How to use this blog

Because this site is a call to action, I hope that you take full advantage of what I have prepared for you. I will quickly explain what is here, so you know how to access the information. Then, I will quickly cover what to expect in the future as far as blogs and information for you.

This blog is like a lot of other blogs on the internet, so I won't go over everything. However, the main part of this blog is the white column to the right. This is the action column. Here you will find different sections:
1. Act Now! These links are not advertisments. They are simple ways you can save a life. For instance, Ripple, is a non-profit organization that has teamed up with advertisers and other NPOs. All you do is click the link and money is donated. Not out of your pocket, but out of the pocket of the advertisers. Aid for Kenya is another NPO where you can help the situation there, but I don't want to go into to much information in this post on the riots there.

2. Next in the column you will see a slide show posting photographs. Because this blog is a call to get involved, I am posting photographs taken from different photographers around the world. These photographs will change so I can show you the work of many talented photojournalist in the world.

3. Next is a new feed from World Vision. World Vision is a NPO that is currently helping over 100 countries in the world. There is too much about them to say here, but check out their website for information. This news feed will tell you stories that are not told on your local nightly news or on 24 news networks. These stories are about real people in horrific situations that cannot be described fully in words where compassion from people like you is greatly needed.

4. The last section is a recommended reading section. These are books that I have read and think that the information in them is important. Most of the books in there are non-fiction or have ties to journalism and photo-journalism. Let me make a quick disclaimer though before you get all freaked out. Yes, those books are being sold on an Amazon website. And yes the account is made in my name. So that means, if you are compelled to buy one of the books from the list, there will be a small portion (4% right now) that will go to me. However, that is not an attempt for me to make money. All the money made from people buying books from the list will either be used to purchase more books for more reviews or donated to NPOs. The reasons I choose Amazon is because it is simple, it works, and it has reviews (so you will get other opinions other than my own from this blog).

This experiment is at it's conception phase. The idea was conceived 16 hours ago. In the last 16 hours I spent most of the time, researching blogs, reading books about blogs, looking at blogs for inspiration, researching NPOs, news feeds, setting up the recommended reading list, setting up the blog and writing these posts. I have a lot more I want to do, but there is so much great information for to sort through right now, they will be posted as they develop.

What to look forward to: Great articles about situations (both good and bad) that are going on in the world, book reviews of non-fictions works that can further describe in detail the situations we are faced with that a 2 min news clip or paragraph can't tell you, ways to act and help our community (both locally and global), information about different NPOs that you can look into, and my experiences when I travel overseas.

So please, stay, learn, and act.