too small? Well, take it back and exchange it. Yes, there’s a gift reciept. I put it right in the box. Look, NEVER MIND, I’ll just get you a larger size, okay? Now, where do you want to go for dinner? Of course I’m paying! Trenton, my job security is fine, okay? Now pick a restaurant!
Happy Mother’s Day, Trenton.
Re: Paterson, there’s gotta be some “Lean on Me” or other Morgan Freeman-related puns to be made.
We can rock Paterson like a Hurricane (Carter).
(Is that tacky? Does it matter?)
Sarah re Camden city projects. I wouldn’t suggest the county (Camden) itself since it has some high dollar zip codes (Haddonfield,
Cherry hill, Voorhess) in it as I am sure you know if you are from NJ. I like the idea of Newark or Trenton areas if you know the most needy there.
Ok, I’m liking the idea of Trenton, based purely on that poor motto. Is their city tree the Giving Tree?
@Meri: http://chinalawandpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/trenton.jpg
The “Trenton Makes” bridge is fucking awesome, okay? That’s how you get out of Jersey without paying the toll on the Route 1 bridge.
I have to say, the fact that the capital of the state enshrined such a passive-aggressively Livia Soprano sentiment in neon on a major causeway is so effed, it passes right through to awesome.