the translator…

…is a book about a man, dauod hari, born and raised in darfur, a region of west sudan, who cheated death many times risking his life to tell the world about the atrocities the sudanese government is committing against his people in darfur, by acting as a translator for english speaking reporters, also willing to risk their lives to tell these stories of unspeakable suffering. dauod, speaking english as a second, even third language, writes his story well, painting an eye-opening picture of the political condition in sudan, and the anguish of the loss experienced by the victims of this genocide, telling the story of his own village as it is attacked and burned to the ground, losing his brother in a hopeless last stand against the janjaweed. (whats hard for me is to imagine that i am just typing a word “janjaweed” and its not meaning much more than that for me. its just a word that represents an idea far away from me or anything i’ve experienced, and truly its only ever really been a conversation piece. but for those in darfur, living this hell, its men riding on horseback, shooting, hacking, burning, killing, torturing, destroying life. just speaking, typing, reading that word seems to be worth nothing less than a moment of silence out of respect for those living under its oppression.)

if you are looking for a new understanding on the genocide in sudan, or need a fresh perspective to realign your heart and identify with those suffering on the other side of the world, or both, this book will certainly help in that quest. i have to warn you though, it is not an easy read, due to the heavy subject matter and often required me to stop and think. reading through the horrors that hundreds of thousands endured, i often had to remind myself that this was not fiction, but real peoples real experiences, and i can still hardly wrap my head and heart around it. beautifully, it is also filled with encouragement as dauod hari and others worked and still continue to work for peace to end the violence and devastation by engaging the rest of the world with it.

to learn more about the conflict in darfur go to www.savedarfur.org

if you read this book or check it out, than please let me know by leaving a comment. thanks all!

joelkrogman

joelkrogman.wordpress.com

peacemaker…

…the biography “Three Cups of Tea”, written by greg mortenson and david oliver relin, chronicles the life and work of greg mortenson, the committed, compassionate, and humble, husband, father, and humanitarian who gave his life to educate the children, mostly girls, of pakistan and afghanistan’s most remote, politically dangerous, war torn regions. through friendships mortenson developed as he spent time working in these volatile and misunderstood regions of central asia, his story reveals a fresh tale on the muslim way of life: one in which they have a love for peace, education and for living in harmony with the world and those around them. mortenson does an amazing job breaking down the political and religious systems ruling the regions and i personally found it to fill in many blanks, and answer many questions which i had been left with following mainstream media reporting on afghanistan and pakistan post 9/11. it is a book experience for the mind and the heart. you can find it at most major bookstores. check out the website www.threecupsoftea.com to learn more.

greg mortenson has a new book “stones into schools” coming out december 1, 2009, so check that out as well.

ps. if you do decide to read this book, which i know you will be very happy you did, leave a comment here and let me know. you know that would mean the world to me. thanks!

the stuffyoushouldknow…

if you’re a commuter, if you have some house work to do, maybe some old furniture to refinish, or just some time to kill, then you should most definitely to give the stuffyoushouldknow podcast a try. josh clark and charles w. “chuck” bryant give the listener lots to listen to as they discuss almost anything about almost everything. they hit all manner of topics, from “why can’t robots get married?” to “how did albert einstein’s brain work?” they generally know their info pretty well, and share it in a very entertaining, easy to listen to way. their chemistry and charisma has helped make them into a popular podcasting duo. they also have a written blog at howstuffworks.com full of articles that further expound on their podcast topics. just enter the podcast topics in the handy search bar at the top of the website to discover more.

if you check it out, i’d be honored if you left a comment and let me know what you think. thanks!

joelkrogman

joelkrogman.wordpress.com

dan allender – anger and lust

…a very challenging, inspiring, frightening, and overwhelmingly good talk given by dan allender, a professor at the mars hill graduate school in seattle, washington. his gave his talk at mars hill bible church in grand rapids, michigan on sunday, november 15.

to download this talk for free, just go to www.marshill.org, then under the “teachings” heading select “past 12 weeks.” if you are looking this up within 12 weeks of this post, it should still be there, otherwise you may have to look in the “archives” section.

if you do check it out, which i hope you do, leave a comment and let me know what you thought. i’d love to hear from you!!

joelkrogman
joelkrogman.wordpress.com

wine anyone?

hello everyone!! i’m joel krogman and this is my blog, where all things that i find, or have found interesting, inspiring and worth spending some time on, are logged for you to find…

if you haven’t heard of gary vaynerchuk yet, or his internet video blog smash hit “winelibrarytv,” discussing the many aspects of wine, tasting them and scoring them, and talking with those involved in the many different aspects of the wine biz, than you will be happy to check out winelibrarytv.com. garyvee’s crazy high energy and outrageous wine knowledge has created a following of 100000+ viewers daily. if you are into wine and looking to expand your wine knowledge and your palate and like to have a good time while doing it, then you should definitely stop by this site and give it a try.

if you do check out www.winelibrarytv.com, leave a comment here and let me know whether or not you liked what you saw…

thanks everyone! together, we will continue discovering the coolest stuff on the web!

joelkrogman

joelkrogman.wordpress.com

what i think is cool….

this is a blog about different things i think are interesting…

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