Building Alternate Universes ... Oh, Yeah!

 

Becoming A Partner for a New Media

If one person can make a difference, what can 100 people accomplish? In 2003, The Peace Hour became an hour-long broadcast on KPFT in Houston, Texas. During that time, Host P.K. McCary started a broadcast for young people called Think Peace Radio. Young people under the age of 18, some as young as 12, created shows and learned non-violence through a developing broadcast curriculum. While the cost of doing radio and television is astronomical, the Internet is evening the playing field considerably. The dream for Think Peace Media and Communications Network is to build a 24-hour Internet station with programming that illustrates all the ways in which we think peace. Humor, news, and the arts are only a few of the ways in which we can rally the peacemakers and create shows that build cultures of peace, justice and healing for the children of the world. Join us and become a Think Peace 100 Partner today and help us grow.

Storytelling is an art and everyone should be given the opportunity to tell theirs.

 

THE VISION

To provide a voice to those underrepresented in areas of the world affected by conflict and disparities by providing the tools and access to those whose stories are missing from media narratives and whose stories would provide insight and clarity to others.

THE MISSION

To give grassroots groups and organizations addressing challenges such as limited access or lack of training, the tools and support to tell their stories through various media and communications outlets.

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THINK

“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible,

and achieves the impossible.”

Anonymous

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OUR PROJECTS

1000Kalema.org: An exciting photo competition that celebrates the first annual World Interfaith Harmony Week and the International Day of Peace, both international UN-approved events to capture stories of faith and culture through brilliant imagery.
Broadcast Training/Youth and Organizations: With multiple years of broadcast experience with members of our organization, the training of young people is a priority of the work--grassroots training to strengthen communities.
Developing Podcast and Other Broadcast Programming: We are currently producing programming for Think Peace that includes two major programs and one in production at thinkpeaceradio.net. See goals for future programming.
Provide Equipment to Areas of Conflict and Disparity: Providing individuals and organizations with equipment to facilitate storytelling has been our work for the last six years, providing audio and visual equipment to youth, women and indigenous populations around the world.

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THINK

“Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into
action is the most difficult thing in the world.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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 OUR GOALS

• Build a 24-hour Internet Station that includes a variety or programming committed to peace (an action word) and peacemaking.
• Continue to put equipment into the hands of grassroots communities around the world.
• Develop a more comprenhensive training program of nonviolence media.

OUR FUTURE

The future of media is a wide-open proposition. There are plenty of genres of programming--from comedy to drama, news to editorializing--but not all programming is committed to peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping. The genre of peace is relatively new, most of it considered boring or mundane. Think Peace wants a future of innovative programming, building the capacity of diverse communities to tell their stories, working collaboratively with other media outlets and creating strategies to increase awareness of independent media committed to social justice and peacekeeping movements. Out goal is to inspire others to open up their imagination in ways that creatively build cultures of peace, justice and healing.

Join us today!

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THINK

“You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities.
Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into
positive, effective, unstoppable determination.”

Ralph Marston, The Daily Motivator

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When We All Get Together ...

What a day of rejoicing it will be!

The most Wonderful Things Happen on the Way to Peace ... people unite in solidarity, problems get solved, and questions are answered. In the midst of this wonderful place where wonderful things happen, people walk their talk and make a difference. Oh, what a day of rejoicing it will be when people can actually believe in that most Wonderful Thing! called peace. The truth is that it is what we believe does become the change we wish to see. For some, you have to see it to believe it, but for visionaries such as our ancestors, Harriet Tubman and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., they had to first Believe. My friend, Audria Scott Williams, a modern-day visionary--believes. That is why she spearheaded the 13 Moonwalk 4 Peace and why she joined community leaders, activists and others in a walk around Houston. For several days, the mantra was "pass the peace so that peace can increase."

     I believe the children are our future. But, as one of my mentors helped us to understand (thanks, DeLloyd Parker), actually we are our children's future and unless we start believing that we can create a brighter future, it won't--can't happen. In Houston, David DeFabo took two young Houstonians under his wing and gave them cameras. David and Kayla took their jobs seriously as they participated in the Houston walk through Third Ward. The idea for this initiative is called "Through the Eyes of a Child" and for the rest of the walk (through 11-11-11), children across the country will be photographing their communities and showing the world the best and sometimes the worst of what they are inheriting. This is also about preparation. The children learn that they have ideas and can use their gifts and talents for the good.
     Many know that communities around the U.S. are struggling in a variety of ways. Unemployment is high. Housing is expensive and too many homes have been foreclosed on. There are such disparities between the poor and the rich that the middle class is suffering more than ever before. Yes, too many are falling through the different cracks of society because we have not figured it out. However, much of our problems can be solved if we'd put our heads together. Problems are being solved in certain pockets of the Houston community and we are seeing families that do more than survive, but thrive.

     One such community organization is Shape Community Center. Like its name, its mission is to shape lives and build communities because they believe that "strong families make a strong nation." There are so many ways that problems are being solved, and so many ways that people are working together. So, where are these stories? How do we learn to take what is constructive and replicate it in other communities?
     In Atlanta during the first two weeks of this new decade, Audri and I, along with friends and colleagues in Houston, Texas proved that that communities can unite. And in the midst of these events in Houston, Texas, my friend Sister Mama Sonya came up with an idea: A Bus Walk to Atlanta, Georgia on 11-11-11! You gotta believe it to see it. She saw it. And now we have, too. It is catching, after all.
     So, this is just a tease. We've got a plan and are working to make it more and more of a reality. We know that we have all been on this journey to meet one another in an explosion of peacemaking like never before. Ready for the ride? Stay tune and we'll tell you more.
     Peace. Peacemaking is a reality.

In The Beginning ...

If I'd Only Known ...

I'd still have been fearless. I still will have laughed at this moment because I would have still had the innocence and now I know,  I wouldn't have changed a thing. Knowing that I would lose my granddaughter who never got to laugh and play like this, I understand now that she was a gift, and it breaks my heart still. For the short time we had her, Melliah was, no is, my heart and I miss her. But, to hear myself say, "I wouldn't change a thing ..." she comes to my mind first. Would I want my mother back now? Would I have liked to make other decisions than the ones I've made? Of course I would. But, the question is whether or not I would change anything and the answer is no!
     The truth is that there is never just one alternative. Had Melliah lived, perhaps there would have been other danger, other tragedies since she was a preemie. I might not have Taliek, her brother who is six. Who knows? What we do know is now--the present.
     Recently, I talked with Dr. Virgil Wood about getting older. He is almost 80 (I think I can tell this). His life was spent sharing the Gospel, but also standing against injustices. He lived through the Civil Rights Movement and I know others have not. He stands there as the voice of our past, lighting the way to our future--in the present. And when I asked how he stayed so young, he confided that he talked with God about that same thing. Getting older is difficult. You're slower. There are pains. Tell me about it. Still, he said that God gave him one promise and has kept it. Give us this day!
     If you are here. You've been given this day. It is the only promise kept. Tomorrow is not promised. So, why do we procrastinate? Why do we think that it will get done eventually? This is the day. So, I'm not making New Year Resolutions. Why bother. I'm gonna work this day and make a difference each and every day that the promise is given. If I open my eyes in the morning. This is the promise. I'll put my feet on the ground and start walking (working). And if I don't open my eyes the next, well, I'm hoping that if my children are able, my friends rise that morning and even my enemies (the ones I meant to make friends, but didn't have time before I left), that they will champion the causes of the day and go for it. I'm hoping that if You who are reading this and opened your eyes this morning, in this New Year, that you will make a effort to make this day worthwhile--for the world.
     Peace!

Think Peace Media and Communications Network is growing into a full-fledged 24-hour internet station. Currently, we are using social media networks, but the plan is to have a regular lineup of shows that will encourage people to critically think peace for the children of the world.