This is not meant to be directed at any particular blogger, writer, podcaster, or reader; It’s probably as much something I need to hear as anyone else.
I was listening to a podcast today and the people kept talking about “Africa.” They said things like, I have a heart for Africa, I’ve been really interested in Africa, I looked into going to Africa, and so on. Now, out of full disclosure, when I was in sixth grade and I did a family album and I wrote down the place I most …

I received this email a while ago about a letter from the President of Iran to President Bush. It was interesting, but I didn’t think much of it except that it was just a forward someone had written themselves, not a factual letter from the real Iran President.
Well, it turns out the Washington Post believes it’s real, so I’m going with them on this one. It’s a long, but easy to read letter and I would strongly encourage you to do so.

Read the Complete letter here.
Below are some excerpts:
After 9.11, …

By way of the suggestions of Lynette, I thought it wise to take a concious look at my blog reader, and see what ethnicity and sex the authors of the blogs I subscribe to are.
I figured I would be sadly disappointed to find it dominated by white males, but it’s actually 50-50 in both sex and white/not-white.
That didn’t include my friends blogs (people I know personally) but after further research, those are split about 50-50 too.
I think it would be wise to lean a little more heavily away …

The evoca mic is the funky little box on the side bar with the bright red REC button on it. Andrew wants my to try it out and see what my readers think.
Basically all you have to do is plug a microphone into your computer, hit the record button, hit the allow button, and then talk. Not too entirely complicated. It’s sort of for the more techie folks, but it’s really easy to use.
What are you supposed to say once it starts recording? I don’t know, tell me a joke.

I find this video fascinating. Kiri Davis is a high school student who put together a fascinating video and revisited a famous experiment that was used to support the desegregation of schools in Brown vs. Board of Education.
The video is sad and telling of how little we’ve come in helping raise our children without inherent notions of racism. At the same time I find it wonderful that a high school student like Kiri has taken the initiative to learn and speak out about this. Her film was featured in the …

Geena Davis, best known for her role in A League of Their Own, has started a very cool foundation worth checking out, See Jane.
See Jane mission statement on their website is, “Improving Gender Portrayal’s in Children’s Media” and they have some pretty ambitious, but realistic goals:

On average, half of all characters (both major and minor) in the most viewed media made for young children (0-11 years old) will be female.
Both female and male characters will display a range of attributes/qualities and will not be limited by traditional gender stereotypes.
Entertainment creators …

In 1970 a famous experiment was conducted concerning the construction of prejudice. Third graders where given different treatment based on their eye color. It was a landmark study in the effects of prejudice in our society.

I’ve been really bothered about something for the past week or so. The genocide in Darfur has been on my mind a bit lately, ever since the rally that happened last Sunday in New York. I’ve been thinking about the fact that for the last two years, I along with thousands of others have been “taking action” against the Genocide. We’ve blogged, written letters, rallied, met with congress people, bought wristbands, sent money, and a whole bunch of other things, from the comfort of our desk chair, coffee shop or …