Zimbabwean Bloggers article in LA Times

I recently read an article 'Zimbabwe bloggers shine a light on their troubled country' by Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer posted on September 10, 2008. Bloggers gives news from the ground sometimes recounting their tales through humor at times in anger and at times with wild hope.

What drew me to the article was the quoting of Bev Clark of Kubatanablogs.net:

Kubatanablogs.net, founded by Clark and her partner, Brenda Burrell, organizes protests and sends out newsletters and text messages to reach people in a country where only a few use the Internet.
Clark cut her teeth as a white gay activist in the 1980s and '90s, at a time when Mugabe called homosexuality "sub- animal behavior" and said gays and lesbians had no rights and should be arrested.
She writes: "In no particular order, I'm fed up with: a) vendors selling me overpriced trays of eggs whilst I'm crossing the road; b) dead of night tsotsis (criminals) stealing telephone cables rendering all phones kaput; c) my hunting dog waking me up at 4am, 3 nights in a row; d) civil society fear merchants who say Don't Do A Damned Thing, or we'll provoke a state of emergency in Zimbabwe; e) Mugabe; f) waiting."

I personally enjoy reading Clark's posts and have written about them in the past. Time permitting read the whole LA Times article and check out Kubatana.net.
Peace to you all,

Ty

Half Penny Post : 1st day of Fall

Tis the first day of fall, something that I find hard to believe. Have we gone through three quarters of the year already? Now I sit back and ask myself, 'Self! what have you done in the last 3 quarters?' and I don't have a concise answer. Yes I went to class, yes i went to work, but what of note have I done. Answer is depressingly a resounding nothing! I have not contributed towards the fight for equality, I have not contributed towards the political process in my country, nothing. Nothing contributed towards the greater good.

I have contributed towards personal development. I have been to hear motivational speakers who've spoken about attitude, motivation and having clear goals. I've got my e-commerce venture off the ground and have tried to surround myself with people who are going places. I'm talking about people who are tired of the status quo and are trying to ensure that their future kids will have better lives. The funny thing about my spending time with these folks is that they are mostly guys. The women that I meet are married to these guys. I'm the only single woman in the group and there are probably 8 bachelors. The guys treat me as an equal which I appreciate because culturally they would be justified if they chose not to. Did I mention that 90% of the people in the group are either in Comp Sci or Engineering and 50% hold Masters degrees.

I have been following the political process in this country and I have to admit I am a tad worried. The 'kindly lady' who likes to shoot rifles has me realllllyyyy worried. A friend of mine forwarded me an email that I thought was funny in relation with the 'kindly lady'. I quote:

Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In 'kindly lady's' name. A Planned Parenthood donation is tax deductible, while a political donation isn't. And here's the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor.

There is also an address given to make sure that it gets delivered to the right place. :)

Love & Peace.

Ty

Half Penny Post : AAAArgh ... too much pt 2

Last post I was overwhelmed. Now I am straight up jump off a cliff stressed. My time off can not come soon enough. I am literally counting the days.
How many people are allowed to yell at you in a given day before you are justified when you snap? I have a relatively long fuse and it takes a lot to set me off but I feel as if people have been steadily trimming the ends .... maybe a long walk will help me to calm down.

Half Penny Post : AAAArgh ... too much

I am feeling overwhelmed right now ... there I've come out and said it. I am a hard headed nut at times and will never willingly admit that I am feeling overwhelmed. Too much to do not enough time. School has started up but for the most part I'm still clocking crazy work hours. There is so much to do that I am finding myself paralyzed by the sheer number of things to do. Today I started a list and will hopefully feel less stressed / panicked once I prioritize the tasks and put them on a time line.

In a previous post I blogged from the airport and I never finished the tale of the Charlotte airport. I have spent so much QT in that airport I now know where the power sockets are in a number of gates / terminals. I finally got out of there at 6:00AM the next morning in a sneeze horsepower plane that probably sat 40 or so. We walked our luggage to the plane and picked it up at buggage claim aka the left wing. I love going to DC. It's so different from Chicago and since I spend too many evenings in DuPont I am now a house music lover... the boys are onto something with that music. I should go to sleep since I'm due at the airport in the wee hours of the day.

Ty

Staceyann Chin live at Southpaw

All I can say is DAMN! This woman is talented. I have seen her perform live and met her in person and all I can say is DAMN! See for yourself...