From Right Here

Help Young Guatemalans Cover Their Elections from Nadia Sussman on Vimeo.

Are you tired of the Murdoch, News of the World Stories? Are you one of those folks that says that the media just isn’t covering the news that needs to be told – the stories from people who have no voice, no fancy equipment of their own, no outlet – but a lot of hope?

Well, here’s citizen journalism at its best. If you haven’t heard this concept before, it’s simple: take some inexpensive equipment, train folks to use it, and let them report on their own communities. Check out this project from some CUNY Graduate School students and multi-media journalists.

They’re helping Guatemalan citizens, emerging from a history of strife, to report on their own elections this year. They’re looking for a little funding – so if you can spare something, or if you can spare some time, head to their website to learn more. You an even donate just by clicking on ads! (so strange, but it works!):

http://spot.us/pitches/1028-vozz-youth-cover-the-guatemalan-election

Is it just me, or is it that when someone makes you feel crappy it makes you want to:

#1 – Watch tv and read magazines all day until your neck hurts
and then…
#2 – Get off your ass and do something really great?

It’s like we spend our whole lives making up for shitty moments by putting ourselves out there EVEN MORE. They say all the best comedians and writiers and successful actors (real actors – not just the pretty ones) are truly successful because at one point their lives were really, really hard. I think moments like this drive us to take chances and do anything we can to improve our own happiness.

OH – if you realized how trifling a bad moment I’ve just had was – you’d laugh your single head off -

but it has gotten me to sign back up for guitar classes (NYC Guitar School rocks!) and start this motherly-awesome writing adventure with my friend Tina. I’m a food fanatic, I eat anything, I still occasionally love processed foods and I love snacking (particularly at 2am when I inevitably wake my roommate up with our loud beeping microwave.) Tina, on the other hand, is more of a natural chef.

She grew up in an Italian-American home – she pronounces things like Mozzarelle correctly and she has a shiny orange Kitchen-Aid which she actually uses.

Check out our recipes and tips at, and please sign up by email! :

http://www.examiner.com/Easy Meals

First Article – Easy Spring Asparagus

Well people…vacation is so, so, over. I’m thinking that it would be impossible to go through life and not spend a few months living abroad again. If you’re thinking of a vacation, try going to a language school like I did – spend an extra few hundred dollars, go with a friend or by yourself, and meet tons of great people and get more out of your experience.

For all you Americans out there that are afraid to travel- there’s a whole other world that exists beyond our borders. I know it seems crazy, but it’s true. And people out there are not mean, and they like us…in fact, they’re obsessed. So go out there, and make some new friends.

I’m back in New York and I’ve found myself a job. Yes, even in the economy, people are still partying and drinking, new restaurants are opening every day, and there is still work out there for people who are not picky.

But I, dear friends, will no longer be blogging. I don’t want to blog about my life…I just want to live it. And I’m ready now, more than ever.

It was fun blogging about my experience abroad and I thank you so much for sharing it with me. I wish I could have shared a lot more, but right now…do a little digging and you will find a wealth of other blogs out there. Try www.wordpress.com or www.technorati.com – Look into the “tags” section and you will find blogs about anything and everything, and if I find some good ones, I will occasionally link to them here.

For now – try reading www.stillgoodnews.com – This is a site I have with a couple of friends where we find all the quirky, positive and hopeful news out there (Yes, there is still some good news out there!). It’s everything from – ‘re-using old subway cars as coral reefs’, to ‘why watching Law & Order makes you hungry.”

http://www.stillgoodnews.com/?p=122

If anyone would like to take over this site and write about your own adventure- please contact me at channon(‘AT’ symbol)fromrighthere.com!

Thank you for reading!

Remember when you were, like, 12 years old and you got a new pink and blue flower diary and you told yourself “Self…I’m going to write in my diary every single day.” Then you realized you were a louse and decided, “Self…I’m going to write in my diary every other day.” And then you found that diary 12 years later and all the pages were only 1/2 filled up? And it was lying in a box next to…oh…the half-filled golden leather-bound diary you got when you were 14, and the “fill-in-the-blank” one you discarded after filling in the first 3 pages when you were 9.

Oh…those were the days…when procrastination and a lazy ass never had any real consequences.

I am now in my “I will write for 3 hours every day” phase, and while yesterday was a stellar momentous achievement, where I finished a revision on a short story I’d written 2 years ago…I’ve completely gone a-wall today. (sorry, I don’t know how to really spell A-wall). I started off thinking about things I should no longer be thinking about, and I wandered around the apartment wondering why my  legs are achy even though I haven’t been to the gym in 4 days, and I just…well…generally farted around.

So, here’s 1 of my favorite things to share. Last night I caught another episode of PBS’s Frontline.

This is a documentary series that explains really complicated stuff like “The Iraq” war and lung cancer in a surprisingly addictive way. Only problem is, I can never figure out when it comes on. I sat next to these people 7 years ago when I interned at The American Experience at WGBH in Boston. These people work hard (they don’t even have cubicle wars), and all their hard work pays off.

The show last night had me balling. It’s called “The Undertaking” and it’s all about funeral directors and people coping with expected death. They showed the actual story of a family dealing with the last weeks of their 3 year old son’s life. I think death is totally scary, but I found out that funeral directors are really cool dudes. Only negative about the show is that they didn’t mention Six Feet Under…which is a Stellar show….stellar. (I love that word today).

Check this out if you want to get in a good cry…

www.pbs.org

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My vacation of a lifetime is now over. I’m no longer in France, I’m no longer dating french guys with  motorcycles. I’m no longer eating baguettes and frommage-frais on a daily basis. I miss my vacation, but honestly- I knew it was only temporary. I’ve got to grow up sometime. It’s great to see friends again, and to jump back into living the high-life in New York City.

I’m back in NYC and all my friends are scaring the shit out of me with all this economy-crise stuff. I’m very happy about Obama…but the magic he’ll try and pull out of his hat is a little too early for all the job-hunting I’ll have to do. More on that to come…

One thing I will NOT go back to is a daily-grind that excludes doing the stuff I want to do — like writing. I’m attempting to write for 3 hours every day except Saturday – blogs/short stories/the outline stage of a novel. I’ll keep you up on my progress.

I started on Wednesday and so far – Week 1 – I got a 3 1/2 out of 4. One day, the mess I created in my mom’s living room just made me crazy and I cleaned. (cleaning along with cooking – will be my nemesis…I can already see it now… Clean room….Packed fridge…and nothing else getting done.)

To make up for my serious lack of writing in the past few weeks, check out “Slow Like Honey” a super-fun blog about baking, j-crew catalog shopping, and fiona apple. This is such a sweet and successful blog, and author Amanda updates all the time-

http://slowlikehoney.net

Thanks for the Fiona Apple link, Amanda! This really takes me back.