Tag Archives: Haiti

Live to Tell the Tale

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Look around.

See the faces, the people nearby. The man with his headphones and laptop, the guy to my right, working on some paperwork having just finished speaking to a friend of his, the lady in the corner focused on her red notebook. The baristas, they clean and perform tasks as we ignore and go about our own actions. The maintenance crew polish the floors at Noah’s Bagels across the way, the chairs are up, the day is done. The Asian woman who just left the building, she brought in her A-frame haircutting advertisement, and is now gone until the morning. I think of a reporter acquaintance of mine, in Prague with her husband for 10 days. I ponder about the few friends on Facebook, leaking clues as to their expected travels to aid after the recent Earthquake so far away. My mind slips to the life of an ex-best friend who now lives and goes to school in Alabama. I haven’t spoken to him since we departed junior high. And then there is a quite new friend of mine – a middle age fellow struggling to make a living. He has had to move out of his shared apartment for lack of money – and no longer does he have a cell phone, and he can only use the public library for wireless internet. He attempts to sell his Oregon photography, but the profits just aren’t enough. He now shares a place with an older man who has suffered a stroke and needs help around the place. He does not deserve to go through such difficult times, nor does anyone. There is so much more… And the list could never end.

Sometime I get caught up in it all, and as I write, my music hums in my ears, and artificial voices from rhythms and moods set me in a trance, and I step back to live to tell the tale of others.

I sit here, having ingested my usual coffee, basic research for homework completed, at a small two-person table spotlighted by a bright fixture above, and I blog. I blog about my motions of the emotion variety because it just means that much to me. Writing, I feel the ability to exhibit so much more than if I could, or would, ever speak it to someone.

But sometimes it feels so relieving to stop, look around, and recognize those around you. Look at the work they do, consider the lives they live, what’s on their mind, how they feel, who they are. Something so simple can be so complex and difficult to comprehend. It’s quite settling and it seems to almost ground you. So often we power through our lives and we fail to acknowledge such diverse souls in this coffeehouse, this building, this city block, and so on. But when you forget about yourself and focus on others, there becomes such a driving desire to know the world.

I question my cookie-cutter life. When I step back from the trance of each day, I crave to revolutionize the way I live; Such an example being my weight loss or efforts to volunteer in Haiti. Perhaps eyebrows raised when I started publishing my ambitions to travel to the scene of such a disaster. But I crave to find myself – to understand my abilities. In our everyday lives, we put our minds, souls to such little use. I want to attempt crazy, to make a change, and maybe I will find my sane.

I want to see the world, adapt to the unknown, feel the end of my desires, and understand contentment at the end. My life is young. I want to be free, because for so long I have struggled to be something other than myself.

Look around and you will see… There’s something more than you and me.

Ticket to Ride

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Just as is in the media, Haiti is still largely on my mind. In recent days it has become a topic of issue in which a couple of my acquaintances have pushed to participate, hands-on, in some way. I am envious of their “go-get’em” confidence, stride, and ability to make some calls and potentially wind up in a catastrophic foreign country for volunteer purposes. You all know by now that I want to be one of those people – and who knows what I might end up doing.

For right now, it is clear that the state of the country is left best in the hands of government and non-profit immediate aid officials who are professional, qualified individuals in the line of work that they perform. But perhaps in a month or so Haiti will need volunteers – people to pick up the peaces and work towards a rebuilding effort. I want to be there. It is an immersion experience that will change your life forever, and you will never know what is outside of our shallow, boxed-in every day lives unless you go out and make a change – find that Francois within you that alters your cookie-cutter lifestyle. No matter your field of profession, this can change your outlook on everything. Also, remember to wear red on Tuesday, January 19 to show your awareness and support for Haiti.

So, I pose a question to you.


Helping Haiti

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Understanding the full catastrophe in Haiti after their 7.0 earthquake and aftershocks is actually quite difficult via controlled and edited media. Everything we read, hear, and learn about is governed through filters in broadcast control. Not only are numerous sightings too graphic for network television, but there is also the fact that the news we receive is heavily delayed by communication and post-production.

I’m trying to discover the career path I want to follow in life. I sometimes doubt my interest in news, broadcasting, and technology. But then a horrible event like Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami, and most recently the Haitian catastrophe cause me to reconsider my stance. It is times like these that I so badly want to be part of a major news team and travel to these countries – experience and immerse myself in all that is happening, and be able to compel emotions, feelings, and visuals through writing, photography, and even technology. For example, right now I would really like it if I wasn’t in college and was working with a news organization and had the chance to cover the events in Haiti. I want to help people, but I am no doctor, no relief worker, no medical student, no bringer of peace. But what I can do is utilize my skills in what I know best to compel those who view my work to donate money for organizations, and perhaps even inspire others to follow my same path.

This has actually just occurred to me. I had a brief conversation on Twitter with @BrianBarker, an ex-KATU’er, now Public Information Officer for TVF&R. He explained to me how he convinced KATU to send him to New Orleans after the Hurrican Katrina disaster in 2006. He commented on the bodies he saw laying around the streets, the horrible things he has seen, and the experienced that was life-changing. His story is what has inspired me to keep following my love for journalism. I don’t want to grow up to be a reporter, a director, or some script writer… Maybe something regarding new media communications… Yet in fact, I do not know what I want to do, but if events like these tug at my heart to be there and capture the mood and details, I know something is there for me to pursue.

Help victims of the Haitian Earthquake disaster…  click on the SocialVibe widget to the right of this page. There is no sign-up necessary, and all you have to do is answer questions and complete basic activities.

You can also aid those in Haiti by text messaging “Give10″ to 20222. This will add $10 to your wireless account bill and will be donated to services in need of funding, but keep in mind that this monetary support can take up to 90 days for organizations to receive and process. Donating online is the quickest way to expedite support to the Haiti disaster response and recovery, but keep your eyes out for cyber-scammers looking to steal your money. The best route to take is locating donation websites via major news sources such as your local television stations or network channels like CNN, FOX, ABC, or through trusted re-tweets on Twitter.

Originally published on F[t]D