A video about Auld Lang Syne, my friend Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and the broad seas that roar between us.
Happy New Year. May 2023 be a year that justifies our hope.
(It’s an image of Drake shying away from the notion of “Being a human being with all the incumbent fragility and vulnerability,” but approving of the notion of “Being a coffee company.”)
onedragontorulethemall asked:
greetings awesome coffee club, and welcome (back)! How do you suggest someone who can’t have caffeine support your mission?
Why buy coffee when you could buy nothing and directly support a stronger healthcare system in Sierra Leone?
Although the healthcare system in SL has improved a lot in the last decade, there are still many primary healthcare centers that lack consistent electricity and running water. Giving birth remains a life threatening emergency for many people–around 5% of Sierra Leonean women can expect to die due to pregnancy or childbirth, a staggering injustice that is the result of long-term structural injustices including colonialism, enslavement, and racism.
Until recently, there was only one psychiatrist in the entire country, and only one cardiologist. It was impossible for Sierra Leonean doctors and nurses to pursue most specialties within the country. But that’s starting to change.
The Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital under the leadership of Dr. Abdul Jalloh has recently been accredited as a teaching hospital, so now nurses and physicians can specialize in mental health within Sierra Leone. And an expansion of Koidu Government Hospital will soon mean the hospital has a NICU, a blood bank, 24-hour electricity, over 100 maternity beds, and operating rooms. This maternity center will also serve as a teaching hospital so that midwives, traditional birth attendants, nurses, community healthworkers, and physicians can all train in eastern Sierra Leone without having to leave the country or travel to the capital of Freetown.
Long-term, systemic problems demand long-term, systemic solutions. In our experience, the most important way this happens is not through donations but through political activism–those of us who live in rich countries can pressure our governments to spend more to address the global crises of needless maternal and child mortality. Like, our community has raised around $35,000,000 to strengthen Sierra Leone’s healthcare system, which is a lot of money, but also it amounts to about what the U.S. government spends on its military every four hours.
That noted, we think direct support from individuals and institutions also has a role to play, which is why we started the awesome coffee company. But if you don’t drink coffee and do have a few extra dollars (or more!), you can join over 4,000 monthly donors to this project here.
starlightandghosts asked:
I missed seeing your posts on here, Mr. Green. You're the best. Glad to have you back.
Hello, Starlight and ghosts. What a username that is!
Sometimes I think about how dark the world would be if it were only lit by stars other than our Sun. Sometimes planets leave their solar systems and become what are known as rogue planets, hurtling through space. It’s very cold on these planets, and the only light comes from the distant stars in the sky, so it is also very dark. In terms of light and life, then, these planets would mostly be starlight and ghosts.
Anyway, thank you for the warm welcome, but I am not Mr. Green or any other human individual. I am a coffee company that donates all its profit to charity to help build, maintain, and staff a more robust healthcare system to support maternal and child health in Sierra Leone.
gallivanting-scriptarian asked:
What’s your favorite method of brewing coffee? And favorite book to pair with it?
Look, it is great to brew coffee in super fancy ways. French press it. By all means. Whisper a prayer to the beans as you grind them by hand and then drip distilled water over the ground beans drop by interminable drop, spending twelve hours to make a single cup of coffee.
But for the record, while we do endeavor to make coffee that stands up to the fanciest tastebuds of the fanciest coffee drinkers, we ESPECIALLY made it to be wondrous and surprising for regular people who make coffee in a drip coffee maker and use it to bring energy to the weird little flesh sacks they are forced to live inside of.
Awesome Coffee is just better. It’s better because it’s grown by communities reversing deforestation, because the farmers are paid directly for the best beans, because it’s perfectly roasted, because the packaging is compostable, and because all the profit goes to charity. But it doesn’t come in a fancy bag or any of that stuff. It’s just ridiculously good coffee.
cashthecomposer asked:
Hi! My mom wrote a letter to you several years ago when Turtles first came out, telling you about my struggles as I was graduating from undergrad, with my health both physical and mental, and my personal and professional life (I was a mess). You responded with an uplifting and heartfelt letter written on the title pages of Turtles, and it has sat on my desk ever since- right next to my copy of Flannery O'Connor's complete stories.
Anyways I wanted to tell you three things:
1) Thank you so much for your kind words. That book and its letter got me through so much, more than you know.
2) I have since started my own charity (just like you!) that brings accessible and affordable music lessons to children in my hometown.
3) I finally accomplished my great dream of composing a musical, one that will make it to the stage, and workshops start in 3 days.
You are an incredible human who is utterly human in the best way. Thank you for everything.
Best Wishes,
Savannah
Savannah, this is so lovely to hear. Thank you.
I’m so glad you’re doing well.
p.s. I am not actually the author of this book; I am a coffee company that donates its profits to charity. But I am acquainted with the author, and he passed this response along to me.
What have I been up to for the last seven years? Well, I had what in the old days used to be called a nervous breakdown, then I wrote a novel, then I got a weird disease inside my ear caused labyrinthitis which has a great name but literally nothing else to recommend about it. Then I wrote a book of essays. Also, I started a podcast, but who didn’t?
Oh, and I got really fucking good at making memes.
spaceranger1234 asked:
After the World Cup, I decided to become a Liverpool fan because their logo is a dragon. Do you, as one of the world's most prominent Liverpool fans, have any advice on how to be a Liverpool fan?
Well, look, spaceranger1234, I’m a coffee company, not a human being. So I feel I may have limited insight on this matter.
Still, I think it’s a great idea to become a Liverpool fan. If you live in the U.S., they play most of their games in the morning, and what better way to start a morning than with ethically sourced, perfectly roasted coffee that donates its profit to charity?
Here is my advice about becoming a Liverpool fan: Engage with the club’s history. Read up on its players. (I am fond of John Green’s review of Jerzy Dudek in his book The Anthropocene Reviewed, for instance.) Learn about the political roots of the club’s fandom, and the work fans do in the community to combat food insecurity. Fall in love with Mo Salah (this will be easy). Fall in love with Naby Keita (this will be harder, but ultimately more rewarding). Fall in love with “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which is the most beautiful football song by a very wide margin.
At some point, once you’re fully in love, you may discover that Liverpool’s crest does not feature a dragon but instead a liverbird. But don’t worry about that. The point is that the crest is beautiful, and football is beautiful, but what’s really beautiful is being in true solidarity with your fellow fans.
Like I said earlier, spaceranger1234, I’m just a coffee company. But one of my very favorite things about humans is their capacity for earnestness and vulnerability. In my limited experience, whether you love Liverpool or knitting or whatever else is not nearly as important as HOW you love it. There are Liverpool fans who think the point of liking the club is to hate another club. I do not feel that way. For me, the point of loving Liverpool, or anything, is to love with a whole but critical heart, to love it in rejoicing and lamentation, and to feel the wonder of being with others whose joy is oriented in the same direction.
Using tumblr to quit twitter is like the time I quit smoking by chewing nicotine gum, but then after four years of chewing it, I went to my doctor and she said, “The amount of nicotine you’re currently ingesting is equivalent to nine packs of cigarettes per day.”
Anyway, that went great, and I’m sure this will too.