FILM | THE PERSUADERS

"Advertising wants to become the air we breath. It wants us to not be able to find a way outside of the world it creates for us." ~~Mark Crispin Miller, Media Critic ~~

The producers of the film "Merchants of Cool" developed the film "The Persuaders" which outlines how consumers are now being sold on products through the use of emotionalism, narrow casting and niche marketing. In order to cut through the tremendous media clutter, companies and advertising agencies are scrambling to find ways to get us to purchase things...anything and everything. Very much like Steven Baker's book, Numerati, this film explains the future of selling and advertising and how companies seek to differentiate, not just the brands but the audience. By playing on individuality, companies are inducing Americans to consume while reinforcing their emotional attachment to the brands. This film was made several years ago prior to the current economic crisis but it surely illustrates the direction that political and consumer advertising will be taking in the near future. Concepts discussed in the film range from product placements, creating brands as cultural meaning systems to language decoding and testing—all to sell us on political ideas or material consumption.

Watch the Frontline film online.

Printed Interviews:
Mark Crispin Miller

Naomi Klein on Brands

The future of marketing and advertising

Stay abreast of the issues of commercialism

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Will NBC continue with Brian William's 2 minutes worth of good news?

Hallelujah. Have you caught this? It's been a week and it sounds like they're getting millions of responses from ordinary people who are doing good things around the country in what appears to be random acts of kindness. Apparently the idea came from William's wife and in blog-like style for the past week, at the end of the 6:30 broadcast up pops a little blue "making a difference box" with a few good things that Brian Williams reads. They send out a camera crew for some stories in an effort, I HOPE to finally perpetrate good, rather than the usual bad that we see on the evening news. Of course it still needs to be constructed within the subject of the "economy," but I think it's a good start. Do you think they will keep this feature at the end of the broadcast for longer than a week?

Here's their request: We are always looking for good news, especially in this economy. Specifically, here's our request: nominate people who are doing good things where you live or work...perhaps a random or regular act of kindness in a cruel economy.

Add your story and keep good news alive on television!

WHAT'S UP WITH MEDIA TECHNOLOGY CONVERGENCE?

The New York Times recently ran an article, What Convergence? TV's Hesitant March to the NET, about how we aren't going to see the Internet on television screens any time soon. This boils my blood. Ok, I'm probably one of the few who is chomping at the bit to get the Internet on the fabulous flat screen TV we have in our family room. Since we purchased and installed the TV sometime last year I have been dismayed over the fact that although the TV is great with high definition (HD) content, anything produced prior to HD is blurry and low quality at best. Albeit it's large and we can see the TV from a great distance, but three fourths of all content is not HD, so the quality is mediocre. Ok so I'm getting used to this fact. The public has been sold on how great the TV's are, but we also have to purchase other media devices, all which don't work together. And according to the New York Times article, spokespeople from SONY and Sharp basically think people don't care to get the Internet on their televisions. I'm pretty sure that people would like to be able to multi-task, and search the Internet to gain a multitude of media at the same time as watching the broadcast programming.

The TV manufacturers don't want to deal with all the problems that come with the concept. According to the New York Times article, mainly viruses. These companies have made money from the multiple devices that we have in our homes. If we have one large screen at home that does it all, that will begin to cut out the need for multiple devices like stereos, movie download devices, DVD players, etc all which will cut down profit. But, that seems like short term thinking. With media the opportunity for innovation and profit is wide open. So what's the problem? According to Convergence Culture, Where Old and New Media Collide, by MIT Professor, Henry Jenkins, "Delivery technologies become obsolete and get replaced; media, on the other hand, evolve. Recorded sound is the medium. CDs, MP3 files and 8-track cassettes are delivery technologies."

Media is a cultural production and a business. Every type of media whether we see it on a hand-held device, a PC or on a large screen television will continue to evolve. As Jenkins explains, "The perpetual tangle of cords that stands between me and my "home entertainment" center reflects the degree of incompatibility and dysfunction that exist between the media technologies...The old idea of convergence was that all devices would converge into one central device that did everything for you (a la the universal remote). What we are now seeing is the hardware diverging while the content converges."

Media content is growing and can be found everywhere. In window displays, digital billboards on the Turnpike, digital displays in elevators, at the grocery store and in train stations. We are watching a redefining of culture that is shifting all around, us every day. We are inside and outside of it, whether we are producing or consuming it. Media never stops converging, regardless of the devices available to incorporate the media we want to produce and consume. While the device manufacturers and technology companies try to sort it all out, consumers will continue to seek and use the media they want and work-around the devices. Anyway, a few months ago we were at a friend's house who had a device that allowed Internet browsing on a flat screen TV. I was very disappointed to realize that the text was so tiny it was impossible to read unless you were a foot away from the screen. Images were great, text not so great. I generally sit about 9 to 14 feet away from the TV. Oh well. I'm fine with my large computer screen.

SCHOLASTIC SELLING KIDS ON TRINKETS, NOT BOOKS

For many of us, Scholastic's book clubs played an important role in our childhood by providing the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-quality literature in schools. We remember the excitement of thumbing through the monthly flyers to make our selections and the thrill when our orders arrived.

But something has changed. Scholastic's book clubs have become a Trojan horse for marketing toys, trinkets, and electronic media-many of which promote popular brands. A review by Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) of Scholastic's elementary and middle school book clubs found that one-third of the items for sale are either not books or are books packaged with other items such as jewelry and toys.

CCFC reviewed every item in Scholastic's 2008 monthly Lucky (for grades 2-3) and Arrow (grades 4-6) book club flyers. Of the items advertised, 14% were not books, including the M&M's Kart Racing Wii videogame; a remote control car; the American Idol event planner; ("Track this season of American Idol"); the Princess Room Alarm ("A princess needs her privacy!"); a wireless controller for the PS2 gaming system; a make-your-own flip flops kit ("hang out at the pool in style"); and the Monopoly® SpongeBob SquarePants™ Edition computer game. An additional 19% of the items were books that were marketed with additional toys, gadgets, or jewelry. For example, the book Get Rich Quick is sold with a dollar-shaped money clip ("to hold all your new cash!"); the Friends 4 Ever Style Pack consists of a book and two lip gloss rings; and Hannah Montana: Seeing Green comes with a guitar pick bracelet.

The opportunity to sell directly to children in schools is not a right. It's a privilege - and an extremely profitable one at that. Last year, Scholastic's book clubs generated $336.7 million in revenue.

It's bad enough that so many of the books sold by Scholastic are de-facto promotions for media properties like High School Musical and SpongeBob. But there's no justification for marketing an M&M videogame or lip gloss in elementary schools. Teachers should not be enlisted as sales agents for products that have little or no educational value and compete with books for children's attention and families' limited resources. If Scholastic wants to maintain their unique commercial access to young students, they need to do better.

In the past Scholastic listened to the concerns of parents. When 5,000 wrote to them demanding that they stop promoting the highly sexualized Bratz brand in schools, they discontinued their Bratz line. It's time to consider the danger of Scholastic's marketing and promotion practices in schools and voice your concerns.

Visit the CCFC website to let Scholastic know it's time to return to selling books - and only books - through their in-school book clubs.

Embrace Change: Redesign the Oval Office

Have an interest in designing President Obama's Oval Office? Here's your chance. Ikea the Swedish furniture company has created fun drag and drop furniture to place inside an illustrated Oval Office. The site actually allows you to change color and rotate the furniture too. You can even share your email with a secret service man. I'm not sure a canopy bed, piano or bunkbeds make sense in any office, but certainly Ikea's great design and economical DYI prices may not be a bad way to help "Embrace Change."

"We have never had an opportunity to do anything surrounding the message of change from a national standpoint," says Ikea PR manager Marty Marston, "[Obama's] notion of change and his commitment to fiscal responsibility match the Ikea philosophy of practical and affordable home furnishings for all."

Gotta love the little dog and mat. Very creative!

Exploiting Media-George Monbot's Way

For the last few months I've been working on an advocacy video. I thought it was especially ironic that today while reading a guide for using media and research for advocacy: low cost ways to increase success, that I happened to find a case study from George Monbiot. I wasn't familiar with Monbiot's work, but he certainly has produced a succinct and straight-forward activists guide to exploiting the media.  He should know. He started his career in the BBC's Natural History Unit as a radio producer and he's a contributor to the Guardian with a series called Monbiot Meets. Here's the ironic part. Just as I'm reading Debra Efroymson's media and research for advocacy guide with Monbiot's case study, up pops an email with my daily digest from the Real News Network. The subject header: George Monbiot Challenges Chief Executive of Shell. Well of course that made me curious. The activist/journalist/producer is doing exactly what he tells others to do. Get up and act. Although Shell Oil is happy to advertise their commitment to renewable energy they are not terribly transparent about exactly what that commitment is. Monbiot finds Shell exploiting the media for their own selfish interests. Advocates take heed. As Mobiot explains in his activist guide it's all part of  'news management.'  See Monbiot in action.  

Do download Using Media and Research for Advocacy:  Low Cost Ways to Increase Success. It's one of the best and most comprehensive guides on the topic that I've read.

Slumdog Millionaire: Mesmerizing Story and Film

Writing. One writes when they get inspired. I've been inspired by Slumdog Millionaire. What a fantastic film. I loved it. I think it's also a terrific film to break down and analyze. I'm not going to do that now, but I think this is the kind of film that would be very good for teachers and the classroom.

Just in case you haven't heard critics talk, or read anything about Slumdog Millionaire, here's the basic story-line. Jamal Malik, a young man from the slums of India appears as a player on India's version (which looks exactly like the US version) of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We see Jamal as a boy growing up with his brother Salim and true love, Latika—all orphans who make their way from the slums into adulthood through thievery and gang activity. The brother's mother dies early on in Muslim raids, leaving her children to fend for themselves. But, they turn out to be very scrappy kids.

The story creatively unfolds through torture, then dialogue with a local police inspector who has been told by Millionaire's host that he believes Jamal cheated in order to win. Slowly we see that Jamal's answers came from his youth-filled experiences as he and his brother tried their best to survive without parental guidance. Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire's director was interviewed by Gotham Chopra and I was struck by a simple thought he brought forward. It was the same thought that struck me after my visit to a Zambian community. Humans can do much with very little. In fact, we don't need to have much more than the basics. Food, clean water, a roof over our heads and safety. Our Zambian driver told us exactly that. As Americans we often forget that we don't need much to be happy.



Slumdog has many elements that I personally enjoy in a film. Beautiful cinematography and an interesting story—one I've not seen or heard before. Well developed, real, human characters. A culture that is especially exotic and exciting. I am so interested in visiting India now. This film is full of eye-popping symbolism and metaphor that can keep you thinking for days after watching it. It reminds you that life is not easy no matter who you are, where you live or how much money you have. It is impossible to go through life without challenges, problems, and the ups-and-downs of daily living. We all go through it. But, this film shows us the possibilities for happiness. With all the negativity that we see daily, on screens of every size, it is refreshing to witness an upliftingly positive story. We need to be reminded often.

"India has an "upward energy...moving toward happiness."
Danny Boyle

VOICES OF HOPE VIDEO DOCUMENTS AN HISTORIC ADDICTION RECOVERY JOURNEY

Join Together, a program of the Boston University School of Public Health recently highlighted the Voices of Hope video that documented an historic journey of over 5000 addiction recovery advocates who came together to demonstrate the strength of addiction recovery and their determination to have addiction accepted and treated as a disease.



National, NYC metro and New Jersey participants made their way from Liberty State Park in Jersey City to the Brooklyn Bridge and back on Saturday, September 27, 2008. This year's Friend's Addiction Recovery Cruise and Rally was supported by the Recovery Project and the A&E Network.

SCREENS: HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE.

There was a very interesting and exciting discussion that was published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine a week ago about the proliferation of screens and how it’s changed advertising forever. Benjamin Palmer, Lars Bastholm and Robert Rasmussen, three advertising guys spoke forthrightly about the state of advertising today. They discussed the fact that advertising has always been persuasive, but now it needs to make a shift into the authentic zone because young people can actually check on the Internet to see if the claims are even close to being true—creating a new marketing “transparency”. That can throw a real big curve ball to advertisers and their creative people. Lars Bastholm, who has worked onXbox, Coke and Motorola campaigns, sets the record straight, “Most media, like television, used to be a kind of flow. You’d sit down, you’d turn it on and you’d watch. The reason advertising is completely broken is that the flow doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no prime time. There’s no such thing as must-see TV. Everyone’s composing their own flow.”

We are still in the age where the advertisers are trying to figure out how to deal with all the content creation and the lack of the Millennial audience’s interest in television, the old-time prime advertising vehicle. Brands need to find a way to have a relationship with their audience. In 2006, BBDO’s GenWorld Teen Study argued, “If your brand wants a relationship with this generation (Millennials) connect them to each other…hype causes apathy, but meaning energizes. To stand out, be a brand that matters.”

Bastholm provides an incredibly astute case study about EA Sports, a brand getting it right and interacting with its audience. “On YouTube, someone posted a clip of himself playing the company’s Tiger Woods golf game. He put it up as a joke, laughing at EA Sports, because he had discovered a glitch in the programming that allowed Tiger to walk right out onto a pond next to the golf course and shoot his ball from there. So the company saw the video, and in response, it uploaded this ad to YouTube that said: “It’s not a glitch. He’s just that good.” The ad showed the real Tiger, in live action, actually walk on water and shoot a ball.” This shows an ingenious ability on the part of an advertiser to take a risk and fly with it. However, according to Benjamin Palmer that’s certainly not the norm at the moment. Advertisers are resistant to changing with the times and the shift in audience, “They assume their business practices will carry on forever.”

Well they simply won’t be able to afford to do that any longer. In February the digital signal will take over from analog and it won’t be too long before the “TV” just becomes a big screen to view all the content available—at home. There will be billions and billions of websites and other media and pop culture, and advertising will need to find its place, but not in its typical “overkill” manner. Then there’s the wide world of the mobile screen, as well. Brands will need to figure out how to make a long term, “authentic” connection between their brands and media consumers. They better get crackin’. In the meantime, it’s fun to watch and be a part of what’s happening.

Voices of Hope Featured in Special Events Publication

Voices of Hope Productions is featured in the October issue of Special Events Galore, a monthly Stevenson publication to give nonprofit event planners tips on how to create a comprehensive media kit. Cited are 7 tips that should keep the media kit simple: Don't overwhelm the audience, photographs are essential, create a template and brand, include a dvd or streaming video of past events, include testimonials, promote your website and use e-marketing. Media kits can be used for distribution to a wide and diverse audience. Download publication article

Magazine | Dangerous Assignments

At least seven Mexican reporters have vanished in just three years, most after probing the connections between criminal groups and public officials, Monica Campbell and María Salazar reveal in the new edition of Dangerous Assignments, now available from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
“ Mexico is already one of the world’s deadliest nations for journalists, with 21 killed since 2000,” Campbell and Salazar write. “But the spike in disappearances suggests a significant shift in the dangers facing the Mexican press.”

Also in the new issue of CPJ’s magazine ... Elisabeth Witchel reports on Russia ’s lagging investigation in the murder of Paul Klebnikov. … in Tunisia , Joel Campagna finds a government aggressively silencing critical writers …. from Sri Lanka, Agence France-Presse Bureau Chief Amal Jayasinghe describes the challenges in covering the country’s civil conflict … Gambian reporter Ousman Darboe gives a first-person account of his hunt for missing colleague “Chief” Ebrima Manneh. … from Azerbaijan, Nina Ognianova examines the unsolved murder of editor Elmar Huseynov ... and in Gaza, Reuters Bureau Chief Alastair Macdonald remembers slain cameraman Fadel Shana.

FIXING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS: NOT SO EASY

Danny Schecter, "The News Dissector" at the MediaChannel talks with Paul Jay of The Real News Network about the financial crisis in "Media and Bailout Failure." Schecter's website looks to 5 viewpoints in fixing the crisis. On The Real News Network, Schecter tells about Andrew Ladhe, a highly successful investor who closed his firm, “Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, ‘What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.’ I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.”



Watch part 2 of Danny's interview in "One Nation Under Debt."

ECONOMIC MIGRATION TAKES PART IN artHARLEM EVENT

freeDimensional's Action Lab on Economic Migration will be on display at the Harlem Studio Fellowship (HSF) during artHARLEM, Oct 4 & 5. HSF will also host an opening reception of Abacism by French artist France Languérand, co-curated by Stéphanie Jeanjean and Raffaele Bedarida Opening reception: Friday, October 3rd 2008 (6-10 pm)

The Harlem Studio Fellowship is located at 128W 121 Street (between Lenox and Powell) / Subway: 2-3; A to 125 st.

artHARLEM will be held this Saturday, October 4th from 12 noon - 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 5th from 1.p.m. - 6 p.m.

The freeDimensional Action Lab on Economic Migration has been in development since 2006. Starting with an fD resident artist in NYC, Bara Diokhane and the Gowanus Canal "Empty Vessel" Boat Project, and leading up to the artHARLEM tour on October 4/5, the project has no intention of slowing down. The project has found a great deal on momentum in 2008. Beginning with an event during New York City's Immigrant Heritage Week, on to a one week workshop on Economic Migration at the Santa Fe Art Institute and ending the spring season of events with a media intervention in Dakar, with their partner center the Atelier Mustapha Dime, during the Dak'Art Biennale.

There are a number of community based organizations that are focused on Economic Migration from Central America to the US as well as West Africa to Europe that fD has been working with. fD looks to further the discussion by bringing organizations and community art spaces to work together to focus on the situation at hand.

The artHARLEM tour The freeDimensional Action Lab on Economic Migration has been in development since 2006. Starting with an fD resident artist in NYC, Bara Diokhane and the Gowanus Canal "Empty Vessel" Boat Project, and leading up to the artHARLEM tour on October 4/5, the project has no intention of slowing down. The project has found a great deal on momentum in 2008. Beginning with an event during New York City's Immigrant Heritage Week, on to a one week workshop on Economic Migration at the Santa Fe Art Institute and ending the spring season of events with a media intervention in Dakar, with their partner center the Atelier Mustapha Dime, during the Dak'Art Biennale.

There are a number of community based organizations that are focused on Economic Migration from Central America to the US as well as West Africa to Europe that fD has been working with. fD looks to further the discussion by bringing organizations and community art spaces to work together to focus on the situation at hand.

The artHARLEM tour is a free event of 100 Artists who open their private studios and talk about their work once a year for one weekend only. Purchase art directly from the artist.

BOOK | THE NUMERATI

Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists are beginning to sift through this data to dissect us and map out our next steps. Their goal? To manipulate our behavior -- what we buy, how we vote -- without our even realizing it.

Journalist Stephen Baker provides us with a fascinating guide to the world we're all entering -- and to the people controlling that world. The Numerati have infiltrated every realm of human affairs, profiling us as workers, shoppers, patients, voters, potential terrorists -- and lovers. The implications are vast. Our privacy evaporates. Our bosses can monitor and measure our every move (then reward or punish us). Politicians can find the swing voters among us, by plunking us all into new political groupings with names like "Hearth Keepers" and "Crossing Guards." It can sound scary. But the Numerati can also work on our behalf, diagnosing an illness before we're aware of the symptoms, or even helping us find our soul mate.

By analyzing the data they gather about us, retailers are learning how to lavish big spenders with special attention and nudge cheapskates toward the door... The same algorithms originally used to combat e-mail spam by predicting its mutations are now being used to predict the mutations of the HIV virus...Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are studying the patterns of office e-mail to spot signs of subversive networks taking shape within a company...

Meet Stephen Baker on October 6, 2008 at the Princeton Barnes & Noble.

JOIN THE HUMAN BRIDGE TO ADDICTION RECOVERY

The Recovery Project— Recovery Cruise and Rally, Saturday, September 27, 2008

Thousands of addiction recovery supporters from the tri-state area will come together to form a human bridge - a living symbol of recovery on the Brooklyn Bridge. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-New Jersey (NCADD-NJ) and sister organization, Friends of Addiction Recovery, partnering with A&E Television with alliances from the tri-state area will come together to raise awareness that addiction is a chronic but treatable disease that affects more than 22 million people nationwide.* The Recovery Project is a new initiative that confronts the stigma of addiction and unites people in the fight for effective treatment and support against this misunderstood disease. Recovery is possible, and we can all help. A&E Television's Recovery Project is a new initiative that confronts the stigma of addiction and unites people in the fight for effective treatment and support against this misunderstood disease. Recovery is possible, and we can all help. 

The day will include:

• Recovery Cruise to Brooklyn Bridge (registration required)
• T-Shirts for Cruise participants
• Live Entertainment/Celebrity Guests
• Walk across Brooklyn Bridge to form the Human Bridge of Recovery
• Cruise back from Manhattan to Liberty State Park, including free lunch
• Liberty State Park Rally for Recovery
• Keynote Speaker: David Carr, New York Times Journalist
• Battle of the Banners
• Recognition of NJ Recovery Delegates
• Recovery Voices Count ~ Voter Registration
• Shout Down Drugs Performers and other musical entertainment
• POWER OF THE CIRCLE and much more

*SOURCE: Overview of Findings from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

DEVELOP PROJECTS FOR NATIONAL DESIGN WEEK

National Design Week- October 19-25, 2008

On Oct. 19, Cooper-Hewitt will launch its third National Design Week, an initiative that aims to draw national attention to the ways in which design enriches everyday life, through outreach to school teachers and their students, and partnerships with design organizations across the country.

Nominate Your Favorite Design. This year the ceremony includes the People's Design Award, determined by an online voting system. Starting September 22, until October 21, the public can nominate and vote for their favorite designs. The winner will be announced live at the National Design Awards Gala in New York City.

Design in the Classroom. Are you looking for new ideas and methods to engage your students? Design makes any subject immediately relevant to students by directly relating to their real-life experience. How can design enhance the teaching of any subject, including mathematics, science, environmental studies, language arts, history, and art? Get free design lesson plans. | Conversations with educators
Celebrate National Design Week October 19–25 with free admission to Cooper-Hewitt all week long.

Journalists Arrested in USA and Africa

The FreePress report that police in St. Paul arrested several journalists yesterday, including Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and an AP photographer as they were covering protests of the Republican National Convention Stop the Arrests of Journalists in the USA. Sign the Letter. And earlier this weekend, police raided a meeting of the video journalists' group I-Witness.



ABC News reporter arrested

A similar situation has been reported by Mohamed Keita in Senegal. "Senegal, once considered a haven of press freedom in Africa, has seen an unusual level of venomous rhetoric against the independent media, fueled by Senghor and President Abdoulaye Wade, once an ally of the press. Several independent Senegalese journalists have told CPJ that this rhetoric from the highest levels of government encourages attacks and suggests that there will be impunity for those threatening the press, including security forces, government supporters, and members of the politically influential Mourides Muslim brotherhood."

Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Guitarist Tomas Doncker Releasing World/Soul EP "SMALL WORLD and Fundraiser

Brooklyn based Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Guitarist Tomas Doncker is releasing his World/Soul EP "Small World" due out in August independently on his own label GroovySexMusic. This new collection of songs mixes the flavors of World Music with the in-depth Soul progressions that makes up the sound of Tomas Doncker. His music has
been described as earthy, sultry and sophisticated, focused on poignant lyrics and soulful grooves. His music appeals to a global community that bridges the unity of listeners with spirit and harmony.

In celebration of the launch of the EP, on THURSDAY, AUGUST 28th @ SHRINE World Music Venue a concert will be held. There will be a $5 cover charge, but Tomas Doncker has been generous enough to give 50% of all the money raised at the door to freeDimensional. freeDimensional is an organization that links artistic communities to International Social Justice. This is a wonderful way to help freeDimensional in their work in NYC and Internationally. Show your support by coming out to SHRINE on 8/28 and listen to some amazing new music by Tomas Doncker.

The first single "Children of Darfur" has caught the interest of such humanitarian organizations as freeDimensional, The Solar Cooker Project and Jewish World Watch. Co-producing the new EP with Tomas is master percussionist Daniel Sadownick along with the production team of Hollins Steele. The album is being recorded at The Steele Factory in Brooklyn, NY. He has recently finished up recording the EP Small World after touring around the country in support of his CD "InsideOut". He has used the same band to record both recordings and has received critical acclaim around the country for their live performances in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC. His longtime band is comprised of Daniel Sadownick on Percussion (Steely Dan/Matisyahu/Raul Midon), Booker King on bass (Santana/Lila Downs), Etienne Lytle (Freddy Jackson/Elizabeth Withers) and rising star Camelia Qabazard on backvocals.

"Small World" features guest appearances by Soul and World music luminaries Martha Redbone, Karen Bernod, Audrey Martells, Keith Fluitt, KUKU, Ayib Dieng, Karma Johnson and Caitin Meissner. Tomas has upcoming dates in NYC at The Blue Note, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Shrine Cafe, Solomon's Porch, Frank's Lounge and has just been asked to participate in the New York City River to River Music Festival which brings Free music to the public.

Tomas Doncker's music is available on
www.iTunes.com
www.CDbaby.com
www.dustygroove.com
and www.myspace.com/tomasdoncker

Zambia and its People

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa died after being hospitalized 2 months ago for a stroke. The WSJ article went on to say that Mr. Mwanawasa won praise for his anti-corruption and economic modernization plan, but had "failed to lift the Zambian people out of crushing poverty."

My husband and I visited a typical Zambian village set on the Zabezi River about 30 miles from the historic colonial city of Livingstone, which is very close to the Zimbabawe border. The evidence of the anti-corruption campaign came in the form of a billboard that I happened to capture while driving in Livingstone. Although the people lived in small mud huts and structures, they did not live in the same poverty that we see in cities like Trenton and Newark. The main difference is that these people feel safe in their villages and there is little evidence of violence within these communities.

The children and the adults looked very happy and were pleased to see us, even though in most cases we did not speak the same language.

The villagers who did speak English were complimentary about their country and the government. They seemed quite concerned
about Zimbabwe's President Mugabe and when we went briefly passed through Zimbabwe we could feel the tension in the people. From what the villagers told us, Zambia appears to be a stable country and one that is concerned with educating its young people. There were quite a few educational campus' in Livingstone. In some villages the children may have to walk a long way to go to school, but they do have schools. We were told if anything was lacking it was a place to homestead the teachers.

I loved Zambia and its people--they were warm, open and constantly smiling. I certainly hope that a change in leadership won't bring major negative changes to the country.

And perhaps it might be a good idea for New Jersey to put up a few of its own anti-corruption billboards. Mwanawasa's message is right on target.

ARE POSITIVE NEWS STORIES POSSIBLE?

Recently the Romanian Senate unanimously voted in favor of a law that would require fifty percent of the news reported by media outlets in that country to distribute “happy news.” One senator, from the opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD), argued newscasts show too much of the "dark side of life". The Romanian's National Council for Audiovisual Broadcasting is to validate the law - under which it will have the responsibility to decide what constitutes good or bad news. But the Council swiftly criticized the law. "News is news, it is neither positive nor negative, it simply reflects reality," said the Council's president, Rasvan Popescu.

Good news is a good idea. All you have to do is watch mass media news at night to witness that there's about a minute and half of positive news reported. Why do we have inspirational speakers who constantly tell us that if we believe and stay positive then good things will happen to us? Then there's the old adage about "looking on the positive side of life". Well that's no easy feat when the media is so negative.

I recognize media conglomerates have to make money, but what's so wrong about good old inspirational stories? There's a ton of them around. Stories that make us laugh and feel good about being human. If big media isn't going to tell them, even a quarter of the time, maybe there should be a law to ensure that daily we see good things about good people.

Perhaps it's just not possible. Humans have been drawn to hype and negative news as far back as the Socrates and Salem Witchcraft trials. Today we are lucky to have many news sources to gather our news from. We owe it to ourselves to verify whether the information we get is accurate, and to accept listening and reading different opinions and sources than the tried-and-true that we habitually listen to in agreement. And with the advent of the Internet it’s never been easier.

If a magazine can offer Pitt-Jolie 10-15 million dollars for photos of their twins, then we know what the majority of the people ultimately want. Who's to say that if the media were forced to report fifty percent of the time on positive things that anyone would even watch or care? I still think there’s something to be said about “good things”—and not just tips from Martha Stewart. Positive stories are out there—we just have to search for them. Hopefully in the age of Youtube we might just see those good stories begin to develop when all the silly pet and baby tricks have trended downward.