Ask Me If I Care

Picture it: it’s 1992 in an unincorporated town in Northeastern Wisconsin called Institute. My mom put my long hair in a low pony tail and cut it off. It was the perfectly imperfect asymmetrical grunge bob to go along with my steel-toed men’s work shoes, baggy jeans and Ocean Pacific t-shirts. “Teen Spirit” was in the air. I was the high school yearbook editor and I was determined to make “Ask Me If I Care” the best yearbook NE Wisconsin had ever seen.

Yes, I won “Best Theme Development” in journalism camp at UW Whitewater.

Yes, I sold more ads from local businesses that summer than our advisor had ever seen.

Yes, we used Quark Express floppy disks even though we still had to use layout paper in picas and exacto blades and rubber cement and metal rulers.

Yes. We processed our own film and photographs and drew crop marks with grease pencils. We had to match the photo label on the layout with the code on the photo for the publisher.

Yes, that yearbook won more awards than any high school yearbook had yet in our region.

Ask me if I care about the awards. Meh.

What we cared about was the process. What was the big win was blowing up full page photos of students who rarely got the spotlight (RIP, Tara). The thrill was challenging our storytelling chops in every column of copy. And the biggest victory was realizing that teamwork and collaboration worked better than bossy hierarchy or cliques.

Why should you care?

Caring is the most valuable commodity. Sure, we need to earn some cash to pay the bills. Without purpose, without heart, without caring about what you do, if you’re not connecting on any deep level, the money is just bad insulation for a void. Am I right?

Why do I bring this up now? Several reasons.

I’m going to be the keynote speaker at KEMPA in front of a sea of teenage journalism students. It has me reflecting. A lot!

American Family Insurance asked me to teach my Fun Fiction Business Book workshop to an Innovation Design Team. Someone who took my workshop at Forward Fest highly recommended it and I know why. We collectively shut down our inner critics that day.

Women In Tech is bringing me in for a workshop “Writing for the Web: Celebrating Your Brilliant Brains” just before Halloween. We’re going to trick and treat the various voices in our minds.

And it seems this is the time of year when we creative freelancers are asking ourselves if it’s absolutely insane to earn income from our passions. We question whether or not we should “just get a job” that is more predictable “for the man” and collect our bi-weekly same-dollar-amount paychecks and succumb to the numb. [insert queasiness]

It takes courage to care. It takes humanity and heart to lead with love. And each and every one of us has the capacity to be the change-maker the world needs to see.

So I’ll ask you, you wonderful human you, the questions I plan to ask the high schoolers: 

Are you brave enough to care?

Do you care about revealing the hidden heroes in your community? 

Do you care about creating a platform for diverse perspectives that can reshape our understanding of the world?

Do you care about bridging divides and fostering connections through your work?

Do you care about igniting curiosity, empathy, and action in your audience?

If these questions resonate with you, if they stir something deep within you, then you're in the right place. Because caring about these things – truly, deeply caring – is what sets us apart.

Ask me if I care to work with you.

PS- that smiley 17-year-old was so sure she was going to be a book author and write for National Geographic. Well at least I made one of those dreams come true.

We’ll be revealing the new website with new book page SO SOON! Eeeeee!

You’re wonderful,

Laura Paisley Beck

aka Wa’am