❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
Saturday, April 9, 2011
SANDRA HAMMEL HAS A MESSAGE FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA USING HIS OWN WORDS
Portsmouth Resident Sandra Hammel to Spotlight Darfur Genocide at Compassion Film Festival
Sandra Hammel, retired music teacher and activist, who is trying to raise awareness about the Darfur genocide, has been selected to show her film this Friday at the Compassion Film Festival
My addition: I don't like the picture, but then I don't like any picture of me taken in the last year. I have decided to like being old. However, I wouldn't say that I have totally succeeded. But I am working on it. Young old, but here I am in the years that are no longer even close to young.
The article~
How do you explain a catastrophic event and move an audience to action in five minutes?
Sandra Hammel of Portsmouth will attempt just that this Friday, when she debuts her film “Darfur The Abandoned Genocide” at the Compassion Film Festival at Jane Pickens Theater in Newport.
Hammel, a retired music teacher, became an activist for the cause in 2004 after watching a powerful documentary on the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. "I knew very little about what was happening in Rwanda at the time, but after seeing the film, I decided to educate myself,” said Hammel. “When I heard what was happening in Darfur, I knew I couldn’t be silent anymore.”
Since 2004, Hammel has been extremely proactive about the cause and has volunteered in two major rallies both in Washington, DC, and New York to bring more awareness to the troubles overseas, but in the past few years, the Darfur conflict has not been settled.
“In the last several months, bombing from Sudan has escalated in Darfur, yet we don’t hear about it anymore,” said Hammel. “We are inundated with news daily, yet somehow this entire conflict has dropped out of circulation. The only reason I know what is going on is because I am actively looking for updates on what is going on.”
As for expectations on Friday, Hammel is looking to get the attention of her audience and motivate them to get involved.
“The change starts with us,” said Hammel. “Until we, as people, ask and pressure our leaders to do something, they are just going to let it go.”
As for getting her message down to a five-minute film slot, it wasn’t an easy task but she has faith that it will get through to the audience by the time the ending credits come on.
“I think so many of us, myself included, are so busy and now people are losing jobs and have their own issues so it takes a lot more to move people,” said Hammel. “I completely understand that but it is still so important to get involved.”
The Compassion Film Festival, is a benefit event for Looking Upwards, a local non-profit organization and will consist of a juried collection of short films submitted by local and regional film artists that are all based around the theme of compassion.
If you are interested in checking out the event, you can join the group on April 8 at 6 p.m. at the Jane Pickens Theater in Newport.
For more information about the film series, click here.
Unfortunately the lips and audio became out of snyc due to compression of uploading here at Vimeo. Fortunately, the DVD for the Compassion Film Festival of this video was in sync.
I always put credits at the end and couldn't because of the limit I had to get my message across.
Here are more complete credits:
❧ Special thanks to ❧ Eric Reeves for Open Letter excerpts Mohamed Suleiman for Darfuri sayings Photos ~ Mia Farrow Gabriel Stauring Sandra Hammel ♫ Music ♫ Bridge Over Troubled Water Performed by Eva Cassidy Available at itunes Krista Powell Presented by Sandra Hammel
Genocide flourishes when there is no accountability. It has been flourishing in Darfur since February 2003.
One voice won’t stop a genocide, but that is no excuse to be silent.
Please, use your voice to call upon our leaders to do what is right about something that is very wrong. 1-800-GENOCIDE for President Obama, U.S. Senators and Representatives
Are you going through a difficult time? Feeling confused, lonely or blue?
Trained counselors are ready 24/7 to talk to you. If you’re a young person looking for someone to listen and understand without judgment or if you’re feeling suicidal, please call The Trevor Lifeline now at 866-488-7386. It’s free and confidential. There is hope, there is help.[U.S. CALLS ONLY]
Trevor Chat
TrevorChat is a free ~ thetrevorproject chat~ confidential and secure online messaging service that provides live help through this website. TrevorChat is only intended to assist those who are not at risk for suicide.
Hours of Operation: Fridays between 1:00 PM Pacific (4:00 PM Eastern) and 9:00 PM Pacific (12:00 AM Eastern)
Connect with a volunteer who can support you with your concerns and questions [U.S. Residents only].
.............................................................................................. Double click the video to see on an enlarged screen at Youtube
Fort Worth City Councilman, Joel Burns, reaches out to GLBT teens with a personal story and a message of hope. For more coverage, visit the following links:
Lawrence O'Donnell aired this tonight on his MSNBC show "The Last Word". It is time for bullying to stop. Bullying. We have seen an increase of "bullying" behavior by politicians and "wannabe" politicians who are running for office or those who have already run for office. And this sets the stage for bullying to rise by our young people. We as adults set the example to stop, tolerate or "fire up" bullying behavior.
This is a brave soul ~ Joel Burns. I hope you will listen and even if you disapprove of gay people being gay, I hope you will have compassion and empathy enough to help be part of the solution to stop the tide of bullies in our human race. Bullies in the family, in your town, in the rooms you pass through, in the campaigning, in the classroom, the places in our children's lives where they think they can get a pass on this behavior. It is time to behave humanely and be proactive about our caring. Compassion first.
From Lawrence O'Donnell's MSNBC show about this video Thursday, October 14, 2010 ~
Zoning laws, property taxes and school budgets typically dominate the conversation at city council meetings. But one councilman in Fort Worth, Texas used his podium to talk about the recent suicide epidemic among gay youths.
In a very emotional speech on Tuesday, Joel Burns pleaded with gay teens to re-think suicide as an option. At times, he even broke down and cried in the 12-minute appeal.
"Attitudes will change, life will get better, you will have a lifetime of happy memories if you just allow yourself and give yourself the time to make them," said Burns.
Burns, an openly gay man, says he struggled with his sexuality growing up. He also described what it felt like being bullied as kid.
"High school was difficult, coming out was painful," he said. "I want to tell any teen who is watching this, life will get better."
Gay teens Asher Brown, 13, Seth Walsh, 13, and Justin Aaberg all committed suicide in 2010 in the face of alleged anti-gay bullying. (Personal Photos)
Click post title to go to article where I copied the above three photos.
This turned out to be a free association post. I start with sharing a personal video of my son before he was my son. My pride in his accomplishments with a video he produced, edited as a high school project in Latin class, winning a Bronze Chalice Award. I am so pleased with the young man he is ~ as he has shown me in his young adult years.
I talk of spanking and beating children. My own experience and the aftermath of being beaten with a leather belt by people who were supposed to love me. And why I think it is wrong to hit children.
I always feel ambivalent about this type of a post. Being the big ugly world and baring my soul, including my son's - it is questionable that I should cross this threshold. The last time I did it, I came back a few days later and deleted most all of the post.
Here . . . . . for now
This is the very first video footage of Jonathan. I met him at the end of October 1995. At the time, he was in Mrs. D's second grade class and living with one of several foster families that he was placed with over the course of two years. He was one of hundreds of music students that I was teaching in a public school that year. On this day, he was visiting our home and I got out the huge video camera that I owned. Since March of that year, I was giving him free piano lessons and helping him with his speech lessons with the blessing of the foster family. On this day, we had planted a bush in the front yard and named it after him. That bush didn't survive and thrive, but Jonathan has! He is wearing Mark's sweater, here, which I now use for work in the yard when it is cold. Although the video tape was defective since the the day I shot this, my video teacher helped me in June 2009 with his great equipment in video class, to transfer it from my VHS video tape.... so that I could upload this on my computer and then I could share it with Jonathan on youtube. It came out much better quality than how it had deteriorated on the tape. So I am thrilled as Jonathan is so adorable in these few minutes. It has been for "private" viewing only until now, as I share it here.
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..................................... Jonathan dances Jonathan's First Video Footage - May 27, 1996 Music: "Starting All Over Again" by Hall and Oates. Uploaded by lovemylifesblog originally on June 23, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ March 8, 1999
We adopted Jonathan March 8, 1999. He is getting his undergraduate and Masters degree simultaneously in engineering in Boston - one of the top engineering students at Northeastern University. I slightly modified the text above which is from my Youtube page. I ended the Youtube text with these words . . .
Enjoy, Jonathan. You are something special.
Love, Mom
Lyrics to the song: Starting all over again is going to be rough For us, we're going to make it Starting all over as friends is going be tough On us, we gotta face it
We lost what we had That would hurt us so bad Set us back a thousand years But we going to make it up Though I know it's going to be tough To erase the hurt and fears
Starting all over again is going to be hard But I pray to the Lord to help us make it Starting all over again is going to slow But we both know, we gonna make it
We gotta take life as it comes Never fuss about it, what's right or wrong It's an uphill climb, to the finish line We gonna try, we gonna try, just one more time
We gotta take life as it comes Don't make any fuss about it, what's right or wrong We gonna make it up, though I know it's gonna be rough To erase the hurt and fears
Starting all over again is going to be rough For us, we're going to make it Starting all over as friends is going be tough On us, we gotta face it.
The words are somewhat appropriate...what do you think?
End of text from my Youtube page
When Jonathan was in his third year of high school, his Latin teacher had him use his digital still camera that had a feature of shooting brief video bits on it. And he was asked to enter a contest with a video of the project by his Latin teacher. He produced and edited this video. http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/Hammel%20Caesar%20Movie.wmv He won the Bronze Chalice Award
The following text is from the Able Media website:
As described by teacher Ruth Breindel:"Some background on the project: every year we stage the battle between the Helvetians and Caesar, concentrating on Book I.21-29. Usually we do it in the field house, but this year, because we couldn't use it, we did it in a new part of the building. I always take still shots of the battle, but by chance John had brought his digital camera this year. It also makes short films, so after he filmed everything, he put it together with the music and brought it to class."
As described by student John Hammel: "It started off as a learning experience, hands on learning. I decided to use my digital camera to record the class reinacting a scene from Caesar's Gallic War. I went home and began to create the video. I learned of the assignment after I began creating the video, which was to create something to represent Caesar and what we had translated of his Gallic War."
Technical Information
Movie was shot with a Kodak Digital Camera and edited with Roxio Video Wave Movie Creator. Some of the translations included on the video were original while others relied upon the Forum Romanum website http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/caesar/gallic1.html
Veni, Vidi, Vici: Caesar vs. the Helvetii
by John Hammel, Moses Brown School, Providence, RI
Edgy camera work merges with ancient Latin script in Hammel’s Veni, Vidi, Vici to evoke the Götterdämmerung wrought by Rome and the steely generalship of Julius Caesar in Book 1 of Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Hammel combines heavy metal music, model soldiers, and gritty commentary in Latin and English to dramatize Caesar’s crushing defeat of the Gallic tribe, the Helvetii.
The website had Jonathan answer the following questions after winning the Bronze Chalice Award
To which classical figure do you most relate and why?
Hercules because of his childhood.
What book has been most influential to your career?
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Powers
If you could travel back to ancient Rome, what five items would you take with you from the present?
Aspirin, Monopoly (I may be able to finish the game for once), Toilet paper and Kleenex, and I would also take a lot of books: Latin Dictionary, Ancient World History Texts, Science books (Chemistry, Physics [so that I can make money being a magician.]) and every other book that I could possibly think of.
What book are you currently reading?
The Great Gatsby and The Millionaire’s Dinner Party (as a part of Latin Class)
If it were possible, with whom, dead or alive, from the world outside of Classical Studies would you like to have dinner?
Leonardo Da Vinci.
What albums would you want to have with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
Pearl Jam – Greatest Hits; Guns N’ Roses – Greatest Hits; Aerosmith – Greatest Hits; Red Hot Chili Peppers – Greatest Hits; ACDC – Back in Black
If it were possible, with whom, dead or alive, from Classical times would you want to deliver your eulogy?
Cicero.
What trend in Classical Studies do you see as positive?
Hands on learning in classroom; learning by doing rather than being taught at.
John Hammel is a student at Moses Brown School in Providence, RI. Hammel is the winner of AbleMedia's Bronze Chalice award for his submission of Caesar Video.
Who has been the most important mentor in your career?
All of the teachers that I have ever had. They have all affected me in different and unique ways
How would you like to be remembered?
As a good person - Caring, Compassionate, understanding and above all a great friend
What is the best advice you have ever received?
“Never take your work too seriously.” - friend
What law, rule, event, or custom from Classical times would you like to see reincarnated today?
Community leisure - Resuscitations of Stories and being together, Community Entertainment.
What is the most interesting thing in your car right now?
Lounge Chair.
Summarize yourself in the title of a Classics paper?
"The Ancient World in Modern Form."
What would be the title of your autobiography?
Phoenix.
What trend in Classical Studies do you see as negative?
My personal problem would be memorizing vocabulary. Although I do regard memorizing as an important aspect to Classical Studies, it could be made much more interesting through games and PowerPoint presentations, Interactive.
Humiliations, spankings and beatings, slaps in the face, betrayal, sexual exploitation, derision, neglect, etc. are all forms of mistreatment, because they injure the integrity and dignity of a child, even if their consequences are not visible right away. However, as adults, most abused children will suffer, and let others suffer, from these injuries. This dynamic of violence can deform some victims into hangmen who take revenge even on whole nations and become willing executors to dictators as unutterably appalling as Hitler and other cruel leaders. Beaten children very early on assimilate the violence they endured, which they may glorify and apply later as parents, in believing that they deserved the punishment and were beaten out of love. They don't know that the only reason for the punishments they have ( or in retrospect, had) to endure is the fact that their parents themselves endured and learned violence without being able to question it. Later, the adults, once abused children, beat their own children and often feel grateful to their parents who mistreated them when they were small and defenseless.
This is why society's ignorance remains so immovable and parents continue to produce severe pain and destructivity - in all "good will", in every generation. Most people tolerate this blindly because the origins of human violence in childhood have been and are still being ignored worldwide. Almost all small children are smacked during the first three years of life when they begin to walk and to touch objects which may not be touched. This happens at exactly the time when the human brain builds up its structure and should thus learn kindness, truthfulness, and love but never, never cruelty and lies. Fortunately, there are many mistreated children who find "helping witnesses" and can feel loved by them.
I was raised with being whipped by both of my parents with a leather belt. I believe it is wrong to spank or whip children. I believe it is wrong to humiliate children. I believe it is our job as parents to build their inner strengths, a belief in themselves, a trust in their own wisdom and nurture their natural talents and strengths of character. My son had all of these things - beatings, humiliations, neglect, witnessing others being beaten... happen to him and worse. Butbefore he was adopted. Never once since he was adopted.
It has always taken a huge amount of courage for me to speak up to my authoritarian, over-reaching parents even as an adult. However, I spoke up once to my father when he was striking my young niece at his house when he was watching over the grandchildren when I was visiting from Rhode Island.
I had learned from a principal that hitting was not the way to carry on and found other ways as a teacher to deal with a child's correction needs.
I told my father that he could choose to sit my niece on the sofa for a time and not strike her any more. Dad made a comment later to me that she responded appropriately with this manner of correction. I believe it made a difference.
I know I am affected as an adult by these leather belt episodes in my younger life. I was affected also because I couldn't protect my older brother from the terrible beatings that I witnessed him getting. Years later I experienced a draining memory of one of these episodes of witnessing my brother bear the "acting out" of our dad. Even when I was in college and my sister was in high school, I took her to the living room to huddle in the corner during another time of outrage being carried out on our brother. The effects will never completely go away.
Consistency is the key to correction. The spanking and beatings need to stop.
If you strike your children or humiliate them, ask yourself what kind of relationship do you want with your adult children? Because spanking , humiliating them - provoking their fears as children - will affect them, their relationships throughout their lives and your relationship with them now and in the future when they are adults. I know my putting up with an abusive boyfriend in my thirties, would not have been acceptable to me had I not had the acceptance that I could be hit by someone who "loved" me. Everything has its foundation in our childhoods. Adult anxiety, reinforced fears and depression.
And if your son sees you hit your daughter, what is he learning from you? He is learning it is okay to hit a woman. And he is learning someone who loves you can hurt you and it is supposed to be all right.
It is not all right.
When you are elderly, and your adult children could take advantage of your vulnerable state, do you want it to be acceptable for them to hit you? Elderly abuse happens. A lot.
Abuse is a cop out versus being wise, patient and putting yourself in someone else's "shoes". Do unto others as you would have them do unto you ~ that line is the most important thing my parents ever said to me from their Christian values. Sad they didn't live it.
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children." And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Then said a teacher, "Speak to us of Teaching." And he said: No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man. And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.
“We are visitors on this planet. We are here for ninety or one hundred years at the very most. During that period, we must try to do something good , something useful, with our lives.
If you contribute to other people’s happiness, You will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.
Who am I, why am I doing this? (not me...a kindred spirit, though)
I am Anup Shah, the editor of this web site. My roots lie in India, via my grandparents—my parents grew up in East Africa. Born in 1974, I grew up in England for 23 years and then got the opportunity to work in the USA for almost four years. In June 2001, I moved back to England.
Living and working in the US was an amazing experience for me. However, I quickly became concerned at what appeared to be rather poor quality mainstream media. International coverage appeared incredibly lacking and when available, very narrow. And so, in mid-1998 this web site (initially just something to do in order to learn about developing web sites!) started.
The mainstream media is one of the most important aspects of a functioning and participatory democracy. It helps us form our views of the world around us, influence our opinion and let us learn about all manner of things we may otherwise never come across. It is incredibly beneficial, but in today’s world it also has real problems. Just as good quality and diverse mainstream media enhances democracy, poor quality and narrow mainstream media can negatively impact democracy.
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If you read my previous post, you know I so agree with Anup Shah. The internet is used for many things. And gratefully, those who have knowledge of how to use it, does include those with compassion, a desire to do something to better our life on the whole by helping people one by one. It won't happen without our participation.
This was taken from his front page: “If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence.” — Bertrand Russell, Roads to Freedom
This website is right where my heart is www.globalissues.org/about/why ...this is how we live a life that is with purpose
RSS for Global Issues.org explains about RSS Web Feed and other things: www.globalissues.org/rss
I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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Spain Time
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Melbourne Time
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Hawaii Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
Double Click on Videos to Enlarge
Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
Want to help? Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
"May I Suggest" by Susan Werner
Satchita - Playing for Change
Stand By Me ~ Playing for Change
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
Activist Sandra Hammel
I am Anup Shah, the editor of this web site. My roots lie in India, via my grandparents—my parents grew up in East Africa. Born in 1974, I grew up in England for 23 years and then got the opportunity to work in the USA for almost four years. In June 2001, I moved back to England.
