Archive for the ‘Social Activism’ Category

Now, I don’t know what you guys are up to, or how much attention you’re paying to the election (especially if you live outside the United States), but I think it’s important that if you support a candidate and you are able, you should go and try to help support their campaign. And that’s exactly what I’m doing: this evening I went to a house not too far from the Short North and did a phone bank, which basically means I called people during dinner for an hour and a half to see if they wouldn’t mind volunteering. Let me tell ya, the time seemed to fly!

It wasn’t all that difficult, really. The people you work with are friendly, and most of the time you do simple work like the phone bank. It’s the people who are paid to work on the campaign–yes, the ones who are hired by the campaign–who get the hard jobs. I had fun, and I’d like to do it again sometime.

But really, I’m just happy to give back; President Obama has done a lot for this nation, for my family, and for me, and if he and the Democrats are successful this November, they will probably do a lot more for me. With Romney’s supporters doling out the big checks, I’m putting myself out there to show that wo/manpower can beat money (manpower seems politically incorrect nowadays. Is there even a word to replace it?). And I encourage you all to come out and help too if you support the President.

And to the Romney supporters…well, we don’t agree on some issues, but I guess we both feel an obligation to our nation, so I guess help out your candidate in your way too.

I’m leaving a link to President Obama’s website below. You can use it not only to look at his platforms, but also to find volunteering oppurtunities in your own neighborhood. Have a good time!

http://www.barackobama.com/

Volunteers for Cover the Night. I'm the guy at the very end of the top left.

On Friday night at 8:oo, about twenty people, most of them students, gathered together behind the Ohio Union to Cover the Night, an awareness raising event to bring attention to Joseph Kony. Among them was me. And I had an excellent time, if I do say so myself. We basically covered the edge of south campus and went all the way into the very heart of the Short North, Columbus’s artsy shopping district. All told, we must’ve handed out at least 200 fliers and talked to nearly as many people, trying to get them interested.

Because that’s the whole point of raising awareness, right? So that people get interested and do something about it. And this was going on across the nation, if not the world, so I’m really happy that I was able to be apart of it.

I hope to turn this into an article for the Pulse, even though I told my editor my next article will be about something else (hey, nothing says I can’t do two articles, right?).

A very good way to spend a Friday night.

I just saw the Kony 2012 video on YouTube. You know, it’s one thing to hear about kids being put into armies like that. It’s another thing entirely to be confronted by the evidence like that, all in your face, and want to do something about that. And you know, I do want to do something about that. Heck, I’m now writing for The Pulse, I start my first assignment this week, I’m all about the social activism now.

So, I’m in.

SPREAD THE WORD. TAKE HIM DOWN

Joseph Kony has kidnapped nearly 30,000 children and forced them to become soldiers and sex slaves for his private army, the LRA. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court, the Ugandan army, and human rights groups for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 

I’ll do what I can to help spread the word and bring Kony to justice, because no child should be abducted from their parents and forced to be a soldier or slave, and no parent should have to suffer their child going through that. On April 20, 2012, I’ll even go out and do the Cover The Night, an event happening in nearly every major city where we put up posters, stickers, you name it, to spread the word. I don’t care if it’s the Jewish Sabbath, God would want me helping people.

Finally, I’d like you to check out the website and the video (I’ll be putting them down below at the bottom of this post). If you don’t like what you see, spread the word. You may be an individual, but when an individual is motivated to do something big, all they need is to find others who feel the same way, and they can change the world.

So let’s change the world together, and nab Kony by the end of the year.

Thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

http://www.kony2012.com/