KONY 2012: Hate It or Love it?

So Jason Russell wants to expose (Joseph) Kony and the Lord's resistance Army for what it really is. There's no problem with that. Citizens in North America deserve to know what's going on in Africa. I would like to be informed of children being forced to become soldiers. I do care that young girls are being forced in prostitution.

I could have read an article about this or heard it on the radio. Facebook told me instead. Facebook invited me to KONY 2012; the same Facebook that wants me to play Bejeweled online and poke Andrew back. The invite just told me to support KONY. Another invite told me to spread the word about how bad Kony is. So I'm thinking, who's Kony and how can he be both bad and good? Ugh, so Facebook made me work and Google this KONY phenomenon. Alright, so he's a bad guy doing bad things.

I think it was a good idea to make a video. However, videos make money. According to YouTube, over 78 million people are more informed about KONY, but Russell and his company, Invisible Children, also just got paid millions of dollars. So that money will go to help the children in Africa, right? But yet Russell has already been shamed of only giving about 30% of the money raised directly to Africa.

Back to awareness. Who is profiting? Sure, we're completely exposing KONY. Only time will tell what that will do. Russell will get a little time in the spotlight too. Celebrities are retweeting and mentioning his cause. With that kind of recognition and getting donations and only giving about 30% percent to Africa, no wonder that video looks so good.

I'm not sure what to think of this yet. I'm all for knowing about what's going on in the rest of the world, but to who's gain? We're gaining more knowledge so that's good, but I wonder if this is all going to be worth it. is Kony actually going to be arrested and tried? It'd be nice if this many followers would guarantee a trial, but it'd be a huge piss off to display this guy's name everywhere while he remains untouched. There must be many facts out there for people to attack Russell.

Maybe the human race is at its peak of cynicism. Maybe we can't take anything for granted anymore. I guess that's a good thing or I'd be out of a future job.

Haters in the Heat?

No way. Is there actually friction in the beautiful Dominican? Read for yourself...

I recently took a trip to the Dominican Republic. I thought it would be impossible to find a news story surrounded by so many thin people with clear skin and smiling faces. I soon discovered turmoil under the shining sun. While I was getting a henna tattoo done on the beach, the artist, Manuel, asked me where I was from and what I was studying. I told him I was a journalism student, and he teased that I should be out there talking to people, figuring out how the Dominican really is. He explained while continuing to draw with his steady hands that it’s extremely hard to make a living. Every member of the family has to work to support each other. Everything is expensive: clothes, food and shelter.

I asked Manuel if I could ask him some questions and record our conversation for a bit. That’s when his young golden skin turned a shade of red and he introduced me to Beni, a spa coordinator. Beni is from Haiti and only has his residence papers. Although it was clear he was in his early 30s, he appeared more worn and tired. He has no passport so he can only get jobs with the lowest paid salaries. He works only by commission and makes an average of $180 a month. Making $300 at the end of the month is a huge deal to him because it doesn’t happen very often.

He started to describe the discrimination he senses from Dominicans. He feels out of place even when hanging out with his Dominican friends. He revealed that the sugar cane fields are filled with Haitian workers, cutting, peeling and slicing all day. They work for the Dominicans. Dominicans are “chiefs”. Nevertheless, he’s happier here than in Haiti. Back home, there are no job opportunities and he just sits home and does nothing. At least he can make a little bit of money here to send to his mother back home. Somehow in between our conversation, I let it slip that I spoke French, and that’s the language the rest of our talk continued in.

I commented on how all the employees looked friendly enough towards one another. He agreed that dispersed, everyone seems agreeable and happy, but problems start to brew when they’re all together. Like many people, Beni sees this job as a stepping stone before he moves on to bigger and better things. He wants to get a lot of money, but he believes the discrimination will still be there. He started to get more emotional and passionate while he thought aloud that he will still be an ugly black man, as opposed to “Moreno”, which is what they call the lighter skinned Dominicans, like Manuel. Beni describes Morenos as “big men with big cars”.

I thanked Beni for his story and was on my way to write when Manuel called me back. He confided that he hated the word “Moreno”. He doesn’t like being called that and takes offense to it. What about what Beni was saying about discrimination? Manuel says that it’s not true. He claims there is no discrimination whatsoever. I asked if he was a Dominican and he said yes. He saw the skepticism on my face of why I wouldn’t take his word for it that discrimination didn’t exist in his country. He decided to take me to someone more unbiased.

We walked across the beach to a middle-aged man sketching a landscape on a black canvas. Antonio paints stunning drawings on the beach. He is Haitian and has lived in the Dominican for 24 years. He is newly married to his second wife and has a sister living in Montreal. Antonio used his extremely articulate vocabulary to describe the “dominico-haitian situation” of discrimination as cause and effect. Without taking his eyes off the canvas, he continued to explain that in reality, it doesn’t really exist. He thinks their social condition has made them provoke repercussion in themselves. Some Haitians use the excuse that it’s because they’re black, but Dominicans are black, I’m black, he’s black. We’re not in that situation. There is degeneration socially, economically and politically in Haiti, which puts them all in the same social condition. The poverty, bad education and lower class surroundings create a shock against the Haitian people and bring them down.

Antonio came to the Dominican because of the degradation in his home country. He doesn’t like to fight or argue and tries to steer away from any type of negativity. He finds it very difficult to live here. He uses the metaphor of a sneaky rat. A rat will bite you and take from you in your sleep, but when you wake up, he will blow sweet nothings into your ear. When you’re alert and awake, he’ll distract you from realizing you’ve been bitten. You won’t even feel it.

Some Haitians cope in the Dominican by learning the Spanish language so well to pass themselves off as Dominican. No matter how advanced their Spanish is, they will always be revealed as Haitian. Antonio says, “No matter where I go, I’ll be called out as a Haitian”.

Bengla, Antonio’s assistant, is in his 20s and has a very contagious smile. He added in that discrimination exists everywhere. He separates the two countries into civilized Haitians, uncivilized Haitians, civilized Dominicans, and uncivilized Dominicans. He dismisses some Haitians as just acting funny and weird, but admits that others act more civilized than Dominicans. Antonio affirms that sometimes Dominicans just don’t know what to believe about Haitians. People have many assumptions and judge Haitians by saying things that give them a bad name. Dominicans don’t know what to believe. It’s to the point that they can’t discern truth from false. Antonio can think of very few Dominicans who don’t discriminate and get along with Haitian people.

He is optimistic though. Discrimination exists in Haiti because of its underdevelopment. The citizens are affected from all angles. To fix that problem, he challenges individuals, not Haiti as a country, to better themselves.

I Cried a Little This Morning

I remember going to bed for the past couple weeks at 2:00 or 3:00 am and waking up around 11:00 or 12:00 in the afternoon. And even though I woke up did not mean I had any reason whatsoever to get out of bed (except to pee and get food to bring back to bed).

This morning I had to wake up at 6:15 to leave my house at 6:45 to get to class at 8:00am. What would be a good time to go to bed the night before? 10:00pm? 11:00pm? Yeah, I was still up at 1:30am. Ugh, back to school. I'm in between classes now wondering how I'm going to survive 8:00am to 10:00pm Mondays. My last resort is coffee. This morning, chamomile tea kept me until about 11:30am. My agenda is already filling up. It's time to turn the brain back on. The thing that keeps me from being cranky is knowing I have Thursdays and Fridays off. Who am I kidding? I still have to get through Tuesday and Wednesday first.

“Why are you making it so complicated? It’s easy!”

• Lose Weight.
• Spend more time with family and friends.
• Make more money/Save more.
• Get organized.
• Travel.

Apparently the world will end this year, so how about we make these New Year resolutions count?

Making resolutions reminds me of that college commerical, where the guy asks you what you're doing on that couch. He can sympathize about you getting up later to make that call or to apply for a program. He says, "All you have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Why are you making it so complicated? It's easy." So let's apply this to life. Resolutions shouldn't be complicated. If you make them that way, they will be on your list for next year.

Personally, I don’t have the memory to remember in November a goal I made in January. What I’ve decided to do differently this year is to put dates with my resolutions as to when I want to achieve them. I’ll work on some separately, and others together. Some will take a year to accomplish, and some will take a few months.

I’m also going to break down some of my resolutions and be more specific.

For example, I want to lose 15 lbs. I could achieve that by March...and then gain it back by June. I’m going to make a specific goal weight. In this way, whether I gain or lose, I know the number I want to be hanging around.

If you want to achieve your goal, eliminate all the excuses. They’re just annoying voices in your head. Say the excuses out loud to yourself or to a friend; you'll realize how unreasonable you’re being. Get rid of lame reasons not to “make that call” before they take over and becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.

Determination and drive is really what holds it all together. You can’t just want to do something because it seems like a good idea. You have to really have it in your heart to achieve it and for the right reasons. Don’t quit after a small slip up. You planned to exercise three times a week and you missed a day. Now you think you have to start over next month. Does that make sense? No. Have I done it? Yes.

I'm getting off the couch now.

When I Grow Up...

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to write. I could write anything; lines and lines of nonsense would just flow out of me. I could rhyme on the spot. Obviously, not Missy Elliot style, but I had this thing when my pen would hit the paper. It just came out, all of it, in any way I wanted. I always knew I wanted to write. I was a shy kid so I knew I had something to say, but I didn't mind hiding behind my articles or columns in a newspaper or magazine. I had ONE year of architect fever, but once I heard you needed math, that fever broke quickly. I never strayed from writing and it never left me.

Dad asked, "What about business school? What about law school? What about taking engineering or accounting?" Yeah, what about it? My dad and I have different views on the world; well, on my world. He wants me to make money, and I want to be happy. Obviously, I would love to make money and be happy, but very few people have achieved that. I had to really think, would I be okay writing for a living, doing what I love, but living from paycheck to paycheck? How would I feed my family or even raise a family period?

Journalists make no money. I know that. I can't shake it though. There is NOTHING else I want to do in life. There is nothing I love more than researching a story or talking to people about the news. It invigorates me. I love to debate issues and I get a thrill telling someone a story they haven't even heard yet. Okay, sometimes news can be boring and I used to agree. How could I even think about being a journalist when I barely read the newspaper? When I finally cracked open a few sections, I was pretty surprised at the crazy shit that was happening in the world. I follow specific issues from its first appearance in the paper, all the way through the developments, to its conclusion. Sometimes I wonder, why is this NOT on the first page? Or why IS this on the first page?

Okay, anyone can feel like this and not be a journalist. I'm pretty lucky though because I love to dip my hands in anything and be able to learn a little bit about every industry. I like being versatile. Some days I feel like being a corporate writer. Others, I feel like I could be a producer or a broadcaster. A publicist or public relations specialist doesn't sound too bad either. You know what, I don't even mind being a camera person all that much either.

My ideal job though, is to be a magazine editor. That has been my dream for years. I never read the paper because its content was so spread out towards such a huge demographic that I never felt like it was being addressed to me. I want to address issues to people of my age. I would love to inform them about things relevant to them that I have to search through an entire paper to find. How am I going to get to this place?

This is the climax where my big idea comes out. This is where I unveil my master plan to get rich and do what I love for the rest of my life. Well, I have no idea. I have no special strategy tucked under my sleeve. I just plan to be memorable and take every single opportunity I can with every single person I meet and every single event I go to. I'm going to put everything into all I do because I honestly just refuse to do anything else. There is no other option.

I won't settle for less than what I want......This is probably why I'm still single.

Hey God, "Can I Have Yo Numba?"

First, check out my inspiration for the title.

I've been thinking lately how easy it would be to text God and get responses two minutes later. Can you imagine all the Christians in the world who crave God and want Him so bad just like "Darrel" wants this girl? I'm sure we can all fit in His phone. He probably has the updated version of the last cellphone that will ever be invented. It's like an iPhone, BlackBerry and Android all in one.

I've been super stressed lately and when I am, the only thing I can do is pray. My mind is racing with ideas from different ends of the spectrum and the only way to organize them is to say them out loud. I never really look for feedback, just a backboard. The only backboard who is always up as late as I am is God. I say everything and anything like I'm texting Him. For some reason, it's just the best comfort. When it's out of my head and I put it in His hands, it's just gone.

Ever since a trauma I went through in 2007, I would pray for wisdom, courage and strength every single day. I still need the wisdom to make the right decisions, the strength to courage to carry out those decisions, and the strength to trust myself that I made the right choice. So that's what I'm praying for these days. I know it takes time and I know I have to wait for the answer to come to me. I know I have to look for the right answer and not just the answer I want. But man, it would be so EASY if I could just text God and get my yes/no answers. "No, you should not go out tonight", "Yes, he is the man I have chosen for you", and "I know your mom annoys you, but just give her a hug for me". If God had BBM, I would buy a BlackBerry, no question.

Hey, Did You Hear...?

• Did you hear Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were seen together at a service even though they're separated?
• Did you hear Dr. Conrad Murray said Michael Jackson begged him for drugs saying, "Please, please"?
• Did you hear Rosie O'Donnell has a new girlfriend on her arm?

Did you hear that women in Congo are being raped by men in Africa? No? Shocking.

Why is it that we know all this stuff about celebrities, but are less aware about the serious issues happening internationally? We know all the updates about the latest couples who got married, those who got divorced, and those who had a baby. I had this conversation with students in my class a few weeks ago. I spoke up in class and I'll speak up again. No one cares. Don't comment on this post saying it's not true; you care and you know many people who do. Oh yeah? Did you care five minutes ago before you read this? Do you constantly think about the suffering and pain that Congolese women have to endure at the hands and guns of soldiers? You do? Liar.

I have not even been able to find a CURRENT article speaking about this. I got as close as May of this year. It was study results showing that "Forty-eight women raped every hour in Congo". That statistic is probably higher by now seeing how almost six months has passed and not every woman is going to admit she has been raped. This means that, in Congo, there is almost one woman being sexually abused every minute of every day. It is completely disgusting. You know what, I am going to skip a line - no, two lines - and start a new paragraph so you can wrap your head around that for a bit.


I have a math equation. The study that was published in the American Journal of Public Health found that 1,152 women are raped every day. The United Nations thought there was an estimated 16,000 rapes a year. 1,152 rapes per day x 365 days a year = 26 times more than 16,000 (420,480). Someone in the UN needs a new calculator. They are just as ignorant as and oblivious as North Americans.

For those of you with a little bit of skepticism, wondering if this number is real, if these women are truly getting raped or if they just miss their husbands, check this out:

Women here have so much freedom. We can walk around and live our lives for the most part of not feeling scared, or at least not thinking we are the next one to get raped. I'm not asking you to pass this along to ten friends because I will not promise you good fortune in the next 3 days at 5:47 pm. As gruesome as this sounds, I just hope this pops in your head once awhile. And when it does, please speak about it.

I declare that I will figure out a way how to blow this open, how to help these women, how to get their voices heard so us rich comfortable people can feel at least a little bad for ignoring them all these years.