Stop Atlanta Media Crimes

I watched something very vital and important on Atlanta’s PBA Channel 30 on the (public) service show called In Contact – an honest and frank discussion about obesity in young black girls. And how this epidemic of obesity is, essentially, robbing young black girls of their childhoods, as the rate of sexual activity for obese girls under 13 is very high.

It was a deadly sobering and scary scenario. One that was well-presented on the show by experts in the Atlanta community on the matter of childhood obesity. After watching the show I was eager to share this media discussion within my social networks… online of course.

Well whoa Nellie! for me, as the show In Contact does not seem to exist online. You can pay a lot of money for a hard copy of a show, by some snail mail process though. And sure, who’s going to do all that just to share it on their Facebook?

(And don’t ask me what PBA30 hasn’t been doing over the years of the rise of social media to build their social networks because I sure couldn’t tell you.)

I can tell you however, old Atlanta media geezers in charge, and let me say it ONE MORE TIME LOUDLY… if you do NOT put your media online then the online community can NOT (easily) help you share your mission and your message included within that original media. Put the stuff online, fer chrissake!

Then ASK people within your social networks (you have been working hard building out those, right?) to help you share that media… and YOUR message along with it.

How many times do I have to tell you old dino Atlanta media people this? Good grief it gets maddening as media outreach solutions are so very simple nowadays.

Less yapping, less studies, less dubiously inflated old-school production budgets (you know who you are doing this in Georgia), less 200-page proposals that never get read – and more social media doing.

Trust me, it’s not hard to do… AND it works.

Thank You For Choosing Political Service

To my many friends and social media aquaintances who were running for public office yesterday to serve the state of Georgia…

I am honored and impressed to know so many of you. Good character and good values cross all partisan lines. And I saw plenty of those from the people I know who chose to set themselves up for the scrutiny of our political process… as I also saw their names on my ballot.

Instead of going out to the victory parties or viewing the results at Manuel’s, as I like to do, I ended-up staying home and watching the documentary about the death of Neda in Iran… a story I’ve followed since seeing and hearing it all play out in front of my eyes and ears on Twitter and YouTube and Facebook and MSM… just over a year ago.

The documentary, Death in Tehran, was a perfect affirmation of our unique political process. There was not a moment that was lost to me, in a documentary about the tragedy and horror of political repression, of how blazingly fortunate and free we are in America – when we choose to be so.

And while there is gross apathy, ignorance and contempt for our gift of political freedoms in America I am fortunate and grateful that, for the most part, the people I know and associate with are fortunate and grateful and respectful of a political process we should never take for granted.

You set an example for others in every action, small or large, you do every day. With the greatest example being your belief and participation in a political system you chose to embrace with a great appreciation affirmation of the process we are astonishingly gifted with.

With absolutely nothing to do with a win or a loss, your example of expectant participation and service is a unique and valued treasure in itself.

Thank you.