This story, from Ed Pilkington and Tom Phillips of The Guardian, caught me eye:

When the 3,000 inmates of the central prison in Port-au-Prince unexpectedly gained their freedom, courtesy of the earthquake, everybody knew where they would be headed: Cité Soleil, the poorest area of this poorest city, in whose maze of streets they could vanish.

But the fugitives hadn’t counted on one thing: the determination of Cité Soleil’s people not to let them back. “We’ve got so many huge problems because of the earthquake, we have so little food, water and medicines, we can’t deal with another huge problem,” said Caries Rubens, 26, one of the area’s 300,000 people.

Several of the escapers had been gang leaders in the slum neighbourhood, ensnaring and terrorising the people with drugs and guns. Nobody wanted to see them regain their hold.

When news that the earthquake had granted the prisoners early parole reached Cité Soleil, a committee was set up, then vigilante security teams. Prisoners spotted re-entering the area were chased and run out of town. Those who were caught came to a more definitive end.

I’ve been getting questions to what one can do for Haiti.  Here are some more answers…

Here’s an excellent site doing great work on the GROUND in Haiti:

http://www.brothersbrother.org/

Know, that if you donate to them, your money goes directly to those in need in Haiti.

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Be sure to check-out THE LEDE from the New York Times, giving up-to-the-minute information on Haiti, including, blogs, links, and video.

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Here’s a moving post from a friend of mine, Anafidelia Renaud Tavares, that lists several organizations doing substantive work in Haiti:

Hello friends,

We have witnessed one of the largest natural disasters and likely the most devastating to affect Haiti in the last 200 years. Many of you are reacting to the news of the earthquake  in Haiti in different ways. Many children of Haiti, like me, are calling friends and family to find out if they are ok. (So far the news from my family is heartening though we are waiting with baited breath for word from cousins who we have been unable to get in touch with.)

Others of you seeing the pictures of poverty, grief, destruction and devastation are wondering how you can help.  In many times of crisis, the first impulse is to give to any organization that seems like it might help. While Haiti is known by many to be the poorest nation in this hemisphere- it is also the first independent black nation of the world, home to great intellectuals, artists, musicians and a rich spiritual/cultural tradition. There are many local organizations on the ground- formed by Haitians’ helping each other- that I would ask you to consider. Additionally, there are many international organizations that have a demonstrated and independently verified record of helping people in need, responding to disasters etc.

I would ask you to consider giving to the organizations below. These organizations are ones in which close friends or family members of mine have witnessed the quality and dedication of the humanitarian work performed.

You can also collect cash donations at your place of work in the days and coming weeks and send to the organizations below. The motto on the Haitian flag “L’Union fait la force” means in “ in unity is strength” so many small donations as little as $1 would be a help to the organizations below.

Finally, the first 72 hours of a disaster are critical. You can also help by calling your elected officials and ask them what they are doing to ensure a swift, sure and effective US government led humanitarian response. Contact the White House at  202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414. And contact your Senator or Representative by following this link http://www.contactingthecongress.org/. Tell them that the world and country is watching how the most powerful country in this world will respond to this crisis.

I thank you in advance for your help. Continue to keep your positive thoughts, prayers and actions focused on Haiti.

1. Saint Boniface Foundation in Haiti

http://www.haitihealth.org/

St. Boniface Haiti Foundation

400 North Main St.

Randolph, MA 02368

781-963-7243

info@haitihealth.org

Catholic clinic and organization that my sister volunteered with in Haiti. Do amazing work taking care of the medical and social needs of the whole family and village.

2. H.E.L.P Inc

http://www.helpinconline.org/

Director Michel Brutus mhbrutus85@hotmail.com

14 Impasse Heraux – Entrée Sylvio Cator

Port-au-Prince Haiti W.I.

011 509 246-5710(Home)

011 509 555-5410(Cellular)

011 509 510-8238(Hospital)

Louise A. Smith

Advisory Board General Secretary 31 Galty Avenue – Dorchester, MA 02124 617-287-8445

louise.a.smith@prodigy.net

This clinic is near the epicenter of the disaster. I have not been able to confirm if the hospital is still standing. But the staff at this hospital are a dedicated group and will be at the heart of reaching out and helping.

3.World Vision

http://www.worldvision.org/

1-888-511-6593

One-time giving/Emergency relief

P.O. Box 9716

Federal Way, WA 98063-9716

info@worldvision.org

Me and my sister contribute to this organization on a regular basis. I saw them on the front line in Uganda helping constantly in many ways ( building wells, homes, clinics, vaccinating kids etc). They are in Haiti with a significant presence and have a proven track record in disaster relief. They do this work well, with low administrative overhead so you know the money will be going directly to people in need

4. Doctors without Borders

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

1-888-392-0392

USA Headquarters

333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor

New York, NY  10001-5004

Phone: 212-679-6800

Fax: 212-679-7016

Finally another well known organization that is always  on the front lines of disaster relief. I have many close friends who volunteered with this organization and have nothing but wonderful things to say about their work. They do this work well and with low administrative overhead.

Best regards,

Anafidelia Renaud Tavares, MD, MPH

Emeline Michel and I are determined to do all that we can for our Haitian brothers and sisters, and we’re grateful that an array of musicians and artists are joining together in a journey of hope towards Haiti’s recovery and rebirth. We are providing websites and links for you to respond immediately, and planning concerts and other special events that will be a march towards the reconstruction and resurrection of our island-nation—one that has given us so much while never asking for anything in return.  We will rebuild, we must rebuild, and in doing so, we begin the process of helping and healing those who now need us the most, now, and in the coming months and years.

Nothing is as powerful as the will of a nation to survive, the strength of people to believe, and the miracle of the individual boldly acting towards world-wide change.”

Daniel Bernard Roumain and Emeline Michel

To act today, please support these sites and organizations.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake

http://clintonbushhaitifund.org

http://www.redcross.org

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org

http://www.cnn.com

For important updates on future Haitian-relief efforts, concerts, and special events, please go to www.dbrmusic.com or refer to this blog on how you can help and play your part.

Prayers for Daniel’s relations in his island nation home of Haiti. Remember to text 90999 with the message of “Haiti” to instantly-magically donate $10 to relief efforts @ the red cross!

Love,
MNM

There are tragedies going on all over the world, and there will be forever, but the news, and Bono, and our political leaders, AND BONO, all want us to care about all of them at the same time, and the spam e-mails continue and in our minds we think that they are still not satisfied. You can’t ask to care about 6.5 billion people you don’t know, because it’s hard enough to find a dozen people in the world you can trust.

I guess what I like about Daniel the most is that, while he challenges and demands things of the people he meets, he also keeps things, as he puts it, “cryptic.” When Daniel asks you to give back to your local arts community, he doesn’t wag his finger and say “you should.” He says, “you have the opportunity.”

It’s your life, folks. You don’t have to listen to the big megaphones, because the big megaphones are aimed at everyone, not you personally. It  may sound selfish, but if you don’t do right by your self then you’re probably gonna have a fairly miserable time of this weird little life of yours. I get on the same kick Daniel does about art, though, because from a purely economic perspective, most of the Arts don’t cost all that much. Usually they just cost a little of your time.

And if you can learn to funnel a little of your time into something you read in the Indy’s Arts calendar, you’re almost guaranteed to see or hear something you’ve never experienced before. To be honest, isn’t that’s what life is all about? Just a few more new things than yesterday makes all the difference.

MNM

And while I don’t always relish being told that there might be another redheaded snowflake out there just like me, and if there is “God help us all” is the only advice I can offer, he’s got a kind of point. I think it’s why so many of us don’t bother stretching our creative legs, because we’re so busy flexing our academic arms, workplace waists, family femurs and social smiles that it all becomes too much. We take comfort in how alike we are, and why shouldn’t we? The world’s big, the world’s huge. The world’s fuh-ree-key, and there ain’t no cure ‘cept keepin’ yo’ head down.

So we preach individualism, but for safety we try to have the same thing: “the job,” “the family,” “the car,” “the life” and we shy away from “thee artz,” because, Heaven help us, they could be anything and that’s too clean a slate for us to start with. College tells us where to work, Families dictate who we surround ourselves with, Cars go fast-fast vroom-vroom and purr at our arrival like high octane kittens and, if we’re lucky, sitcoms answer the rest.

No one’s going to tell you how to write, because in the end you only write what you want to write, and when you see that someone else’s writing is different you think “Is that better?” You don’t know, there’s no guidebook, there’s just today and, if you’re really lucky, tomorrow.

Now, for my moolah, I don’t really care whether or not my name echoes through the hallowed halls of Historioscity. I’ll enjoy what comes now now, and come what else may. Then I think, what about the ill-gotten spawn I bring unto this Earth some far flung day? Don’t I want them to say I was cool? I never cared much about being cool in my life, and believe you me I have been all Technicolor shades of un-flippin’-cool, but…I think I’d like my kid to call me cool.

Just once before the lights go out.

MNM

It’s a common joke and truism, made as frequently by me as anyone, that to be an Artist you must suffer mightily. You need to have terrible, awful, knockdown relationships, you need to acquire numerous dangerous habits that (through a series of unfortunate coincidences) land you naked on a fishing boat bound to Norway, you need to grow massive amounts of hair and most importantly, you need to starve.

And I’m a writer, why, again?

But this is why there frequently is love lost between the arts and the rest of society. What strange people, these artists, who must work for no money and construct strange and hauntingly beautiful works that no one will be able to enjoy until well after their creator kicks the bucket!

Then I think of Daniel. Daniel is a violinist, and Daniel makes money.

I’m going to repeat that, because the statement bears repeating. Daniel plays a two-foot long, wooden instrument with six strings on it, at places other than a street corner, such as Lady GaGa’s American Idol performance or ESPN, and receives cash funds in exchange for his services. Forever a quote-un-quote poor English major, this confounds me. More relevantly, this confounds everyone, ever. There are so many talented painters and writers I know that are physicists, veterinarians and engineers who will never let their art escape their harddrive because, yeesh, no one thinks there’s any money in it.

Two days ago, I met Daniel’s four month old son, Zachary, and I realized that artists don’t bring kids into this world to starve with them, they bring kids into this world because they can feed them.

If you think the heights of Timbaland, Kate Winslet, J.K. Rowling, or gosh even Kanye West, and countless others are so beyond you, remember that each of them are just people who thought to themselves “this can’t work.” The only difference is, they didn’t let it stop them.

If you have art, I hate to break it to you but you owe the world the beauty of what you contruct. Think of how much less nifty life would be if we all just stopped trying.

There, I’m done being inspirational. Now it’s your turn.

MNM

Check out the feature story about DBR on the front page of Arts & Living in today’s News & Observer. Thank you to Craig Jarvis (writer) and Takaaki Iwabu (photographer)!