Politics and New Media in the Muslim World

Room to Read

Room to Read

John Wood | MySpace Video

Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children's literature, constructing schools, and providing education to girls. We seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.

Brief History

John Wood, founder and executive chairman, launched Room to Read after a trek through Nepal where he visited several local schools. He was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources. Driven to help, John quit his senior executive position with Microsoft and built a global team to work with rural villages to build sustainable solutions to their educational challenges.

In founding Room to Read, John wove proven corporate business practices with his inspiring vision to provide educational access and opportunity to 10 million children in the developing world. His novel approach to non-profit management calls for:

• Scalable, measured, sustainable results
• Low-overhead, allowing maximum investment in educational infrastructure
• Challenge grants fostering community ownership and sustainability
• Strong local staff and partnerships creating culturally relevant programs

In 2000, Room to Read began working with rural communities in Nepal to build schools and establish libraries. The organization's geographic reach expanded rapidly as significant needs and opportunities were identified in Vietnam (2001), Cambodia (2002) and India (2003). The Asian Tsunami in 2004 provided a catalyst for entry into Sri Lanka followed shortly by Laos. We expanded to our second continent by launching Room to Read in South Africa in 2006, and then Zambia in 2007. In 2008, we began operations in Bangladesh.

http://www.roomtoread.org/

Twiturm.com - FREEWAY, HOLLYWOOD, & JACK FROST - GOING PLACES PROD. BY B. MOON

Twiturm.com - FREEWAY, HOLLYWOOD, & JACK FROST - GOING PLACES PROD. BY B. MOON

Just A Thought #2

Wise beneficiaries of the very gracious stimulus package will follow-up with fiscally responsible business practices.

If there ever was an incentive to do so, we need only to look at the last 5 - 8 years of over-spending, under-regulating, and plain silly business practices from a myriad of industries within the economy.

The plan appears to be the result of thorough and meticulous crafting and aims to provide the most help to the most needy recipients (for example, working families, retailers, and manufacturers), as well as assist even the least responsible groups (i.e., now-struggling homebuilders, financial institutions, and the Wall Street).

And that, in my opinion, is more than fair; indeed, gracious.

So, the oneness now is on individual families, business-owners, corporations, and organizations alike, to make the best of this opportunity and nurture our economy back to good health.

I'm confident that we can do it. "Yes we can."

Ya'Allah (Let's go)!

This "Just A Thought" is based on information from the article published by US News & World Report at the link below:

http://news.usnews.com/dynamic/stories/S/STIMULUS_TAXES?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Just A Thought # 1

I read or heard somewhere today that most people are hesitant to buy products or services that require learning new operations, programs, etc.

I considered this in light of all the emerging communications and media technology and concluded that, if the former is true, there should be a simultaneous push for media literacy in a general sense, if the new products or services can be successfully marketed and sold, which is the bottom line.

Hip Hop Congress Expanding to Stockton, California

The Hip Hop Congress is expanding and developing a chapter in Stockton, California.

Stockton isn't nationally or even regionally reknown for it's hip hop scene--anymore; it used to be a reputable city in the world of hip hop but no one seems to know what happened.

To that end, a friend of mine and I are developing a feature on the history of the hip hop scene and its future.

For now, though, if you or someone you know would like to get involved with building the first Hip Hop Congress chapter the city has ever had, by all means, get in touch with me. Let's lay a solid foundation for generations to come.

Peace!

www.hiphopcongress.com

Contact me for more info or if you have any questions:
etherm1@gmail.com

Top 3 New Magazines

WIRED, GOOD Magazine, and Fast Company are my three new favorite print magazines of 2008. They report on business, technology, popular culture, politics, social entrepreneurship, and other cool stuff "millenials" are said to like (that's the only term I've heard that I actually like in reference to the generation to which I belong).

Check out the January 2009 issue of WIRED Magazine. When you get it, look for an article by Chris Hardwick; he writes on time management and summarizes the advice from three popular time management titles, and he does it with humor and wit. I'm his newest fan.

I was so impressed I emailed him post-haste (I use that phrase whenever possible; it reminds me of that cartoon character who says, "Exit, stage left even," and he jets off the scene); much to my suprise, he responded kindly and wished me well.

His analysis of the three methods is from the perspective of a freelancer (he does voice work for a cartoon, stand-up comedy, writes a blog ( http://www.nerdist.com/ ), and several other things I can't remember), so he faces a lot of the same stuff I do.

If you do any freelance work/entrepreneurship--or if you wan to--reading this article is 15 minutes well spent.

WIRED MAGAZINE

http://www.wired.com/

GOOD MAGAZINE

http://www.good.is/

FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE

http://www.fastcompany.com/