Not sure how long this post is going to be so bear with me as I will ultimately get to my point.
This story begins some time ago when I became aware of a group based in California called Invisible Children through another of the activist groups that I am involved with.
Invisible Children was founded in 2008 to bring awareness to human rights violations. Particularly the conflict that is going on presently in Uganda.
What conflict? You ask.... Have you ever heard of Joseph Kony?.... Who?.....The Lord's Resistance Army?......What? Do you even know where Uganda is?....let me explain.....
The short version goes like this:
Uganda is a country in Africa where most of the people who live there live in poverty. (The following I have copied from Wikipedia at Wikipedia article on the LRA:)
"The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The movement, led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, aims to overthrow Yoweri Museveni's Ugandan government and to establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and Acholi tradition, according to its leaders. The conflict, one of Africa's longest running, resulted in a very severe humanitarian crisis. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including mutilation, torture, rape, the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers, and a number of massacres."
Yes, you read that correctly....CHILD SOLDIERS. Joseph Kony orders the abduction of children from their homes and turns them into slaves and child soldiers. He will often send them back to their villages with orders to KILL AND MUTILATE THEIR PARENTS. This has been going on since 1987....I was in second grade in 1987! It's 2012! Things like this shouldn't be happening. This guy needs to be stopped.
The Hague wants him to try him for his crimes. The only problem is that they can't find him. After much work by Invisible Children and US citizens, the government of the USA was convinced (for the first time EVER) to get involved in a foreign issue that did not threaten the USA's stability. President Obama sent troops over to Uganda to act as advisors for the Ugandan military so they can get the training and skills needed to flush Kony out so he can stand for his crimes.
We need to make Joseph Kony a household name and make a stand for all the children that have had to suffer at his hands. I recently watched an excellent video that details the conflict in Uganda and the whole situation with Kony. I will post the link below. Please watch it and if you can take action. The only way Kony will be stopped is if we ban together and take a stand.
Enough is enough. We need to save the lives of these kids before more have to suffer.
Invisible Children on Facebook
Video about Kony 2012
Invisible Children on Twitter
Signing off 01:01
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Connecting my blog to facebook!
It's been about a month since I last posted. D and I have been busy with ongoing cleaning, unpacking, and organizing the new house. I wanted to post because I have finally connected by blog to it's very own page on facebook. Whenever I post here I will post the link on my facebook for my friends to see. I'm doing this basically because facebook no longer allows imports to notes as they used to so when I post stuff no one sees it unless they follow me for I tell them. So we will see what happens in the next few months. I should be able to post more once we get the house in order.
Here's the link:againsthegrainandotherpossibilities on facebook
Hope you like it!
Signing off 15:54
Here's the link:againsthegrainandotherpossibilities on facebook
Hope you like it!
Signing off 15:54
Friday, January 13, 2012
Noah's Dad (and Mom)
Hey guys! I know I haven't written in quite a while and Happy New Year to everyone!
I wanted to highlight my first post of the new year and introduce you to Noah and his family. Noah is a little boy who lives in Texas with his parents. He's a year old and such a little cutie. I was introduced to their blog http://noahsdad.com/ a month or so ago through another site that I follow on Facebook.
Having been involved in education of young children for most of my adult life and having had studied special education in college their blog caught my eye right away (I think it was actually Noah's infectious smile that did it). Noah was born with Down Syndrome. His parents didn't know at the time of his birth that he had Down Syndrome. They immediately began to focus on all the positive things about what Noah COULD DO instead of focusing on what he couldn't do. Noah's parents Rick and Abbie (his mom is a doctor) have put him into physical and occupational therapy and his growth is absolutely amazing. They post a 1 minute video every day highlighting the POSITIVES about Noah and his development. What an inspiration!
In the last few day Rick posted on his blog about an ad that Target had run recently and one of the child models is Ryan. Ryan is 6 and has Down Syndrome. Target didn't make a fanfare about it...in fact they didn't even mention it. Rick wrote about it and now I have been seeing them EVERYWHERE! It's fantastic! They are really changing the internet landscape and helping people to overcome the misinformation about Down Syndrome and highlight what those kids who have it can do.
I was very impressed and had to post a blog about it myself. I hope you guys will check out their blog and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NoahsDadcom and check out their story. I was inspired and fell in love with Noah right away. I hope you will too!
Signing off 22:56
I wanted to highlight my first post of the new year and introduce you to Noah and his family. Noah is a little boy who lives in Texas with his parents. He's a year old and such a little cutie. I was introduced to their blog http://noahsdad.com/ a month or so ago through another site that I follow on Facebook.
Having been involved in education of young children for most of my adult life and having had studied special education in college their blog caught my eye right away (I think it was actually Noah's infectious smile that did it). Noah was born with Down Syndrome. His parents didn't know at the time of his birth that he had Down Syndrome. They immediately began to focus on all the positive things about what Noah COULD DO instead of focusing on what he couldn't do. Noah's parents Rick and Abbie (his mom is a doctor) have put him into physical and occupational therapy and his growth is absolutely amazing. They post a 1 minute video every day highlighting the POSITIVES about Noah and his development. What an inspiration!
In the last few day Rick posted on his blog about an ad that Target had run recently and one of the child models is Ryan. Ryan is 6 and has Down Syndrome. Target didn't make a fanfare about it...in fact they didn't even mention it. Rick wrote about it and now I have been seeing them EVERYWHERE! It's fantastic! They are really changing the internet landscape and helping people to overcome the misinformation about Down Syndrome and highlight what those kids who have it can do.
I was very impressed and had to post a blog about it myself. I hope you guys will check out their blog and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NoahsDadcom and check out their story. I was inspired and fell in love with Noah right away. I hope you will too!
Signing off 22:56
Thursday, November 17, 2011
My first poem in over a year...
This is dedicated to D.
Untitled
How can you ever understand how much you mean to me?
I see you are I soar...I can do anything.
You leave and it devastates me for days.
I am truly lost without you.
I see you in the rising sun as you fill me with warmth.
I see you in the bright, full moon as you make me calm and confident.
I see you in the crashing ocean waves as you move me with your vibrant personality.
I see you in the flowers that grow as you are silent and strong in my eyes.
I love you and admire you so much yet how can I truly show you how much you mean to me?
Copyright 2011
Signing off 06:55
Untitled
How can you ever understand how much you mean to me?
I see you are I soar...I can do anything.
You leave and it devastates me for days.
I am truly lost without you.
I see you in the rising sun as you fill me with warmth.
I see you in the bright, full moon as you make me calm and confident.
I see you in the crashing ocean waves as you move me with your vibrant personality.
I see you in the flowers that grow as you are silent and strong in my eyes.
I love you and admire you so much yet how can I truly show you how much you mean to me?
Copyright 2011
Signing off 06:55
Friday, November 4, 2011
Him
As I have been wrapped up this week with all sorts of stuff I managed to overlook the one major thing that has happened this week (excluding Sooie's wedding). D and I have been dating for 1 month as of November 1st!
It's amazing how much my life has changed in just a month.
For those who don't know our story I will tell you.
D and I met online about 8 years ago. According to him, he did an online search for female firefighters in the tri-state area because he was interested in a female perspective on the job. Apparently I was the first listing and he contacted me on my MySpace profile page. I remember the initial message. I though it was weird that he contacted me out of the blue but I though he was cute and I was intrigued, so I answered him. We talked for awhile back and forth for several years losing touch in 2006 and then picking up again in 2007. We were both dating other people and he lived out of state so dating him really never crossed my mind I guess. We finally met face to face in 2007 when he came down to meet me and had been down here a few times after that prior to our dating. No matter what happened we always seemed to email or message and stay in touch.
This past summer when I broke up with my ex I called D because I was upset and wanted to talk to someone. He was always a good listener and was very comforting. He called me the next day to check on me and we started talking about relationships and the like. Was I shocked when he came out and told me that he has had a crush on me for the last 8 years! After much consideration and discussion we decided to give a relationship a try. We had both been in long term relationships before and understood that they took a lot of work but we were game.
Our first kiss happened at the train station when I arrived to pick him up on his first visit since we had decided to date. The gods honest truth is I have never been this comfortable with anyone before. We are very similar (which is kinda scary) but different so our relationship is interesting. He makes it very easy to love him and is very forgiving when I have a bad day and need to call him and vent.
So there is our story. Hopefully it will continue for a long time to come. :)
10/01/11
Signing off 04:56
It's amazing how much my life has changed in just a month.
For those who don't know our story I will tell you.
D and I met online about 8 years ago. According to him, he did an online search for female firefighters in the tri-state area because he was interested in a female perspective on the job. Apparently I was the first listing and he contacted me on my MySpace profile page. I remember the initial message. I though it was weird that he contacted me out of the blue but I though he was cute and I was intrigued, so I answered him. We talked for awhile back and forth for several years losing touch in 2006 and then picking up again in 2007. We were both dating other people and he lived out of state so dating him really never crossed my mind I guess. We finally met face to face in 2007 when he came down to meet me and had been down here a few times after that prior to our dating. No matter what happened we always seemed to email or message and stay in touch.
This past summer when I broke up with my ex I called D because I was upset and wanted to talk to someone. He was always a good listener and was very comforting. He called me the next day to check on me and we started talking about relationships and the like. Was I shocked when he came out and told me that he has had a crush on me for the last 8 years! After much consideration and discussion we decided to give a relationship a try. We had both been in long term relationships before and understood that they took a lot of work but we were game.
Our first kiss happened at the train station when I arrived to pick him up on his first visit since we had decided to date. The gods honest truth is I have never been this comfortable with anyone before. We are very similar (which is kinda scary) but different so our relationship is interesting. He makes it very easy to love him and is very forgiving when I have a bad day and need to call him and vent.
So there is our story. Hopefully it will continue for a long time to come. :)
10/01/11
Signing off 04:56
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The wedding of the year!
The wedding of the year is fast approaching! My sister S and her fiance J are getting married on Saturday! We all are trying to iron down the last of the details and figure out the game plan for the rehearsal dinner, run thru of the ceremony and I also have to worry about D's arrival since he isn't that familiar with the area yet. Fun times! I'm only working tonite and then I am off till next Monday. Lucky for us we are staying at the same hotel that S is going to be staying at (strategic planning on my part) so it will be a little easier to coordinate everything. Not looking forward to wearing heels but I did get a kick ass pair of high top Converse sneakers in PINK that I can wear for the reception! :)
Signing off 05:59
Signing off 05:59
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
It's been a month
Apparently since I posted anything new. A LOT has gone on in the last 34 days. I found myself single (again) at the beginning of September. I was quite upset but the break up had been several months in the making (to the shock of some of my friends). It finally took me to state the obvious to both of us (that it wasn't working) and we ended the relationship. 'Nuff said.
I had reconnected with an old friend awhile before my break up. We have been friends for around 8 years now and he confessed to me he has had a crush on me for many of those years. I was flattered and he suggested to me that when I was ready maybe we could go out sometime and see what happened. Well he came to visit at the beginning of October and we shared our first kiss. Sparks flew and now we are inseparable. It's tough dating someone who lives in another state. We talk on the phone several times a day and Skype at night when I get to work so at least we get to see each other. We get together and spend weekends together whether it's here in NY or there in CT. So far we have made it work pretty well. I love D very much and our relationship is unlike any other that I have ever been in. More to come in the months ahead.
Signing off 03:49
I had reconnected with an old friend awhile before my break up. We have been friends for around 8 years now and he confessed to me he has had a crush on me for many of those years. I was flattered and he suggested to me that when I was ready maybe we could go out sometime and see what happened. Well he came to visit at the beginning of October and we shared our first kiss. Sparks flew and now we are inseparable. It's tough dating someone who lives in another state. We talk on the phone several times a day and Skype at night when I get to work so at least we get to see each other. We get together and spend weekends together whether it's here in NY or there in CT. So far we have made it work pretty well. I love D very much and our relationship is unlike any other that I have ever been in. More to come in the months ahead.
Signing off 03:49
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)