Jason Toney

Make #reverb10

"I think of 87 ways to make better days." - Kanye West, We Can Make It Better (feat. Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Rhymefest, and Common)

December 6 – Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
(Author:Gretchen Rubin)

Professionally, I make things all the time - decks, presentations, suggestions, decisions. Our job is to make things and tell stories. Personally, though, I don't know that I'm much of a maker. I put together an entertainment center last week. I made a bad baked macaroni & cheese for Friend's Thanksgiving. I make a good cocktail on occasion but I feel like this prompt is really about the power of deliberate craft. About working with your hands to present something tangible and meaningful.

So, to that end, let's talk about the room I helped make with St. Bernard Project in May.

The proudest moment of my year was at the end of Saturday, May 29th as I surveyed the room I had helped drywall. I was sweaty and dirty. My back and elbows and knees ached. I was itchy from the mixture of perspiration and mud and dirt that had caked on my legs and forearms. And I was happy.

At the end of that day, I thought seriously about switching careers to construction and contracting (probably the worst careers to try to get into in this country at the present moment but dreams don't have to be rational). I love what I do on the mostly digital plane but the problem with web work is you're never done. After 8 hours of hard work sinking drywall screws, climbing ladders, checking levels, sawing drywall, and setting base boards, we had made a room. You could see the accomplishment. Someone would come in in the next day or so and do the painting and add the finishing touches but the act of drywalling was complete.

The requirements wouldn't change. The creative wouldn't get tweaked. The only content in the room was WWOZ's Saturday mixture of jazz, world music, and good old soul. Oh, and high fives. And teamwork. And math. And trial and error. And good old fashioned work.

We could see it. We could touch it with our hands. We could feel it in our bones.

We made this.

I made this.

 

Song For Blog Action Day - Water No Get Enemy

Water No Get Enemy (Part Two) by D'angelo, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray, Soultronics & Positive Force  
Download now or listen on posterous

07 Water No Get Enemy (Part Two).mp3 (7173 KB)

T'o ba fe lo we omi l'o ma'lo
If you wan to go wash, na water you go use

T'o ba fe se'be omi l'o ma'lo
If you wan cook soup, na water you go use

T'o ri ba n'gbona o omi l'ero re
If your head dey hot, na water go cool am

T'omo ba n'dagba omi l'o ma'lo
If your child dey grow, na water he go use

If water kill your child, na water you go use
T'omi ba p'omo e o omi na lo ma'lo

Ko s'ohun to'le se k'o ma lo'mi o
Nothing without water
Ko s'ohun to'le se k'o ma lo'mi o
Omi o l'ota o

Without water, life would not exist. It is a prerequisite for all human and economic development. Yet today, nearly one billion people – about one in eight – lack access to clean water. More than twice that many, 2.5 billion people, don’t have access to a toilet.

also

The health and economic impacts of today’s global water crisis are staggering.

• More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 84 percent are children. Nearly all deaths, 98 percent, occur in the developing world.
• Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours.
• Lack of sanitation is the world’s biggest cause of infection.
• Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.

via water.org and Sloane.

Get Involved.

 

Related articles

• Blog Action Day 2010: Clean Water Green (ourdailygreenlife.blogspot.com)
• 5 Ways a Lack of Clean Water Leads to Modern-Day Slavery (humantrafficking.change.org)
• World Water Statistics and Water and Sanitation Improvement (nextbigfuture.com)
• Water's Ripple Effect (humanrights.change.org)

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In (Y)our Future

"I am awake and you are only dreaming." - Zero 7, Dreaming

There's a lot of awesome ideas being presented in this TEDxChange photo campaign. The concept of which is:

The future isn’t fixed. We can all have a hand in making a better world. To coincide withTEDxChange and the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals, we're asking you to join with us in answering the question:

What is the future we will make?

Sloane inspired me and does a great job explaining what the focus is about.

In our future...

Related articles by Zemanta

• TEDxChange: Learn more about the Millennium Development Goals (ted.com)
• Catch up on the MDGs with Gates' global health blog series (one.org)
• In our future, passion and purpose pay. (taylordavidson.com)
• GOOD contest winner celebrates MDG #4 (ted.com)

Armchair Activism Pt. III

"Ev'ry time I think I've had enough and start heading for the door" - The Jacksons, Never Can Say Goodbye [buy the album] Parts 1 and 2 by me. Now, the supplemental from Africana.com's Brown-Eyed Girl.

I had my own dreams of holding elected office some day, and I dreamed big. I thought I could be President my damn self� now that I see the kind of scrutiny that these candidates undergo I know I don't have a snowball's chance in hell, but it's all good. I don't want that job any more. I want to do something that may actually make a difference. Vote, yes, but do more than that.

Armchair Activism

"Throw away yesterday, today is a brand new day." - Sia, The Church of What's Happening Now [buy the album] Disenchanted? Cynical? Pessimistic? When did this happen to me? I've always been the optimist. I could see the promise in our political process and the framing of this country. I love the ideas of political action and involvement. I think voting is important and think that if our voices could just be heard that our leadership would respond. So why can't I find the spark to be more involved in this, our "most important election" in recent times? Oh sure, I write to my senators when an important vote is coming to tell them how I would like them to vote. I get my MoveOn.org emails and participate when I see the relavence. I read Arianna Online and I get a little tinge of hope from Music For America and Involver 04 but...but what? I was thinking about all the energy surrounding Fahrenheit 9/11 and the impetus to get people out to see it and, I don't know. I felt like it was so lame, so cliche liberal. A girl remarked to her friend on the escalator after the screening, "Why do all these people need a movie to tell them that war is bad? And so what now that they all know that 'war is bad'...what are they going to do about it? When are people fuckin' going to do something?" I off-handedly mentioned in an email to some friends that I thought it was Armchair Activism. A bunch of people going to see a movie because that was going to show the powers that be that they were serious. Let's have a house party where we sit around and discuss the film and pat ourselves on the back on how we know the truth. Let's organize a nationwide bake sale to raise money for John Kerry's campaign. Yay, we're liberals. Rah rah fuckin' rah. See the cynicism? Where the fuck did that come from? But, it's interesting, the only time I get email from the democratic party is when they want money. They don't send me emails telling me about the issues that should be important to me locally and nationally. They don't send me emails about the programs and policies that they are working on that they need support for. They don't inform me of companies that support the Republican Party and why they do so or, even better, the companies that support the Democratic Party and/or progressive causes and why they are important. For that I need Utne Reader and Mother Jones Journal. Why should I care about John Kerry or the Democrats? I'm not a liberal, I'm a fuckin' progressive. I don't want to do politics, I want to do something. Something that matters. Truly, the last 4 years have made me want to be less involved in the political process, not more. S-Train talked about the "Don't Cares"...I'm not quite there but, damn, if I'm just disillusioned with the whole system. So rarely do I hear politicians talk about people anymore. I never hear politicians make real demands of the American people or say something of substance. I'm so fuckin' soundbited out that I want to scream. I'm desperate for some leadership. Clamoring for it, really. I want more Arianna's. Not just a policy wonk or a pundit or a talking head. I want some real down in the trenches work for the future. I want somebody to make me pay attention. To get me up out of this arm chair and act. Because, I'm sorry, I love all you bright eyed Move On folks and everything but damn, I'm really not trying to come to your houses with my little name tag and talk about the genius of Michael Moore. I want some better shit to do. I am trying to find some spark. I don't want to feel this way. In these difficult times, I want to have feelings of optimism and be called upon to do more and be more.

"We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder. But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land. Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people" - Senator Robert Kennedy

Activism while on hiatus

"Ya'll assumed I was doomed out of tune but I still fill the notes with real nigga quotes" - Common on Kanye West's Get 'Em High (The College Dropout) Californiacans? What're you doing on March 2nd? I hope you're voting and if you're voting why not get your activism on and support Same-Sex Marriage? I'll be working with Marriage Equality California in the morning to show my support for civil and human rights for all. Don't you wanna be down? Hit the link. Volunteer. Tell 'em that negro JT sent you and that straight black folks can be about protecting the rights of gay people. Because we can. And we are. Also: dontamend.com prime is active in the ga. michelle is thinking about things in indy. and aaron gave the final word on the subject weeks ago. There's no debate here. A little less equal is not acceptable.