What

For my senior project, I plan to travel to Minneapolis and Chicago and intern at various independent radical stores and organizations in order to find out how volunteer-powered institutions are successfully (or not successfully) run. I would apply what I learn to my community in Bloomington and figure out how to incorporate those values into creating a sustainable business or organization here later in life, which would help foster more excitement and bonding within the community.

Currently, I have two definite places to volunteer at in Minneapolis: Arise! Bookstore, which is more or less the Minneapolis equivalent of Boxcar Books here in Bloomington, and Twin Cities Indymedia, a radical website that focuses on news and self-published articles by members of the community. Arise! has several organizations that work out of its storefront, such as the Women's Prison Book Project. I'm also going to volunteer at Sister's Camelot in Minneapolis, which is a foodshare program. I expect that once I'm there, (and this goes for Chicago, too) I'll find even more places. A lot of organizations like this work mostly on a "show up and help out" basis and don't necessarily require a lot of pre-planning.

Two places in Chicago have emailed me back so far-The Chicago Independent Radio Program is going to be preparing for their annual fundraiser during the time I'm there, so I'll volunteer for them. Additionally, the Chicago Underground Library, a small collection of books and zines from the Chicago area, has agreed to let me intern with them.

How

The majority of the project will involve interning as much as possible at various places and observing how they're operated. I would interview the staff and founders, and also try to observe the punk communities in Minneapolis and Chicago as much as possible by meeting people, going to shows, etc, and generally get as much experience and insight into the inner-workings as possible.

When The first 2 weeks of February in Minneapolis, and the first 3 weeks of March in Chicago.

Why Because preserving my local punk community is something that's very important to me, and I don't think I can find a way to do that unless I have a better understanding of how collectives, non-for-profits, and independent institutions in general are run. My general philosophy in terms of keeping my community awesome involves replacing some of the businesses that have been lost (due to proprietors moving or big businesses taking over or inevitable change) with new businesses and ventures that will strengthen the community.

Budget I'll need to pay for food, transportation, and possibly rent in Minneapolis, and some food and transportation in Chicago, but generally speaking it's going to be a pretty low-cost project. A generous estimate is somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000. Right now I make about $400 a month and I already have like $2,000 in my account, so I'll be fine for money.

Mentor Chris Clavin is the founder of Plan-It-X records, a punk record label founded on the principle that CDs should never cost more than they need to (CDs cost about $2 to manufacture, and Plan-It-X sells them for $5) and that punk music should be accessible to everyone who wants to hear it or make it. Plan-It-X is a big reason why the Bloomington scene exists at all, and Chris is a big reason why I'm doing this project in the first place.

Places to stay My family friend who lives in Minneapolis is currently finding me a place to stay, and in Chicago I'll stay with my aunt, her husband, and their 6 year old daughter.

Essential question What makes a folk-punk movement succeed or fail, and what lessons can be learned from this that apply to small communities in general?

Documentation Tons of pictures and lots of journaling and blogging (I'll bring my laptop). I want documentation to be a big part of this project, because the punk scene isn't something that's been photographed or recorded the way other scenes have.

Presentation A big slideshow with narration, and I would bring back materials (zines, books, whatever else that relates to where I'll be volunteering)

Impact on adult life This is probably the most important function of my project for me. I plan to live in Bloomington for a pretty long time, but only if the community I care about is stable. I've recently reached the conclusion that if I want the Bloomington punk community to stay unique and amazing and not get taken over by apathetic, drunk 20-somethings, I have to help steer everything in the right direction, because no one else is going to do it. I intend to dedicate at least part of my adult life to this community (or a similar community somewhere else) and I want to have the skills and understanding to do that effectively.