Imagine. An overweight, white, round-faced man, sporting headphones, perfectly lip-synching to the song "Dragostea Din Tei" as performed by O-Zone, a Romanian pop band. The words that seems to stick out more than any other, is “Numa Numa”.
The video, Numa Numa, is performed by Gary Broslma and has been seen over ten million times. A BBC article from November 27th, 2004 claims that the video has been seen over 700,000,000 times worldwide. The original video was posted on Newsground.com on December 6th, 2004.
“Numa Numa” is more than just a couple of silly words, though. "Nu ma, nu ma iei" in Romanian means “you don’t want, you don’t want to take me”. “Nu ma” actually means not me.
Something that started as a meaningless video posted online turned into a worldwide viral phenomenon. Gary Broslma’s life has undoubtedly changed, all thanks to the internet and one pop song.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Dropped By An Angel
Robert Rieck Finds Hidden Talent Amidst Tragedy
Robert Rieck, a man in his thirties from Ord, Nebraska with an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration makes T-shirt designs for a living. Not too terribly interesting, right? No, at least not until you watch him.
He draws them with his mouth.
At his booth at the Farmer’s Market in the Haymarket District of Lincoln, Nebraska, off to the side sits a picture of Robert in action; marker in mouth, sitting in his wheelchair, easel directly in front of his face, drawing… with his mouth. Moreover, these T-Shirts are meant to be humorous. Not subtle humor, but in your face, slightly discomforting, and overt humor. Just like one of his T-Shirts that pictures Jesus, clearly in a wheelchair, with a speech bubble that says “My Angel Didn’t Catch Me”.
September 30th, 1996; Estes Park. While hiking along a normal walking route, Robert decides to go closer to the edge, be daring. Only a few moments later and his life would change forever.
One slip, and Robert had fallen off of the mountain. Sixty feet beneath his companions, Robert lays motionless. He is not dead, however, but has injured his spinal cord, and for the rest of his life he will be labeled as a C-5 quadriplegic, confined to a wheelchair, with zero use of his lower body and little to no use of his upper body.
Robert’s recovery was a difficult one, as anyone can imagine after having fallen off of a mountain, but what primarily pushed Robert through was his sense of humor; of his ability to be able to laugh and to laugh at himself. This becomes evident when one sees his business name: QuadAntics. Quad, for he is a quadriplegic, and an antic is something that is ludicrous or funny.
Robert has become a volunteer mentor for people with spinal cord injuries, plays rugby, and is happily involved with his girlfriend of five years, Jessie Garner, who is also a quadriplegic- she injured her spinal cord in a car accident. He also does tax returns for his family and friends, and has his own T-shirt shop.
It is QuadAntics first year of selling their T-Shirts at the Farmer’s Market, and he says that they are selling well. His friend to his right opens up his button down shirt to reveal one of Robert’s shirts- it has the same Jesus figure, only this time shouting “Why Me”.
“I was afraid people might be offended.”
Before discovering he could draw with his mouth, he had been signing documents with it. In addition, his friend says that he can write in cursive with his mouth better than anyone else he knows can with their hands.
Robert doesn’t just sell his shirts on his online shop and at the Farmer’s Market; he sells them at music festivals, door to door, and in other shops like Here and Back Again, Dirt Cheap, Exotic Gift Emporium, and Santini Leather- all located in and around Lincoln, Nebraska.
A spinal cord injury is not Robert’s only inspiration for making T-shirts; his girlfriend Jessie also encourages him. The couple met in 2005, when Robert’s caregiver’s daughter was getting married, and he was asked to film the wedding. Robert met Jessie’s aunt at the reception, and was later introduced to Jessie at the aunt’s house.
Laughter and optimism. That is how Robert Rieck gets by.
How long it’s taken him to perfect his skill?
“I haven’t,” he smiled. “I’m getting better every day.”
Friday, July 30, 2010
Editorial
In California, a student journalist, Cameron Burns, for the University of California’s newspaper the Daily Californian was arrested for filming a protest.
Burns was following a group of protestors who were demonstrating against tuition increases and education budget cuts in California. For about ten minutes, he followed a group of about 150 protestors until he realized they were on the freeway and was trying to ask a policeman how to get off, when he was arrested for unlawful assembly (Cal. Penal Code 407) and obstructing a public place (Cal Penal Code 647.C), as well as others in the demonstration group.
Journalists of all types, student or professional, should not be punished for covering a story. Burns was not there to protest, he was there as a duty to his newspaper to cover the demonstration.
Policemen, before just simply arresting a journalist for being present at a protest or other such event, should give the individual a chance to prove that he or she is not associated with the group; via press pass, outstandingly different clothing, or having been witnessed interviewing participants.
In the future, policemen need to take more care by not automatically assuming everybody who is at the scene of a demonstration or riot is a culprit and should be arrested. Take actions if one is claiming to be a journalist to make sure their rights are not violated and are not needlessly arrested.
Click here for the full story.
Burns was following a group of protestors who were demonstrating against tuition increases and education budget cuts in California. For about ten minutes, he followed a group of about 150 protestors until he realized they were on the freeway and was trying to ask a policeman how to get off, when he was arrested for unlawful assembly (Cal. Penal Code 407) and obstructing a public place (Cal Penal Code 647.C), as well as others in the demonstration group.
Journalists of all types, student or professional, should not be punished for covering a story. Burns was not there to protest, he was there as a duty to his newspaper to cover the demonstration.
Policemen, before just simply arresting a journalist for being present at a protest or other such event, should give the individual a chance to prove that he or she is not associated with the group; via press pass, outstandingly different clothing, or having been witnessed interviewing participants.
In the future, policemen need to take more care by not automatically assuming everybody who is at the scene of a demonstration or riot is a culprit and should be arrested. Take actions if one is claiming to be a journalist to make sure their rights are not violated and are not needlessly arrested.
Click here for the full story.
The Story of Me
This is Allison Knightly. She’s not involved in school, and isn’t a genius. She’s an only child of divorced parents and a girlfriend of 25 months. She’s afraid of spiders and loves cloudy days more than sunny ones. She is seemingly laid back and normal, however this ordinary teenager has some baggage that one may not realize.
The first thing that strikes you about Allison is her long, blond hair; “flower child”-like, it has been described. That is one thing she wishes she could be- a flower child. To live in a time of empathy. To be carefree and harmonious, living away from social norms and taboos, discord and politics, stereotypes and violence. One also notices her unusually blue eyes, ranging from a bright, vibrant blue to a plain, boring bluish grey. She could almost be characterized as “Aryan”, although she is far, far from that imagined perfectness that is associated with such a designation.
This is a story about deception, to oneself and to others. A story about perpetual change, contradiction, and confusion. A story about a girl whose mind cannot grasp the concept of herself. But most importantly, this is a story about redemption.
Who is Allison Knightly? She’s the girl whose hand was held in kindergarten when her father told her of her parents’ divorce. She’s the girl whose step-mother told her she was fat and needed to lose weight in fourth grade, the step-mother who wouldn’t allow her to call the room she slept in “her room”, the step-mother who kept the cat’s litter box in “her room” for two years. Yet she is also the girl that would give anything to live back in “her room” so she could be isolated once again and not give a damn, to be as creative as she was, and not have to try. She is the girl who doesn’t need to make an effort to get a 4.0 but who cries when she gets anything lower than an A because it is not perfect. She’s the girl whose empathy for every living thing is so strong that it consumes her life and controls her decisions. She’s the girl who lost all of her friends due to her tendency to push away those close to her. She’s the girl who wouldn’t admit to herself she had an eating disorder because “only skinny people have eating disorders”.
It is October 20th, 2005. Allison’s 13th birthday. She hasn’t eaten all day. At a movie with all of her friends, she feels and sees her heartbeat through her stomach. Back at home, she is crying to her friends that she is scared and they force her to eat all the junk food that she has. So she does, she eats cookies and cake and ice cream and chips and candy. She was hungry, after all. Following the binge, however, she hates herself- so much. Playing Apples to Apples, she regrets putting a single morsel of food in her mouth. It gnaws and tugs at her mind; she could feel all of the food sitting in her stomach, making her fatter and fatter, minute by minute. Years later, she would look back on pictures from that night and notice her ribs sticking out through her navy tank top.
Of course, what makes Allison interesting is her unbelievable ability to get over these difficulties solely by herself. With no one’s help, she conquered her Bulimia and subsequently conquered other unhealthy habits. She makes the best of what she has, spending as much time with her mother and father and boyfriend because down the line, she realizes, those will be the people who truly matter. She is cleaning up her shameful baggage, one day at a time.
The first thing that strikes you about Allison is her long, blond hair; “flower child”-like, it has been described. That is one thing she wishes she could be- a flower child. To live in a time of empathy. To be carefree and harmonious, living away from social norms and taboos, discord and politics, stereotypes and violence. One also notices her unusually blue eyes, ranging from a bright, vibrant blue to a plain, boring bluish grey. She could almost be characterized as “Aryan”, although she is far, far from that imagined perfectness that is associated with such a designation.
This is a story about deception, to oneself and to others. A story about perpetual change, contradiction, and confusion. A story about a girl whose mind cannot grasp the concept of herself. But most importantly, this is a story about redemption.
Who is Allison Knightly? She’s the girl whose hand was held in kindergarten when her father told her of her parents’ divorce. She’s the girl whose step-mother told her she was fat and needed to lose weight in fourth grade, the step-mother who wouldn’t allow her to call the room she slept in “her room”, the step-mother who kept the cat’s litter box in “her room” for two years. Yet she is also the girl that would give anything to live back in “her room” so she could be isolated once again and not give a damn, to be as creative as she was, and not have to try. She is the girl who doesn’t need to make an effort to get a 4.0 but who cries when she gets anything lower than an A because it is not perfect. She’s the girl whose empathy for every living thing is so strong that it consumes her life and controls her decisions. She’s the girl who lost all of her friends due to her tendency to push away those close to her. She’s the girl who wouldn’t admit to herself she had an eating disorder because “only skinny people have eating disorders”.
It is October 20th, 2005. Allison’s 13th birthday. She hasn’t eaten all day. At a movie with all of her friends, she feels and sees her heartbeat through her stomach. Back at home, she is crying to her friends that she is scared and they force her to eat all the junk food that she has. So she does, she eats cookies and cake and ice cream and chips and candy. She was hungry, after all. Following the binge, however, she hates herself- so much. Playing Apples to Apples, she regrets putting a single morsel of food in her mouth. It gnaws and tugs at her mind; she could feel all of the food sitting in her stomach, making her fatter and fatter, minute by minute. Years later, she would look back on pictures from that night and notice her ribs sticking out through her navy tank top.
Of course, what makes Allison interesting is her unbelievable ability to get over these difficulties solely by herself. With no one’s help, she conquered her Bulimia and subsequently conquered other unhealthy habits. She makes the best of what she has, spending as much time with her mother and father and boyfriend because down the line, she realizes, those will be the people who truly matter. She is cleaning up her shameful baggage, one day at a time.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
The Story of Alyson
This is Alyson. Born and raised in the Southwestern Nebraska town of Fairbury; population: a mere 4,262 residents. Her class, a mere sixty students. Employee of the local movie theater, older sister of 12 year old Joanna. This is Alyson, competitor in a scholarship pageant, winner of a medal in track, and participant in Sing Around Nebraska.
The first thing that strikes you about Alyson is her laid back appearance. Typical teenage girl; bleach blond hair, tank top and shorts. However, this assumption soon clears up and one recognizes her peppy optimism, coming into a writing class with open arms, despite her disinterest in writing. Such a trait is crucial in following such prestigious goals.
But this is not the story of Alyson, the happy, small town girl; it is the story of determination, of the willingness to pursue what one wants. In her eighth grade year, Alyson participated in track solely because she could. At the last meet, finally placed by herself. It was the 400, one lap around the track as fast as one can go, and she placed second. Although no longer participating, this displays her determinism to make a name for herself.
Who is Alyson? She is not only one among sixty students, but one that placed second in a track meet. Not only the employee of the movie theater, but one who works with her best friend Tiffanie and who sneakily swipes candy while the boss is away. Not only involved in Sing Around Nebraska, but one who made the tryouts in sixth grade. Not only a participant in a school sponsored pageant, but…
It is July 18th, 2010, award ceremonies of the Miss Jefferson County Pageant… and Alyson does not place. Disappoint is understandable, but that does not discourage her from trying again. “They said that I would be more likely to get the title when I’m a senior,” Alyson said, “so I’m going to try again next year.”
Of course, what makes Alyson interesting is her enduring hopefulness in the face of challenge. Her “I can conquer this because I can” attitude. What makes Alyson extraordinary is her unfaltering determinism that will play out in her everyday occurrences for the rest of her life.
The first thing that strikes you about Alyson is her laid back appearance. Typical teenage girl; bleach blond hair, tank top and shorts. However, this assumption soon clears up and one recognizes her peppy optimism, coming into a writing class with open arms, despite her disinterest in writing. Such a trait is crucial in following such prestigious goals.
But this is not the story of Alyson, the happy, small town girl; it is the story of determination, of the willingness to pursue what one wants. In her eighth grade year, Alyson participated in track solely because she could. At the last meet, finally placed by herself. It was the 400, one lap around the track as fast as one can go, and she placed second. Although no longer participating, this displays her determinism to make a name for herself.
Who is Alyson? She is not only one among sixty students, but one that placed second in a track meet. Not only the employee of the movie theater, but one who works with her best friend Tiffanie and who sneakily swipes candy while the boss is away. Not only involved in Sing Around Nebraska, but one who made the tryouts in sixth grade. Not only a participant in a school sponsored pageant, but…
It is July 18th, 2010, award ceremonies of the Miss Jefferson County Pageant… and Alyson does not place. Disappoint is understandable, but that does not discourage her from trying again. “They said that I would be more likely to get the title when I’m a senior,” Alyson said, “so I’m going to try again next year.”
Of course, what makes Alyson interesting is her enduring hopefulness in the face of challenge. Her “I can conquer this because I can” attitude. What makes Alyson extraordinary is her unfaltering determinism that will play out in her everyday occurrences for the rest of her life.
Lunch Munch
At lunch today, I honestly didn't notice other people that I didn't know. However, I did notice that the table next to the one my friends and I were dining at sat the infamous cheerleader from our newspaper staff. She is not your normal cheerleader, mind you, she is... well, I don't even know how to describe her- you would just have to know her. Her and her gauky friend were chatting, loudly, with new friends that they had apparently just made. What they were ranting about, I'm clueless. But as we walked by to set our trays on the conveyor belt, our ears were pierced with their high pitched voices screaming "Oh, no! The story gets better!". I then glanced at the fellow students sitting across from them, and they looked just as plainly uninterested as the rest of the world, and I chuckled to myself at the ignorance of these two girls who cleary do not know how to take a hint.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)