Pulitzer Prize

For the first time in history two Web sites have won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. I know this is a big deal since I was the first visiting lecturer who taught a class on Online Publishing at the University of Texas. While internet exists for more than three decades, newspapers have taken their online publications seriously for maybe the last five years. Well, with rewarding two journalistic Web sites, ProPublica and www.sfgate.com, we can conclude that there is no future for newspapers without their online portals.
Of course I knew that already for many years (that's why I started my online magazine) but this is a good sign for all the big newspapers publishers.

With this terrific news, I feel double euphoria.
First is, that, nobody, not a single Journalism University or College, can deny the importance of online content.
Second, (the real reason why I write this blog) is that I had the privilege to work together with the editor of the book, America’s Best Writing: Pulitzer Prize Feature Stories, David Garlock.

Dave, my senior, assembled 25 feature articles and analyzed the quality of the research, reporting and writing of the stories and why they deserved the Prize for Outstanding Journalism. This book 'Pulitzer Prize Feature Stories - America's Best Writing 1979-2003' is a help and an inspiration for writers, both established and upcoming.' And let me note here, as a 'global journalist', that this book is not only for American journalists, but every journalist, worldwide, can learn a lot from it.

It's every journalist's desire to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing professor. Our daily chats in his small office were very valuable for me. In his office where every wall was surrounded with books and magazines we discussed world issues. And I will never forget his profound curiosity and interest in my thoughts but also he wanted to know my opinion about a certain topic in his class. As a 'small fish', for the first time teaching in a Journalism school, I felt very often that I worked together with the 'big catches'.

Some information about Dave:

He has been on the UT faculty for 21 years, teaching a wide variety of magazine writing, reporting and management classes. He is also advisor for the campus magazine, Orange. Before that, he was a Texas-based independent magazine consultant and publisher. He was the vice president and editorial director in New York for Executive Business Media, an international publishing firm, specializing in a wide variety of business-to-business, niche, specialty and targeted consumer magazines. In that job, Dave was editorial director of a hard-news monthly magazine covering the military that frequently uncovered government corruption and mismanagement. Stories he wrote or edited often led to congressional or governmental investigations and some were picked up by the national media, including the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

While packing to get back to Holland, I decided to take his book (805 pages!) with my hand luggage. True, It was heavy to carry it on during my eighteen hour trip from Austin, via Washington to Amsterdam. But I did not get bored one time, thanks to Dave's thoughtful interviews and insightful comments on the Pulitzer stories, valuable for every journalist.

Thank you, Dave!

Senay appointed as Senior Fellow Osgood Center for International Studies

I have some great news, which I want to share with you.

I have been appointed as senior fellow at the Osgood Center for International Studies in Washington, D.C.. The Osgood Center is a non-profit educational organization that offers short-term foreign policy programs and experiential learning to graduate, college, and high school students from around the globe.

I will be starting this summer at this institute which is the premier foreign policy program in the heart of Washington, D.C.

As you can understand, I am very excited to begin with this new challenge in my career: sharing my views and experiences with new fresh global thinkers and leaders.

One of my main goals will be that I can inspire other girls and women to choose what's best for them and their career. That I can learn them not to think in boundaries and that they have the capacity to become the new female leaders of the world. I want to challenge the participating students to have difficult conversations, to recognize the complexity in each other, to strive for equality and fairness.

In my next blog I'll write some information about The Osgood Center's programs and how to apply. So, please if you know somebody (students of International Business or Diplomacy) who might be interested, don't hesitate to email me at senay at osgoodcenter dot org.

Thank you!

Illusion

My new book got published.

Channel 4 requests an interview.

And somebody puts the New York Times Book Review in my hand.
A review of Leah Hager Cohen who calls it 'excellent work'.

CNN Turk is in my Outlook with very much interest in this 'upcoming' and talented Turkish-Dutch writer.

Even when, in my Miu Miu suit I walk back to my car after the launch party..the phone keeps ringing.

I feel great..this is why I worked so hard; people like my book..

And then...I wake up and see the grey clouds from my bedroom.

I turn around and continue as I don't care.

Isn't everything an illusion?

Beyond Reasonable Doubt; the Srebrenica massacre

Yesterday I posted a blog about a film which dealt with the Chechnyan-Russian war. I saw this movie, together with fifteen other movies as I was one of the five jurymembers of the Rudolf Vrba Award at the Prague Filmfestival in 2006.

The festival was extremely well organized; in the heart of Prague we went from one ancient movietheater to another and saw the most amazing museums of the Eastern European continent. Prague was of course FABULOUS! I had my daily coffee at the Slavia Grand-cafe, a meeting place of artists and intellectuals; where the most famous writers, poets and politicians (including Vaclav Havel) had their debates and discussions but also where they smoked cigarettes and pipes while reading the newspapers.

It was a very intense week. And after this week I decided for my own that it's nice to be asked to become a jurymember, but seeing sixteen movies about human rights violations in four days; discussing and judging them, is highly INTENSE. One of the movies which disturbed me very much, they even had to stop the film because I couldn't take it anymore, was Beyond Reasonable Doubts
about the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's humanly unworthy to see young men being deported in trucks while they pee in their pants being shot in the back (These images are really shown in this film, so, don't say I did not warn you!).

As tv-news producer of one of the leading news organizations, 2Vandaag, we had hundreds of stories about this topic; every single day when it all happened in 1995. As we all know, Srebrenica was under the protection of Dutch soldiers; Well, it became a black page in Dutch history. As newspeople we saw the ugliest images of war.

Today, the 31st of March, the Serbian parliament passed a landmark resolution condemning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, I wanted to tell you about this movie. It's not only a black page in Dutch history, it's a black page in everybody's history.

Here is what the film is about:

Post–war Europe made the promise to never again allow one nation or race or any one group of people to attempt to systematically wipe out another. Yet what happened in Yugoslavia was genocide, executed moreover with the United Nations looking on. The author of this documentary film, Mina Vidakovič, returns to the massacre at Srebrenica and records the testimony of those who survived the ordeal. Direct testimony from those who witnessed the Srebrenica massacre right where it happened, is the best evidence against those who committed the crime. General Ratko Mladič or Slobodan Miloševič, who were behind most the war crimes that took place during the work in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are filmed in edited confrontation with the remaining inhabitants of Srebrenica. The director moreover works with video recordings made by members of the military units involved in the massacre. They capture the transport of inhabitants of Srebrenica under the false pretences of fears for their safety, the separation of the men capable of military service from the rest of the inhabitants, and the various methods of the mass murder and concealing the graves. Not all the bodies have been found to date, and that is why it is not even known exactly how many victims there were, which is important in determining the punishment for those convicted. The first minutes of Beyond Reasonable Doubt focuses on the preparation of the Nuremberg laws, followed by the construction of concentration camps, the existence of which some people despite all the evidence continue to doubt. The film by Mina Vidakovič helps refresh Europe's historical memory, so that it does not allow itself to forget any of the genocides of the 20th century.

In remembrance of all that died in this and all other wars..

Sincerely,

Senay Ozdemir

Coca, the dove from Chechnya

As I told earlier I was jurymember of the Prague Filmfestival in 2006 judging the best film in the category named 'Right to Know'. The documentaries selected for this category refer to human rights violations all over the world.

When you think of Chechnya, what comes to mind? Chechen terrorists, often women, committing suicide bombings? Like the attacks yesterday in the Moscow metro? The actions of the rebels make it difficult for many people to view the Chechen conflict with sympathy for the Chechen side.

I recommend you to see the film Coca: the Dove from Chechnya

The film is about fifty–year–old Zainap (nickname Coca, which means 'dove')belonging to an organisation called 'The War Echo'. She divides her time between documenting the situation in Chechnya and in the refugee camps of Ingussetia, transporting photographs and recordings to Germany and Russia and lobbying for the rights of the Chechen people throughout Europe. Using this documentation, they are trying to help assist Chechen civilians with cases brought before the International Human Rights Court in Strassbourg. She tries to do everything she can for her country and prove to the world that Chechen terrorism is the desperate reaction of a small group of people, not the pastime of an entire nation.

The film is being shown as a part of the traveling Amnesty International Film Festival, aims to show the world a different side of the bloody and violent conflict, through the lens of another kind of weapon - the video cameras of a group of Chechen women.

This is not a slick, well-produced Hollywood film. Much of the footage is grainy, shaky, and difficult to watch.

Chechen activist Zainap Gashaeva is well-known in the international community for her tireless campaign to draw attention to the suffering of the Chechen people at the hands of the Russian government.

About Rudolf Vrba:
Rudolf Vrba, escapee from Auschwitz provided the first eye witness documents about the concentrationcamps. To pay honors to this exceptionally brave man, One World Festival presents annually Rudolf Vrba Award.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Yes, he can!

Dear readers, please let me share this press release about a wonderboy:

13 Year-Old UNICEF Ambassador Bilaal Rajan Challenges World Youth To Help Haiti

Toronto, Canada – Bilaal Rajan, the grade nine student at Lakefield College School, UNICEF Canada Ambassador, youth activist, best-selling author and fundraiser, has issued a challenge to students all over the world to raise a minimum of $100 for the relief efforts in Haiti.

“Hundreds of thousands have died, and millions are without shelter, food, running water or medical attention. Young people have to get involved and help,” says Rajan, the fundraising wunderkind who has raised millions of dollars for programs that help children in need all over the world. “I think the potential students have for raising millions of dollars throughout the globe is overwhelming.”

Barely a teenager, the Toronto-based children’s activist is already a force to be reckoned with. An accomplished writer, Rajan’s book, Making Change: Tips from an Underage Overachiever (160 pages, Orca Book Publishers), shows people how they can take charge and make a difference in their communities, no matter what their age.

Rajan is adding an extra incentive for students to raise money. He will shave his head in honour of the school or student in Canada that raises the greatest amount of funds. “I’m looking forward to see what kinds of fundraising ideas young people come up with and how much money they can raise. Am I looking forward to going bald? Not so much. I hope the students are gentle,” he laughs. In addition, Lakefield College School Headmaster David Thompson has agreed to shave his head as well if his students raise $35,000.

At 4, Rajan began his fundraising success by selling clementine oranges door-to-door raising money for victims of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India. At 7, he founded Making Change Now, an organization dedicated to heightening awareness of youth issues and raising funds for children in the developing world. In March 2005, he was chosen as an official Child Representative and Ambassador for UNICEF Canada.

In 2004, Rajan launched his first UNICEF fundraising challenge, at the age of eight, called the UNICEF Canada Kids Earthquake Challenge, through which Canadian children raised more than $1.8 million to help those who were impacted by the earthquake and tsunami of south Asia. Canada’s youth contributed again in May 2008 to those affected by the Myanmar cyclone through Rajan’s Me and You for the Children of Myanmar UNICEF fundraising campaign.

All the proceeds raised by Rajan’s Help Haiti Challenge will go to UNICEF and the organization’s relief efforts in Haiti. “The challenges of the Haitian people won’t go away overnight,” he says. “But I know that students throughout the world will step up to the plate and make every effort to help those who are suffering in the country.”