Blogging: Evangelism without the condescension

[This post is part of Bridgewater State University's Blogfest for Social Media Week. Today's theme: Why blog?]

This marks the first time I have ever posted a comic. My only photo idea was one of myself typing a blog post, but that seemed a little lame.

People often lament the massive amounts of time they spend wandering around the internet. This epidemic of people zoning out to the endless information available to them via their computers creates an opportunity for bloggers (writers, artists, thinkers, etc.) to reach a lot of people fairly easily. On blogger.com the blog writer (in this case, me) can see how many page views his/her blog gets, so even if no one comments on a post, I know dozens of people have read it. Think it's unethical to take advantage of others' internet addictions? Maybe a blog that encourages readers to go out and live life (exercise? nature? inspirational?) could be the first step in their internet rehab.

If internet addiction isn't your battle, blog about what you are passionate about -- your contributions can make more of the time people spend on the internet worthwhile. Blogging is a simple way to educate people on issues that are important to you. It's sort of like evangelizing without the condescension and feeling of ambush, because readers subject themselves to your do-goody (or otherwise) rants on their own free will.

Also, I find that blogging is incentive for me to educate myself. Oftentimes once I become interested in something and decide to blog about it, I then do a lot of research that I wouldn't otherwise do in order to put together a quality, accurate post. I generally learn a lot in the process.

Considering starting your own blog? Here is my advice: Just keep writing posts! You don't necessarily need to worry about choosing a consistent theme, having the perfect name, getting tons of comments, etc. Just don't go an entire month without posting anything (though I have done this a few times and the blog lives on). Keep posting and the blog will come into its own.

[I participated in BSU's Blogfest last year, too. Click here for my post from last year.]

Us us us us us us, and them them them them them them: Americans & Iraqis

My hope is that this post allows various Iraqi voices to speak for themselves, rather than me making a case for them.

"You're American and we're Iraqi. You're not Bush and we're not Saddam."
-ANONYMOUS IRAQI MAN

Quote as recalled by United Statesian activist Jodie Evans. The man was responding to her question: "Why are you being so nice to us?"

Jodie Evans spoke at this year's Connecting for Change conference, which I went to and enjoyed. Presenters and workshops explored topics including youth empowerment, environmental activism, women's rights, local food, alternative journalism, healthy school lunches, and wild edibles*.
 
*This link is for the 2012 wild edibles workshop because I couldn't find a page about the one they had in 2011.

You can see Jodie's entire 22 minute speech here.
 

Shoot an Iraqi describes an artistic endeavor of Wafaa Bilal, an artist and professor who immigrated to the U.S. from Iraq in 1992 to escape repression under Saddam Hussein’s regime. In 2007, he spent a month in a small Chicago gallery in the line of fire of a paintball gun that people could shoot at him over the internet. Internet viewers could also see and chat with Wafaa. By the twentieth day, he had been shot at over 40,000 times, and hackers had programmed the gun to fire automatically. By the end, more than 60,000 people (people, not just shots) from 130 countries shot at him.

Yellow paintballs were used because yellow is the color of the Support Our Troops ribbons

"Uprooted" by Iraqi artist, Naman Hadi

"Birth" by Iraqi artist, Dalia Mohammad

"Kliem of the South" by Iraqi artist, Ahmed Nussaif

Also,

Trying out democracy: The first days of Occupy Boston

I've been spending a lot of time at Occupy Boston. I am very enthusiastic about this movement and hoping to do what I can to support it and keep its energy up.

Here is a podcast in which 3 participants of the Occupy movement give eloquent explanations of their involvement in the movement:

NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook on the Occupy movement

Some photos I took at Occupy Boston during the first days of the movement in Boston:

Marching outside of Bank of America

Marching outside Bank of America

One protester, Nikki Sauber

Inside the spirituality tent

A view of the occupation, located outside of South Station

A general assembly meeting at the tent city

Many occupiers find these numbers very concerning

Escaping Advertisements

[This post is part of Bridgewater State University's Blogfest for Social Media Week. Today's theme: technology]

I just found this awesome add-on for Firefox that replaces internet ads with art! It's called Add-Art and it's free.

I just downloaded it, and this is how it looks:

The picture of the kids is where the ad would have been--poetry websites have the worst ads. They often have sound, but it seems that Add-Art eliminates the sound, too.

So far, most of the art consists of surprisingly un-arty photos, because the current installation, See Space, was created by children ages 6-15 at an after school program. But it's still fun, and the collection changes periodically.

(From adbusters.org)

(From adbusters.org)

The average United Statesian sees thousands of advertisements each day. In Europe, there is a ban on advertisements that 'exhort children to purchase or to ask their parents or others to make inquiries or purchases' and in Sweden all advertisements aimed at children under 12 are banned.

In 2007, Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, banned all outdoor advertisements, including pamphlets, in an attempt to reduce "visual pollution."

Sao Paulo before and after the advertising ban

Once the billboards were all taken down, there was a lot of waste, which Brazilian designers TOUCH and StraaT made tote bags out of.

Some ideas on how to combat advertisements:

1. Try a Buy Nothing Day, and maybe even invite others to do it with you. It might be harder than you'd expect.

2. Avoid buying from big companies:
       For clothes, try thrift shops
       For food, try farm stands and small grocery stores (especially ones that offer local food)
       For gifts, make something by hand
       For hygiene products, make them yourself (from items bought at small grocery stores)
       For gas... bike? Take the train? When you do need gas, it's probably better to buy from an independently-owned gas station, like Easton Gas

3. Download Add-Art so at least you won't have to look at ads when you're on the computer.


Any other ideas?

Lantern parade

The other day (August 27th), Easton's first annual lantern parade, organized by my friend Christine, took place. There were tons of people! I, arriving late and alone, ran after the parade and finally caught up to everyone at the library (the destination), where there was lemonade, cookies, a choir, and a children's entertainer/singer. It didn't get dark until the end of the singer's performance, so the parade part wasn't as glowy as expected.

                              My lantern                                                    Christine's husband Brian with their neighbor