Positively Radiant

Tuesday, April 28th was the day of my sale for the Nuclear Engineering Department  http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ep/neep/. Before I could even get off my bike and enthusiastic customer asked me if I was the woman with the bake sale...

"Why, yes I am" I replied..."Where did you hear about my sale?"

...no reply...

"hmmm" I thought, "the word is spreading already!" 

Eager customers, the sun was shinning...again. Things were looking good. Though foot traffic at the College of Engineering Campus was a 

bit slow, my cookies were disappearing one by one and i had to replenish them often. My conversations with people as they passed, whether they donated or not, were fantastic. I talked with one Electrical Engineer about baking. I talked with a Statics TA about Newton's Third Law. I got flack from a group of Engineering Physics students about raising money for the N.E. Department and learned about politics and departmental animosity in the Engineering College. 

One Nuclear Engineering Senior was so excited and proud of his department that he left with 6 cookies for his classmates and told tales of how he has helped recruit young fresh minds to the powerful world of N.E.! Rave On, young man.

All in all, the students on the engineering campus were good natured and they had a good chuckle, even if all they did was pass by. The Nuclear Engineering Department seemed supportive of my endeavor. Faculty members and grads stopped by, laughed at the shape of my cooky (all of which I assured them had not been irradiated). I sold all of my cookies, save for a few that broke :( and gave those to a few passing construction workers. 

Another superb fundraising day and another set of cookies happily distributed. Grand total for the day was $88! pretty good considering I lost a few and I didn't have any extra ¢ cookies to sell. Thanks people of the College of Engineering campus doin' it right!

they ate them all...

The totals are in for the Gender and Women's studies department. They bought all...ALL of my men and then some (the some being leftover cent-shaped cookies from the sale at the business school two days prior). They smoked the Business school and raised  three times as much  money for their department. That's $120! Congrats and Thanks people-of-the-Ingraham-Hall-general-area. That makes more than good cents.

 -vs-

=?????

Stay tuned for my next sale at Mechanical Engineering Tuesday, April 28...

just men

Yesterday I had my sale for the Gender and Women Studies Department (http://womenstudies.wisc.edu/). For them I made man-shaped cookies to reference the addition of the term "Gender" to the department name (the department was formerly just the Women Studies Department). I also made them as a provocation against the general idea that the people in the Women Studies Department are all men hating militant feminists.

I wasn't entirely sure what their response would be to the fact that I only had men for sale. Would they catch the irony? Would they think it was funny? Would they be offended? There was only one way to find out...

As I packed up my cart that morning, I had a sinking suspicion that the day wasn't looking very promising. It was still cold and rainy and I was worried that my sale day would end as disappointing as my first sale a few days earlier at the business school. I was certain 

my men would all break as I rode them over there. Ironically enough, these men are pretty fragile. They're little men legs snap off at the slightest jostling. I had to be very careful with them and pack them well with bubble wrap to make sure they made it in one piece. A few broke before I could even get them in the cart :(...

I had a mountain to climb on my way there. The department is on a steep hill and there was no way for me to get there other than to climb. But the cart and its underlying Burley frame is built well and i made it with surprisingly less

 effort than I thought. 

  

Before I cold even set up, people were asking about my cart and I had already attracted a small group of interested customers. Thankfully, my sale went better than I could ever have imagined. Of course, at this point, the sun had come out. It was warm enough for short sleeves and people were generally in a  good mood. I am certain this helped my sales, but even more so the people convening around Ingraham Hall were a pleasure to work with. They were amused by the whole prospect of my sale. The men made them laugh. They asked questions about my the project, the men and the name of my cookies (One Smart Cooky). Most of all, they were generally excited that I was raising money for their department.

(Photo courtesy of my new friend Ralph, taken and sent to me from his iPhone. 

Technology still amazes me)

The first sale

Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first cooky sale. The temperature dropped over the weekend and it was a balmy 40 degrees as I stood outside to sell my lovely hand crafted cookies. Sales weren't terrible despite the weather and I raised $40 for the Wisconsin Business School MBA Program Fund. 

I didn't get to create much of a conversation with people. Maybe the shapes weren't provocative enough. Maybe it was the weather. We'll see how things go as the sales roll on and the shapes get more, well...interesting...

My friend Angela stopped by and documented some of the action. Check out images from the project at her Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/olive_talique/3463753843/