Just Think Vol.38: Are We Awake Now?
By A.Evans
http://twitter.com/AdotEVANS
Disclaimer: As always, I write these articles to stimulate minds and to get the thought process in motion...
Last week we were informed of a catastrophic event that cannot be measured or understood merely by what has been presented to us on television. It is something that most overlook until it hits close to home. I find it hard to even begin to imagine the level of devastation that this earthquake has caused. I feel the pain directly by being around my friends who are all Haitian, yet I still can't fathom the depth of their grief, yet alone the grief of their elders, and those who are in Haiti. Here in the States we tend to sugar coat things that have no immediate affect on our well being, we take our clothes, accessories and technology for granted. How quickly do we get upset when our internet connection is slow or lost? We never really take time to realize that there are places in this world who don't have a 1/4th of what we have initially so how are we to view life when those who are already without lose even more. How can we want to pop bottles and cop clothes and focus on the material gratification we have been programmed to love when there are people with NOTHING. We grieved over 9/11 because of its location because we could see it we could relate and yes it was devastating, so imagine the dynamic of what this quake has done. I'm compelled to ask, What if this quake would have taken place in NYC? Would we fully understand then? Would we finally wake up? When do we finally realize what's important? When do we wake up to REAL LIFE?
My Eyes Are Open
Yesterday I had the privilege of watching Avatar, and I immediately caught the message that was subtle yet blatant in the movie. I saw several things in this movie, I saw how what is considered sacred and spiritual to some is considered profitable to others. Think of the land we have invaded and caused destruction to in an attempt to either westernize their way of living or just flat out rob them of resources that greedy Corporations want. Hmm I guess oil seems a little bit more delicate now huh? I don't want to voice all my personal opinions for the sake of staying PC, and offending some of you who have yet to grasp the cosmic shift taking place on this planet, but I will say this if Corporations and Alphabet Gangs continue to tamper with the planet and try to strip it of its resources for profitable gain, expect for devastation to take place in your backyard in the near future. I guess my boy Fabe was right soon there will be advertising on the Moon for all to see, because they're sure running out places to take over on this planet. I refuse to believe a natural disaster of that proportion wasn't caused by something remotely tied to experimentation or deliberate testing.
Final Thoughts
As we grow closer to the age of unification I urge you all to do your research don't solely rely on what you see on the news. Investigate what really causes natural disasters investigate on all the testing and tampering that takes place instead of voting for the next American Idol, or taking shopping advice from Kim Kardashian, I urge you all to see past the distractions and WAKE UP there's more to life that what's being presented... As Always Peace & Love
What Do You Think?
Marketing Buzz: Yele Haiti
By Steve Canal
http://twitter.com/SteveCanal
http://twitter.com/ThinkGroupMedia
www.Yele.org
Yéle Haiti is a foundation started by Grammy-Award winning musician, producer and social entrepreneur Wyclef Jean that is changing lives in this desperately poor but optimistic nation.
Through Yéle Haiti, Wyclef uses music, sports and the media to reinforce projects that are making a difference in education, health, environment and community development. In practical terms this translates to over 3,000 new jobs, close to 7,000 children being put in school, more than 8,000 people a month receiving food and approximately 2,000 young people a month learning about HIV/AIDS prevention.
Among the many who have responded to Wyclef's invitation to help are thousands of individuals like you, celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as NGOs, world leaders and corporations.
Education
With little state support for education, Yéle Haiti has created a range of programs to improve the quality of education and ensure more children from poor and disadvantaged families can attend school.
Primary School Scholarships: sponsoring the education of 4,500 children throughout Haiti.
University Scholarships: sponsoring 12 top ranking students in Haitian universities.
Boy's Rehabilitation Center: giving imprisoned child gang members a second chance.
Yéle Cuisine: employing women to cater meals for children in six schools without kitchens.
School Feeding: dry food distribution to around 7,000 families of children in targeted schools.
Sports
With almost no public or school funding for organized sports, Yéle Haiti supports a soccer program for at-risk youth and a range of sports events for youth.
L'Athletique d'Haiti: supporting a soccer and tutoring program for 650 youth from the slums.
Sports Events: sponsoring tournaments, clinics and sports equipment for young players.
The Arts
With high levels of illiteracy, Yéle Haiti uses music and entertainment to inform the public about development and social issues, while at the same time providing training to at-risk youth. Celebrities are enlisted to help raise the country's international profile.
Music Studio: providing jobs and vocational training in a new state-of-the-art facility being built in Cité Soleil.
National Youth Orchestra: classical orchestral training and performance for at-risk youth.
Art School: support for an art school in Jakmel, including commissioning students for design work abroad.
Remember Haiti: scanning and making available rare historic books about
Haiti's founding.
Spotlight Haiti: engaging celebrities to help raise Haiti's international profile.
Yéle Cinema: free outdoor projection of Creole-dubbed films in slums without electricity.
Environment
With less than two percent tree cover left nationwide, Yéle Haiti is responding with a new community-based tree planting, environmental education and social marketing initiative along with ongoing support for an environmental education initiative.
Yéle Vert: community-based agroforestry, environmental education and social marketing that is in development in Gonaives.
Ecole Verte: environmental education camping trips and tree planting for youth.
Community Service
With little support available for vulnerable families, Yéle Haiti distributes food to those in need throughout the slums of Port-au-Prince and mobilizes emergency relief in response to natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
Food Distribution: assisting the World Food Programme in distributing rice, beans and oil to families in the slums of Port-au-Prince.
Emergency Relief: mobilizing relief following natural disasters and humanitarian crises.
North America
Yéle Student Outreach: college and university students rallying in support of Haiti.
Help Haiti: Canadian students giving 25¢ each to sponsor scholarships for Haitian students.
Real Talk: Two Wolves
By Cedric Shine
http://twitter.com/NativeNotes
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me" he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "the one you feed."
Who do you believe in I put my faith in God blessed and still breathing and even though it's hard that's who I believe in. The late, great brother Tupac Shakur imparted these words of wisdom on me through song. I read the above Cherokee philosophy this past Saturday when I was at the rites of passage program I volunteer with. It spoke to me because last week I was contemplating writing something about getting the 'hater' out of you. You know, ridding ourselves of the jealousy and envy that resides within us. Sadly we can easily recognize others ability to "hate" or be envious but we put blinders on when it comes to ourselves. In it's most humble form, jealousy and envy appears within one of us when we see someone doing something we deem great and we question how they got in that position. We are better suited for that spot, how in the world did that idiot get in such a position when we're smarter. We're more righteous, we are the better person. Etc. ect. Sometimes it's not as blatant but we know when ill thoughts creep up in our mind. I do it, it's unconscious sometimes and it takes a lot to admit such that such a wack trait lurks in my subconscious, but it's there and I shared it, I can't take it back.
So when I read the old Cherokee saying I found strength in knowing that I was not alone, that this fight goes on in every man and woman. It shows up in our fears, our insecurities, our inflated egos. It's a fight that goes on in every man and woman and I for one have not escaped it. I was feeling a little heavy today. Happy yet sad, I had a knot in my stomach. I had that heartbreak knot in my stomach but I haven't been dumped in a while so it couldn't have been heartbreak. haha. And it came to me while emailing a good brother of mine,a brother in Christ, a brother in Alpha, a brother.
Fear, somewhere deep inside my mind I was feeding the fear wolf instead of the hope and faith wolf. I recently put my testimony forth, talked about just how blessed I am and how blessed I feel. But if you've ever been down and out, you know that you never want to be in that position again. Happiness is something we must work at, we have to work at it every day, we have to nurture the happiness within us so that we can continue to experience it. Faith, faith is the unseen, just knowing that God will order your steps.
But that fear, it grips us. It can force us to remain in the status quo because we are too scared of risking our happiness. We want to horde what we have instead of working towards more internal bliss. But we have two wolves fighting this war within us. The one we feed is who will grow stronger and defeat the other. Don't feed your evil wolf! Don't feed the wolf who wants to sabotage you, the wolf who grips you up and lets insecurity and inferiority control you. Don't feed that wolf because that story has already been written. We know that desperate story, the painful portrait it paints.
No, I encourage you to nurture and feed that good wolf daily. Feed it with prayer, feed it with hope, feed it with a vivid imagination who sees you achieving your wildest dreams. Feed that wolf with positive energy, feed that wolf with thoughts of grandeur and happiness. Feed that wolf with the idea that 'yep things are great right now and they can and will get better'. Last week the preacher said that there would be trials and tribulations in our lives, this fact, we will go through ups and downs. However God made a pact to bring you through a long time ago. Feed your good wolf with the belief that your God will deliver you. They say it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile yet we see so many frowns when we look around. Start a trend and let your smile be the smile that helps someone else smile. Feed their good wolf because it's one heck of a world we are out here living in. We need some support. I support you. I pray you support me as well in starving that evil, hating wolf and giving my good wolf the strength to win this battle. It's going on in each and every one of us, I believe in you, I believe in us. Our good can win. Peace and Grace be unto you.
La Familia: Straight Men in Atlanta "Saving" Women from the Gayest City in the Country
By Shelli Tinae Price
http://twitter.com/EllaBleuEvents
By now most of you have heard about the article in Advocate Magazine that voted Atlanta as the gayest city in the country. Okay, I will admit I'm surprised it's worse than San Francisco but it explains why the heterosexual men here feel they have something to prove. I believe living in a city as gay as Atlanta, the straight men here feel (an unconscious feeling) they have to over compensate to prove their straight. The way they go about doing this, is a good majority of them flaunt their heterosexuality to and with every woman in town! I think they believe they are the single woman's SAVIOR. Like, "it's either you date me non-exclusively or you're left with the gay men at Bull Dogs." Men are very protective of their rolls as the leaders and providers and living in Atlanta has caused that natural instinct to become elevated and thus out of whack.
There are A LOT of eligible bachelors in Atlanta. Successful, own homes, nice cars, 401k's with stock options, etc...living the American dream but the American dream doesn't seem to come equipped with the idea of settling down. Now, I do believe people should be single until they are ready to make a commitment but the men here have no desire to settle down because they are too busy "saving" all the women from the gays. I remember I met a guy from DC who was here visiting and he was quick to say, "Man if I lived in Atlanta I would be not have a girlfriend." It's like Atlanta is the land of the lost single men who are in no hurry to grow up; in no hurry to find just ONE woman to spend their time with. I can't say that I'm blaming these men because a big part of me feels they are a product of their environment. If I were to transport these same eligible bachelor's to Minnesota, they'd probably all be married or at least engaged.
The battle of the testosterone is at its peak here in Atlanta because the straight men here don't EVER want anyone to think they are a member of the high Gays population. These men aren't making excuses for being straight - but they are acting them out in their dating life to prove a point and the point is being well received by single black women here; IF I WANT A SINGLE, STRAIGHT MAN IN ATLANTA, I HAVE TO SHARE HIM.
Artist On the Rise: Lil' Melo
www.twitter.com/lilmel0
www.myspace.com/lilmelomusic
Randy Smith, professionally known as Lil' Melo is a hip hop star hailing from Washington D.C. Lil' Melo presents a style described as a raspy slow flow. Lil' Melo creates music that the people will love. Lil' Melo recently launched his career, and is promoting his smash single, "Models and Bottles." This single is guaranteed to rock clubs across the nation. Unlike most mainstream hip hop artists, Lil' Melo doesn't rap about killing or hustling. Lil' Melo stays true to himself by talking about what he knows, partying, money, cars, life, kid's clothes, and jewelry. Fans respect Lil' Melo, because he raps about things that they all can relate to. Lil' Melo is creating a presence through college radio as well as mainstream radio. He is also making his presence known over the internet. Lil' Melo does a number of shows in Washington DC, and the surrounding areas. Lil' Melo will soon be featured on a host of regional tours. "Models and Bottles" will be available for purchase on download and through several websites. The ringtone for "Models and Bottles," is currently being prepared.
Indie Film Review: I'm Reed Fish (2006)
By A. Evans
http://twitter.com/AdotEVANS
Staring: Jay Baruchel, Alexis Bledel, Victor Rasuk, Schuyler Fisk, AJ Cook, Tommy Dewey
Directed by: Zackary Adler
If Your Life Were a Movie Would Anyone Watch it?
I'm Reed Fish is a tale about the ins and outs of living in a small town where news travels quickly and everyone knows everyone. In this coming of age film we meet Reed Fish (Baruchel) a local radio host who took over after his father passed away. Reed is not exactly like his father, and is reminded every day by the locals, but tries his best to fill his father's shoes. In addition to the stress of following in his father's footsteps, Reed is engaged and soon to be wed to the town beauty that is until his former high school sweetheart comes back into town throwing him for a loop. Reed must decide what is important to him, and his future, before throwing it all away, he decides to make a movie about exactly what is taking place in his life and leaves your mind in a daze as you anticipate the outcome.
I'm Reed Fish is a definite feel good coming of age movie that we all can relate to, we all have to make difficult decisions, and sometime we are called to do things that question our integrity and character. No one really understands what it is like to be someone else unless we were able to see inside their day to life or if they made a movie about it, and that's exactly what takes place in I'm Reed Fish. This film has some funny parts, and some slow parts, but overall it's a pretty cool flick...enjoy.
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