Life Changing Moments

Recently I had the opportunity to reconnect with the children I met in Cambodia during the winter session. I called the teacher's cell phone Nita Smile who became one of my closest friends during my phone conversation with the teacher Nita put her cell phone on speaker phone. All the children greeted me and said "Hi Joana we miss you and love you". After the phone conversation, it had me thinking the time I spent in Cambodia while short has left a life long impression on me. It was the first time I felt that I had doing something either for myself and it made me humble.

The children of Palm Tree are either orphans or had been abandoned by their parents, they have done through of the most tragic moments any person could ever go through. But it still it did not take there smile and joy away from them. It put things in perspective for me that the problems I may have cannot compare to what they have gone through and yet they can still smile and give so much love to others at the darkest moments in their lives.

I would encourage anyone to do some sort of volunteer work when you help others. It can be the best decision  you can in your life. Now while I teaching children how to speak english, I learned more from them like how to be positive in any given situation and to believe in the good of humanity.

Rogue Journalism

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I really enjoyed watching this segment, it shows the direction online journalism is heading. But it also made me concerned about How Blogs can go off the deep-end. Gawker break all the rules of Journalism, they do not check their sources and report on rumors. But they do not stop there they take news articles from other news organization and make it their own. You would think the people working for this Blog sites would  have no sort of training in Journalism, but come to find out that some employees from the blog site have a master's degree in Journalism one in particular from Columbia University. Denton's empire is estimated to be worth $300 million dollars. 

Andrew Breitbeirt Well Known Blogger Dead at 43

One of the most controversial and conservative bloggers, Andrew Breibert died today. Known for posting the Weiner's twitter photo and was criticized for realeasing an edited and incomplete video of Sheirly Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture employee who gave a speech were she  supposedly discriminated against a white farmer,which led to her resignation,Breibert was also a fox news commentator 

Breibert was a founder of many blog websites such as Breibart.com, Big Hollywood.com, BigJournalism.com, and BigPeace.com

I may not agree with  Breibert politically but she served as an example on how bloggers could be taken seriously especially in the political arena .Breibert understood this and used blogging to voice the conservative tea 

party movement.

photo courtsey: wikimedia commons

Dying to Tell a Story

With the recent death of two journalists in Syria, reminds us how far journalists will go to seek the truth and report it to the world. Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlick were the recent victims of  Syrian president Al Assad's regime. They were one of the few reporters in Homs,Syria.  Reporting on the constant shelling the city of Homs from the Syrian military resulting in a massacre. If it were not like Marie Colvin and other journalists who have gave their lives to seek the truth and beside the professional journalists the Syrian civilians have become citizen journalists capture images and videos and posting on twitter and youtube, documenting the atrocities being committed by Al Assad's military and milita . The world would be veiled by a lie. But Syria is not the only place journalist have lost their lives according to according to the Committee to Protect Journalists the most dangerous countries to report in are


20 Deadliest Countries

Iraq: 151 Philippines: 72 Algeria: 60 Russia: 53 Colombia: 43 Pakistan: 42 Somalia: 37

India: 27 Mexico: 27 Afghanistan: 24 Turkey: 20 Bosnia: 19 Sri Lanka: 19 Brazil: 19

Rwanda: 17 Tajikistan: 17 Sierra Leone: 16 Bangladesh: 12 Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory: 10 Nigeria: 10

Since 1992 over 902 journalists have been killed.

Hong Kong

The next 10 days will feel like 10 years to me. I have been looking forward to the trip I'm taking on December 24, where I will be able to enjoy one week of vacation before I meet up with my hpu class for winter session in Cambodia. Hong Kong is one of those cities I have always wanted to visit, and I can only imagine what is like to be there. I plan on taking tons of pictures, especially from Victoria Peak I hear that the view of the City Skyline is to die for.

Kapolei Christmas

The 11th Annual Christmas parade and christmas tree lighting went off without a hitch. people gathered down Kamokila Blvd.  High school bands, city buses, fire trucks, and parade floats marched down to the City government building in Kapolei. Where the Mayor of Honolulu Peter Carlisle was on hand to light the Christmas light. The festivities ended with fire works. 

Midweek

The last time I mentioned that I had an interview with Midweek, well I am glad to say that I have been hired as a freelance photographer. They were looking for a photographer to cover the nightlife in Honolulu the "paina" and also community events for the Islander. I am looking forward to the this opportunity to finally begin my career as a photographer.