Resolutions for the New Year

My tenth birthday was full of wonderful memories. There were sleepover games, movies, and lots of presents. The last present I opened was from my grandmother - a beautiful pink diary with a lock for security. The instant I set my eyes upon that diary, I made a commitment to write in it daily. By the time I reached high school, I had moved up in the world. No longer was I writing in diaries, but in journals. Every time I promised myself once again to write daily in my journal I would buy a new one as inspiration. My bookshelf is now lined with half-full, spiral bound, notebooks. Today, that commitment is renewed, but in the form of online blogs. As your senior intern, I want nothing more than to spark thoughts and conversations related to community engagement through consistent posts. As we enter in to this new spring semester, I hope that many of you will join me in this resolution. Let this be the place where we discuss ideas that lead to fabulous changes in the world :).

Crisis in Darfur

I love the internet. It's as simple as that :). Many of you experienced first hand my excitement for wikis and google maps at the beginning of this semester. Attending Bonner Congress at West Virgina Weslyan College only made my passion for the world wide web grow stronger! And so it should come as no surprise that I replaced yesterday afternoon's senior research time with an internet browsing session. This blog is in fact the result of that procrastination!

My exploration began with idealist.org. If you have not yet visited this site, I encourage you to follow my example in dropping your homework and checking it out as soon as possible :). Idealist advertises job postings, internship opportunities, blogs, podcasts, and all things social justice. In the blogging sort of mood, I chose yesterday to sift through some of Idealist's archived articles.

One of the first blogs I stumbled across (just so happened!) to focus on mapping initiatives. What luck! It seems that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has caught my vision :). While their main project focuses on mapping out the atrocities of the Holocaust, they have expanded their resources to include present day genocide. Their website says this: "The Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative brings together data, photographs, video, and eyewitness testimony in Google Earth to help inform citizens, governments, and institutions about current and potential genocides and related crimes against humanity, and to respond."

The best way for me to describe this resource is to compare it to our CAM project. Much like our Pierson, Deland, and Spring Hill maps, this initiative has tied icons on Google Earth to short stories, photographs, videos, and statistics relating to genocide, specifically in Darfur.

Next time you find yourself "wasting time" online, try absorbing yourself in Google Earth rather than Facebook :). You may just find yourself surprised with the results!

Smashing Idea!

I must say I'm glad this arrived when it did. I dunno about everyone else who is joining this blog, but I've needed a place where I can vent/muse about things important to me, and share them with people I care about and vice versa. Let's hope that this actually get's used.

I really enjoyed class today. Dr. Sapp saying "be cool" was about the funniest things he's said all semester...literally.

As of late, I've felt a tad over worked. Being a (former) music student and trying to get Bonner hours taken care of on top of everything else that comes with being a newly independent college student (friends, relationships, maintaining your sanity and health, sleeping enough). Today really taxed me. I just hate saying no. I mean, part of the miscommunication that happened was my own fault, and I should have more clearly said to the overseer of the activity that I was not avaliable until next semester. That's what I get for being a "Yes-Man"...Woman... Whatever.

I love it here at Stetson. I love the Bonner kids. I honestly think I finally fit in somewhere. I am blessed with lots of talents and I'm excited to hone and sharpen them for the world to benefit from.

I hope everyone joins this! It seems fun, I just hope I can keep up with it.

Welcome to "Connect!"

Stetson University's Bonner Program has made a commitment to increase our use of Web 2.0 technology. "Connect!" will hopefully join the ranks of our current projects that include the Stetson Bonner wiki, social bookmarking, and the "Bonners Abroad" blog.

It is our hope that "Connect!" will provide a great forum for student discussion regarding topics of social justice. Please use this as a space to hash out thoughts about service and the world. Pose questions, describe personal experiences, respond to news stories and current events, or reflect on relevant literature and movies.