Broken?

Broken?
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts

Sunday, April 13, 2008

It's all so bizarre!

Most of my worldly possessions are in boxes. Craig and I are preparing for Tuesday's move ahead of schedule, since we'll be picking up the moving truck a day ahead of time.

For the past few days we've split our time between hanging out watching documentaries, arguing over the state of Tibet on Facebook and rooting through our things, sorting the movable from the trash.

I gave my old, "fat" clothes to the Value Village and gave my fish to a 10 year old girl. I've thrown out 4 garbage bags of things from my past that aren't necessary for me to have anymore. The things I've kept have been sorted and packed into labelled boxes - just so they'll be easier to relocate.

Our poor pets think the world is coming to an end. Little do they know they're making the long journey with us!

Our friends are throwing a BBQ to say goodbye. Proof that while I may be over this city, it's home to people I'll miss dearly.

I love all the opportunity that the next few days hold. The excitement of a new chapter begining. The start of something big. It's daunting and even little frightening, but it'll be worth it in the end.

ArrivaderLa!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

"GiveMeaning.Com" or, "Why I hate the "Sun" newspapers"

Ever since I was little I took world issues classes. I loved pouring over articles from all different sources, but I love local papers. Something about the feel of a newspaper under your hands while you catch up on the more detailed news. Black finger prints on my coffee mug. And thus (for research purposes of course), I ranked them; Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post (mostly because I hated Conrad Black) and last the Toronto Sun. Why was it last?

Was it the "sunshine girl" on page three (now the last page)? No.
Was it the inaccurate forecasts? No.
Was it the insane amount of advertising? No.
Was it the lack of content? A little... but mostly, no.

The real reason? My school DID NOT ALLOW us to us ANY Sun paper. The articles were written at "below average" reading comprehension, mostly based on opinion and not fact, thus it was inappropriate for use at grade 13 (OAC to Ontarians) level. There's a reason the format of the paper is a "tabloid" format, not like the other national papers.

"But, why do I care about your teenage news experience?" You ask.

Well, over the weekend a "gentleman" named Tom Newman I assume is a columnist and not free-lance for the Vancouver Sun (same beast, different head), armed with only 2 years of financial statements from the Canadian Revenue Agency, wrote an article and POSTED IT ON MY BLOG AS A COMMENT (rude, I am not here to give "journalists" a forum; this is MY forum). He stated a large laundry list of numbers, trying to explain that he feels Tom Williams CEO, a kid at 25 who gave up everything (including consulting with F500 companies), is a thief using charity as a 'guise.

He also commented "Con men con and life goes on. Still, people using charity as a cover to line their own pockets is not admirable." I'd like to know WHAT CREDENTIALS does Tom Newman have? Is he an accountant? Did he consult one in the writing of his article? Did he meet with or speak to any other internet charity sites like charityvillage.com?

CRA documents for 2 years (particularly when dealing with an internet start-up) do not a criminal make. It's people like Tom Williams that I make a habit to defend. People like Tre Smith, Toronto Humane Society's cruelty investigator. I stand up for people who are TRYING to HELP the world, yet seem to only get short shrift.

Besides, if I'm not mistaken, Tom Williams be MUCH better off at one of his Fortune 500 clients where he earned WAY more money doing consulting. About a quarter-mil American per annum, if I remember correctly. That seems like way easier money - and he didn't have to deal with stories like this.

This new line of work doesn't seem like a greedy personae to me. He got out of the rat race to make a difference.

It's a brilliant article, too (but I'm not encouraging any of you to read it). I can see why Tom Newman writes for the SUN. But then again that's just MY opinion.

PS - That's it for today. You'll have to wait for my adventures of the subconscious until tomorrow. Sorry! :-P