A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, a girl and her friend made a picture. Then that girl innocently posted that picture on flickr, just like she does with all her other pictures…
… and two days later, it exploded.
Last night before I went to bed, I was pretty excited because my photo of Teal in her Princess Leia costume had about 300 views on Flickr. This morning, as I stumbled out the door to walk to classes, I met Teal, who was on her way back. “Erin!” she cheered, “It’s at 1500 views!”
Wow, I thought, Flickr’s “Explore” system must have really caught hold of that photo.
An hour later, after my first class, it was up to 2500. Now some of my classmates were starting to notice.
Throughout the day, as I revisited my Flickr page between classes and appointments, my jaw dropped lower and lower. I discovered that my photo had been picked up first by Reddit and then by Digg, two sites that together command most of the internet’s attention. By dinner time, almost the entire school was wanting to know “How many now, Erin??”
It is now 11:30, and my photo of “Princess Leia” and the R2-D2 mailbox has been viewed over 65,000 times. 65,000, folks. That’s 10,000 more than our local football stadium holds. Holy. Cow.
Needless to say, it’s been a fun day for Teal and I. 
So, what is the purpose of this post? Well, here’s the thing about Teal. She is really super smart… an MIT graduate and one of the finest nerds I have ever met. She has also, as it happens, just gotten a step closer to her dream of attending the University of Cambridge in England in the fall.
Here’s the catch. Although she just found out that Cambridge accepted her, they will not be providing her with any scholarship money—bringing her expenses for her first year to a whopping $41,000.
One of our friends joked, when he was visiting this evening, that if we had a dollar for every person who viewed our Star Wars picture, Teal’s expenses would be more than paid for.
And that idea sounded almost crazy enough to work.
Now, just so you know, I really really hate people asking for money—probably more than I should. But when the entire internet is crawling all over my blog and many thousands of dollars are standing between my friend and her dream… well, you can’t blame me for seeing if a few of you might have a spare dollar or two lying around. So I am providing a link on the sidebar over there —> which will allow you to donate to Teal’s “Send Princess Leia to Cambridge” fund.
… OR you can ignore this, totally guilt free! 
Either way, even if she doesn’t make a penny, Teal and I are pretty stoked at the success of our little geektastic adventure—we really never imagined.
UPDATE: Aaaaand the numbers keep climbing. You really have no idea how excited Teal and I are that even one of you decided to donate… let alone enough of you to bring her total to almost $60.00 so far. You should see our house… there’s a giant chalkboard in the middle of the living room, and on it we have a running tally of both her Cambridge fund and the view count on Flickr… and it’s getting updated pretty often.
Some completely valid questions have come up in the comments, which I showed to Teal, and here are her answers:
What will Teal be studying at Cambridge? Short answer: Math ed. Long answer: International perspectives in math education. Why? Because Teal has tutored countless kids and adults whose enjoyment of math have been ruined by bad teachers, scary educational experiences, or bad textbooks, and she wants to help reform math education in the U.S.
What about taxes? We haven’t looked into this, honestly. Teal is planning to report this income and pay any necessary taxes on it, but we’re both wondering: are there other factors we need to take into consideration?
“I’ll give you $50 if you promise to wear that costume once a week while you’re at Cambridge and post a picture of it to Flickr” Hahaha. We got a kick out of that one. This was probably a joke, but Teal did say that if 200 people pledged her $50.00 to do this, she would.
What if Teal doesn’t get enough money?
I do not think that either of us are expecting this “Send Princess Leia to Cambridge” campaign to cover all of Teal’s expenses (although that would be awesome), but if she does not manage to put together enough money on top of her earnings here to go to Cambridge, she will donate what you have given her to World Vision International.
I will update this post throughout the day as I can… thank you again to each and every one of you who has donated! We owe you.
Posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 10:52 pm.
Belongs with: Creating.
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April 30th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I saw the headline on digg, and I thought “no, it can’t be…”, but it was
Congrats.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
What will you do with the money if you don’t get enough? And have you given any thought to the state and federal taxes to be paid? I’d hate to see you ladies get in trouble over a good cause.
May 1st, 2007 at 12:52 am
Erin, I like your idea of capitalising on your sudden celebrity in support of a friend.
However, before donating to your fund, I’d like to know what subject Teal will be studying in Cambridge. I mean, if it’s going to be a Phd in Effective and Efficient Methods of Killing, I’m not reallt interested in contributing.
Anyway, great photo – It was good to see “The Making of the Photo” too.
May 1st, 2007 at 3:36 am
Love the pic, gave $2. I have no doubts that you’ll make your goal!
May 1st, 2007 at 6:34 am
I’ll give 50$ if she promise to wear that costume once a weak for the time of her study and post a pick of it on flick.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:44 am
The first time I have donated to a stranger. I hope your on the level, and the best of luck if that is the case.
May 1st, 2007 at 7:09 am
congratulations on this booming and unintended success.
your creativity deserves all the attention.
more power to us geeks!
May 1st, 2007 at 7:26 am
oh yeah, i’ve also extended your Help Send Princess Leia to Cambridge cause and plugged it into my blog.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:22 am
Wow, congrats!
May 1st, 2007 at 10:46 am
Ah the power of reddit and digg (I dugg it!)! Well done Erin. You know that right now there are 107 comments at Digg about it too?
Erin you should contact USPS, and let them know about the popularity and see if they wanted to buy it for promotions/advertisements. Might be another cool way to raise some support.
May 1st, 2007 at 10:57 am
Wow, the numbers on the photo just keep going up!
Good luck to Teal at Cambridge, all the best people went there, from Monty Python to Stephen Hawking to Darwin to Newton… the list is endless!
May 1st, 2007 at 11:16 am
I just donated $20 to the fund from me and Noah. I hope this helps, Teal. Good Luck!
May 1st, 2007 at 11:39 am
Good work, Erin and Teal! Wonderful photo and ideas. I’ve attempted to alert the local media (TV stations) regarding your story.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Hey Erin, as a Cambridge grad I’d love to see your friend there. Unfortunately, I’m also a POOR recent grad, so I won’t be able to donate. However, if she has any questions etc. why don’t you give her my email. She shouldn’t give up all hope of money from the brits–I got a few thousand pounds from the uni in July.
And, incidentally, by a random spark of fate, your roommate Tiffany is the brother of one my roommates-what a small world.
cheers,
S
May 1st, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Congratulations, Erin! As soon as I saw your photo, I had a feeling it was going to be extremely popular! Good job!
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:09 am
Best advice, make sure the Paypal is directly to her. The tax man loves to get his “golden crumbs” every time the money moves from one person to the next.
Also, Paypal has a habit of freezing funds when “too much money” shows up too quickly. Others that have done this donation thing with them have had their Paypal accounts frozen for six months. You can use Google to find examples.
Not trying to rain on your parade, loved the picture, just trying to help keep rain off your parade so you can keep up your wonderful creativity.
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:21 am
Teal!!!!! *hug*
We all miss you (and your food) back here in Cambridge (MA) :^)
Good luck!
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:08 am
I enjoyed the Leia pic and also looking through the rest of your photos. Totally worth a couple of bucks. You guys rule.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:31 am
I am a old dear friend of Teals. Her mom and
Her mom and I are artists and friends!!
What I can offer is much prayer for I too am raising $$$ as a teacher of the arts . I take students to Europe annually to attend Leadership COnferences. We are off to Ireland in 2008
Teal……OOOOO and XXXXXX Patti
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:44 am
TEAL, WE ALWAYS KNEW YOU WERE DESTINED FOR G R E A T THINGS! The pic is just so YOU! Everyone who wonders “is she for real” we can vouch that you’re gorgeous, charming, and super smart! Lots of love!
P and R
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:22 am
hah! I saw this on digg yesterday and never even checked to see who it was! Thats so awesome!!
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:43 am
Dude! I can’t believe this! I’ve been reading this site for a year now, and usually there are ten comments or under (which I think is ridiculous in the first place, because of there’s a genius – it’s gotta be you, Erin).
I think the posting of these rather innocent photograph on Flickr has just earned you the beginning of a Dooce era.
CONGRATULATIONS!
May 3rd, 2007 at 1:45 am
By the way, I would donate a hundred bucks if only I had a creditcards (not too popular amongst students in the Netherlands)
May 7th, 2007 at 7:35 am
You’re a good friend to do this. I’m happy to contribute.
(Love your photos, btw!)
May 7th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
[...] Now, I must give Teal and Erin a bow for 1) finding an R2D2 mailbox, dressing up as Leia and actually posting a picture of it.Thanks! and give a visit to Lylium.org, Erin’s blog.And also, check out the “Damsel in Distress” aka Princess Leia to Cambridge University page on the blog [...]
May 7th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Wow, congratulations on the photo and I hope the $10 I donated helps towards your goal.
Still loving your blog, it’s a world away from mine (in more senses than one) but I love your writing style and photography.
Good luck to Teal, she can come over to London for tea and I will show her the sites if she gets into Cambridge.
Keep writing
clint
x
May 7th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Oh also, might i suggest writing/emailing UPS and showing them the picture. It would be great publicity for them, they may even consider buying it and/or have some kind of scholarship scheme or donation fund where they may help Teal out with her education fund…
May 10th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
That is awesome. I love the idea and the photograph. I hope the two of you do well with that. And to echo everyone else… make sure to talk to an accountant should you raise more than $1,000.
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:09 am
Fabulous shot! Ever since I read about the R2 mailboxes I was hoping someone would do this image. Thanks you for doing it so wonderfully! Good luck in school!
June 24th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Oh very cool. That’s what I studied in grad school, too. I wish I had gone to England to do it.
Good luck!
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