...or you could bite your tongue

Hidden Heels

2011-03-01T14:30:00.001-08:00

Forever ago I said that hidden heels were going to be all the rage. Welp, now they are:

Bloodstream

2011-03-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, Tom. The most beautiful song.

Whoa

2010-10-27T11:27:00.001-07:00

De Juguetes (A Mexican Toy Story)

2010-10-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last night at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, I did not expect to encounter a lovely short movie about Mexico City. If you know me, you know I has a weak spot for all things Hispanic, so this one really won my heart from the first scene.

A MEXICAN TOY STORY from Alba Mora on Vimeo.

Directed by Alba Mora Roca

Sorry mom, but it was too funny

2010-10-21T10:04:00.001-07:00

Your Woman

2010-10-05T13:59:00.001-07:00

Let's just take a moment to remember what a solid song this is. Thank you 1996.

San Diego Film Festival

2010-10-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

Went to my first Film Festival last night. Interesting experience. The film, A Little Help, starring Jenna Fischer was pretty "meh," but I think next year I might buy the pass to watch more of the films. Nothing like being a little pretentious, right? This is SoCal after all.

Here's the trailer for what we watched.

Oh, and in my three years of living here, I've only experienced two thunderstorms. One of them was yesterday. It was pretty sweet.

Seedy Bar

2010-09-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

American Spirit butts on the floor. A sexy half sleeve walks by. I sip my Green Flash. And this song playing live. Shuffle my moccasins, to match the 60's throwback of this song playing live.

Truth

2010-09-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

Anyone else think the "c" in "unicorns" should obviously have been an "h"?--Claire Niblett

Standing Cat

2010-09-22T15:57:00.001-07:00

It's a good day for funny cats.

Unicorn Cat

2010-09-22T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hannah and Mumford and Sons

2010-09-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

Conversation is as follows:

“we are just vehicles… thanks be to God”

Yesterday afternoon, my friend/co-worker/room mate decided to send a facebook message to Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons. She didn’t expect a response.

Hannah Jones September 19 at 4:27pm
Ben,

I expect you get 4 billion emails from fans, so here’s another to add to the collection.

On July 11 2010, my friend, Nate Henn, was killed by a terrorist bomb attack in Kampala, Uganda. He was the only American casualty. I’d just spent the last 5 months of my life touring around the USA with him, spreading the story of Africa’s longest running conflict. We both were full time volunteers with Invisible Children http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ and he was in Uganda with our friend, Innocent.

I just wanted you to know that your music has been incredibly healing, and his tribute video uses ‘Timshel’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-c4G2bIcxU

I wish you could have some understanding of how much your music has healed our hearts after this loss. Mumford and Sons have helped us through this heartache, and for that I will be ever grateful. In fact, a bunch of us are coming up to see you all play in LA next month. I saw you play at the Eden Project and it was wonderful. I can’t wait to see you again.

This is just an email to encourage, so I hope if you read it, it did just that. You’re doing incredible things through your music.

Thank you over and over. Please take 5 minutes to watch the video if you want… it’s very, very well made. And it’s incredible.

Thank you again.

Benjamin Lovett September 19 at 4:48pm
Dear Hannah,

I will be praying for Nate tonight, and for you.

I cannot imagine what you have gone through and watching this video as I sit in my kitchen in the still of night has blindsided me. I wish I’d met this man. The initiative looks incredible and I hope it continues in Nate’s spirit.

As for our music, we our just vehicles, as Nate was with his work, and thanking us I feel is misplaced.

Thanks be to God.

And Peace be with you.

Love,

Ben

A Masters Degree in Communication?

2010-09-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Gosh. Hilarious

New Tagline

2010-09-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Invisible Children: Help End Africa.
Whoops.

**the rest of the box reads "Help End Africa's Longest Running War."

Searsucker

2010-09-13T23:56:00.001-07:00

I'm obsessed with searsucker these days. How about this wedding dress? Hmmmm.

Also, argyle. I will always love argyle

Color Another State In

2010-09-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

New goal. Get to all 50 states between 2005 and 2015. From 2005 to date, I've visited 35 states and DC. Later this month Jojo promised to add Mississippi to that roster when I head off to New Orleans.

Dale and I have a New England plan to knock out six states up there.

Kelsey and I are threatening a Minnesota due west trip which would knock out another 5.

Now onto the remaining randoms: West Virgina, Delaware, and Alaska. These ones are going to take a consorted effort to make that happen in the next 4.5 years.

Tour Launch

2010-09-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

66 articulate, attractive, fun roadies left our office this past Wednesday to tackle America with the Invisible Children message. Informal parades organized everywhere we go. That's how we roll.

Top 40

2010-09-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

Current favorite top 40 song. So flowy. So happy.

Keeps Me Running

2010-09-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

This movie makes me cry my face off.

PF Changs Marathon

2010-09-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ok. I'm going to do this. Ack! Come cheer me on. I'll need it.

Rock and Roll Marathon 26.2 Miles, January 16, Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale

Don Chedle and John Predergast

2010-09-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hung out with these boys in LA this past weekend. Good times. As you can see in all our cheesy faces.

They just co-authored a new book called The Enough Moment. Since I love Better World Books, you should buy it here: Better World Books

Iceland

2010-05-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

The volcano! Beautiful.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Animal

2010-05-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

This song makes me very happy.

Talent Show

2010-05-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yes! Kiddo. So talented.

Dog Park

2010-05-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

Last night at the Joel P West show (with the Tree Ring), they performed a variation of this music video live with the dogs and the bubbles projected in the background.

Then, hundreds of paper airplanes began flying about. Then people started jangling their keys to the music. He wins for creativity.

Drunk Guy VS a Flip Flop

2010-04-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, this has gotten a lot of hits in only 10 days. Anyways, saw this last week and it was hilarious. Don't drink and shoe.

1998 Geo-cities

2010-04-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is what Invisible Children's website looks like.

But if it were 1998 and our webdesigner was tacky, this is what it would look like.

Vondelpark

2010-04-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2008 I spent some time in Amsterdam. The charming city has a large park called Vondelpark. For me, my time in Amsterdam allowed me to process a very crazy year, meet new people, and I even had a little romance there.

Joel P West, a local musician, posted this very simple yet lovely music video of Destin Cretton that involved Vondelpark.

Bark & Feathers & Vondelpark from Destin Cretton on Vimeo.

You can see Joel play in San Diego on Friday with a five piece orchestra

St. George

2010-04-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

This summer I'm going camping with my co-workers in St. George Utah. Never been and I'm so excited!

Bay Bridge Race

2010-04-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

Next month I'm running over the Coronado Bridge. Every time I drive over the bridge all I want to do is get out and marvel at the view. Now I can! With thousands of my closest friends.

Webeditor

2010-04-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, never tried making a website before, but when I visited my dad's currently outdated website yesterday I decided that he needed an immeadiate intervention. So, in a couple hours I cranked out this. Not bad for my first time.

New site (under construction)
http://johnbakercounselor.wordpress.com

This is his current one. Hope you can see the improvements (at least now he has a correct address listed)
http://johnbakercounselor.com/

Moving

2010-04-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

This has been a nightmare. Finding roommates to share my apartment with has turned into a never-ending search. Honestly, I've started having a lot of hurt feelings over it. So, how about it if I move to this 1920's apartment complex downtown? Walk to Balboa Park, work, class, my friends' places. I think it's a cute little building. Thoughts?

View Larger Map

All for an iPhone

2010-04-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, someone sloppy at Apple left the not-yet-released iPhone 4 at a bar. Some other schmuck happened upon it and sold it to Gizmodo (a tech blog) for $5,000. Gizmodo wrote an explosive blog post about the phone which zapped all of Apple's "wow" power for their June press release. You can read about the new phone and its features here.

But you don't want to ruin Steve Jobs' surprises to the public. He might serve you an arrest warrant, have the police kick down your door, and search your e-mail. Drama drama drama. Read about that here

I guess you shouldn't text under the influence. At least not on an unreleased iPhone 4.

Anniversary

2010-04-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

A year ago today I was a part of The Rescue in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Wichita, and Chicago. It was one of the most amazing/challenging times of my life. Here's to the memories of that event and what it has accomplished since that time.

Gaga and the 80's

2010-04-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Probably the BEST combination I could ever ask for.

Have I posted this already? Sorry if I have. This song seriously is just the best thing, ever.

Parachute Musical

2010-04-20T21:53:00.001-07:00

So... I was informed that if you scratch the back of one artist, they'll usually scratch yours. Here's some lovin' for Parachute Musical. I saw them play with Via Audio in Nashville last month and they certainly have talent. Takes me back to my teen angst days of high school. I'll be seeing them next week at Ruby Room in Hillcrest so hit me up if you want to come. Or you can just check them out here.

Splash Mountain

2010-04-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

Never gets old.

Captain EO

2010-04-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ohhh... Now I understand the Musical to Believe In

Went to Disneyland this past weekend and saw the infamous Captain EO. Here's a clip of Michael at his greatest.

Lauren Winner

2010-04-11T21:16:00.001-07:00

Is a Christian and probably my favorite author of my college years. Her humor, honestly, and commitment to being genuine make me want to go out to coffee with her anytime. Check it.

"I feel annoyed that in His wisdom, [God] chose to reel me in with middle-brow Christian fiction. It could be worse, I suppose. I could have come to faith while reading Left Behind."-Lauren Winner

Urban Forest

2010-04-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Cats

2010-04-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

Nerdy Asain Fat Whitney Houston

2010-04-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Oh, and he's a boy. But he's INCREDIBLE

Pixels

2010-04-09T17:22:00.001-07:00

Holy moly. One of the best vids I've ever seen on Youtube. Easily. So fun.

Google Logos

2010-04-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

On my 19th birthday Google happened to have a special logo up and running in Canada to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving.

Over the years, their celebratory logos have become increasingly more complex and interesting. You may stroll through their history at this website: http://www.google.co.uk/logos/index.html

Via Audio

2010-04-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

I was just in Nashville and heard this band, Via Audio play. Then we went out after their show and they were really fantastic human beings too. They're like a funky, soulful, poppy version of The Cardigans. Check it.

Via audio - Babies download

found at bomb-mp3 search engine

Telephone

2010-04-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

I love her.

If you seriously haven't seen the Telephone music video, you must be living under a rock. Come into the sunshine my friends. Consider this your wake-up call. (ha)

Luck

2010-04-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying David Sedaris recently and just finished both Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. He's hilarious. Case in point, here's an excerpt from Naked.

The day after graduating from college, I found fifty dollars in the foyer of my Chicago apartment building. The single bill had been folded into eighths and was packed with cocaine. It occurred to me then that if I played my cards right, I might never have to find a job. People lost things all the time. They left class rings on the sinks of public bathrooms and droped gem-studded earrings at the doors of the oprea house. My job was to keep my eyes open and find these things. I didn't want to become one of those coots who combed the beaches of Lake Michigan with a metal detector, but if I paid attention and used my head, I might never have to work again.

The following afternoon, hung over from cocaine, I found twelve cents and an unopened tin of breath mints. Figuring in my previous fifty dollars, that amounted to an average of twenty-five dolars and six cents per day which was still a decent wage.

The next morning i discovered two pennies and a comb matted with short curly hairs. The day after that I found a peanut. It was then that I started to worry.
-David Sedaris, Naked pg 202

Healthcare

2010-04-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

"Obama is not a brown-skinned anti-war socialist who gives away free healthcare. You’re thinking of Jesus." -John Fugelsang

Chat Roulette Piano Guy

2010-03-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

Chat Roulette connects strangers to each other. You better be interesting or you'll lose your conversation. This guy... wins.

Where the Hell is Matt?

2010-03-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

It would be really great to do this too.

Song of Solomon... Literally

2010-03-25T16:35:00.001-07:00

"How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
... Your hair is like a flock of goats...
Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes...
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate...

"...Your neck is like the tower of David
built with rows of stones
on which are hung a thousand shields...
... Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle
which feed among the lilies...

"... Your lips, my bride, drip honey,
Honey and milk are under your tongue...
And the fragrance of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Your belly is like a heap of wheat...

"... Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
which faces towards Damascus..."

From Song of Solomon chapters 4 and 7

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

2010-03-24T17:08:00.001-07:00

Really like this guy... even at his cheesiest.

Quotes

2010-03-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

”The greatest thing about Facebook, is that you can quote something and totally make up the source.” – George Washington

So... What's Uganda Like?

2010-03-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

Written in June 2008 during my Amsterdam layover prior to my return to California.

I noticed this strange lizard. It was moving in the most awkward sort of way. It had a longer tail than any lizard I had ever seen before and its steps required great effort. We had just walked out of Invisible Children's microeconomic bracelet making site. As I was led to the dirt floor I would be sleeping on in the dangerous and impoverished IDP camp, the first thing I noticed was the lizard. As my head tilted to the side to observe its movements, my host, Santa, saw a friend of hers. She called over her friend to introduce me. Oblivious to the lizard, the newfound friend reached out her hand to shake mine and stepped directly on the creature. She didn't even flinch. I smiled, tried to make eye contact, but my gaze shifted to her feet. Did she know what was under her?

As we finished our brief greeting, the woman walked away, leaving the struggling lizard in her midst. Santa was leading me to her home, but I was concerned about the creature. It was then, upon closer observation, that I realized that the "lizard" was, in fact, a baby rat. As we walked away, the rat lay on its side... struggling to survive in an IDP camp. Rats and huts and thousands of people. All struggling to find a way to breathe in the camp.

While I sit peacfully on a vacation in Amsterdam, I consider the sacrifices Santa made for us that evening. Diligently, she crawled on the dirt floor to prepare dinner for our already plump bellies. At five months pregnant, Santa was one year and three children ahead of me in life. Then, as the men in her community came over to enjoy the dinner she had labored over, she politely sat in the dirt while they enjoyed the small hierarchy of resting on a wooden chair. Women cook. Then they sit on the dirt while the men eat their food in chairs. Then the women clean up the mess. And the men go to enjoy a Casava Liquor. Alcohol washing away the haunting holes that 22 years of war have created in their lives.

It's hard to fully understand the life that the Acholi lead. Santa drew me a warm bath and sent her 16 year old friend Palm out with me to the bathing section of the camp. Palm enegantly balanced the warm gallons of water on her head. Then, surrounded by huts, she asked me to begin to bathe. My nakedness in the crowded camp created a sensation of vulnerabiltiy that I had never known before. Of course, how naked can I be when the truth is that in a few short hours, I have the freedom and power to leave the camp? How can my spirit be broken by impoverty when I know that my wealth is always within my reach? How could I ever truly know how vulnerable, how tired these residents must be? They have no way out, and I will always have a way out. Nakedness can't be very shaming when you know you can cover up again soon.

The next morning, a man greeted us and began to speak to Santa in the Lwo language. She nodded, understandingly, and then handed the man a few thousand shillings. Enough to buy a few Cokes.

"Hello. Good morning," the man greeted us white guests in his Ugandan flavored English. "Last night a baby died. One week. We're holding the funeral today... Well... good bye."

For several minutes we sat silently in the room. I wished that I had brought my wallet to the camp instead of locking it "safely" in the intern house. But after a few minutes of silence, life had to return to the room. Babies die, but life in the camp must go on.

So, in that evening, when I saw life escape out of the baby rat, and as Santa crawled on the dirt ground, and as I sheltered my nakedness in the congested camp, a one week old baby lost its only chance. After nine months of carrying the child, a mother wept and a father found another hole in his life to try to fill again.

So, what's Uganda like? It's beautiful. But the injustices of the land will never leave my heart. How grateful I find myself today. Not only have my eyes seen this injustice, but I continue to be given the opportunities to help change these crimes.

So catchy

2010-03-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Don't stop... encouraging me all day in my ears while I work.

7 Minutes...

2010-03-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Of hypnotizing fun.

Fun in the Kitchen

2010-03-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Floating to Planet Funk

2010-03-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm in love with this song

JoJo for President

2010-03-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Johannes is on the highway
He’s most at home behind the wheel
He’s on a mission
Get to where he’s going
Fast
He tailgates
Enough to cause me to nervously
Cross
And uncross
And cross my legs again

He’s handsome
The boy a mom dreams of for her daughter
And while his youth shows
Always so playful
There’s something about him
His barrel-chested walk
Projecting voice
Halfway cocky smile
That tells you he should be trusted

“JoJo,” I revisit the frequent topic of conversation
“When you’re elected president you’ll still let me be your
Brains behind the whole operation, right?”

He laughs a little to himself
We have this exact same exchange
At least once a week
“T, what makes you think I’ll be president?”
He always fishes
For my same answer

“JoJo, you’re the cockiest
Most handsome guy I know
Who wouldn’t want you up front on their stage?
But man, we could be the power team
You’re the face everyone loves
And I’ll work my ass off behind the scenes
I’ll be the Hilary to your Bill Clinton
Together we’ll rule the world”

Nashville

2010-03-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

In less than a month, I will be here:

With these people:

I'd say... It's a party in the USA?

I dare you...

2010-03-01T23:37:00.001-08:00

To watch this without smiling

Mall Walker

2010-03-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Well she's fun

So What Do We Want?

2010-02-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

This video will explain what we're asking Dr. Coburn to do:

Coburn Say Yes from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Hey Dr. Coburn... You're not looking so good in the media

2010-02-27T17:01:00.001-08:00

Just saying... It's usually not too nice to prevent support going to people who are dying. The Oklahomans who voted for you seem to agree on that one. Even the conservatives are FOX News are confused about why he's not helping the kiddos in Uganda.

New York City

2010-02-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

In less than a month, I will be here:

With these people:

And that's only half the fun... more details to follow soon.

News in Oklahoma

2010-02-27T11:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Coburn, have you seen this?

E-mail to Dr. Coburn, Oklahoma State Senator

2010-02-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Dr. Coburn,

Although I'm not from Oklahoma, I wish that I was so I would know that you would listen to me. As a Californian, I have been reaching out to my own senators for quite a while to co-sponsor S. 1067. I have traveled to Uganda two times in the past few years and I know that the passing of this bill would ensure safety and relief for my friends that I met in the region.

Primarily, I want this bill passed because I love the people who are suffering under the violence of the LRA and want their lives improved. However, NOW some of my other friends are camped outside your OKC office in the 30 degree winter waiting for you to lift your hold on this bill and out of my love for those friends I am asking you to reconsider as well. They are also suffering on behalf of Ugandans in need and I would like their suffering to end as well.

I respect your wishes to not increase government spending, but I know that when the emergency merits it, there are times that we need to act even if there is a cost associated with it. On 9/11, no one was saying "we shouldn't help the people in the Twin Towers because this might get expensive." They were doing what they needed to do to help reduce the suffering in the emergency.

Since Resolve Uganda and Feingold have figured out a way to allocate this money to help those suffering in this emergency by taking money from the EXISTING State Department budget, your release of this hold would not increase ANY government spending. You can stay true to your fiscal conservative values while actually helping these children.

I wish that I was from Oklahoma so that my voice would matter to you, but my friends in Uganda wish that they were Americans so that their cries would matter as to the global community as my cries matter as a Californian. I hope you'll hear my voice in conjunction with the Oklahomans outside your doorstep, Americans nationwide voicing support for this cause, and the people of East Africa who are suffering the most.

~Talitha

PPG Building

2010-02-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

Without knowing what I was doing, I had posted an image of the PPG building on my header of this blog. I just made this my image because the black and white architecture of this building was nothing short of breath-taking to me. But, now that I know what this building is, I simply must go there. Anyone want to go to Pittsburgh? Maybe this summer?

Clipart

2010-02-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

According to this incredible piece of art, the moral of the story here is to do your homework in the middle of a race and your pencil will manage to beat the stupid, slow tortoise.

Red Light

2010-02-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

This red light
The corner of my little phone
And its flashes mean that someone
Wants to hear from me

Check for the red light
Peer into my purse
Check again, just to be sure

I used to know that he was missing me
Private chats all day long
Forgetting my phone on purpose
Just to return to his red light

Return from a meeting
His message was there to greet me
Climb out of the shower
His red light to see how my day was going?
Exit the gym
Sweaty
Tired
He was dwelling on how nice I looked
Red light reminding me that he cared

My little phone
Up to my ear for hours late one night
And there we agreed
That we needed more from each other than just
A red light
Weaping
And tears
And too far away to make anything right

These days there is still a red light
An overdrawn account notice from the bank
Or a jumbled message from my father
Wat do U want 2 do 4 dinner 2nite?????
A carpool cancellation
They’re too busy to make it to dinner

Never a blush
Cheeks rushing with blood and warmth
Just a red light
And now the roll of my eyes

Relevant and I and Our Mutual Friends

2010-02-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

Fancy seeing my friend and former co-worker Whitney Brammer on the front page of Relevant Magazine's website for an article about Ash Wednesday. Personally, I've been passing on meat this season.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/features/20533-the-many-lessons-of-ash-wednesday

Before Whitney, I saw my co-worker Jason Russell as the featured podcast interview on this website.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media/relevant-podcast/podcast-archives/20500-021210--invisible-children-co-founder-jason-russell

And a few weeks prior to that I saw my classmate and favorite Starbucks customer from Chicago, Josh Bales, as their featured musician.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media/relevant-podcast/music-download/19743-josh-bales

Or there was the time that my other co-worker, JoLeah Stiles was their summer intern and author of articles.
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/3940

Ok Relevant, let's just accept that we were made for each other. I'm expecting you to call soon to ask for my interview but I won't be offended if you would just rather photograph me as your model.

Fail Blog

2010-02-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

This one made me smile. (from failblog.org)

Voting... um again

2010-02-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

I still have this lingering cough from all the overtime I poured out to get Invisible Children votes during the Chase facebook competition, but meh, ftk (for the kids)

My dear friends over at LiNK (Liberty in North Korea) are currently vying for your votes to win $250,000 from Pepsi and the good news is that you can vote for them every day from now until the end of the month. Last week they were in 17th place. Now, they're in 6th. If they can finish in the top two, they'll win.

Can you give them some love? http://www.refresheverything.com/link

IC has a lot of friends doing a million great things around the world, but you won't find a group that we love more than LiNK. Trust me. They'll do amazing things with the money for refugees from North Korea. So vote!

Georgia College Human Rights Symposium

2010-02-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

This past week I enjoyed a stay at Georgia College and State University to speak on behalf of Invisible Children at their annual Global Rights Symposium. This year, the focus was human rights, so I was honored to lend my voice to the symposium.

First, we heard from Dr. Bertram Ramcharan who was the former Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He brought home a few ideas that really stuck with me about America's approach to justice post 9/11.
-The UN hoped to approach Osama Bin Laden's attack against America as a CRIMINAL act. Bush's decision to approach it as a WAR/TERRORIST act is the reason that the USA is still engaged in war with places like Iraq and Afganistan.
-The US Senate has later arrived at a consensus with the UN that America should have treated it as a criminal act, not a terrorist act.
-America's war on terror has had a ripple effect because other countries around the world have also begun to wage their own anti-terrorism wars but in ways that violate human rights much more than America has violated human rights post 9/11.

Then, I heard from Bill Nigut from the Anti-Defamation League.

Here's some points I picked up from him:
-Jews are fortunate in a way because they can "delay" racism against them. So many other children who physically stand out a minority face racism against them from the day they're born.
-Rabbi Hillel once asked 3 great questions about human rights:
1. If I'm not for myself, who will be?
2. If I'm only for myself, who am I?
3. If not now, when?

On Tuesday, I heard from Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking and advocate against the death penalty in the USA.

Here's a few points she touched on:
-80% of the people currently on death row killed a white person.
-139 people have been taken off of death row for wrongful conviction. How many other innocent people were killed over the past 34 years?
-If I'm struggling with my feelings about the death penalty, I should ask myself, "would I be willing to be the person to kill the convict?"
-Do we ever think about the people who DO have to do this killing?
-They are normal people like myself who now have the profession of killing another human being.
-98.6% of people who are sentenced to death row are considered "poor" by our society's standards.

Finally, I was given the chance to screen The Rescue, Together We're Free, and deliver the closing keynote address on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Here's a few photos:

Presenting The Rescue to a classroom that had standing room only.

Merch table following the screenings.

My new friend Abby, a senior at Georgia College, was extremely helpful in getting the word out about Invisible Children and encouraging our work.

Overall, it was a pure joy and such an honor to have been brought on with such an impressive crowd. My thanks go out to the event organizers and all of the participants of the symposium. Keep up the hard work!

Dreams

2010-02-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

"How tragic it is to have human beings live their wildest dreams in their sleep. Let's start living these in the daylight." -Noel Musicha

Men and their hearts

2010-02-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

Many people think men are less romantic than women. Yet men fall in love faster (because they are so visual); men tend to be more dependent on their girlfriends or wives for intimacy; men are over two times more likely to kill themselves when a relationship ends; and men show just as much activity in brain regions associated with romantic passion. — Helen Fisher, Ph.D., anthropology professor at Rutgers University

I really really have to agree with Helen on this one.

Momma's Boy

2010-02-07T16:57:00.001-08:00

My friend Mel Batie introduced me to this hilarious song in 2008. I was just remembering how hilarious it was tonight.

Milledgeville, GA

2010-02-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

I am here. Right now.

And it's a little weird. But I have decided that I love it. Especially my new friend Abby.

Metric

2010-02-05T16:55:00.001-08:00

Old song, but I love it more than I can put into words.

Flight to Hawaii

2010-02-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

I was disgusted on my flight to Hawaii by the fact that my airplane tray was folded inside of my arm rest. It seemed like a pretty dirty place to store a table that people eat off of.

I said to Hailey "I need like a sanitary napkin to wipe that off with."

She informed me that a sanitary napkin is a pad for women on their period. I proceeded to go into the airplane bathroom and found a complementary new sanitary pad. The following photos will demonstrate how to clean a dirty plane table.

You see, here is my dirty table.

And here is the sanitary napkin I found

I will now show you the steps to cleaning this table. Step 1: open the box

Step 2, remove the backing from the napkin

Step 3, stick it to your hand.

Step 4, wipe your table clean

Be forewarned. If you opt to photo document this experience, the person behind you on the plane may offer to take a cute picture of you and your friend mistakenly not understanding the documentation process that is occuring on the plane. If they offer, you should graciously accept their offer and hide the sanitary napkin from their site while interacting with that person.

I hope you found this lesson informative and helpful. Remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness so don't hesitate to use sanitary napkins in other situations as well.

Obamush

2010-01-31T11:07:00.001-08:00

I have noticed that Americans follow similar cycle. We become unsatistifed with our current government leadership. We demonize the current president. We blame the opposite political party for all our woes. Then, we build up so much hope in the future nominees. They MUST be capable of doing a better job than this horrible president we currently have. They are elected and the majority of America celebrates (after all, the majority of America voted that person into place, they won by a MAJORITY). Then we wait for our new political savior to clean up all the messes of the president who just left office. At first, their failure to do so can be blamed on the previous president. But after a while, the same political problems remain and we can no longer hold the previous president accountable. We turn on our new golden-boy. We blame him that he couldn't fix these struggles in our nation. We look for a new golden-boy. And never, under any circumstances, are WE accountable for changing our nation. We chose the president, he fixes the problems, and it absolutely is not our fault if the problems remain.

To quote an already overquoted statement "be the change you wish to see in the world." -Ghandi

Last Week's Stress...

2010-01-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

I could never describe how stressful this past week was at Invisible Children as we were in a fierce competition to win $1 million. Maybe the 4 minute video will get the point across.

A Softer World

2010-01-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Nate just showed me a fantastic website that has a unique spin on comic strips. This one made me smile. www.asofterworld.com

Water Fairy

2010-01-27T13:18:00.001-08:00

by alexiuss http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/Water-fairy-128204062

Easiest $1 Million We've Ever Made

2010-01-24T09:49:00.000-08:00

Or, was it the hardest? Well, it was certainly the FASTEST $1 million Invisible Children has ever made.

As you probably noticed if you are a facebook friend of mine, Invisible Children was doing everything we could this past week to get your vote in an online competition to win $1 million. And was it EVER dramatic.

This past week, we pulled together a group of volunteers (sometimes numbering over 100) in our office to reach out and ask the general public to vote for us to win. We worked 18 hour days, even on Saturday and Martin Luther King day. We called, we emailed, we texted, we snail mailed, we faxed out press releases, we did interviews on the news and radio, and then we did it all over again. All across the country, our most committed volunteers started calling us asking how they could set up call centers in their homes to get more votes too. It was incredible.

This week-long competition was not without its moments of drama. Initially, Invisible Children and TWLOHA (To Write Love on Her Arms) were battling back and forth to hold onto the first place spot. We expected this. TWLOHA and IC both have a strong presence in youth culture and this was obviously the age group that would be voting the most on Facebook. However, the difference between the two groups was that Invisible Children had club chapters at thousands of schools across America. We discovered that as soon as we activated all these clubs asking them to find votes, that we gained an increasing pace in getting votes. Hmmm, maybe the press coverage didn't hurt too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laren-poole/help-invisible-children-g_b_428792.html

(Additional press included The Washington Post, CNN Tech, Fox 5 News San Diego, The San Diego Union Tribune, and 91X radio)

So, amid the fury of phone calls, helping loved ones create facebook accounts for the very first time, and the press, we missed the fact that another group, Isha, was climbing in the rankings for votes. All of a sudden, we saw that they were collecting votes three times faster than we could. "Who is Isha?" we all started googling. The answers we found were interesting.
-They provided inner transformation and personal growth? http://www.ishafoundation.org/
-They were mystic? http://www.midnightswiththemystic.com/isha-foundation.html
-They were a cult? http://guruphiliac.lefora.com/2009/03/17/sadhguru-and-the-isha-foundation/
-They were a yoga foundation that charges $1,800 to hear their speaker at conferences? http://www.ishafoundation.org/component/option,com_program/program_id,3119/task,details/

And who was voting for them? Well according to Facebook, people with names like Sdfj Dfsjlfkddjf or Gdfg Kcjbvkljvb. And they had never had any previous activity. Or facebook friends. Or any other info about them on their account. They were gaining votes at an almost, umm... mechanical rate. And we were starting to feel a lot like Avatars, defending ourselves against the machines.

This article seems to agree that votes were looking funky: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/fraud-in-facebookchase-co_n_433928.html

I was crying. I was praying. I was barely sleeping. I asked God to please send the money to those who needed it most. And mostly, I was just working my phone and facebook to hunt down more votes for us. No matter WHAT type of votes we had to overcome, I was going to give it my all. In the last hours of competion, our 10,000 vote lead was slimming down to 6,000, then 4,500, then 2,000. Could we hold onto first place? And then the miracle tweets started pouring in. Katy Perry tweeted us. Then Rick Warren. Then, most surprising of all, TWLOHA publicly tweeted their support for us and asked their supporters to use their remaining votes to support us. And no matter what, we just kept calling. And calling. And calling. And then when it couldn't come fast enough, 9:00 pm hit. And we won! Barely. we had 123,990, Isha had 122,742 votes (a margin of just over 1,200 votes. If Isha had kept their pace for 30 more minutes, we would have lost).

So, we screamed. And danced to "A Milli" by Lil Wayne. And cried. And hugged. And Jason reminded us that this money was not OURS. It was God's and we need to invest and multiply it in a way that would make Him proud. And then we drank pink champaign on ice (an incredible gift from someone who wanted us to RELAX)... because if ever there was a time that we deserved to celebrate, this was the night.

The quote that will live forever in our history: "If they was using robots, and we still beat them, what does that make US????" -Zach Barrows

Chase Community Giving

2010-01-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Currently, Invisible Children is WINNING this! We have one week to win. Please vote for us on facebook. Only takes 30 seconds and as long as we continue to bring the heat, this would be the biggest blessing Invisible Children could ever ask for as we would dramatically increase our ability to implement even more successful scholarship programs on the ground in northern Uganda.

C'mon. You can vote too.

Donald Miller Respnds to Pat Robertson's Haiti Comments

2010-01-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

I’ve also found that the more I trust in Christ’s redemption to be sufficient, the less overtly religious I am. And, quite honestly, the more suspect overtly religious people become to me. When I’m with somebody who talks zealously about faith, about Jesus, about the Bible, after a while, I find myself wondering whether or not their faith is strong at all. For instance, if I were with somebody who kept talking about how much they loved their wife, going on loudly and profusely, intuitively I would wonder whether or not they were struggling in their marriage. I would wonder whether they were trying to convince me they loved their wife, or if they were trying to convince themselves. (Now that I think of it, though, some of my favorite people talk about how much they love their wives, but these are less public proclamations and more sighs of appreciation.) Faith in Christ, for me, is similar. It’s intimate. I’m more comfortable giving quiet prayers, intimate prayers. Often alone, in fact. I speak of faith the way I speak of personal matters. Of course there is a time for proclamations, but that’s the key, isn’t it? There’s a time. Anyway, I love that the New Testament is mostly intimate letters written to small groups of people who met in homes. I like the quiet authenticity of our faith. Robertson’s loudness and shock-jock verbiage seems strange and oddly uncompassionate. It felt like he was trying to tell us how tough he was, not how compassionate God is.

You may read the article in full at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed-blog/19845-don-miller-responds-to-pat-robertson

Please Donate

2010-01-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

At this stage in the game, there's two things that Haiti needs. Your man-power and your dollars.

If you are a nurse or a doctor, American Airlines will provide you with a free ticket to travel to Haiti and serve. Please call 212-697-9767 to coordinate your ticket. My roommate is from New Orleans and was there when Katrina struck. He said that the number one thing that Haitians need RIGHT NOW is just people to help them clean up the mess and take care of their basic survival needs. He said that it felt so discouraging to be in New Orleans with so much work to do and no one there to do it. If you have any way to travel there, please know that it will be the best possible time investment that you can make.

There are countless charities and non-profits on the ground in Haiti that are currently distributing basic survival supplies and I would whole-heartily encourage you to donate to one of them. One great way to donate is to give to either World Vision or the Red Cross and the corporate super-power, Salesforce, will match your donation. Please visit http://www.salesforce.com/haiti/ to make that happen.

Students Inspire Me Daily

2010-01-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

So, this student at Glenbrook North High School lives near where I went to college and it really warms my heart to see these students rally around to support Invisible Children in very tangible ways. This story is pretty tragic because he accidently burned down his garage trying to help Invisible Children (circa minute 2:55) so, I loved hearing that this student won a trip to Northern Uganda because of his creative idea. Nathan, it's possible that you made me cry today. Hope it's a trip of a lifetime!

Jaydiohead

2010-01-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

Oldie but a goodie. This is a mash up of Radiohead and Jay-Z and we used this song during our Rescue campaign. So powerful, so interesting. I love it.

Starbucks Gave Love to Invisible Children

2010-01-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

I can die a happy woman. Starbucks' current homepage features a breakdance crew that's been dancing to fundraise for us. Let the superpowers merge. Muhahaha.

The group is called B-Boy Crew. Thanks to the dancers. And thanks to the coffee superpower for the love.

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

1/11/10
Talitha: "I'm not a vegetarian anymore."
Natasha: "I smoked a cigarette. Oops. Well happy new year."

Wedding

2010-01-09T22:53:00.000-08:00

My beloved best friend, Lauren, married an amazing, handsome, incredible man tonight. Here's a couple photos from the night.

Lauren and Rob, the beautiful couple

Dancing with my handsome date

My fantastic parents

Some of the lovely bridesmaids

Diana, dear friend for years

Quirky

2010-01-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

This tattoo is just absurb enough for me to love it.

I-Pod Song

2010-01-04T17:21:00.001-08:00

What's FUNNY is that I stopped using my I-Pod when I learned that my Blackberry could play Pandora. Then my Blackberry introduced me to the I-Pod commericial song. I'm not compelled to buy a new Nano, but I am compelled to be happier with this song in my ears. Ugggh, I'm such a dork.

The Dangers of Getting Stoked

2010-01-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked

Seems like a serious problem.

Oswald Chambers on Love

2010-01-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

"If human love does not carry a man beyond himself, it is not love. If love is always discreet, always wise, always sensible and calculating, never carried beyond itself, it is not love at all. It may be affection, it may be warmth of feeling, but it has not the true nature of love in it."

And so, I hope to always be carried beyond myself in remarkable ways. Ways where I look back and think, wow, the only thing that could have possibly brought me to this place that I am in life is love.

Hair

2010-01-03T12:12:00.001-08:00

Hmmm, can a new year's resolution be to have sexy hair? Because this look over here on the right (Nanette Lapore's model) but with blonde coloring is exactly what I'm gunning for this year.

Vintage

2009-12-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

I was obsessing over this song, ummm... about a year ago. But I was recently reminded of how simply magic it is. Colin darling, you are a doll.

Gross

2009-12-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

For $10,000 this woman auctioned off her forehead for ad space to the highest bidder. Golden Palace won. I would start wearing bangs. Always.

Ugggh. Here she is in action.