Saturday, July 4, 2009
Photo Credit: Lauren Ebright | The Broken Telegraph
by Guest Contributor Lauren Ebright
In 2006 a community of people living in a suburb of Phnom Penh were uprooted by force and moved to a resettlement area now known as Andong. Over two years later, this village still does not have clean water, hospitals or electricity. Through the connections we made in the country, we were given the opportunity to visit Andong and meet a man named Abraham who has taken this community on as his personal mission. Abraham has built the village’s only school and church from his family’s own money. He has also worked to build new homes for the people of Andong (their original houses, only three years old, have begun to fall apart). Matthew and I were excited to meet Abraham and to see a place more rural than Phnom Penh. I had heard that Andong was a “slum,” but I had imagined it would look similar to some parts of the city. I found out that Phnom Penh with all its poverty and chaos was modern and sophisticated by comparison.
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Friday, July 3, 2009
by Ian Ebright
I know, a line like that is usually followed by someone trying to sell you motivational CDs or a book about the Newest Way of Thinking. But stick with me for a minute.
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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Photo Credit: Lansing Chamber.org
by Tiffany Lucus
When I was three years old I asked my Mom’s party animal boyfriend (Rockin’ Rod as he was known in the 80’s party scene) if he had Jesus in his heart. I knew I did but was unsure of his status and needed to know. I was aware Jesus loved me but felt that if Rod hadn’t been told then perhaps he needed to know. He politely evaded the question and I moved on, not at all fazed by the rejection. Fast forward to now; I seldom ever admit my religious status unless I know I am in a room with at least a majority of backers, for fear someone will either judge me or run for the hills thinking that I have a trunk full of Gideon’s, a wallpapering of religious bumper stickers on my car and the single goal of an on the spot conversion.
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Monday, June 22, 2009
Photo Credit: Disney Pixar
by Brian Robinson
Well we are just about halfway through the year of movies for 2009. Anybody excited? Yeah, me neither. Its certainly been easy to find the past few years of movies lacking, but so far this year, its been particularly bleak. Although the best argument for a justification is that many of these movies may be “Strike Babies” in that they were rushed in the script phase (more than usual) to get in before the Writers’ Strike of 2007/2008. Movies in general seem half to three-quarters baked as it is, and with the rushed strategy many are barely one-quarter baked right now. But, as always there are some bright spots!
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
by Ian Ebright
I am not an expert on homelessness by any stretch of the imagination. I first lowered one hesitant toe into these waters a few years back while working to serve the poor and homeless at a once-a-week community dinner at a nearby church. My friend joined me after a few times and we both developed a modest sense of satisfaction by directly serving those in a season of struggle. But it wasn’t too long before my patience began to wear out, and I became frustrated by the familiar faces because I thought these people weren’t making progress as fast as they should. I wondered if I was just enabling a bunch of freeloaders and addicts. My friend and I convinced each other that we were doing exactly that, and so we broke free of what started to feel like an obligation.
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Photo Credit: People Magazine
By Ian Ebright
It is not often that I comment about the personal characteristics of public figures on this blog because I acknowledge that I don’t know these people personally. So we try here to keep things focused on the issues and the policies, leaving the partisan nonsense behind, and attempt to walk a tightrope with0ut falling into personal commentary. I’m probably going to violate my rule in this post, because this feud between Sarah Palin and David Letterman is nonsensical, and part of a larger problem.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Photo Credit: aim4asia.com
by Guest Contributor Lauren Ebright
This past May I embarked on my first trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia with my boss and friend Matthew Fairfax. Matthew owns James Alan Salon- the neighborhood salon I work at as a hairdresser in Shoreline, Washington. About eight months ago an idea was hatched. Matthew had a dream of starting the James Alan Salon Foundation to benefit our local area; he had no idea at the time how far the dream would reach. Through an amazing client of ours Matthew came to know of the desperate reality of human trafficking (primarily for the sex industry) in Cambodia. Separately, I had already began researching more ways I could get involved in combating the very same issue, coincidentally in the very same country. One beautiful day in October our minds came together and we set into motion what would become the Justice and Soul Project. Our goal is to create a hairdressing program for rescued women that are close to being ready to re-enter society after a life of sexual slavery. Slavery can come in many forms, the first is obvious; another form is born out of hopeless economic conditions. We want to give them a skill, a trade that can help support them in a country that is unwilling to. We had no idea what was ahead of us. We took a leap on May 12th and some fourteen hours later touched down in the Kingdom of Cambodia.
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Thursday, June 4, 2009
by Ian Ebright
I’m going to do an infrequent series here that will feature nothing more than a few quotes from a rotating cast of famous historical figures. For me, these quotes have a way of cutting through contemporary propaganda, and I think it’s a healthy exercise for checking my own assumptions, beliefs and allegiances.
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Saturday, May 30, 2009
by Ian Ebright
I would be a lot more productive if there wasn’t so much good music to listen to, and I know I’m not the only one. Even though this hunger for new music is probably a bit much, I’d still like to trade you some of my latest recommendations for one or two of yours.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Photo Credit: nymag.com
by Ian Ebright
Glenn Greenwald was a constitutional law and civil rights litigator, and now writes for Salon. If you are a regular to this site, you’re familiar with my praises of Greenwald. He has become a more and more substantial and reasoned voice fighting for the constitution, accountability and transparency in this great nation, no matter which party has a man in the White House. He has just written a piece that rises to the level of perception-altering. It’s a cold splash of water in the face, at a time when this country really needs one.
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Thursday, May 14, 2009
Photo Credit: wyautoloans.com
by Ian Ebright
Note: I’m going to talk about Jesus in this post. I don’t want anyone to feel duped as it’s not mentioned in the headline.
We’re all in the middle of waiting for something. Waiting for employment, or healing; waiting to find our purpose, waiting to find true love, or a creative vision, or a venue to share our talents. Some are farther along, and know what they want to do, and are doing it. But the desired result seems to be evading them. So we’re all waiting for something.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
by Brian Robinson
At the risk of seeming like a ‘Me-Too,’ given President Obama’s decision on holding torture photos today, I want to echo what Ian wrote about torture on April 29th. What Ian wrote about the unethical and disgusting nature of torture is one of the most reasoned and passionate essays I have read online or anyplace else. My piece will not be nearly as in-depth or footnoted with other articles, but I do feel the need to speak up on what has happened today, as well as address the current media actions of former VP Dick Cheney.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Photo credit: abc.net.au
by Ian Ebright
The United States does not torture. Oh wait- didn’t George W. Bush also say the very same thing? He did. Unfortunately for the previous administration, we are learning with the release of declassified memos that such phrases were part of a semantics dance designed to mislead and cover for a systemic policy of torture that was coordinated and approved from the very top down. And we have to deal with it completely, or this country will never be the same.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
McNulty and Bunk, from ‘The Wire.’ Photo Credit: HBO
by Brian Robinson
Last night I was taking in another season of the brilliant British series “Prime Suspect”, starring Helen ( “The Queen”) Mirren. Its one of those series that is kind of precursor to American series like “The Closer” or “Saving Grace” that have strong, but troubled women at the heart of the show. In the case of Mirren’s crime-fighting character, Supr Tennyson (for the moment, but she’s definitely headed for a demotion), is as flawed as any real human being which certainly adds to the fullness of character and makes her decisions seem as 50/50 as they might in real life — you don’t get the sense she can never go wrong. And that makes for some great drama.
It got me thinking, what are some of the best TV series/mini-series of the past decade or so? Yeah, we can always go back to “MASH” or “Roots” to name some well made shows, but I think in the past decade or so, with the rise of Pay Cable TV networks like Showtime and HBO, shows have the opportunity to go to another level of entertainment and craft. Its hard to compare shows like “Dexter” or “Damages” to “Hunter” or “Hart to Hart” when trying to think of which shows are more entertaining/meaningful than others; with the freedom of language and theme that the pay channels allow, its a tough comparison to make.
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