President Obama’s Weekly Address – 08/29/09
Filed under: Blog Entries, Obama, Politics, Society & Culture
The President discusses the steps being taken to finish the job of recovery from Hurricane Katrina as the fourth anniversary approaches. He points to local citizens working hard alongside responsible government to make real progress in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and pledges that the lessons of Katrina will not be forgotten.
Dallas South News Open House
Filed under: Black Blogger Postings, Blog Entries, Community, General, Politics, Society & Culture, Technology
Last night I had the opportunity to attend an open house to see the Dallas South News newsroom. While I was supposed to be taking pictures for this post, I found myself engaged in some great conversation with various attendees of the event. It was a good chance to meet some new people and network I even got the chance to chat with some college friends I hadn’t seen in a while (shout to the A&M crew).
For those who haven’t been to the website, check it out at www.dallassouthnews.org. This is going to be a good deal for the South Dallas community. Blogging has opened up a different way in which news can be reported. Through it, us little people can have a voice and the real discussions can begin. Shawn Williams, the DSN editor shared an email with his board on how this type of media benefits the community.
Dear DSN Board and Advisory Board,
At the most recent board meeting, a discussion took place around why efforts like Dallas South News are important, and what type of value we bring to communities. I have reached out to a few people across the country leading initiatives on innovation in media to share their thoughts with us about just how significant our effort is at this critical juncture in journalism.
The first person that we hear from is Kelly McBride. Kelly is the Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Florida. More importantly for this discussion, it was Kelly that convened the “Sense Making” project funded by the Ford Foundation, “a yearlong project to help the public develop skills for making sense of news in the digital era.” At the gathering of “sense makers” last Spring, I learned about other cities utilizing local nonprofit news.
Here’s what Kelly had to say:
Humans understand the world through narrative. Communities exist because groups of humans share portions of a common narrative (That could be, “We live on this street.” or “We share the same faith.” or “We fought the same war.”)
The more narratives are communicated, the more effective they become in building communities. Communities are necessary to create positive social change. People may argue about the veracity of these statements, but I believe they are demonstrably true.
Since the dawn of American democracy, we have had reliable institutions that create a common narrative for our communities. Granted these have been flawed institutions that left out huge portions of that narrative. But these newspapers and later radio and television stations, at least had the capacity, if not the will, to tell the stories of their communities.
Today, those institutions are losing their ability to tell a community’s story. As a result the community is losing the ability to address problems and make the world better.
So, other institutions must be created to share stories and to document narratives, particularly untold stories, so that communities can continue to move forward.
Kelly McBride
Ethics Group Leader
The Poynter Institute
kelly@poynter.org
Twitter: kmcb
www.poynter.org
Check out the site and let me know what you think. If you would like to donate or volunteer, email editor@dallassouthnews.org or call 214-485-0683 for more information.
BTW, here a slide show with some of the photos that I was able to take between conversations.
Michael Jackson’s Death Ruled a Homicide
Somebody is going down for this one (Dr. Conrad Murray). The final ruling of the Los Angeles County coroner was that Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide. The coroner determined a fatal combination of drugs was given to Jackson hours before he died in his rented Los Angeles mansion on June 25. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings have not been publicly released.
I guess this is the reality of what money can make happen. If you have it, people are willing to do things for you that don’t make any sense at all. I think they are really going to try and make an example of Dr. Murray. The list of celebrities going to prison is growing and people are being reminded that no one is above the law. No matter how much you’re worth. He’s definitely not helping the cause.
Here’s the article from the Associated Press.
President Obama’s Weekly Address – 08/22/09
President Obama debunks the myths around health insurance reform, and discusses the public option proposal in which many of them are rooted — but he focuses his address on the stark moral and historical turning point at which we find ourselves: “This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what’s best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now.”
Jon Stewart Interviews Healthcare “Death Panel” Lady
Filed under: Blog Entries, Health, Laughable, Legal, Politics, Society & Culture
Last night Jon Stewart interviewed the Former Lt. Governor of New York Betsy McCaughey, who is a strong critic of the Obama Administration’s healthcare plan. They didn’t show all of the first part of the interview, but I’m sure if you’re a lawyer, you’ll be able to get what they’re talking about.
The funny thing about these Congressional bills is that they seem to be subject to interpretation and everyone seems to “read into it” differently. I’m glad the President is pushing the issue of reform. There’s no perfect way to do this and I hope that Congress can come to an agreement on what it will take to get every American health insurance.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive – Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
|
||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive – Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
|
||||
Give Back to the Community with BlackPlanet Rising
Filed under: Blog Entries, Business, Community, Society & Culture
It’ll be interesting to see how this works out for Interactive One. They’ve been making some big moves when it comes to the Internet and social networking, but I’m not sure how well it’s working out for them. I was an early adopter of BlackPlanet, but like MySpace stopped using them because I wasn’t able to to find anything that was able to keep me there. Since then they’ve redesigned the site and have given users some more features, but I’m still not sold. I’ll go back one day.
Here’s an article I found regarding BlackPlanet Rising. Hopefully this will be a venture that can help do some good for those who need it most. I’m signing up today, how about you?
NEW YORK, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ — Interactive One, LLC The Digital Connection for Black America and the digital division of Radio One, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROIAK – News and ROIA – News), the largest African American multimedia company, today announced the launch of BlackPlanet Rising (www.blackplanetrising.com), the first comprehensive platform to provide tools, information and connections for African Americans to give back their time and resources to the community. Interactive One will seek to activate African Americans through a broad cross-platform outreach program leveraging the Radio One stations, and its own robust online platform which reaches more than nine million monthly unique visitors and includes the original social networking site, BlackPlanet.com.
“This is the first platform that allows African Americans to connect around services for and by the community,” says Maria Weaver Watson, who as head of marketing oversees the community outreach program for Interactive One. “It also allows organizations, communities and individuals to tap into the largest African American audience across our various platforms to seek volunteers, board members, employees, and donations.”
In order to provide users with a vast number of volunteer opportunities that reflect their geographic location, skills, and areas of interest, BlackPlanet Rising has partnered with VolunteerMatch, one of the Web’s most popular volunteer networks (www.volunteermatch.org) with more than 68,000 nonprofit organizations, to help Americans easily find where and how they can give back. This will enable users to go onto the site, enter their zip code, skills and interests, including education, public service, etc., and secure a list of active local volunteering opportunities.
“Times are tough in our communities, but it’s clear that more Americans than ever want to help solve local problems. We’ve already seen an increase of more than 12% in community service activity this year alone,” said Robert Rosenthal, Director of Communications of VolunteerMatch.
“Our hope is that we are giving a community that is inspired to contribute the tools and information to make an impact on the causes that are most important to them,” said Tom Newman, President of Interactive One. “Community service is at the heart of Radio One’s mission and history and we felt that in these challenging economic times we needed to be front and center as leaders. I am very excited to see how BlackPlanet Rising will mobilize the community further by introducing and encouraging acts of service and social change online. There is really nothing out there like this.”
Additionally, BlackPlanet Rising will put a strong emphasis in the area of education by partnering with DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit website that connects users to public schools in need. This provides BlackPlanet Rising’s community with the chance to help build the next generation of future leaders, and provide funds to support critical resources, including books, computers, supplies, field trips, and much more. The user chooses an educational project written by a public school teacher to support and DonorsChoose.org delivers materials directly to the school. In return, the user receives photos and thank you notes from the teacher and students whose lives were impacted.
“We are grateful that BlackPlanet Rising has chosen to highlight the importance of education and offer their users the opportunity to give back to their local schools and students,” said Yaritza Olmeda, East Region Associate Director, of DonorsChoose.org.
Other highlights of the site will include the Riser of the Month, which will profile individuals who have done exceptional work and made a difference in their community; a News section to provide briefs on community service; and an Upcoming Events section to highlight large scale and regional events that encourage users to get involved. BlackPlanet.com will host the BlackPlanet Rising group for members to share stories, insights and personal recommendations for community involvement.
source
H1N1 Preparedness and HIV Webinar
Filed under: Blog Entries, Community, Family, General, Health, Society & Culture
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working hard to inform the public about how to prepare for and prevent H1N1 flu.
Know What to Do About the Flu:Visit http://www.flu.gov
To ensure that the HIV community is prepared for the H1N1 flu and understands how H1N1 can affect people living with HIV and AIDS, AIDS.gov is sponsoring a webinar on H1N1 Preparedness and HIV.
What: H1N1 Preparedness and HIV: A webinar for Federal staff and grantees who serve people living with HIV and AIDS
When: Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 2:00 – 2:45 pm (EDT)
Join experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and HIV grantees to hear an update on H1N1 preparedness, especially as it applies to people living with HIV and AIDS.
Register by Friday, August 28 by visiting www.AIDS.gov/webinars
Questions? Please email contact@AIDS.gov. For more information about H1N1, visit www.flu.gov.
Nassau In The Bahamas, 1950s
Filed under: Blog Entries, Business, Society & Culture, Think Global, Twitter
Here’s a film recommended to me by @Jchasemusic on Twitter. It shows a tour of Nassau and the island of New Providence in the Bahamas in the 1950s. Not having been alive during that time, I though the commentator was very interesting in his description of the island. I’m not sure if it would have made me want to pack my backs and go on a vacation, but I’m not sure I would have been too welcome anyways. The footage was found on the Travel Film Archive’s Youtube channel.
President Obama’s Weekly Address – 08/15/09
Filed under: Blog Entries, Community, Family, General, Health, Obama, Politics
The President talks about how the chatter and ruckus around health insurance reform on television obscures the reality of what’s happening in America. He discusses how in most towns people and Members of Congress are having constructive conversations, and how people are learning how reform will help them and their families with the real problems they have faced with the insurance system.
“Lil’ Monkey” Doll Pulled From Shelves
Filed under: Blog Entries, Business, Community, Society & Culture
Okay, so maybe racists is a tough word to describe this product, but insensitive is right on the mark. I can’t believe something like this would even make it into a store. You mean to tell me no one, look at it and said “maybe it isn’t a good idea to stock this doll”? The odds of a black parent calling their kid Lil’ Monkey is probably pretty slim. Lil’ Boo or Lil’ Man-Man, maybe. But not Lil’ Monkey. While it’s good that Costco was quick in pulling it off the shelves, someone really should have caught this.
Greensboro, NC — A Triad man’s complaint led to a doll being pulled from Costco shelves across the Northeast and Southeast.
A man complained the doll, packaged with a plush monkey, was offensive as he bought it at the Costco store on Wendover Avenue on July 30, said James Stafford, store manager.
The “Cuddle with Me” doll package he complained about includes an African-American doll and a plush monkey. The baby doll is wearing a hat that reads, “Lil’ Monkey.”
The dolls were sold exclusively at Costco stores in the Northeast and Southeast.
The complaint from Greensboro was the only one the company received, according to Art Jackson, Costco’s vice president of general administration.
Links of Interest
Site Feeds
MyBlogLog Readers
