We were on our way to this new music festival that had such a cool location and line-up that it convinced a couple of non-festival goers from Bucharest who had never been that far North-West to plan a weekend getaway around it. It was smart, open-minded, feminist. An hour later we came up with a name and by the time we reached Cluj, it had a first edition sketched out on a yellow notebook with a drawing of a rabbit hugging a catatonic bearded guy.
It would be an online publication with first-person accounts of young adults telling of their journeys towards maturity. I had no idea how we were going to make it happen, but at that moment it seemed like all the resources I would need I could find among my friends and their friends.
The life stories, the photoshoots, the illustrations, the interviews, the translations, the programming. No money used except for event supplies and web hosting. Working without money, or actually bringing money from home can be rough. The doubt that it will ever become sustainable is still there. In fact, the publication was going through a slump when I first heard about Edgeryders, a couple of months ago.
When I understood that it was a community of people also working with limited resources on passion projects they believe make a difference, I felt relieved. Some people are pushing through. And I had a way to reach them.
A trademark of our times, uncertainty is here to stay. And we can ask for help. It used to be a sign of weakness, but asking for help nowadays seems like common sense. Have you reached the limits of your circle of friends?
