Pascal Folly: An American in Berlin

As promised, I now have the full feature on Pascal online and ready to share!

Check out the original post on Pascal for background information.

And click here to see the SoundSlide I created as part of my photojournalism course in Berlin!

Plus, if you want to see profiles on other Berliners created by my classmates, click here! Stay tuned for some more of our photography of the city and a video of our trip by our TA and award winning photographer, Daron Dean.

Comment below with your thoughts!



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American Expat Finds Artistic Challenge in Berlin

As part of my class requirements for this photojournalism course here in Berlin, I am required to find a Berliner and profile them. We want to learn where they came from, what they do, what makes Berlin special in their eyes. We follow them around for a bit to collect photos, interview them, and make a Soundslide project. Eventually, those Soundslides will appear on a website and our work also appears in a published book that our professor puts together.

I've mentioned Pascal to you before. Pascal is my subject. I met Pascal when our group visited Dr. Pongs, a sort of simplistic, underground bar that has a ping pong table. Pascal bar tends part time at Pongs. We hung out a couple different times, sampled cappacinos and espressos together from a variety of cafes around Berlin. He also took me to his studio where I got to see a sampling of his work. Here's my little narrative on him. Soon, I'll post the Soundslide version as well:


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By day, American expatriate Pascal Folly paints, teaches English, takes walks, drinks coffee at his favorite cafes and volunteers with the homeless. By night, he bar tends, dances, parties and enjoys the vibrant techno-infused nightlife of Berlin. After living abroad in Brazil and Japan, Folly returned home to Washington, D.C. where he and his artwork felt stagnant. 

“I had no lady, no sword, no shield and no quest,” said Folly. After hearing many positive things about the city, Folly decided to just pick up and go. He ventured to Berlin in 2012 for the first time to challenge himself and his artistic approach in a brand new environment. He didn’t know anyone in Berlin and didn’t speak the language. For the first time, Folly felt failure. But he also experienced a city that was open and full of potential. Folly was newly inspired to develop his paintings in his shared studio space, experimenting with abstract circles and lines. He also admires the sense of community he found in the city. “In Berlin, people respect what you assign value to,” Folly said. “So, if you want to be an artist, you be one.”

Berlin is for Lovers and I Feel Creepy

I never thought I would be "creeping" on people as much as I have these past few days.
Peering at the world from behind a camera lens alters your perspective of the things around you. 

I find myself examining moments that I would look past as a tourist.

A couple shares a moment together in the Berliner Dom.

I look at people when they think they aren't being watched, and I try to capture that moment. Instead of focusing much on the buildings and monuments, which are definitely worth capturing, I'm instead looking at the people around me. Other tourists, Germans, my classmates, etc.
It can get awkward, I'll be honest. Sometimes you have to fake another photo at something in the distance behind your subject and hope for the best.

A couple stops for a selfie at Alexanderplatz.

But doing that allows you to examine people in a different way. You become aware of acute differences between people. But more importantly, you become aware of the similarities.

My favorite moments are moments shared with strangers. A smile, a chuckle over their cute kid, or even discontent and an audible "Scheiße" as the tram stops because of technical difficulties and makes you walk. 

 I'm enjoying having the excuse, or rather, the opportunity to do this, to be "creepy", in a foreign city. And I am very excited to really begin work with my subject Pascal today. I'll be traveling to his art studio to take pictures of him working and also interview him about his experience in Berlin.

Berlin is for writers, artists, tourists, history buffs, mechanics, students, teachers, lovers and everything in between.
And I love being creepy.

Another pair pauses to embrace in the cool afternoon in Berlin's Tiergarten.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of public transportation,
this couple hugged before saying goodbye at a platform in Alexanderplatz.

A man looks at a woman on a boat trip across the lake in Wannsee.

A father and son watch ducks swim by at a pond in the Tiergarten.

Berlin: Poor but Sexy

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Willkommen to Berlin!
This blog post is long overdue.
I'm supposed to be blogging while I'm here in Germany, as part of a Photojournalism study abroad trip I am doing with my college.
But each time I tried to sit down and write about this city and my ongoing experience in it, I got stuck.
I have found Berlin really challenging to describe. It truly is unlike any other major city I've been to, and it hasn't at all aligned with my expectations.

Shayla, me and Amanda stop for a selfie at the Wall.
You can follow Shayla's adventures here.

Not only do you have a Berlin that was once separated, now converged, but you have a Berlin that is constantly changing.

Professor Freeman, the photojournalism teacher leading our trip, says each year he comes, he seems buildings and stores come and go.

I'm liking the city so far though, I have to say.
I compared Berlin to someone who you "meet" for the first time on Facebook. You think you've got them figured out. Then you meet them in "real life" and the impression totally changes. You know at least one of those people, right? Yeah. That's Berlin.

We've done walking tours, biking tours, spent decent chunks of time on public transportation, and still this city was throwing me for a loop.
It wasn't until I separated from my group, and met up with my subject, Pascal, that I felt like I was getting to know Berlin on a more personal basis, from a different point of view.

While we're in the city, our project is to meet someone who lives in Berlin and do a profile on them. I ran into Pascal, an artist who bartends at Dr. Pongs and teaches English in his free time. I'll introduce you to him later.

For now, you can check out my photos here, and my album on Facebook.
Auf Wiedersehen!

A woman meditating near a memorial by the Berlin Wall.

A stop for ais or ice cream under a pretty
Berlin sky.

An example of "Old" Berlin and how some parts of the city
haven't changed in some time.

Prater Biergarten. You can order a beverage and complete
your meal with a bratwurst and potato salad.

Med for the Web : jamii fund

CEO Robert Bodwell.
 Photo by Georgia State University

      Robert Bodwell is 20 years old. He's in college, he's a business major, he likes corgis, oh, and did I mention that he's CEO of his own non-profit? As well as working as a full-time student at Georgia State University, Bodwell also launched his own non-profit in January of this year. After seeing a beloved high school teacher fight cancer, Bodwell felt inspired to do what he could to help those going through the fight, by working to lessen their financial burdens. Bodwell is currently CEO and President of his non-profit "jamii fund." "Jamii" is a Swahili word that translates to "community." In the future, Bodwell hopes to use his business background to build his online community.

      Read on to learn about his non-profit, and how Bodwell hopes to positively impact the lives of those with hefty medical finances. Comment below and be part of the conversation!

LS:  Give us a little background about yourself. School, hobbies, interests, what you're doing now, plans for the future.

RB: I was born, and raised, in West Palm Beach, Florida. I graduated from high school in 2011, and moved on to college at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, where I am a business major. I’ve always been very passionate about sports, and most of my spare time is spent either watching or playing some sport. In the past year I’ve discovered a passion for helping others which has led me to my latest project. I started a nonprofit organization called jamii fund that works with patients to assist them in avoiding medical debt, and helping pay off the debts that they already have. I’ve never done work like this before, but it is, by far, the most rewarding work that I have ever done. I plan on building this organization into a lifelong venture for myself, and the others that support it.

jamii fund logo created by Bodwell

LS: Tell us about jamii fund. What is it, and where did the idea come from?

RB: jamii fund is a nonprofit organization focused on putting an end to medical debt in the U.S. We’re going to do this by encouraging people to give back to others in their community. I came up with the idea after one of my favorite teachers from high school was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was the first time that I was this close to such a serious diagnosis, and it was hard for me to handle. For the first time, I considered making a substantial donation to an organization that supports breast cancer research, and I did some research of my own to see what organization to donate to. What I found was that their efforts were involved with raising awareness for the disease instead of helping the people that it impacted, and you never really knew how your money was going to be spent. I felt that people would be more willing to give if they knew exactly where their money was going, and I would have given thousands of dollars had I known that it was going directly to helping my teacher. Further research showed that there was no nonprofit currently doing this kind of service, so I started one that could, and jamii fund was born.

The website features jamii fund recipients, like Holly,
where they can develop their own campaign
to raise money for their fund.

LS: How does jamii fund work?

RB: We are completely web-based. When people visit jamiifund.org they will be able to view personal profiles containing stories of individuals that are struggling with medical debt. These profiles will also have a button that visitors can click on to donate to that specific person. The money will be collected by jamii fund inc. and held in an account until there is enough to cover one of their expenses. At that point, we will write a check directly to the care provider to cover the costs. People can request a profile on the site by sending us a message on the “contact” section of jamiifund.org. Once we verify that they have a legitimate need, we build a profile and launch it on our website. You can think of it as crowdfunding medical debt, just like one would crowdfund an invention on Kickstarter.com. There are other companies that help people raise money in this way, but jamii fund is the only nonprofit. So when you give to someone on jamiifund.org you can rest assured that 100% of it is going towards helping put an end to medical debt. We do not take any percentage of these donations unless the beneficiary decides to give us a percentage on their own. I didn’t start this organization to make money, I started it to help people, and that’s what I’m going to do. 

LS: What have you achieved so far? What are you currently working on?

RB:A lot of paperwork. There is a ton of paperwork involved with setting up a legal nonprofit, and all of it needs to be done before you can do the fun stuff like fundraising. But I have been able to build a starter website to get our name out there, tailored our social media accounts, and recruited some artists that are creating content for marketing campaigns. I’m currently still working on paperwork to obtain our 501(c)(3) certification, so that we can be super official and whatnot, and, of course, keep working on getting our name out there.

jamii fund's Facebook page

LS: What do you hope for the future of jamii fund?

RB: Big things. I would love to work with this organization for the rest of my life. Right now we are focused on helping people pay off their medical debt, but, long-term, I want to be able to build an entirely new industry. I want us to create a system where, instead of just paying off debt, we can prevent the debt from piling up in the first place. We can do this by finding quality care at lower prices, and by communicating with care providers to avoid overcharges. Working with patients from the point of diagnosis will allow us to avoid unnecessary charges and use donations more effectively.

LS: Quote to live by?

RB: “It’s not that serious.” This is more of a mantra for me because I say this to myself all of the time to keep things in proper perspective. I used to have a bad habit of blowing things out of proportion, and stressing out about things that weren’t that big of a deal, so I starting reminding myself that it’s really not that big of a deal. In most cases you can make up for a mistake after the fact, and there’s no reason to freak out about it, or obsess over ways to avoid making a mistake. You just have to remind yourself that what you’re doing, or trying to do, is really not that serious.

Be sure to check out the links below to find our more information about jamii fund and ways you can help support the cause:

The website: http://jamiifund.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamiifund
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jamiifund?ref=ts&fref=ts