Apologies in advance if I will throw in a bunch of unrelated topics but as Joe Strummer would say, sometimes" such is life..."
Let's discuss Rising Voices projects first. For those of you who don't know, Rising Voices is the outreach program of Global Voices. It means that they "aims to extend the benefits and reach of citizen media by connecting online media activists around the world and supporting their best ideas."
Foko (and its blogging outreach project ) is one of the many projects that is supported by Rising Voices. Our fearless leader, as Christina Quisbert from Voces Bolivianas likes to call him, is David. He is currently trekking the hills of Madagascar with Georgia, where they are both traveling between Tana, Toamasina and who knows where else :). I know there are some lemurs photo snapping in the works :).
One of the Foko blogger, Patricia, was invited to Brussels to discuss Youth involvement in social change.
Now, if you are familiar with Cornell West, you know how he is all about social change. To see the distinguished Harvard professor laughing it up with Patricia as if she was Mos Def is ubercool ( at least to me).
Georgia and David were kind enough to travel to Toamasina to meet up with Foko bloggers there.
Listen to Georgia asks the bloggers their names and correct pronunciations : awesome stuff :) ( a big thank you to Patrick for uploading the podcast).
Now thanks to the dynamic activity of the bloggers back home, a few people came forth and asks us how they could help.
Their offers mean the world to a small scale project like ours( hugs to GVer Romina and Nabuur) and Kristina in Jackson, MS generously offered to part with some of the proceedings of her products for the benefit of bloggers back home. Read her post about how she plans to help Foko. Kristina makes amazing handmade Malagasy handbags and more, so if you like her work, know that some your purchase will go towards paying for bloggers' internet connection in Madagascar.
With respect to my latest post on possible bias on news TV station in Indiana towards Obama, I wanted to make sure that photo would appear again. It has not so far, so I am holding the open letter until another instance of bias comes about.
Given that Obama is now ahead of McCain in Indiana in the polls, making Indiana a definite battle state, I am betting on more of those doctored photos to come.
In the meantime, I wrote a post about how the world's view each candidate's stance on the economic crisis on voices without votes. Foreign bloggers explain how McCain is really in a bit of a pickle in the current crisis. His stance so far is something along the lines of:
"I am for change but I don't want to change anything about the way the economy currently works. I will create a commission instead and probably drill somewhere" ugh... the lack of ideas on that side is just ap-(Sarah)-palling ( Rant over).
I'd much rather hang out with the guys over there.
(Antananarivo by Oso)
waaaah.... patie got to meet cornell west :-)
ReplyDeletethank you so much for the updates lova, it was time to do it indeed, especially since we have got so much going on.
We wish you were here too Lova and Sipakv. I tried to keep Georgia away from the Lemurs, but it was like trying to keep ravitoto away from rice. Photos are probably being uploaded right now.
ReplyDeleteEveryone we've met here thanks us profusely for having come to Madagascar and says what an honour it is to have us here. But--and I say this totally honestly--the honour has really been mine. I've had a tremendous time here and can only imagine what it would have been like if you and Sipakv had been here too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I confess that I did rub shoulders with a lemur. You'll recall, however, that I never said I wouldn't post lemur photos, but rather that lemur photos would not be the only Madagascar photos I posted! I also recorded some audio last night on the way back to Tana, of some young and extremely self-possessed basket-sellers who thought we were completely hilarious (and also seemed cottoned on immediately to the fact that I wasn't Malagasy--so much for my pronunciation of "Misaotra"). If it sounds decent I'll post it soon.