"The curious fact of love is that it overrides the body’s rubber-sealed selfishness. Sex and procreation easily fit in with the body’s plans for Empire; it wants to extend its territory, needs to reproduce itself. It resists invasion. Love the invader compromises the self’s autonomy. Love the rescuer is the hand held out across the uncrossable sea."

In case you didn’t know, I have a new blog full of brutal honesty on life in the big city, materialism, and journalistic ethics. Check it out! thedarkmadame.tumblr.com

Hiatus

Dear friends and followers,

After careful consideration I have decided to put Army of Dreamers on hiatus until an unknown time.  It has been a wonderful 16 months.  Discovering a love for all things humanitarian, traveling to Australia and Nicragua, living without air conditioning for the first time in my life, and most importantly being able to establish a peace with the my odd Haitian-American heritage.  Throughout all of this I have connected with wonderful people, both on my blog and while I was traveling.  I established close connections with people who had been simply my acquaintances in the past.  I developed a pseudo-comfort with the interweb.  I purchased my first iPhone.

When I returned home from Nicaragua I decided that the time for traveling was temporarily over.  I had a year for of unforgettable experiences and I was charged with a passion to contribute to a greater cause.  After nearly two years I decided it was time to return to school.  A series of fortunate events led me back to my first career job in journalism with an added promotion and I began putting together applications for journalism schools.  Now I am in the waiting period and I know that my focus has to be directed to one area for the time being.  As a result I will be putting every spare moment I have into my new blog www.adrianalyon.tumblr.com  This blog will be my attempt to not only pursue my passion for news literacy but also highlight international affairs issues.  I don’t believe people should have to feel the media is heavily biased/sensationalized nor should they ever worry about being lied to.  That is yellow journalism, not ethical journalism.  And that is a speech for another day…

Again, thank you all for your love and support over the last few months.  I hope that we will continue to connect in the future and that you all will be a part of my initial attempts to reestablish a connection between “the people and the press”.  I am so curious to see what young people are wanting to see in the news realm as technology continues to shift onto the internet platform.  Much love to you all!

Adriana

I feel like a Macbook Pro will be in order this summer.  Dang it this summer is shaping up to be an expensive one! Grrrrr!

Accountability Please

Where did the statistic “Invisible Children only commits 31% of funds to the program” come from?

wx-freak:

Haiti was just hit by a 4.6 Earthquake…

My heart just died a little……

send prayers

No, no!  Please don’t let there be another disaster.  Not so soon!

Lions, Tigers, and Kony - oh my!

Today there seems to be a flutter of controversy on the interweb about a new video produced by Invisible Children.  Throughout the day my dash and news feed had been bombarded with statuses and arguments on every subject from charity ethics, management, financial accountability, and bandwagoning.  As a student journalist I don’t feel it is my job to express my opinion on either side, but I do think it’s important that people can see the truth through the fog.  The last thing that needs to come out of this situation is a cyber-war between people who do and don’t support Invisible Children.  Let’s keep Joseph Kony and the fight against human trafficking as the focus of our anger, no matter what we do to combat injustice.

First and more importantly people should research, research, research.  No matter what conclusion you reach you have to know the issues before you voice your opinion.  I would never advocate jumping on a bandwagon for anything, ever.  Don’t do something just because your friends do and and don’t bash it just because your friends don’t like it.  Take a few moments, sit down at your computer, and do some background investigation.  Find out what the organization stands for, is known for, who their leaders are, what their money goes to.  Know all the statistics and information so you can back up whatever decision you make.  While there are many charities out there busting their butts to help end poverty, there are also a lot of organizations who have questionable financials and motivations.  (For example see: Wyclef Jean).  Know your issues and your organizations so you can be a formidable advocate for whatever cause you choose.

After you have become aware and informed on your cause, choose a plan of action.  Are you going to give money or buy items on sale for charity?  If you have decided against a said organization’s movement are you going to find another charity or cause to become involved with?  Are you brainstorming ideas for social networking promotions with other members of your group or team?  While it is easy to criticize someone else’s work from the comfort of our couches, it is vital that we not only speak but take actions.  To quote Nina Yau from www.castlesintheair.org “implication doesn’t mean shit; the deed says it all.”  If you’re going to critique the work of someone who is devoting their life to something they’re passionate about, you should probably have some alternatives or a cause/organization of your own that you are dedicated to.  Not only will it make you seem more informed and intelligent, it will make them more open to your ideas and possibly to a collaboration in the future.

Lastly, keep focused on the real issue at hand: human trafficking, bullying, or whatever it may be.  The easiest mistake we can make is to attack someone who is fighting for a good cause, even if they are possibly misguided.  Dictators and tyrants like Kony want nothing more than to see a multitude of people who can actually do something to combat him and his “life’s work” get derailed by petty fighting amongst themselves.  All the effort that people put into arguing with each other could be going into ideas for compromise (such as lowering ridiculously high prices on items sold for “charity” or helping an organization become more focused and coherent on its mission).  It’s at times like this when the water can become dangerously murky and people start abandoning a good cause in droves.  This is not the answer and this is not how progress is made.  If we truly want to see change we have to find a way to compromise, on both sides, and support one another until the violence has stopped.  In the words of one of America’s most visionary leaders and anti-human trafficking advocate, Abraham Lincoln, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

As a citizen of both a third world country and a Western country there is nothing more exciting to me than seeing young people getting motivated for a cause.  Waking up and hearing word about a humanitarian effort from my friends living in the United States and ex-roommates in Australia gives me joy that I don’t experience from other news feed updates.  So I want to encourage all of you, get out there, get educated, and get involved in something you’re passionate for.  Ask questions, be skeptical, find problems, develop solutions.  That is what we as humans are inherently wired to do.  You are incredible, visionary group of young people and together, you can change the world.

"Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it."

(Source: myquotelibrary)