This Blog Has Moved . . .

. . . to www.evange-list.com.

The siren call of WordPress.org was just too strong, the peer pressure too great, and I'm a glutton for getting in over my head with technology.

All past posts and comments have moved to the new website. The new site is still a work in progress, but isn't everything? On that note, please feel free to send me feedback/suggestions. Ideas from friends are the greatest gift and source of growth.

Thank you, Blogger, for two solid starter years. (It's not you, it's me.)

Catch you all on the flip side.

Peace,
Qui

Be a Voice for Darfur (and meet the new Facebook Petition)

Will you help me? It will take you less than 5 minutes to read this post and take a stand for justice. Never have I felt more passionately about my work.

Darfur finds itself in its sixth year of genocide. A perfect storm of gender-abuse, child soldiering and rampant murders that has claimed roughly half a million lives from this war-torn region of Sudan.

• The good news: President-elect Obama pledged "unstinting resolve" to end the Darfur Genocide. His new national security team includes individuals who are deeply familiar with the ongoing Darfur crisis.
  
• The new team must use their familiarity with with - and passion for - the isse to take decisive action to end the genocide. Ending the genocide in Darfur is a promise that must be kept.
  

As a part of The Save Darfur Coalition's full-court press to ensure that Obama's administration makes good on his pledge, the coalition recently launched a new campaign: Be a Voice for Darfur. The campaign aims for no less than 1 million postcards to be sent to Obama's attention within his first 100 days in office. Postcard signatures are due by Inauguration Day - January 20, 2009. The postcards will be printed and delivered to the Whitehouse later in the Spring, complete with a rally. An un-dissmissable reminder that this issue matters to Americans, and our President.



You can help by adding your voice NOW.

• Sign the online petition at www.addyourvoice.org or through Save Darfur's Facebook petition. (For my fellow nonprofit and social media junkies, the new petition feature on Facebook Causes is a game changer for online advocacy - check out the screenshot at left.)
  
  
  
• Spread the word through Twitter (#voice4darfur) Facebook, MySpace, email, and the water cooler. Please consider blogging about this, even if it deviates from your normal topics. (Social media for social good!) This Blogger Toolkit will help you get started.

Via my boss Geoff Livingston's post on Social Media Club blog: "The time to for action is now, and in a year when many of us are suffering financial hardship, we can still make a difference. Signing the petition, tweeting or writing blog posts are great ways to help without expending a lot of cash."

Next Tuesday, December 9 is the 60th anniversary of the United Nation's Genocide Convention. With your help, this campaign can get Darfur past Obama's doorstep and put an end to the genocide before another year goes by. Let's stop being bystanders to genocide.

Thanks for being a voice for Darfur.

It’s never too late to give Thanks

It's a few days post-Thanksgiving, and we're all coming down from the high (thank you NBER for officializing our year-old recession today). It continues to be a landmark year for "social philanthropy." In fact, 2008 marked what I believe was the first annual TweetsGiving.

This Twitter-driven group hug encouraged people to share what they're thankful for, and donate to a good cause. Spearheaded by Epic Change, #tweetsgiving raised $10,000 in 48 hours to help build a classroom in a school in Tanzania.

Which brings me to what I'm thankful for.

Thankfulness.

It's a simple thought. We have so much to be grateful for, but without gratefulness, no one would recognize blessings of any shape or size. Without the capacity for gratitude, how would we recognize the daily miracles that keep us breathing and functioning, let alone thriving? If I never felt the magnitude of thankfulness, I would never be humble.

This has been a remarkable year in my life. From my mom's journey out of despair into joy, to my professionally rewarding day-to-day, from love to friendships galore, weddings, babies and more. I'm in awe, and yes, humbled. But it hasn't always been this good. And a seemingly life charmed is only a moment from being tested and torn.

Even in the bleak moments, we have much to be thankful for. If we can find the gratitude, we can find beauty. "When it's darkest you can see the stars."

Thank you for being you, and for tolerating the mush. Keep saying "thanks."