How to Crawl Out of the Pandemic, I

Make an NFT, Get Rich, and Change the World

I’m going to teach you to convert some money into cryptocurrency so you can buy, sell, or make an NFT. This is an arbitrary assignment. More are coming. Soon, I’m going to teach you a cheap but extravagant skincare routine. I’m going to walk you through failure as you publish your book. I’ll help you make a plan for a trip to Iceland. They key is this: I want you to do something that adds to your contentment, something that might make you happy. It’s been a long pandemic. A tumultuous political, economic, and social few years. I bet you’re tired. I’m tired. But, action and creation make everyone a little happier. Community helps too. I like a good collective project.

So, in preparation for this post, I made 100 NFTs. The project cost me about 85 dollars but I made 30 of that back by selling one to a friend at a reduced price (thanks Geordie!). I’m still down about 50 dollars. So, know what you are getting yourself into. I am not a tech whiz. I am not a fabulous artist or a financial consultant. But, my special set of skills and advice might be just what you need to jump in.

Special Set of Skills

I am a slightly overwhelmed caretaker—a mom of four, a wife, and a farmer. As a former academic and university dean, I am decidedly less important now. But I have participated fully in the pandemic. I helped my children through their strange little Covid childhoods, buying extra presents for the holidays to compensate. I made cakes and some sourdough. We took long hikes and I tried a new sit up routine. I feel the loss and the gratitude. But I also feel a little angry, a little bit sorry for all of us. I’m desperate enough to hopefully pursue unrealistic projects of great world changing value. Let’s do this!

What are NFTs?

An NFT (non-fungible token) is a special digital thing. It is unique and original and it exists on the internet. It could be a piece of art, some type of historical memorabilia, a song, or a ticket into an event. But more importantly, NFTs use a technology called blockchain which acts as both a certificate of authenticity and a ledger that documents the life of that special digital thing. The ledger is important because it helps the thing create a community by keeping an easily accessible list of all involved. That community of owners and creators can make the world better through their money and ideas.

For example, an NFT might be a stylized digital drawing of a woman with a particular hair color, a particular set of accessories, and an interesting background. Each image accrues value based on how rare and how appealing the attributes are. The creator of that NFT might donate proceeds from purchases to the Malala Fund, say, or some girl coding organization. Influential and in-the-know people might like the project and its world-bettering ideas, purchase the NFTs in that collection, and drive the value up. Cool creators are forever connected to the economic and social story of their cool NFTs, earning money, giving away money, and wielding influence. Owners and creators will talk to each other on Discord or Reddit. They’ll all feel part of something potentially influential and maybe special.

There are many uncomfortable aspects to NFTs that us in-the-know people should also know. A lot of ambitious money-hungry folks are getting very rich on pixilated frogs and rotating purple horses. Good for them? Politicians link with NFT projects, seeking new fundraising avenues into power. Good for those of them who agree with me politically? Huge warehouses of computers use an unbelievable amount of energy to mine crypto. Wind power? Solar power? In any case, disparities that already exist will likely be exacerbated. Honestly, I’m not sure if NFTs are good or bad for the world. I don’t think anyone is sure.

But, young artists will find influence, previously out of reach. Companies will market and trade in digital goods and experiences rather than plastic stuff. A democratization of sorts might occur with NFTs and crypto, if thoughtful people continue to have access. So, if you are even slightly intrigued, thoughtful, and world-bettering, let’s get you some access.

How do I Buy, Sell, or Make One of These?

First, you’ll need to convert a few dollars into Ether or ETH using Coinbase. There are many different currencies and exchanges but these are popular now. Maybe start with just 20 dollars. That will buy you about .007 ETH today. You won’t be able to do much buying, selling, or creating with this amount because you won’t even be able to cover gas fees for a transaction. Gas fees are like a tax that the digital world charges for doing things. The fees go up and down all the time, like the price of gas but wilder. But, you will have purchased the frustration necessary for new knowledge.

How are you doing? Are you questioning yourself and your ability to capture information? You’re okay—humble and wide-eyed are lovely characteristics. Transform your confusion into questions and enter them into Google or YouTube. Become comfortable with not understanding. Embrace concepts that seem out of reach.

Converting my dollars into cryptocurrency was tricky. Michael, my husband, does our banking, has our pass codes, zips through the fiscal details of our daily lives, and considers our finances while I’m finding the sesame oil or tying a shoelace. I trust him and he does a great job but I also don’t love this development. Creating an NFT was a process that I hoped would bring me back some financial control, some culturally agreed upon value. Parenting is perhaps the most valuable occupation in the world but unfortunately, our social structures have subtle ways of scooting that value aside. I wanted to make some NFTs and stand next to the tech bros and early investors as a mother-woman of great strength and knowing.

I sat at the computer, ready to convert my dollars. I couldn’t figure out where my dollars live. I vowed to make a new bank account for my NFT project. I couldn’t find a time to walk into a bank and sit with one of the bank people without bringing all my kids too. In the end, Michael showed me how to access our account, patiently (condescendingly?), and then he just gave me some crypto. I felt like a failure for inadvertently bypassing the struggle and I was kind of mad at him, at gender imbalances, at the world. We had a good conversation about equity in tasks, equity in the value of our knowledge. No process is perfect. If you need to just get someone to do something for you, that’s great. I’m still here, writing to you like I know something. I’m putting a pin in those equity issues. Many pins friends, many pins. Keep moving.

Open a crypto wallet on the internet. Metamask is fine. Don’t give your seed phrase to anyone! Lots of bad robots out there. Go to Opensea.io. Look at the NFT projects. Check out WomenRise and AdamBombSquad. Look at LostPoets and Encryptas. Join a Discord. Trust that your brain can understand much of this once you have a little bit of context. Be emboldened. Dream big. Cry. Realize you suck and can’t do anything. Ask a friend for help. Worry that you don’t have any friends. Acknowledge that you do have friends but they might not be able to help you and maybe they’d think that you’re delusional. Who cares? Maybe you should cut off those people in your life. But don’t. Keep them. It’s nice to have a lot of imperfect friends as long as they don’t suck the life out of you. And you aren’t bad. Look at you, doing your best! Your ambition is adorable. I like you! You’ve got this!

Now, pick an area of interest around which you will make something, buy something, or sell something and do it! The websites walk you through. I made iris NFTs. They are pictures of flowers, grown and photographed by my mother. I call the project Ether Iris.

My mom goes into her yard with a big old black velvet dress she bought at Goodwill. She holds the material behind her flowers and snaps pictures with her phone. The images are her friends, my grandma, a neighbor. They hold the faces that cared for them, the people who absorbed their beauty. When they bloom in my yard in the spring, it’s like my mother has come to visit. As the plants are passed on, mother to daughter, grandfather to grandchild, the rhizomes link generations. They condense time into impossible cellular organizations of beauty. When they jump to the internet as NFTs, they have the potential to spread across the world, linking places in binary code.

As an impossibly small virus moves through our bodies and our communities, our impermanence has never been more clear. We are these tiny arbitrary beings existing for mere moments amidst so many other people, plants, animals, machines, and planets spinning through space. May the beauty you create in the world transcend your short life frames, your corporeal existence, and your reach into the ether.

It’s so lovely to hold your despair, your ambition, and your relentless hope here with me, on this digital medium. Go get ‘em friends!