If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will notice that the ticker under “Blog Stats” gained another digit on the left. This week, the blog reached 350,000 total hits! I want to take this milestone as an opportunity to thank you for your support since this website kicked off — to everyone who’s read, shared, liked, and commented on articles. As a reminder, you can make your guest post submissions using the following link.

For the 50 most recent posts, click here. For the complete archive of articles, click here. You can also view all interviews or transcripts.

Let me know any ideas you have to make the site better. Drop a note in the comments or you can access the contact form here.

Next update will come at the one million mark.

Creator Villa

Creator Villa

There’s a fascinating story hot right now in the sports world. For those who aren’t clued in, Kwame Brown was drafted #1 overall by Michael Jordan’s Washington’s Wizards in the 2001 NBA Draft. He was the first athlete from high school to ever achieve that distinction, and was only 18 years-old at the time. Kwame ended up playing 13 seasons in the NBA with 8 different teams, grossing $64 million in salary before taxes. He averaged ~7 points and 6 rebounds in ~22 minutes per game.

Despite his long and lucrative career, Kwame was frequently labeled a “bust” for not living up to the expectations of the first overall pick. ESPN’s Stephen A Smith was his most vocal critic, and routinely referred to him as a “bonafide scrub,” and intentionally mispronounced his name as Kwamé (It’s KwamÄ“). After keeping quiet for two decades that spanned his entire career and several years post-retirement, the now-retired Kwame recently sounded off against his critics. His YouTube channel has grown to nearly 240,000 followers as of the time of this writing, in one of the most meteoric rises of any social media personality.

I’m not going to get into the individual beefs Kwame has with a wide variety of personalities. You can Google that on your own time. I will outline 4 factors that I think explain Kwame Brown’s extreme popularity, and what my main takeaways are from this dramatic saga.

1. Comic relief

Kwame Brown is funny, even while addressing very serious topics. His “Momma’s cooking,” and “with seasoning” are among his favorite lines that have become a kind of trademark. “Momma’s cooking”–I think–is a reference to the values and character he was raised with. He uses this line often while addressing or roasting his critics. In this context, you can guess what “with seasoning” signifies.

2. Humble beginnings

Kwame overcame great odds to play in the NBA for more than a decade. In one of his live streams, he referenced how he started taking care of his family from age 14 and was a part of the free lunch program at his school. This makes him a more relatable and likable personality.

3. Outspoken character

For someone who was maligned and ridiculed for as long as he was to now forcefully stand up for himself is pretty much universally appealing. Kwame got a number of critics to apologize to him in a way that I have never seen before, while others have kept quiet in uncharacteristic fashion. Kwame does not have much of a filter, nor does he seem to care what people think about his opinions, whether that’s sports, politics, or society. Outspokenness is a personality trait that people widely admire.

4. Social consciousness

In Kwame’s live streams, he frequently addresses the charity work he is involved in. Kwame has talked about building community centers and giving back, especially in the areas that need it the most. He has also addressed some issues with the modern school system, even ideas that I’ve mentioned in the past on this blog (e.g. how much little kinetic energy there is.) Kwame has also been critical of how the media uses their platforms to trash, slander, and tear down people in an effort to get ratings and make money. I think a lot of people agree with him and are tired of how superficial and click-baity so much modern media has become.

Whatever you think of the man, Kwame now has a pretty big platform that only seems to be getting bigger by the day. Hopefully, he decides to use his newfound popularity for the betterment of society and to pursue some of the philanthropic goals he has talked about.

One thing this story calls to mind is the importance of watching what comes out of my mouth. This is ancient wisdom that seems to have been lost in modern times, especially with the anonymity afforded by social media. When we get loose with our words, especially as they relate to other people, we invite chaos and drama into our lives.

Here are a few Biblical proverbs that I was reminded off while witnessing the fallout from this drama.

He who guards his mouth protects his life, but the one who opens his lips invites his own ruin.

Proverbs 13:3

A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating.

Proverbs 18:6

Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

To billions of fans around the world, soccer is better known as “The Beautiful Game” (O Jogo Bonito, in Portuguese). This phrase was popularized by the legendary footballer Pelé, who won three world cups with the Brazilian national team in the late 50s and early 60s. Today, soccer universally garners respect as the world’s most popular sport. No other game inspires and captivates more youth, and no event brings people together quite like the World Cup.

This week, I had the privilege of interviewing my good friend, Alioune Tandiang, about his passion for the sport. Ali played Center Back in college and is the founder of H-Town, a semi-pro soccer team based out of Columbus, Ohio, currently in its 8th year of operation. The following is a lively account of a 90-minute conversation in which Ali details the positive effect the game has had on his life and in the community. I initially thought this was going to be a chill article on soccer, but it turned out be a lot more biographical and insightful than I envisioned. l hope you have half as much fun reading it as I had putting it together. FYI, you can catch Ali outside on Instagram @A_Tandiang.

Tell the people about yourself.

My name is Alioune Tandiang, and I go by Ali. My family is originally from Dakar, Senegal. I was born in Kuwait City and moved to the states when I was 7 years old. I am a graduate of Cincinnati Christian University with a degree in Business. I currently work at Nationwide as a Life Solutions Analyst.

I played basketball and football my whole life, and first made the transition to soccer when I was 17 years old because I thought I wasn’t good enough to play football. This was back during my junior year at Harvest Prep.

When did you know you had a passion for the game?

My senior year of high school, so I would say it took about a year. Practice was one thing, but playing in the game was the best feeling in the world. I had the desire to continue playing in college, but I didn’t think I was good enough. I figured I would be going up against kids who had played their entire life. It wasn’t going to happen until my friend Devin, who was a freshman on the team at Ohio Christian University, got in my ear and egged me on to try out. Long story short, I ended up trying out, and I made the team.

That first year was pretty rough. I didn’t play much at all outside of garbage time. What’s worse is I had to drop out of school at the end of the year due to financial hardship. After I got enough money to ­go back two years later, assuming I would be on scholarship, I was informed by the coach that they could not offer me financial aid. “Ali, it hurts me to tell you, but we don’t have a spot for you.”

I thought my college soccer career was over, but I decided I wasn’t going to give up. I looked around for schools in the area that were offering athletic scholarships when an opportunity at Cincinnati Christian University caught my eye. I reached out to the coach, who offered me a tryout, and I made the team. However, I was told, since I hadn’t been in school for two years, I would have to sit out my first year. There I was this 23-year old freshman on scholarship but unable to see the field.

In my first year of eligibility, I earned a starting spot at Center Back. I can tell you I was glad when I saw OCU on our schedule, the team that said they didn’t have a spot for me. I started against them, and we ended up winning 1-0. It was an amazing feeling. That year, we set a record for conference and regular season wins since CCU made the transition to the more competitive NAIA Division. I played soccer every year while I was there and graduated with a degree in Business Management.

A few years ago, you founded an amateur league team called H-Town. What inspired you?

I started H-Town in 2013 a year after I graduated high school and a few months before I made the team at OCU. I still wanted to play organized soccer, like I said, I just didn’t think I was good enough. I also loved playing and competing with my brothers and friends. That was the biggest thing for me, and to give others that same opportunity. There are a lot of people who can’t afford to play in college or aren’t good enough.

H-Town stuck around even after I enrolled in school. The games were every Sunday in Columbus, which is where most of my family and friends lived. College games are usually Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. When I was at CCU, I came home every single weekend just to play and compete. My coach didn’t know it, or I probably would have got in trouble.

H-Town also became a thing on social media. We made a Kik group back when the app was popular, and I and a few buddies would communicate on a daily basis. After it got bigger, we moved to Snapchat and Instagram. H-Town is like a brotherhood, and I got close to a lot of guys I knew in high school. In the beginning, we talked about soccer almost 24/7. We would debate who was better, Ronaldo or Messi, what color jerseys we would get, and what we could do better on the field. Now we talk about more grown up things, like career changes, real estate, and stocks. I think the change reflects our growth and maturity as people in different areas.

Getting people to sign up for the team and show up on game day are probably the biggest challenge for organizers of team sports. How do you make it happen year after year?

For us, the problem isn’t so much people showing up, but people showing up on time. It’s an amateur Sunday league, and people don’t have to compete for spots. They pretty much know they are going to get playing time. To me, it’s a sign of disrespect. A lot of times, I’m using my own money to fund the team, so if I’m asking you to show up 15 minutes early, it’s the least you can do. The first year, it was really bad, but the only way I could get people to show up on time was by taking playing time away. I never want to be that guy, but we want to be able to field a full team and compete every week.

The makeup of the team is different every single year. People get injured. In 2018, I had fasciotomy surgery on my left leg and had to miss some time. I would give my teammates at CCU a ride to Columbus on Saturday to compete for H-Town on Sunday, and I would chauffer them back home Sunday evening. It took some hustle, but I always made sure H-Town was in good hands.

H-Town has its core, which consists of me, my brothers, my cousin Demba, and a few other OGs, including people from Harvest Prep—Corey, Devin, Trenton. There are also guys I know from the community or met playing pick-up soccer.

A lot of people analogize sports with life. Can you identify any lessons or truths from the game that have application in real life? 

I would say success doesn’t happen overnight. That’s my biggest lesson from H-Town and just life in general. When we first started, I thought it would be a cakewalk. I played high school soccer, my brothers and I are somewhat athletic. We were playing against a lot of older guys. I thought we would dominate. What I learned fast is that it takes a while to develop the camaraderie of success. In fact, we didn’t have success initially. We had the talent, but we lacked the chemistry. I made mistakes. I recruited really good players who didn’t fit in with what we were trying to accomplish. It could be that they lacked discipline or were disrespectful. Success isn’t about having the best players, it’s about having chemistry. It’s about having people who work well as a team.

In H-Town’s first year competing in the Columbus Premier League back in 2014, we lost every game but one. Mind you, this was the B Division. Before the season started, I asked the commissioner to be placed in the A Division. I told him we dominated in the Westerville League. We’re winning by 9-10 goals. The B Division is too easy. The commissioner told me, “It’s not going to be like that. You’re going to struggle.” I literally laughed. I told my friends and they laughed with me.

Our first game in the CPL, we lost 4-0. It was a rude awakening. The rest of the season didn’t go much different. We kept losing, and we kept arguing. I even got into a few confrontations with players on our team. In hindsight, it was something that needed to happen. The next two or three years in the CPL, we were unable to advance to the A Division, but we made a lot of progress.

H-Town’s last season, before Covid hit, we were one game away from finally qualifying for the first division. If we would have won or tied that game, we would have gotten promoted. Every year, the top two teams of the B Division get promoted to the A Division, and the bottom two teams of the A Division get relegated to the B Division. And so we’ve gotten a lot better, and we’ve learned that success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hard work and it takes time, and that’s true for both H-Town and life.

What is your dream job? 

To be a college soccer coach at a Power Five school. That’s NCAA, Division One. I want to help people with the knowledge I have, and I think the best way I can relate to others is through the game. It’s my passion. I love soccer, and I love helping people, and coaching brings all of that together.

This isn’t a goal I’m actively pursuing, as my focus right now is in the business world. I’m trying to obtain my Series 6 license, which will enable me to give professional financial advice. Things like what kind of life insurance policy to enroll in. I also have financial goals I want to meet—get an apartment, pay off student loans, things of that nature. But my dream job is to coach college soccer, and I hope one day to achieve it.

You have a pretty famous habit of collecting soccer cleats. How many pairs do you currently own? 

I own about 9 pairs. Some are old. Some are pairs I bought just for the hec of it. I got a pair of New Balance cleats when I was working at Dicks Sporting Goods. A New Balance rep came to me. He said, “I know you play soccer. I’ll give you a gift card. You can order any New Balance cleat you want. I want you to play in it, and give us feedback on how we can improve our product.” I pretty much became a test dummy for New Balance cleats. They gave me their most expensive pair, the New Balance Furon, that retailed for around $210. New Balance was trying to make a comeback with soccer cleats to compete with elite brands like Nike and Adidas.

I’ve collected other ones just for the memory. I got the white and pink Nike Mercurial, one of the most famous cleats ever designed. These were the Euro Cup 2012 edition, worn by Ronaldo, who was one of my favorite players at the time. The damage on those was around $220 before tax. I also bought the Cristiano Ronaldo Galaxy Edition. I own both the indoor and the outdoor version.

Each cleat I own has a story. Every time I wear a cleat, it reminds me of a time and season of life.  

Can you describe the feeling of getting a new pair of cleats for someone who may not understand the appeal? 

You’re always excited to play, but when you get a new pair of cleats, it’s a whole ‘nother level. Is it comfortable? How is the touch? It’s like getting a fresh outfit for school. You’re excited to try it on and show it off, and you know that everyone is going to comment.

I know you used to play a lot of FIFA with your friends and teammates at CCU and compete in various tournaments. Is that something you still do?  

FIFA was a phase I grew out of. I did used to compete in a lot of tournaments with H-Town and at CCU. Let me tell you a story. For CCU tournaments, you would get three random draws when selecting your team. If you went for a fourth draw, you were stuck with whatever team came up, so it was a risky choice. During one school tournament on international mode, I wasn’t happy with my first three options, and I ended up getting stuck with India, literally the worst team in FIFA. Their overall was like 69, which is trash. It doesn’t matter how good you are, you typically won’t win with India.

I knew I was good enough to beat certain people, but not my friend and teammate Jaylen. He was the best FIFA player I have ever competed against. In the tournament, I won my first two games, and the third game was the championship. It was me against Jaylen. He had Ivory Coast, which was solid. Their overall was like 82. So I was playing against a better player with literally the worst team in the game, and the odds were against me.

The tournament was golden goal, which means the first team to score wins. All of my teammates were there, and there were about 40-50 people watching in the lobby. Everyone was rooting for me because you got to root for the underdog. The game started out really competitive, until I connected on a through ball and scored and won the tournament. The lobby went crazy. We were also competing for a $25 Canes gift card, which was nice. I played the best game of my life and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Everyone called me FIFA king for the rest of the year.

I stopped playing because of work. I work like crazy, and I’m in a committed relationship, so I don’t have time to play video games.

With so many top-notch leagues around the world from La Liga to the Premier League to Serie A, and more local ones like La Liga Mx and the MLS, the menu of professional soccer can be overwhelming. Which leagues or teams do you follow the most?

The leagues I follow the most are La Liga and the English Premier League. La Liga has my favorite team, Real Madrid, and they have one of the best teams ever in Barcelona, and one of the best players ever in Messi. I also like the EPL because that’s where Sadio Mané plays, the most famous player from Senegal.

These two leagues are the best in the world, and I like to watch the highest level competition. The winner of the Champions League tournament, where all the best teams around the world compete, is almost always from La Liga or the EPL. I also watch a bit of MLS and the German Bundesliga, but that’s about it.

A lot of American fans are unhappy with the state of soccer in the US. The US men’s national team failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia in 2018. What do you think is the biggest thing holding the US back from dominating CONCACAF, let alone competing with world powers like Argentina, Germany, Brazil?

I’ll tell you what holds the US back from competing with the rest of the world. First of all, they have a clear system in other countries. I’m talking about the Brazils and Spains and Argentinas of the world. The guys who go pro typically start playing competitively from like age 6, and work their way up the ranks. The infrastructure there is also different. There is no college soccer. And if there is, the best players don’t go there. What they do have are soccer academies. From a young age, kids will go to these academies where you take regular classes like math and science, but train soccer all the time. The expectation is that many of these kids will go on to play professionally. Look at Messi, who is from Argentina. Barcelona brough him to Spain as a kid to go through their academy, and he became the best ever.

In the states, we have soccer academies, but nobody lives there. And to attend, you have to be really rich. We have a system in the US called pay to play. If you’re parents aren’t rich, you aren’t going to academy, and if you do, it’s going to be a cheaper one. That’s the biggest problem. Not many people can afford to put down five or six grand so their kids can go to academy. If this system was in place in other countries, we would never have got Messi, Neymar, and Ronaldo because they all grew up dirt poor.

In the US, our top athletes play football or basketball or even baseball. At smaller schools and colleges, many people who play soccer aren’t athletic to begin with. Like I said earlier, I started playing because I couldn’t make it at those other sports. My friend Devin started playing to get in shape for football.

Americans also think soccer games are boring, so culture plays a role. Games sometimes only have one or two goals and can end in a tie. In high school and CCU, we always struggled to get people in the stands. Professional athletes also make way more money in these other sports, so there’s an economic dimension, but the culture comes first.

Your family is originally from Senegal, where a lot of kids grow up playing the game and idolizing the likes of Sadio Mané. Why do you think soccer has such great appeal in Senegal and around the world?

It’s the simplicity of the game. You don’t need pads. You don’t need a hoop. You just need a ball. And oftentimes, you don’t even need that. You hear stories of kids who play the game with water bottles. Soccer is really cheap and it brings people together.

Do you have a favorite footballer? What is it you like about him? 

Right now it’s Sadio Mané. Obviously, I’m biased. He’s from Senegal, and he’s one of the best players in the world. My favorite player used to be Cristiano Ronaldo, but Mané relates to me better. It’s not Mané’s talent because I’m not that good, but him being a guy who grew up in Senegal and continues to stay humble. You won’t see him flashing cars or jewelry. There are a lot of professional soccer players who are not humble, but as you get older you realize being humble is the way to go.

This interview would be incomplete if I didn’t ask you the million-dollar question. Who are you taking, Messi or Ronaldo? 

I grew up being a Ronaldo fan, and I used to argue that he is the best in the world. Now that I’m wiser and older, I realize that Messi is a better player. That said, I would prefer to have Ronaldo on my team because he is more clutch. I think he shows up in bigger games, but talent-wise, Messi is the best player I’ve ever seen. And he does it so effortlessly. Oftentimes, I’ll be watching the game and it looks like Messi is tired or doesn’t care, and he’ll come out of no where and score the best goal you’ve ever seen.

What’s next for you and H-Town? 

Our current season has been postponed due to the pandemic. It’s been a year and a half now since we took the field. The next season is set to start in April of this year. We have a championship game left from last year that we are still scheduled to play. If we win, we get promoted to Division A for the first time. I’ve started to reach out to guys that have played previously to see if they want to play again. Some people have already opted out. They are old now, have families, and don’t want to risk injury. We also have to see how the pandemic plays out, how many people get vaccinated. Things right now are very much up in the air.

I give you the last word. 

I’m not naturally outgoing. In high school and college, I had a reputation for being a quiet guy. At school and now work, people may think, “Ali is a really quiet guy,” but H-Town knows better. H-Town will tell you I’m a vocal guy who likes to yell and hype his team up. Soccer is my getaway. It’s a place for me to be me and get all of my energy out.

Soccer also kindled a lot of the relationships I now have. I probably would never have met people like you, Devin, and Jeff if it weren’t for the game. Even the job I now work. After graduating college, I could not find a job anywhere. They tell you friends and networking is important. The reason I have this job at Nationwide is a friend I met through soccer. His name is Dave Blamo. So soccer has been a real blessing to my life.

Every day you should forgive at least one person.

When you unite, anything is possible.

I’ve spent the last odd week glued to my phone. Keeping current on stock charts, r/wallstreetbets, Twitter, CNBC, and text chains with family and friends was a full-time occupation. I’ve been following the markets for years, and never have I been more riveted on what was going on. And never have I witnessed a market event garner this much attention from a diverse collection of personalities, ranging from politicians AOC, Ro Khanna, and Ted Cruz, to talking heads Chris Cuomo, Trevor Noah, and Tucker Carlson, to investing types Dave Portnoy, Mark Cuban, and Chamath. One thing is for certain and no matter what happens next week: the game of investing will never be the same again. 

I’m not going to explain here what a short squeeze is and how the rapid surge in $GME (GameStop stock ticker) triggered what may be the greatest short squeeze of all time. (A simple Google search has you covered). Nor am I going to explain how the rapid surge in other tickers like $AMC (movie theater), $NOK (Nokia), and $BB (BlackBerry) had a similar effect that prompted hedgefunds like Citadel and Melvin Capital to cover shorts and eat billions of dollars in losses, and was likely behind a 1,000 point dip in the S&P 500.

Had Robinhood CEO, Vladimir Tenev, and company not unexpectedly (and, to my mind, unfairly and unjustifiably) halted buying of these stocks on Thursday, January 28th, and limited the amount of shares that could be bought on Friday, January 29th, the effect would have been even more pronounced. Robinhood effectively crashed (temporarily) the price of these stocks, costing their retail customers millions of dollars and enabling billionaire hedgefunds like Citadel, with whom they also do business, to exit positions at a more favorable price point. The irony of the name Robinhood has not been lost on anyone. Whether the brokerage ever recovers, class action lawsuits aside, from what many of its users interpret as an epic scandal, and “the worst business decision of all time,” remains to be seen. 

It’s very clear that @RobinhoodAPP and Hedge Funds like Citadel are saying we’ll take our chances with class action lawsuits and white collar crimes and paying people off to stay out of prison rather than their firms going bankrupt #DDTG. . . The thing that drives myself and so many people nuts is this belief that when this is over guys like Ken Griffin from Citadel Gabriel Plotkin from Melvin, Steve Cohen, and Vlad will be at some secret country club laughing at all of us. And deep down we know we are right. #DDTG.

Dave Portnoy, Founder of Barstool sports, who owns stock in nokia and amc. this week he became a voice for retail investors through his many viral tweets and media appearances.

The short squeezes took a coordinated effort, organized primarily on Reddit’s r/ wallstreetbets forum, on the part of tens of thousands of small cap retail investors. While many people were first introduced to the forum this week, which now boasts of millions of subscribers, the reality is Reddit had been planning the squeeze for months in a bid to save GameStop and make Wall Street pay for its greedy, dubious short-selling practices (link). This week marked the first time retail investors managed to radically drive market momentum in an event that is likely to trigger permanent changes in the way hedgefunds and institutions invest their money, and engender new SEC regulations governing markets.

I got to say I LOVE LOVE what is going on with #wallstreetbets. All of those years of High Frequency Traders front running retail traders, now speed and density of information and retail trading is giving the little guy an edge. Even my 11 yr old traded w them and made $. . . Why does Wall Street have such an advantage over the little guy? The SEC. SEC doesn’t follow laws. They have legal precedents. Which means they can sue you knowing you have no financial ability to fight back. As can Wall St. SEC protects no one but the jobs of their own lawyers. . . They [the SEC] could be very clear about what is allowed and what isn’t but they won’t. Why ? Because their entire workforce is built on lawyers who want to Litigate to Regulate. They don’t want clear delineation. They want to sue. They want to intimidate.

Shark Mark Cuban, owner of the dallas mavericks, adding his two cents to the theme this week on twitter.

Top-down enforcement of rules against naked shorting and other leveraged instruments (e.g. effectively capping short interest somewhere below 100%), and voluntary portfolio hedging measures are a likely outcome of this debacle. Billionaire Mark Cuban, for example, said on CNBC this week that he “hedged the hec out of [his] portfolio” to protect himself against unpredictable momentum moves like this in the future. All wise investors will follow suit, and short investors will think long and hard before placing their bets in the future. It is the end of an era, and the beginning of a new, less predictable one with multiple centers of power and less institutional domination.

Facebook and @RobinhoodApp are the same: They both trick you into thinking you are the customer. But, in fact, you are the product and your data is the asset. These assets are then sold to their true customers who pay them money and always at your expense. STOP BEING TRICKED! . . . All the money in 2008 was made by suits identifying a market dislocation and exploiting it. All the money in 2021 was made by retail identifying a market dislocation and exploiting it. . . until the suits intervened. . .In moments of uncertainty, when courage and strength are required, you find out who the true corporatist scumbags are.

Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, who published these viral tweets and became a spokesman for retail investors.

The GameStop saga is so fascinating because it features the intersection of multiple sociopolitical and cultural dynamics. There’s traditional Wall Street / institutional investors versus Main Street / retail investors (IE “big money” versus “small money”). Or “class warfare” framed in more conventional, adversarial terms. There’s also the rise of the internet and online communities as a catalyst for social change. This second dynamic was epitomized by the numbers of r/wallstreetbets users and cooperatives who loyally held their holdings in $GME and $AMC, and added to their positions, all the while mainstream powers were doing everything in their power to create selling pressure.

Take the home run. Don’t go for the grand slam. Take the home run. You’ve already won. You’ve won the game.

Jim Cramer, on CNBC’s “squawk on the street” the morning of 1.29.2021.

“Diamond hand or bust” became the mantra, in a testament to the resolve of many retail investors to ignore the advice of Jim Cramer and company (the high-energy host of Mad Money, who is widely considered an ally of ordinary investors) by holding at all costs, and refusing to take profits or panic sell. Documentaries, theses, PhDs, TV shows, criminal investigations, dramatic anecdotes, and countless articles like this one will spring from this. The GameStop Saga is one of the most significant market events to ever transpire and a fascinating legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw massive growth in retail investing and online communities. 

Motivation on r/wallstreetbets ranged from punishing Wall Street and “sticking it to the man” for exploiting the public for decades, community solidarity, and simply making $. While next week will dictate whether it was a grand slam or simply a homerun, one thing is for sure: the Redditors and the retail investors won. And they won by a landslide.

What is your biggest takeaway from the events that transpired this week? 

The average person in the 21st century is bombarded with negative media on the daily. I’m talking about politics, crime, gossip, and marketing that preys on human psychology. Everybody has an agenda, but is that agenda in our best interest? What if, instead of blindly going with the flow and feeding our worst instincts, we went out of our way to circulate positive media? I bet we would all be a little less neurotic and a little more grateful for the lives that we live. That’s the gap I hope to bridge in this article.

This week I called up my good friend, Jeffrey Hawthorne, to enlighten me with the good taking place in the world. Jeffrey has spent the better part of the last 5 years in the business world. He is the Founder and President of Take Courage International (TCI), a non-profit based out of Honduras. In this article, Jeffrey elaborates on the charitable work being done by TCI, and the role that vision and faith have played in his personal evolution. For him, the motto is “one step at a time,” trusting that the right process will yield the desired outcome. I hope by the end of the page, you feel a little more compassionate and in-tune with what truly matters in life, as this is the effect our 90-minute conversation had on me.

Take Courage exists to change the future of children and leaders around the world by meeting needs and unlocking potential.

TCI Mission Statement

Tell the people a little bit about yourself.  

I live in Columbus, Ohio, with my wife Fabiola of almost two years. I studied business in college, and currently work in banking and finance as a Portfolio Manager. I have entrepreneurial ambitions that are still in development. My true passion, however, lies in the charitable work that I’m involved in. It is what gives me energy and makes my heart come alive. Due to the demands of my current job, I have to make time for it in the evenings and on the weekends.

When did the thought first occur to you, “I want to start a foundation!”

I remember one day I was sitting in a college class. It was a liberal arts theology requirement. That day, I started dreaming of founding a non-profit that did all sorts of different things. The non-profit would serve as a food bank, a homeless shelter, a boys and girls club. It would teach classes and offer skills training. It might have a church or ministry associated with it. I envisioned a large campus that would serve as a home for these activities. This is my first recollection, back in the spring of 2014.

How long did it take the vision to reach fruition?

The foundation was an outgrowth of mission trips we were taking to Honduras. I started going twice a year with a team of people from my church. These trips were evangelical in nature. A fellow team member, Avery, suggested we add a philanthropic dimension to the work being done, that could serve the population both while we were there and after we had left. The team decided to focus on one poor village we were acquainted with, Nueva Esperanza, located in Santa Barbara, Honduras. We conducted healing clinics, complete with prayer and medical supplies, and a nurse practitioner accompanied us on our trips. We also raised money from our church to sponsor needy children. Local pastors identified the children with the greatest need. The money went toward clothing, school supplies, Christmas and birthday cards, and occasional medical screens. Kids in the program would leave school and go to the church to eat lunch. Altogether, we started sponsoring around 15 kids.

While all of this was going on, I got the opportunity to meet with Nelson Castellanos, who was El Presidente de Municipalidades, a local mayor who had 16 villages under his jurisdiction. We chatted and prayed in his office. Recognizing the impact of our work, Mr. Castellanos later committed his office to providing lunches to an additional 250 children in 2017. This was confirmation of the work we were doing and motivated us to keep moving forward.

In February of 2018, I took action to formalize our work through Ohio’s Secretary of State Office. Operating under an official organization would provide structure and integrity. It would give people an accountable way to give and create mechanisms for assessing the execution of our mission. It was the logical next step.

As for the organization today, it consists of a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasury. I occupy the first and last roles, while my friends Avery and Hannah are Vice President and Secretary, respectively. Everyone contributes on a volunteer basis, with the exception of a field program coordinator and local pastor who receives a modest stipend.

What was the hardest part getting started?

When you found a non-profit, you are required by the government to draft bylaws and articles of incorporation, addressing the who, what, where, when, and why aspects of the organization. I didn’t find this part particularly challenging. However, due to a misunderstanding of terms, I made the mistake of classifying the organization as a private entity rather than a public one when filing with the IRS to receive nonprofit status. I reached out to an accountant who agreed to help us out pro bono, and it still ended up taking several months in limbo and costing us around $500 to get the designation corrected. This sum was in addition to the original $500 we paid to get the organization incorporated and considered a 501(c)(3).

You were born and raised in the American Midwest. TCI is based out of Honduras. When did you know you had a heart for Central America?  

In the beginning, it had more to do with need and opportunity. A missionary friend from my church, who had lived in Honduras for years, opened up a door for us to start accompanying him on trips. That initial connection led to new doors being opened and new relationships being developed that outgrew the original ones. As I got more involved, my love for the people there took on a life of its own. Honduras is also where I met my wife, Fabiola, in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, through the work we were doing.

In November of 2020, Hurricane Eta (Category 4) and Hurricane Iota (Category 5) swept through large parts of Central America, including Honduras, leaving behind hundreds of deaths, widespread property destruction, and around $10 billion in overall damages. Can you talk about the role TCI played in the disaster relief effort?

Local infrastructure and buildings were highly susceptible to flooding. In a lot of Honduran homes, the floors are not sealed to the doors, and so light rain can penetrate, let alone rain of a torrential variety. You can imagine the hurricanes sweeping through towns, destroying cars, homes, and neighborhoods. The landscape didn’t stand a chance.

The relationships we had built in the country enabled us to respond in a timely fashion. It started with my in-laws’ church in Tegucigalpa. They donated clothes, beds, jackets—anything they could bring to people in need. Tegucigalpa is located in the South. Most of the damage took place in the North, in an area called La Lima, close to the airport. Businesses in the capital and places that had not been ravaged donated commercial-grade trucks for transport. As for TCI, we launched an aggressive fundraising campaign, letting people know what was going on and that we were making plans to help. Mind you, we had to think on the fly, as this this wasn’t something we had prepared to handle.

We deposited the money into the country in three waves. The first wave, accounting for the majority of donations, came within 48 hours, and the second came within a week. Both of them went toward food. We discovered that for $15, we could feed a family of 5 for 15 days. We worked with local grocers to source the food and created a care package with basic foodstuffs like pasta, rice, and beans. In this way, we were able to support local business and people that had been affected by the disaster in different ways. In the end, with additional financial support from two local churches in Honduras, we were able to raise enough money to supply 90,000 meals. We also assembled bags of baby formula and diapers for mothers and babies. We ended up doing 200 of those.

TCI donated the third wave of money, which came in throughout the month, to people whose homes were still standing but had lost everything inside. We had a connection with pastors in the city of Comayagua, who had already begun this work and were responsible for administering the aid.

It seems to me that most people are really busy with their lives, trying to keep up with their personal goals and obligations. Some have good intentions when it comes to others, but don’t make the time to reach out. Any advice for us—how do you balance the charity work you do with the responsibilities of your private life?

The first thing I will say is I’ve definitely struggled with finding the time myself. I partially fit the definition of having good intentions but letting other obligations get in the way. The last two years, I’ve moved twice, gotten married, done many things that have taken time away from the good that I could be doing, all the while dealing with my own life processes and emotions.

There are times when I may not feel like it, I may not want to, I may think up any number of excuses. In those times, I remind myself of the vision, which gives me the motivation to keep going. The vision of TCI is in line with what I believe my life purpose is, to feed the nations in spirit, in soul, and in body. In addition, I have found that moving forward with the work is always in my own best interest, even amidst personal life challenges. When I waste time pursuing fruitless endeavors, it only exacerbates whatever I may be going through, while philanthropic work tends to have the opposite effect.

That was the macro-level answer. On the micro-level, I think of the individual lives being impacted, the names and faces of children that we are sponsoring. I think of Enrique and Evelyn and Jeysi. Organization and management are important, but you never want to lose touch with the individual because that’s what it’s ultimately all about.

Where do you envision TCI 5-10 years from now? Do you have any intention of changing or growing the mission? 

First and foremost will always be feeding the children and taking care of their basic needs. Also, I want to teach children how to dream. About a better future. About who they can be and what they can accomplish in life.

One goal of mine is to develop a curriculum, entitled What I Can Be. A lot of people in underdeveloped areas, often rural, have a narrow concept of what they can go on to do, informed by the constraints of their immediate environment. They may be able to envision 4 or 5 career paths—field work, construction, ministry, medicine, education—that’s pretty much it. And some may aspire to work in the car industry. The heart behind this idea is to acquaint kids from a young age with the abundance of opportunities out there. When they’re 5, it may be as simple as instilling the idea, “Oh, cool. I can be an engineer.” As they get older, we would teach them the specifics of different occupations and connect them with the educational and financial resources to pursue them. Instead of a few possibilities, we multiply that by a factor of 10. Scientists, lawyers, engineers, politicians, accountants, and so on and so forth. This is how you impact society from the bottom up.

I also want to connect with local leaders working in their communities to bring about societal transformation. There are many such people, doing much good, who already have a vision for what transformation looks like. In developing countries, you often get these well-meaning people who come from the West with their money and dictate to the locals what they need to do. “Hey, this is what change is going to look like.” I have found, though, that partnering with local leaders, who have real influence and insight, is a preferable way of going about it. This is what I would call top-down impact. When you impact children from the bottom up and leaders from the top down, transformation in the whole of society is the natural outcome.

I should add that I want the work to grow and expand in an organic fashion. To my mind, material and relational growth should go hand in hand. Before we increase the number of kids we sponsor and expand into other domains, we want to master the processes, procedures, and relationships that are already in place. We also don’t need the added pressure of forcing anything that may not be a good fit. Having said that, more sponsorships, more medical and healing clinics, microloans for businesses, scholarships, etc. would all be amazing to see.

Eventually, I also want to expand outside of Honduras. I have no geographic region or timetable in mind, and will stick to my policy of letting things play out organically, relationally, to the best of my abilities. Ideally, we will be able to adapt some of what we’ve learned into any new mission fields. The goal is to take it one step at a time with the belief that eventually these steps will lead us around the world.

Anything else you want to say to the people reading this?

Whatever things make you heart come alive, whatever things you find purpose in–Do more of those things. You don’t need to know all of the answers before you take the first step. And you can continue taking steps without knowing all of the answers. Also, it is alright to stumble, just get back up and keep taking more steps. Visit the website if you want to get involved or discover more information about who we are and what we do.

A myriad of factors influence the popularity and circulation of articles. I’m talking about things like content, headline, pictures, and writing style. But there’s one factor that’s often overlooked: word count. During the last year, I’ve consistently observed that 1) relatively shorter posts tend to do better in the WordPress Reader and 2) relatively longer posts tend to better with search engines.

I get the sense that many bloggers follow a large number of blogs and value broad familiarity with what’s going on in the blogosphere. They often seek creative inspiration or something to improve their lives with no particular agenda in mind. This translates into an interest in relatively shorter posts. Search engine users, on the other hand, know exactly what they’re looking for. They don’t have a Reader full of blogs they follow and must go out of their way to find particular content that appeals to them. This makes them more eager, once they do find that content, to linger over it.

Another factor is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which determines how search engines rank the order of webpages. Based on my research, search engines like Google prefer relatively longer posts in the 1,000 to 2,000 word count range. I doubt the Reader has this same preference (without any hard data). Also, when you follow a blog, you get a notification for every new post, even if it’s as short as Word of the Day. As an author determining when to cap your posts, you should consider your audience. Is this post targeted to other bloggers in the WordPress Reader or to readers who will find it via search engine?

I routinely check the site stats WordPress collates, and more than 85% of the the traffic for Creator Villa comes from search engines. That is partially why many of my articles tend to be on the longer side—I believe people will read them and benefit from them. However, I also know an article like this one is likely to generate more interest among bloggers via the Reader, so it’s wise to take into account particular articles as well as overarching site trends.

Is article length something you are intentional about, as a blogger and/or reader of blogs?