Philanthropic: A Word I Can't Say

Not because it's bad. It's not a cuss word, don't worry. I just literally cannot pronounce it. I was trying all week to tell people that I was going to a fi-lən-ˈthrä-pik event, and I couldn't get the word out of my mouth.

That point aside - this weekend was the second Philanthro Production I attended. They are, as Mikey put it, events that make you "feel like you live in LA."



The First: Over the summer Nora, Justin and I went to SAVOR THE SUMMER, in which all proceeds benefited cystic fibrosis. It was a white party and Nora and I looked good. By the end of the night I looked terrible. fruit, chocolate, tacos and tequila stained my white ensemble. Worth it. This event was a blast. Free tequila before ten meant that when we got there at 9:30 we each downed way too many shots. I don't know if you know this about me- but three tequila shots is too many. Drunk Marcus loves tacos and so did the front of my outfit. Pretty people, loud music, food, and flowing booze. It was the type of event that makes you feel "so LA." I disappeared into the bathroom and came out to find all of my friends had already cabbed home. I walked.

The Second: Philanthro Productions threw another soiree this past weekend, ASPIRE. This party benefited homelessness. We joked that for every martini we drank, we were keeping a martini out of the hands of the homeless in an effort to get their lives back on track. But we paid our entrance fee and entered a room too small for the amount of people this event brought. That's great. the draw tot his event (not that events like these need a draw, everyone in LA wants to appear like they care about things other than themselves) was that it had food from some of the best restaurants in Venice. We pigged out on cupcakes and meatballs and steak and pasta and salad. And then we felt bad, given that the homeless are probably hungry. So we bought drinks (91% of our drink price goes to the charity).

All in all, they're great events. They're fun and you're going to spend that much on a night out anyways, might as well have it go to a good cause.

Now onto another point: Charity is a funny thing. It makes you feel good about yourself, but is that why you do it? It shouldn't be right? But it kind of is. Not that that's necessarily bad, just kind of interesting. People love causes. Look at Haiti, people have come out of the woodwork to support the 3rd world country rebuild after the devastating quake, but no one seemed to care that it was third world to begin with. Why does it take a huge event to make us notice those less fortunate? Why does it take someone getting cancer, to make someone an advocate for cancer research (which I am, by the way). Why are celebrities who donate to Haiti after a quake hailed heroes, but those who donate regularly ignored? It's all apart of image, I suppose. The more public the tragedy or the cause, the more publicity the philanthropic gesture gets.



We should start publicizing charities like mad, maybe they'll get more public donations.