This Is It

People. Go see Michael Jackson's "This Is It" whether you like it or not. That's an order.

It's still in theaters, despite the initial statements that it would only be out for 2 weeks. I guess that was just a ploy.

Fair warning, before you see it make sure to have a sweet MJ mix ready to play when you get home, because you'll be dying to have an MJ dance party immediately thereafter.

And for those of you who don't like MJ, one reviewer said about the film, "This film will make people who joked on him in the past ashamed of what they said about him." Humble yourselves.

I'd like to tell you many more of the reasons that I think you should go see it, but doesn't MJ speak for himself? Just go! 'Nuff said!!

Orphan Sunday/His Voice for Sudan

A couple of my dear friends, Amber & Vernon, head up an organization called His Voice for Sudan. They have worked with local Sudanese in Yei, Sudan to start several orphanages that have become home to over 200 children and 30 widows. Not only do they have a home, but they also receive an education there. It's a great work and is totally sustainable because it's totally run by locals. Love it.

So, today is "Orphan Sunday". There are 143,000,000 orphans in the world, and 500,000 of them are in Southern Sudan alone. I'm really proud of His Voice for working so hard to provide a better life for some of these brothers and sisters. May we all do what we can to provide for the orphans of the world, even if just one.

His Voice for Sudan from Amber Burger on Vimeo.

Discrimination complaint against Power & Light district

It's about time somebody in this city has stepped up to bring down Power & Light's horribly discriminatory and racist "dress code" policies. Good luck to those of you who are trying. (However, for the record, a change in these policies would not entice me to want to go there any more than I already do. Which is not at all.)

Read article here.

Happy Halloween/Threw it on the ground

My nephew covered a Andy Samberg video from SNL to celebrate Halloween:

Here's the original video, which is hilarious:


Here's my nephew's "Halloween Remix":

Op-Ed by Bono on Obama's Nobel

Well those of you know me at all (or have read my blog at all) know that two of my favorite political figures are Bono and Pres. Obama, while the political issue closest to my heart is development in Sub-Saharan Africa. And so an article like this one is right up my alley. Please read.

Ripple Glass is coming!

While I'm thankful that I live in a city where recycling pick-up is free and therefore easy for everyone, I've still been disappointed that glass recycling (which is not included in the city-recycling program) is so inaccessible. All the centers are so far away from everything. And then there's the part about separating all your colors of glass. These two factors usually lead to beer bottles (I mean, spaghetti sauce jars) collecting on my back porch for months and months before I have the motivation (and the good weather) to take them to the recycling center (which inevitably results in beer dripping all over my hands from having to separate all the glass. I mean spaghetti sauce).

Therefore, Kansas City Metro is happy to welcome Ripple Glass--an organization that is placing huge purple glass recyclers all over the city--supposedly no one should have to drive more than 5 minutes to get to one! AND you don't have to separate it! Just dump it in! I've never been so excited about recycling.

Here's where all their new bins are coming up in the next few weeks. Sure enough, there's a bin within 5 minutes of my house, and two within 5 minutes of my office! Bingo.

If your bin isn't up yet, they already have "tester" bins up behind the Boulevard Brewery that you can use in the meantime.

Happy Recycling!

hf09

This past weekend Toby & I, along with some friends, celebrated the third annual Harvest Festival in Spring Hill, KS. It was such a great weekend, in which we felled trees, hung around a campfire, ate chilis, screen-printed our own shirts, went on a night hike, played improv games, drank wine, made s'mores, laughed, camped (and actually slept!), ate oatmeal, practiced yoga, ate some more oatmeal, then went out for BBQ. All with some of the best friends in the world. 'Nuff said.

Special thanks to Susan Bonar for hosting our lovely weekend.