The Power of Photography to Stop violence Against Children With Albinism in Africa

~UPDATE: Dec 1~ Unfortunately, this project failed to reach its goal. Bummer. :(

Albino children are often abused or sacrificed for medicinal and witchcraft purposes in Africa because people do not understand their condition. Joanna Rudnick and Rick Guidotti are part of a team traveling to Africa to make a film about these children and to encourage others to help rescue them from death and abuse due to ignorance. Only 26 hours to go!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

(sweet Thanksgiving place settings from Soft Day Studio's Etsy shop)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wow, this year has been tough (I eloped, dropped out of college, moved to a different State, weaned myself off all bi-polar medication, began a new job, started up a business, and lost a best friend to a car accident) but amidst it all, God has been good and I have even more things to be thankful for! Here's my list--what are YOU thankful for?

I am thankful for:

• A holy and loving God
• my Caleb: a kind and loving, strong and passionate husband, friend and confidant.
• Caleb's family, who live so close and have been a blessing to us DAILY
• my former art instructor, Dorothy Benson, who has taught me everything I know about art and many of the things I know about life
• time and materials to practice my art
  
• my parents and brothers, who despite all I've put them through still love me
• the internet, and all the coolness therein
• my friends, who cry and laugh with me through anything
  
• enough steady income to provide all necessities and some wants
• a rental apartment that allows us to keep our Fluffinator (aka, DC, our very fluffy cat)
• joy and hope, for without them I would be nothing
  

In the spirit of the holiday I will be concentrating on all that I am thankful for and giving this little blog of mine (and me!) a break. I'll be back to posting Monday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless!

Peace,

Emily & Caleb

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Humanity, in black and white: Part II

The second collection in a series of black and white photography found on Deviant Art. Enjoy.

View Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
(As always, click on the pictures for a better look.)

by *digimatte

I've been a Star Wars fan since I was about three, so of course this photo tickled me pink, shot on the streets of Hollywood, CA.

by ~janjaan

This brand new deviation has beautiful focus and composition.

by *Ciril

CLICK HERE for the rest of the post

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Hootsuite: Making Twitter a Sane Experience One Tweet at a Time

I avoided Twitter for a long, long time. Then my job required me to obtain a company account. Slightly perturbed, I entered the tweeting world determined not to get seduced.

Whoops.

Guess it was inevitable, huh? Though I now tweet happily for both my company (@GardenStateKoi) and for myself (@CandEDesigns), I would certainly not be able to do it without my new-found friend, HootSuite:

HootSuite enables me to do everything I need to, quickly:

Shrink links? One button.

Schedule tweets in advance? Two steps.

See/edit/send direct messages, scheduled tweets, mentions, and home feed at a glance on one screen? Got it.

Automatically search for and track certain key words? Yup.

Click-through rates and statistics on my tweeted links? Got it, referral and country stats included.

Manage multiple usernames under one account? Yes, they are just a tab away from each other.

Best part of all? It's free.

And of course, my newly acquired re-tweet button on every blog post is just the icing on the cake. :) Thanks to SolidBlogger.com for the code!

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A Bipolar Daughter and the Family Who Loves Her

I came across Megan's blog earlier this year and have been blessed by every post. I too, have bipolar disorder (though not early onset like her daughter). Her compassion for her daughter and ability to separate the disease from the person is a true breath of fresh air..

An informative read for anyone who has or knows someone with this life-altering condition


On a related note, .a while back I came across these delightful renditions of a little neurotransmitter named Squishy delivering message in the brain where he lives. Whenever my own neurotransmitters get me down, I remember little squishy and he never fails to bring a smile to my face. :)

Squishy the Neurotransmitter by `ursulav

Squishy Climbs The Neuron by `ursulav

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