"My Name Is" - (A GoFundMe Project)
Donation protected
Summer for me started with June and July spent recovering from the intensity of graduating from Franklin High School a year early, but this August my family and I took a three week vacation in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.
During those three weeks, my world was turned upside down.
My experience in Mexico was beyond words. The openness and vitality of the culture there, qualities expressed in little ways, like the guileless curiosity in a stranger's eyes on the street, left me feeling welcomed. There, I was able to relax and let go of much of the hardship I carried from having severely overworked myself last year. My experience in Mexico was transformative and eye opening.
It felt like I found myself.
I am returning to Mexico, and look to travel my way south through Latin America.
The launch of this GoFundMe marks three weeks having passed since I returned to the states. In the time since then, I've created this song - "My Name Is." It was recorded completely on my sm57 mic and shot completely on my iPhone.
On one level , "My Name Is" is the truest catalogue of my experience through this sequence of events, my "grand journal entry" (actually many of the lyrics started as journal entries), an attempt to live this chapter to the fullest. As this song is a story, I hope that you can relate parts of it to your own story.
On another level however, it is a means to communicate to you, dear reader, why I'm set on returning to Mexico and exploring the world of travel, and why it would mean the world to me to have your support!
My Plan:
In many countries, the practice of taking a gap year to travel abroad is not just commonplace, but expected. The experience of immersing oneself in a new culture and a new land offers types of learning that are invaluable and yet impossible to find through other means. By donating to support my trip you are effectively supporting my education and livelihood!
As a musician, this opportunity excites me to no end. During our family vacation, for which I brought my acoustic guitar, I busked around Guanajuato City with a wonderful saxophone player I met on the street named Ivan Jesus. I comped to blues heads he knew! In San Miguel, I had the pleasure of connecting with Caleb Cabrera Ceballos, one of the three core members of Media Luna, a group that fuses flamenco rumba, mexican son, rock, huapango, and classical influences. Caleb and I got to hang out and he showed me flamenco rhythmic techniques and harmonic cadences and I showed him some jazz harmonic devices.
Beyond more fantastic experiences like these, I am interested in the traditional music of various regions throughout Latin America and the space they inhabit in the culture of said regions. Needless to say, I plan on bringing my guitar, as well as a ukulele on this grand adventure, and will hungrily seek musical experiences as the musician that I am!
Although nothing is set in stone, the itinerary is:
Phase one - Stationed in Mexico
- Fly into MEX airport, Mexico City, the 28th of September
- Spend 2-4 days in Mexico City
- Take a bus to San Miguel De Allende, and spend 5-10 days there, exploring connections I made previously
- Take another bus to Guanajuato City, where I plan to stay 5-6 weeks.
In Guanajuato I plan to
- Study Spanish at Adelita Language School for two weeks, dorming with other students
- Take a week off and explore/take day trips to surrounding locations
- Do another two weeks Spanish classes and student dorming
- Give myself a few days of lee way to prepare for phase two
Phase two - Traveling Latin America
- Travel southward, trying to avoid the need to make a jump by airplane. Visiting where? What route? Who knows! This part of my trip is intended to really be about following my nose and exercising my freedom to do whatever/go where ever/follow whatever opportunities present themselves. My thoughts are:
- Take advice from/possible join up with travelers that I meet along the way
- Avoid routes/places with safety issues
- Travel into Peru where a friend from middle school now lives near Cusco
- Travel into Brazil, the origin of what we regard as Latin Music
Phase One expenses (estimated):
$350 - One way plane ticket PDX -> MEX
$70 - Food/hostel/transport in Mexico City
$100 - Living in San Miguel (Hoping to be staying with friends generous enough to provide room & board)
$1350 - (Guanajuato) 4 Weeks of La Adelita Language School
$250 - (Guanajuato) Week of non-school lodging
$150 - (Guanajuato) Day trips
$160 - (Guanajuato) 5-6 weeks of Food/essentials/transit costs
$2,500 - Total for phase one
Phase Two expenses (estimated)
$35 - Daily expenses on the road (including travel). Based on averages of backpacker indexes online. I’d like to be on the road for five months give-or-take. That makes the necessary funds around $5,000.
$200 - Flight over Central America countries with safety concerns
$600 - Flight home from San Paulo, Brazil to PDX
$6000 - Total for phase two
$250 - Processing fees (for using GoFundMe)
$8,600 - Grand total
A huge thank you to everyone who’s given me their support in the past, and tuned in to my journey thus far! It really means the world to me. To strangers who’ve came here on a whim, to all who took the time to watch my video, your time is appreciated! To future and past supporters, thank you. Stay tuned.
BIG UPDATE! 9/21/18
$20-$99 Reward:
Special edition CD: Chronology 2018, including "My Name Is" and Broken Feels Better mailed to your address with a handwritten thank-you note (after I return - estimated return April 2019)
$100-$299 Reward:
Chance to email me either a song of your choice or an mp3/video of you playing/singing a song of your choice. I will write/produce a cello arrangement of the song you chose, or around the mp3 of yourself that you sent! Renditions and submissions are preferred to be under one and a half minutes! (If you're really feelin your submission I wont stop you though :) )
$300+ Reward:
Cello-looper house concert/ party ambiance music/ wedding music/ wherever music performed by yours truly! When/where agreed upon when I return from my travels!! For anyone requesting a gig who lives outside of the Portland metro area, you will have to pay for gas/transport though!
Video of a piece I performed on my cello with my looper pedal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl63MBl_hcM
-------
For any donors who pledge multiple times, you will receive the reward bracket that your combined donations land you in. For ALL donors: to receive your rewards in the spring, I need to know how to contact you! Email me at [email redacted]
For any donor who wishes to receive the reward from a lower reward tier instead of the reward tier that you donated into the bracket of, I'm offering that option.
A note to Portland locals:
Portland area people! To do my own fundraising for this big journey, I will be busking around the city with my cello and looper pedal. If you’re curious about the cello-looper combo, checkout my latest performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl63MBl_hcM
Times and places (if weather and health permit):
Thursday the 13th: Canceled unfortunately. See campaign update for details!
Friday the 14ths: 6pm SE Hawthorne and 47th. Canceled unfortunately See campaign update for details!
Saturday the 15th: Moved to sunday.
Sunday the 16th: 6pm in front of Salt & Straw at SE Division and 33rd Ave
Monday the 17th: 6pm in front of The Bagdad Theatre and Pub on SE Hawthorne and 37th Ave
Wednesday the 18th: 6pm in front of Salt & Straw at SE Division and 33rd Ave
I will be selling CDs! Come say hi!
During those three weeks, my world was turned upside down.
My experience in Mexico was beyond words. The openness and vitality of the culture there, qualities expressed in little ways, like the guileless curiosity in a stranger's eyes on the street, left me feeling welcomed. There, I was able to relax and let go of much of the hardship I carried from having severely overworked myself last year. My experience in Mexico was transformative and eye opening.
It felt like I found myself.
I am returning to Mexico, and look to travel my way south through Latin America.
The launch of this GoFundMe marks three weeks having passed since I returned to the states. In the time since then, I've created this song - "My Name Is." It was recorded completely on my sm57 mic and shot completely on my iPhone.
On one level , "My Name Is" is the truest catalogue of my experience through this sequence of events, my "grand journal entry" (actually many of the lyrics started as journal entries), an attempt to live this chapter to the fullest. As this song is a story, I hope that you can relate parts of it to your own story.
On another level however, it is a means to communicate to you, dear reader, why I'm set on returning to Mexico and exploring the world of travel, and why it would mean the world to me to have your support!
My Plan:
In many countries, the practice of taking a gap year to travel abroad is not just commonplace, but expected. The experience of immersing oneself in a new culture and a new land offers types of learning that are invaluable and yet impossible to find through other means. By donating to support my trip you are effectively supporting my education and livelihood!
As a musician, this opportunity excites me to no end. During our family vacation, for which I brought my acoustic guitar, I busked around Guanajuato City with a wonderful saxophone player I met on the street named Ivan Jesus. I comped to blues heads he knew! In San Miguel, I had the pleasure of connecting with Caleb Cabrera Ceballos, one of the three core members of Media Luna, a group that fuses flamenco rumba, mexican son, rock, huapango, and classical influences. Caleb and I got to hang out and he showed me flamenco rhythmic techniques and harmonic cadences and I showed him some jazz harmonic devices.
Beyond more fantastic experiences like these, I am interested in the traditional music of various regions throughout Latin America and the space they inhabit in the culture of said regions. Needless to say, I plan on bringing my guitar, as well as a ukulele on this grand adventure, and will hungrily seek musical experiences as the musician that I am!
Although nothing is set in stone, the itinerary is:
Phase one - Stationed in Mexico
- Fly into MEX airport, Mexico City, the 28th of September
- Spend 2-4 days in Mexico City
- Take a bus to San Miguel De Allende, and spend 5-10 days there, exploring connections I made previously
- Take another bus to Guanajuato City, where I plan to stay 5-6 weeks.
In Guanajuato I plan to
- Study Spanish at Adelita Language School for two weeks, dorming with other students
- Take a week off and explore/take day trips to surrounding locations
- Do another two weeks Spanish classes and student dorming
- Give myself a few days of lee way to prepare for phase two
Phase two - Traveling Latin America
- Travel southward, trying to avoid the need to make a jump by airplane. Visiting where? What route? Who knows! This part of my trip is intended to really be about following my nose and exercising my freedom to do whatever/go where ever/follow whatever opportunities present themselves. My thoughts are:
- Take advice from/possible join up with travelers that I meet along the way
- Avoid routes/places with safety issues
- Travel into Peru where a friend from middle school now lives near Cusco
- Travel into Brazil, the origin of what we regard as Latin Music
Phase One expenses (estimated):
$350 - One way plane ticket PDX -> MEX
$70 - Food/hostel/transport in Mexico City
$100 - Living in San Miguel (Hoping to be staying with friends generous enough to provide room & board)
$1350 - (Guanajuato) 4 Weeks of La Adelita Language School
$250 - (Guanajuato) Week of non-school lodging
$150 - (Guanajuato) Day trips
$160 - (Guanajuato) 5-6 weeks of Food/essentials/transit costs
$2,500 - Total for phase one
Phase Two expenses (estimated)
$35 - Daily expenses on the road (including travel). Based on averages of backpacker indexes online. I’d like to be on the road for five months give-or-take. That makes the necessary funds around $5,000.
$200 - Flight over Central America countries with safety concerns
$600 - Flight home from San Paulo, Brazil to PDX
$6000 - Total for phase two
$250 - Processing fees (for using GoFundMe)
$8,600 - Grand total
A huge thank you to everyone who’s given me their support in the past, and tuned in to my journey thus far! It really means the world to me. To strangers who’ve came here on a whim, to all who took the time to watch my video, your time is appreciated! To future and past supporters, thank you. Stay tuned.
BIG UPDATE! 9/21/18
$20-$99 Reward:
Special edition CD: Chronology 2018, including "My Name Is" and Broken Feels Better mailed to your address with a handwritten thank-you note (after I return - estimated return April 2019)
$100-$299 Reward:
Chance to email me either a song of your choice or an mp3/video of you playing/singing a song of your choice. I will write/produce a cello arrangement of the song you chose, or around the mp3 of yourself that you sent! Renditions and submissions are preferred to be under one and a half minutes! (If you're really feelin your submission I wont stop you though :) )
$300+ Reward:
Cello-looper house concert/ party ambiance music/ wedding music/ wherever music performed by yours truly! When/where agreed upon when I return from my travels!! For anyone requesting a gig who lives outside of the Portland metro area, you will have to pay for gas/transport though!
Video of a piece I performed on my cello with my looper pedal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl63MBl_hcM
-------
For any donors who pledge multiple times, you will receive the reward bracket that your combined donations land you in. For ALL donors: to receive your rewards in the spring, I need to know how to contact you! Email me at [email redacted]
For any donor who wishes to receive the reward from a lower reward tier instead of the reward tier that you donated into the bracket of, I'm offering that option.
A note to Portland locals:
Portland area people! To do my own fundraising for this big journey, I will be busking around the city with my cello and looper pedal. If you’re curious about the cello-looper combo, checkout my latest performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl63MBl_hcM
Times and places (if weather and health permit):
Thursday the 13th: Canceled unfortunately. See campaign update for details!
Friday the 14ths: 6pm SE Hawthorne and 47th. Canceled unfortunately See campaign update for details!
Saturday the 15th: Moved to sunday.
Sunday the 16th: 6pm in front of Salt & Straw at SE Division and 33rd Ave
Monday the 17th: 6pm in front of The Bagdad Theatre and Pub on SE Hawthorne and 37th Ave
Wednesday the 18th: 6pm in front of Salt & Straw at SE Division and 33rd Ave
I will be selling CDs! Come say hi!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jesse Fuller
Organizer
Portland, OR
Fuller Family Trust
Beneficiary