They tell me when you search for answers that there are none, But when you least expect to find one it comes, It hits you, takes you in like a breath of fresh air, Awakens you like morning’s light, Or like flicking a switch, And God turns on a light, For years I‘ve been [...]
By
Tamara Westfall
closeAuthor: Tamara Westfall
Name: Tamara Westfall
Email: LAH@candidtam.com
Site: http://www.candidtam.com
About: Graduating from the Journalism Program at Columbia College Chicago on a pile of student loans and grants, Tamara Westfall intended to be a war photographer but ended up working as a Community Affairs Producer for WCIU 26, an Investigative Researcher at the Better Government Association and is currently freelancing as an Investigative Writer/Researcher in social, political, and human interests.
In the last decade Tamara worked on Emmy Nominated Cultural Documentary, Cambio De Colores, was honored by the Tribune Internship Award for outstanding investigative research, graduated with Honors and on the Dean's List from Columbia, worked on a number of Emmy Nominated programs at WCIU 26, worked on televised coverage for the 2008 Presidential Election, and has organized, volunteered for and managed several successful high publicity productions and events.
Tamara spent her childhood in flux growing up as a military brat. She's lived through 13-years of domestic violence, is a recovering foul-mouthed misanthrope, and is the first girl in her family history to complete college. She thrives on critical thinking, problem research, and exploring intolerance. She also enjoys events coordination, volunteerism, painting, and riding her bicycle in her new home town of Los Angeles.See Authors Posts (4) ⋅ June 27, 2011
⋅ 2 commentsBryon and Julie Widner – “Explaining Hate” Interview by – Tamara Westfall June 26th, 2011 “I [then] realized that I had more in common with my “Enemy” than I did with those I called brother for years.” [...]
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Tony McAleer
closeAuthor: Tony McAleer
Name: Tony McAleer
Email: Tony@TheNeoCompassionist.ca
Site: http://TheNeoCompassionist.ca
About: VANCOUVER, B.C.: A former associate of the White Aryan Resistance Movement (WAR), Tony McAleer served as a skinhead recruiter, proprietor of Canadian Liberty Net (a computer operated voice messaging center),, and manager of the racist rock band, "Odin's Law." Tony was found to have contravened section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Commission that prohibits the dissemination of messages likely to expose groups to hatred by telephone. He was later jailed for contempt when he circumvented the CHRC decision by establishing a telephone message system in Washington State, in a case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada.
His love for his children led Tony on a spiritual journey of personal
transformation. Financial hardship and the harsh realities of single
parenthood brought him to a place of compassion and forgiveness for himself and for others. Tony has spent the past six years as principal of McAleer & Associates Wealth Management and traveling as a motivational speaker.See Authors Posts (2) ⋅ June 21, 2011
⋅ 4 commentsIt started with me where I think it starts for most of us: in childhood. You may see me as different from you and my story different from yours, but what I would like you to remember, as I begin, is that we have all been searching for something and trying to find ways to [...]
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Christian Picciolini
closeAuthor: Christian Picciolini
Name: Christian Picciolini
Email: cpicciolini@gmail.com
Site: http://www.christianpicciolini.com
About: I grew up on the South side of Chicago in a neighborhood called Blue Island. After beginning a career in the corporate world and earning a Bachelor's Degree in International Business / International Relations from DePaul University, I once again began photographing, writing and painting.
I currently own GOLDMILL, an artist development and management firm, and Sinister Muse, an independent music label, and am co-owner, General Manager and Executive Producer for iconic music television program, JBTV. In 2010, I was nominated for a Chicago/Midwest Professional Emmy® Award for my work on Flatfoot 56’s ‘Courage’ music video.
In 2009, I co-founded Life After Hate, a non-profit organization and online magazine dedicated to spreading basic human goodness. That same year I began my autobiographical writing journey and penned my memoir Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead. The book, available in 2012, explores how a good kid from a loving family could be drawn into a world of hate and violence and the toll that hatred has on my family. It shows the desperate struggle of a child looking for a place to belong, and to forge an identity while straddling two different cultures.
I love sushi, soccer, and strategy. I’m married and live in the Chicago area with my amazing wife and two awesome children.See Authors Posts (3) ⋅ June 18, 2011
⋅ Post a commentWow, here we are. Issue 18. I’m truly amazed at how far we’ve come in such a very short time. Against all odds and, for many of us, completely against a course that we once believed we were destined to tread many years ago. Here we are. In November of 2009, my old friend and [...]
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Carlford Wadley
closeAuthor: Carlford Wadley
Name: Carlford Wadley
Email: carlford.wadley@gmail.com
Site: http://negroporfavor.blogspot.com/
About: Originally from St Andrew Jamaica and raised in 4 out the 5 boroughs of NYC; Carl writes for the blog http://negroporfavor.blogspot.com which examines the intersections of pop culture, race and social issues.See Authors Posts (2) ⋅ June 15, 2011
⋅ 3 commentsIf someone was young, gay, closeted, and self-hating, doing something to throw suspicion off them being gay—like being a skinhead—might seem like a good idea. The added benefit of becoming part of a group that helps their self esteem by setting up a confrontational and superior attitude towards outsiders based on race and ethnicity, makes it an attractive proposition. In skinhead culture where violence is seen as proof of manhood, the idea of hiding gayness by beating people up or obfuscating it with this activity becomes a viable option. Targeting gay men would only help this person further disguise their own homosexuality. If the violence they doled out extended to gay people, all the better for them to maintain their closet.
By
Callen Harty
closeAuthor: Callen Harty
Name: Callen Harty
Email: charty@tds.net
Site: http://www.callenharty.com
About: Callen Harty is a free-lance writer/photographer from Monona, WI. He is the co-founder of UW-Madison's 10% Society and of Proud Theater, an LGBT youth theater group for which he is still an adult mentor. Until recently, he was the Artistic Director of Broom Street Theater in Madison (2005-2010). He has performed hundreds of times and written/produced 20 full-length plays, most recently Invisible Boy, an autobiographical play about surviving childhood sexual abuse.See Authors Posts (11) ⋅ June 13, 2011
⋅ Post a commentStrange Fruit may be the most haunting of all of Billie Holiday’s songs. It was written as a protest song to draw attention to the lynching of African-Americans in this country and her recording of it was a brave act at a time when segregation was still legal, Jim Crow laws were in effect, and acts of defiance or assertion of civil rights could get a person killed or severely beaten.
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Ornella Umubyeyi
closeAuthor: Ornella Umubyeyi
Name: Ornella Umubyeyi
Email: UmubyeyiO@Ripon.EDU
Site: http://ornellastar.tumblr.com/
About: Umubyeyi Ornella is a preacher, public motivational speaker, a spiritual/life counsellor, a human rights activist, a Christian, a photographer, a poet, a writer, a leadership mentor and trainer and a filmmaker while still being a college student. She's an author of "Life beyond Sight: Existing not Living" a Christian/inspirational book published in summer 2010.She has won several awards such as; Activist of the month (by the Teen Voice Magazine) in 2009, Peace Maker Award ( By Traprock Peace Centre; for intentions, effort, and achievement toward realizing peace and Justice.) in 2007, The Miriam Emerson Peterson Award (contribution to the cause of International understanding) in 2008, The Head of School Award (By Stoneleigh Burnham School; for dedication as the Student Council president to the school and the community.) in 2009. Producing two documentaries in 2007(Rwanda) & 2009(Ghana).See Authors Posts (1) ⋅ June 6, 2011
⋅ 2 commentsI am from Rwanda, from the heart of Africa. A country filled with green trees and thousands of hills. The world knows our history. When saying, “I AM FROM RWANDA”, peoples’ faces always change… but God has blessed Rwanda. As the proverb says, “God visits the world, and He rests in Rwanda.” For what I [...]
Frank Meeink—Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
TJ Leyden—Skinhead Confessions
Arno Michaels—My Life After Hate
Wizard Fingaz & Soul Sathe embarked on a collaborative project known as Tribal Sorcery · deep conscious hip-hop
