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In the cacophony of corporate media, international agency and NGO actors who monopolize the news cycle on Haiti, HAITIANS NEED TO HEAR EACH OTHER AND THEMSELVES.



"Usually created by highly educated individuals residing in the USA or Europe, a number of African and Caribbean blogs have surfaced on the Internet. As illustrated by Alice Backer's kiskeácity, these blogs function as “virtual embassies” of the nation, providing critical information on politics, society, and culture. They also serve as a rallying force for the Diaspora, informing them about local events such as concerts, film festivals, or community functions celebrating an event or holiday from their native land. Last but not least, they promote economic development by informing the Diaspora and any virtual visitors about possibilities in their respective homeland."

A “New” Black Nationalism in the USA and France by Dr. Felix Germain http://ht.ly/pPlhe JOURNAL OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, Volume 17, Number 3, September 2013

Last August marked eight years since this blog was founded in 2005.  Since then, I have scoured the web in search of all that Haitians have to say online culminating into the  FREE daily newsletter which I started two years ago and now 8 episodes of many more to come of  the weekly Legacy of 1804 live podcast radio show.


WHAT HAVE WE DONE? Here are the metrics to date:

• 16,190 Tweets
• 7,604 Followers on Twitter
• 2,000 plus Followers on Facebook
• 388 posts on this blog
• One Black Celebration Award in the Culture Category (Thank you Black Street and Judith Jacques!)
• One presentation on Haitian bloggers at the Haitian Studies Association Conference
• One presentation on Haitian bloggers at the Haiti Cultural Exchange Diaspora In Dialogue Conference
• Over two hundred feeds by Haitians aggregated 
• One appearance on the Melissa Harris Perry Show on MSNBC to echo your sentiments on the UN's handling of cholera in our beloved Haiti

WHY INVEST?

I have amplified Haitian voices since 2005 and I have done so free to the public so far. I want to continue to do so but in exchange for some goodies that you can use as gifts for your friends, I am asking you to invest in the future of this endeavour.


WHAT ARE THE GOODIES?

• All contributions: subscription to Kiskeácity Daily Email Newsletter for you or a friend 

• Contributions of $40 or more: Jazzpora CD by Buyu Ambroise
  
  

Kiskeácity Daily | @kiskeacity| Facebook

Check out two new features on the site

I'm experimenting with two new features on the kiskeácity site that I'd like you to know about.

The first is the "Recently read/seen/heard" section in the right hand column. This section contains items that I have recently come across on the web and find interesting. Most have to do with the current US election.

The second is the "Not just (bad) Haiti news" section, also in the right hand column. It generally contains items I found on the web relating to the Caribbean.

Neither section will be included in the site's RSS feed/email subscription so I encourage you to check it out on the site. They should both update pretty regularly as I bookmark items for them while surfing the web.

kiskeácity is now on Facebook!

Please join the kiskeácity group on Facebook. If you are not yet a Facebook member, you may want to consider getting an account. It's been a valuable networking resource for me. Also, invite me as a friend and add the note kiskeácity so I know who you are. As I've been busy with innumerable projects in the past year, it's been hard for me to post as often as I'd like but Facebook will allow even more ways to interact. See you there!

Welcome New Kiskeácity Subscribers!

I'd like to send a warm welcome to all new kiskeácity subscribers! I have been busy with GV Lingua and making sure a loved one remains healthy after a pretty bad fall but I did get to notice that quite a few of you subscribed through the feeds and via email. Thanks and sorry you subscribed during such an awkward silence. I'll be back and ready to attack very soon. Promise.

Ciao!

Welcome New Members and Other Community News

Welcome to all the new kiskeácity members who have recently signed up either through the feedblitz email newsletter, mybloglog or just through the various blog readers. It is great to know you're reading. I would love any and all feedback you may have, good or bad, so please make sure to speak your minds whether on email (kiskeyacity [dot]19997669 [at] bloglines [dot] com) or just by commenting on the site.

Congratulations to Harinjaka, a kiskeácity reader and fellow blogger from Madagascar who lives in France. In case you are not reading GV (shame on you!) Harinjaka just won the people's choice vote for best poem in the Global Voices Valentine's Day Poetry contest. The poem was in French too! Here it is for your pleasure:

l’Amour “MoraMora”

le soleil m’a prédit
que je croiserai ta route
mais que si tu n’es pas encore là
il ne faut pas que je m’inquiète
car tu entreras dans ma vie
façon doucement doucement

le vent m’a murmuré
que tu seras raffiné(e)
mais que… si tu n’es pas encore là
il ne faudrait pas que je m’inquiète
car tu entreras dans ma vie
façon doucement doucement

les oiseaux m’ont raconté
que tu seras réservé(e), très très soigné(e),
et surtout cultivé(e)
mais que … si tu n’es pas encore là
il ne faudrait pas que je m’inquiète
car tu entreras dans ma vie
façon doucement doucement

puisque tout est écrit
et puisqu’ils m’ont dèja tous dit
j’ai vraiment envie de croire
et même hâte de te voir
ne prend pas trop ton temps
façon doucement doucement

Click here for the full english translation, including an explanation of what Mora Mora means in Malagasy language and life. (View Harinjaka's blog.)

Also, I recently got the wonderful opportunity while in Miami for the WeMedia conference to meet another Mybloglog kiskeácity member and fellow blogger, Marvin Chéry. Marvin came with Karl of Karlito's blog, another member, and took some pictures of our dinner at Shoji Sushi on South beach, including the two yummy ones on this post. (View Marvin's tech-oriented blog and Karl's Haitan Music Industry blog.) Karl is pictured to the very right of the thumbnail.

Congrats also to Nightshift Chronicler and Geoffrey Philps for their lovely submissions to the GV poetry contest. (Geoffrey was the runner up for the people's choice, btw.) Scroll down here and look up their names to read their oeuvres.

Meanwhile, Jenn Carr, another blogger-reader just launched the Griot tour for Storycorps. See her blog WonNsaDaMaa to find out all about the launch and Storycorps Griot.

Special mention also for Lova (those damn Malagasies!) who just started a stint as Global Voices author. Lova will be writing a weekly post on what is taking place in Malagasy, English and French-speaking blogs of Madagascar for GV. He's already cranked out two: one on the recent Malagasy floods and one on French deportations of Immigrants there. Kudos, Lova! (View Lova's blog Rakoto's Rants.)

To Cathy Delaleu: I am reading your poetry and won't forger to invite you to the next (informal) Brooklyn Caribbean blogger gathering. To William Zick: Hope you are reading all of the Chevalier de St-Georges news possible on Jean-Claude Halley's Guadeloupe Attitude blog. (Dust off your French texts!) To Michael Deibert, thanks for the great Haiti reporting and personal comments. To Shel Israel, the kind words you wrote here and on Global Neighborhoods were much appreciated.

Ochan to my readers from Haiti, including my mom and bloggers Roody Edmé and Marcel Salnave. I love getting emails from you!

And to all my other readers who don't blog or whose names I don't know, please check in, email, sign up or send news so I can keep up with you! And of course, if it tickles your fancy, please feel free to comment, comment, comment. We speak, sing, snore and argue in at least three languages here...

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