Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
I'm Awake are you?
Just finished reading a blog about cell phones and radiation. The research is alarming and I vow to do something about it in my household! You know more and more everyday I hear stuff about the things that we were told and the word "bamboozled" comes to mind! I totally am shocked that so many things that we eat, breathe, and touch are so bad for us....me being me I smell a conspiricy theory! The more people are sick the more money is spent in drugs and doctors. Things that make you go hmmm! Well I am on it...wide awake and vow to take control over my life and my daughter's health! Care to join me?
Monday, November 8, 2010
And I write!
When you have alot on your mind, you just have to get it off! Those are the words of one of my "role models" Monique. I can't beleive that it has been so long since I've updated my blog and so much is going on in the world of JOY! God placed it on my heart a while ago to write my life story. Me of course laughed it off and said me Lord are you sure...who would want to read it and I would have to leave a WHOLE bunch of stuff out. Well the Lord revealed to me that my story in it's intireity is what he wants me to write. NO sensoring, just straight Joy, with know chaser. The human being that I am I still questioned that word from the Lord and said ...well Lord where do I start. The Lord spoke to me and said...from the beginning! As I procrastinated in starting my task the Lord revealed to me that all I was doing was slowing down my blessings. God also placed a number one best selling author in my path to encouage me to, "write like noone is going to read your book". That was the push I needed so instead of being concerned about what people thought about me I need to just simply tell my story....so with that my friends starts me being obedient to God....And I write!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Film chronicles how 'A Small Act' changed lives
New York (CNN) -- Ever see those late night ads on TV searching for money to support children in Africa?
A woman in Sweden started sending money to a children's charity in Africa and little did she know that because of her small payments a Kenyan youth she had never met would up going to Harvard Law School. The story, as depicted in a new emotion-packed HBO documentary, doesn't end there.
The film "A Small Act" tells the story of Chris Mburu, who grew up in poverty in Africa. Today, he is the acting coordinator of the anti-discrimination section of the United Nations Human Rights Agency based in Switzerland.
Mburu's benefactor, Hilde Back, was a Swedish pre-school teacher and a Holocaust survivor who fled Germany when she was only a child.
"If you do something good, it can spread in circles, like rings on the water," Back said.
As an adult, Mburu went on a search to find Hilde Back, and when he did, he brought her to Kenya so she could see first-hand how far her small act went.
Mburu paid tribute to his benefactor by establishing the Hilde Back Education Fund in 2003 before he had even met her in person. The organization offers financial support to children of Kenya who have distinguished themselves academically.
If you do something good, it can spread in circles, like rings on the water.
--Chris Mburu's benefactor, Hilde Back
As a child, Mburu didn't have much hope for a life beyond coffee-picking in Kenya, where families make only $1.50 a day for their labor. In his homeland, secondary school can cost around $10 a week to attend, but with the limited family income it is impossible for most to afford without help. He got help after Back contributed to a now-defunct fund called Sponsorship for Kenyan Children.
And now Mburu is returning his help with his fund named for Back.
"I would like to see these kids to be educated, because once you have a society that is very, very ignorant, it becomes the breeding ground for violence, for misinformation, for intolerance," Mburu said in the film.
The treatment for violence and ignorance begins with education, and that calls on people to make contributions, regardless of how big or small they are, Mburu said at a panel discussion at the HBO screening in New York.
The lives of the Kenyan youth and the Swedish benefactor have parallels. Mburu works helping those whose human rights are threatened. Back escaped Nazi Germany, but her parents died in concentration camps. Mburu was forced to return to his native Kenya when violence erupted after a presidential election a couple of years ago. Back watched the crisis on TV and spoke to him by phone, concerned about a man she treats like a son she never had.
The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon introduced the film at the HBO screening. Ban reflected on the power of the film industry and how many people it is able to reach.
"From day one I have told my staff to reach out to creative people. Creative (people) can reach many and transcend borders," Ban said.
Ban spoke of the importance of making documentaries like "A Small Act." Spreading awareness and understanding is critical because that's how partnerships are created, he said.
Ban said he wasn't acquainted with Mburu personally but congratulated him by saying he was a symbol of hope for people in many countries, and "messages can be spread by a powerful voice," Ban said.
The documentary also follows the lives of three hard-working and distinguished Kenyan students who compete academically with one another with the hope that they will be awarded a scholarship and attend secondary school.
The students must attain a certain score on a nationwide achievement test to be considered for a scholarship, and their families are supportive but also put a great deal of pressure on their children to do well.
"I began making this film to tell a riveting, character-based story that I hoped would inspire audiences to do their own 'small acts,'" director Jennifer Arnold said. "There are huge stakes for these kids, who are literally fighting for their lives by competing for a scholarship... These kids may one day impact people across the world as Chris Mburu has, and Hilde Back before him."
The documentary is now appearing on HBO. The film company is promoting a new campaign, "What's your small act?" designed to increase donations to charity or help more children in Kenya.
A woman in Sweden started sending money to a children's charity in Africa and little did she know that because of her small payments a Kenyan youth she had never met would up going to Harvard Law School. The story, as depicted in a new emotion-packed HBO documentary, doesn't end there.
The film "A Small Act" tells the story of Chris Mburu, who grew up in poverty in Africa. Today, he is the acting coordinator of the anti-discrimination section of the United Nations Human Rights Agency based in Switzerland.
Mburu's benefactor, Hilde Back, was a Swedish pre-school teacher and a Holocaust survivor who fled Germany when she was only a child.
"If you do something good, it can spread in circles, like rings on the water," Back said.
As an adult, Mburu went on a search to find Hilde Back, and when he did, he brought her to Kenya so she could see first-hand how far her small act went.
Mburu paid tribute to his benefactor by establishing the Hilde Back Education Fund in 2003 before he had even met her in person. The organization offers financial support to children of Kenya who have distinguished themselves academically.
If you do something good, it can spread in circles, like rings on the water.
--Chris Mburu's benefactor, Hilde Back
As a child, Mburu didn't have much hope for a life beyond coffee-picking in Kenya, where families make only $1.50 a day for their labor. In his homeland, secondary school can cost around $10 a week to attend, but with the limited family income it is impossible for most to afford without help. He got help after Back contributed to a now-defunct fund called Sponsorship for Kenyan Children.
And now Mburu is returning his help with his fund named for Back.
"I would like to see these kids to be educated, because once you have a society that is very, very ignorant, it becomes the breeding ground for violence, for misinformation, for intolerance," Mburu said in the film.
The treatment for violence and ignorance begins with education, and that calls on people to make contributions, regardless of how big or small they are, Mburu said at a panel discussion at the HBO screening in New York.
The lives of the Kenyan youth and the Swedish benefactor have parallels. Mburu works helping those whose human rights are threatened. Back escaped Nazi Germany, but her parents died in concentration camps. Mburu was forced to return to his native Kenya when violence erupted after a presidential election a couple of years ago. Back watched the crisis on TV and spoke to him by phone, concerned about a man she treats like a son she never had.
The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon introduced the film at the HBO screening. Ban reflected on the power of the film industry and how many people it is able to reach.
"From day one I have told my staff to reach out to creative people. Creative (people) can reach many and transcend borders," Ban said.
Ban spoke of the importance of making documentaries like "A Small Act." Spreading awareness and understanding is critical because that's how partnerships are created, he said.
Ban said he wasn't acquainted with Mburu personally but congratulated him by saying he was a symbol of hope for people in many countries, and "messages can be spread by a powerful voice," Ban said.
The documentary also follows the lives of three hard-working and distinguished Kenyan students who compete academically with one another with the hope that they will be awarded a scholarship and attend secondary school.
The students must attain a certain score on a nationwide achievement test to be considered for a scholarship, and their families are supportive but also put a great deal of pressure on their children to do well.
"I began making this film to tell a riveting, character-based story that I hoped would inspire audiences to do their own 'small acts,'" director Jennifer Arnold said. "There are huge stakes for these kids, who are literally fighting for their lives by competing for a scholarship... These kids may one day impact people across the world as Chris Mburu has, and Hilde Back before him."
The documentary is now appearing on HBO. The film company is promoting a new campaign, "What's your small act?" designed to increase donations to charity or help more children in Kenya.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Balancing The Mix-Women emerge on the other side of the studio glass
Women are all over the music charts. One scan of the Billboard 200 will yield albums from a wide range of female artists spanning genres such as hip-hop, country, rock, and pop.
However, in reading an album's credits, the recording, production, mixing, and mastering of music remains an overwhelmingly male domain. Given the strides women have made in the workplace in recent decades, a number of factors have emerged to counter the historical imbalance of women in music production.
In recent years, universities and trade schools offering music recording programs have seen an influx of female students. The number of female graduates at Berklee College of Music, which offers majors in music production and engineering and music synthesis, totaled 282 in 2010, representing 33 percent of the total class and an increase of 5 percent from 2009. Full Sail University, a leading media arts college in Winter Park, Fla., estimates the number of its female students grew 28 percent between 2007 and 2009.
Terri Winston, executive director of the Women's Audio Mission in San Francisco, an organization providing training for women in recording arts and audio technology, notes the percentage of female students in her music production classes at City College of San Francisco has grown from about 10 percent to more than 50 percent in less than a decade. She attributes the increase to making the effort to engage women and chip away at any trepidation they may bring to class.
"When I bring a new piece of gear to the class, the men are all over it and the women tend to hang back," Winston explains. "I'll say to everyone, 'Get over here and take a look! Snap out of it!' And once that stress is off, they're right up there with the guys. They're here in the first place because they are interested in recording music. We're just removing some of the [cultural] barriers that were there."
Another factor beneficial to women is the feasibility of home recording. With a laptop, a set of speakers, a microphone, and basic recording software such as Pro Tools LE or GarageBand — and some time and effort — any aspiring professional has the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of music production.
But the most basic change may simply be generational. Bridget Guise, a 21-year-old student at SAE Institute of Technology in Nashville, Tenn., says gender isn't the same kind of issue for her millennial cohorts. "Gender is immaterial," she says. Guise does acknowledge that a glass ceiling might appear beyond the assistant engineering job she holds as an intern at a Nashville recording studio. But she also believes the positive effect women can bring to the working environment of music production will help counter any obstacles. "I think it can actually be an advantage now being a woman to get a job at a studio, because you'd bring a unique perspective," she says.
That optimism is shared by Ann Mincieli, the chief engineer for GRAMMY winner Alicia Keys since 1999 who also manages operations for the Oven Studios, the singer's Long Island, N.Y.-based recording studio. "I don't really think of it as being a woman in a man's world — that's an old mentality," says Mincieli, who has also worked with Whitney Houston, Jay-Z and Adam Lambert. "If I had really thought [like] that, I don't think I would have made it this far. I've seen some people, assistant engineers in studios years ago, get overtaken by that thinking. If you're good, if you're on your game, you have a chance like anyone else."
Angela Piva has thrived for years as an engineer, recording hip-hop artists including Ghostface Killah, Heavy D & The Boyz and Naughty By Nature, as well as more mainstream R&B artists such as Mary J. Blige. Once you prove your chops in the studio, Piva also agrees gender barriers can melt away. "The truth is, everyone I worked with was very respectful," she says.
Trina Shoemaker, who is one of only two women to have won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical GRAMMY Award (Imogen Heap won the award in 2009), puts it bluntly, "As soon as you say there's an obstacle there because you're a woman, then you put the obstacle there."
As the owner of RadioStar Studios in Weed, Calif., producer/engineer Sylvia Massy was mentored by Producers & Engineers Wing Senior Executive Director Maureen Droney and GRAMMY-winning engineer Leslie Ann Jones. She has worked primarily within the male-driven hard rock genre, including recordings by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, System Of A Down, and Tool.
"The lead singer of Tool [Maynard James Keenan] is frightening on stage but he's actually a stand-up comedian — we would talk about our cats in the studio," says Massy, who has also worked with producer Rick Rubin on several best-selling recordings, including Johnny Cash's GRAMMY-winning Unchained. "I get the feeling that a lot of men are less intimidated by a woman in the control room."
While gender parity in the studio is an ongoing issue, similar to their male counterparts, women with established music production careers are becoming more concerned about there being an industry for them to be part of.
"The key will be diversification," says Piva regarding the challenge of obtaining work as record labels continue to cut recording budgets. "Not doing just records, but looking into music for movies and multimedia production for the Internet. We all have to flow with the times now."
(Dan Daley is a freelance journalist covering the entertainment business industry. He lives in New York and Nashville.)
However, in reading an album's credits, the recording, production, mixing, and mastering of music remains an overwhelmingly male domain. Given the strides women have made in the workplace in recent decades, a number of factors have emerged to counter the historical imbalance of women in music production.
In recent years, universities and trade schools offering music recording programs have seen an influx of female students. The number of female graduates at Berklee College of Music, which offers majors in music production and engineering and music synthesis, totaled 282 in 2010, representing 33 percent of the total class and an increase of 5 percent from 2009. Full Sail University, a leading media arts college in Winter Park, Fla., estimates the number of its female students grew 28 percent between 2007 and 2009.
Terri Winston, executive director of the Women's Audio Mission in San Francisco, an organization providing training for women in recording arts and audio technology, notes the percentage of female students in her music production classes at City College of San Francisco has grown from about 10 percent to more than 50 percent in less than a decade. She attributes the increase to making the effort to engage women and chip away at any trepidation they may bring to class.
"When I bring a new piece of gear to the class, the men are all over it and the women tend to hang back," Winston explains. "I'll say to everyone, 'Get over here and take a look! Snap out of it!' And once that stress is off, they're right up there with the guys. They're here in the first place because they are interested in recording music. We're just removing some of the [cultural] barriers that were there."
Another factor beneficial to women is the feasibility of home recording. With a laptop, a set of speakers, a microphone, and basic recording software such as Pro Tools LE or GarageBand — and some time and effort — any aspiring professional has the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of music production.
But the most basic change may simply be generational. Bridget Guise, a 21-year-old student at SAE Institute of Technology in Nashville, Tenn., says gender isn't the same kind of issue for her millennial cohorts. "Gender is immaterial," she says. Guise does acknowledge that a glass ceiling might appear beyond the assistant engineering job she holds as an intern at a Nashville recording studio. But she also believes the positive effect women can bring to the working environment of music production will help counter any obstacles. "I think it can actually be an advantage now being a woman to get a job at a studio, because you'd bring a unique perspective," she says.
That optimism is shared by Ann Mincieli, the chief engineer for GRAMMY winner Alicia Keys since 1999 who also manages operations for the Oven Studios, the singer's Long Island, N.Y.-based recording studio. "I don't really think of it as being a woman in a man's world — that's an old mentality," says Mincieli, who has also worked with Whitney Houston, Jay-Z and Adam Lambert. "If I had really thought [like] that, I don't think I would have made it this far. I've seen some people, assistant engineers in studios years ago, get overtaken by that thinking. If you're good, if you're on your game, you have a chance like anyone else."
Angela Piva has thrived for years as an engineer, recording hip-hop artists including Ghostface Killah, Heavy D & The Boyz and Naughty By Nature, as well as more mainstream R&B artists such as Mary J. Blige. Once you prove your chops in the studio, Piva also agrees gender barriers can melt away. "The truth is, everyone I worked with was very respectful," she says.
Trina Shoemaker, who is one of only two women to have won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical GRAMMY Award (Imogen Heap won the award in 2009), puts it bluntly, "As soon as you say there's an obstacle there because you're a woman, then you put the obstacle there."
As the owner of RadioStar Studios in Weed, Calif., producer/engineer Sylvia Massy was mentored by Producers & Engineers Wing Senior Executive Director Maureen Droney and GRAMMY-winning engineer Leslie Ann Jones. She has worked primarily within the male-driven hard rock genre, including recordings by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, System Of A Down, and Tool.
"The lead singer of Tool [Maynard James Keenan] is frightening on stage but he's actually a stand-up comedian — we would talk about our cats in the studio," says Massy, who has also worked with producer Rick Rubin on several best-selling recordings, including Johnny Cash's GRAMMY-winning Unchained. "I get the feeling that a lot of men are less intimidated by a woman in the control room."
While gender parity in the studio is an ongoing issue, similar to their male counterparts, women with established music production careers are becoming more concerned about there being an industry for them to be part of.
"The key will be diversification," says Piva regarding the challenge of obtaining work as record labels continue to cut recording budgets. "Not doing just records, but looking into music for movies and multimedia production for the Internet. We all have to flow with the times now."
(Dan Daley is a freelance journalist covering the entertainment business industry. He lives in New York and Nashville.)
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