If you had a chance to see my SURF presentation and the trailer, this is your opportunity to see the full-length feature. If you do not know what this film is about, here is my abstract for SURF to better explain my documentary below or click on the link to see my trailer on YouTube.

Abstract:

Jason Russell, Laren Poole, and Bobby Bailey traveled as young filmmakers in 2003 to Uganda and stumbled onto a problem that most of the world had not yet confronted: children recruited as soldiers in the country’s brutal war. The Rough Cut documentary that emerged from this trip became the recruitment tool and basis for Invisible Children, the organization the three men founded to enlist the help of America’s youth in ending the practice of child soldiering. As an impressionable high schooler, I was moved to action by the plight of Uganda’s children and wanted to learn and do more. During my first year at Elon in 2006, I founded a branch of Invisible Children and worked to mobilize the campus to end what to me was “the central issue plaguing Africa’s children.” What a difference two years make! Child soldiering, I discovered, is symptomatic of some of the larger issues (like poverty, disease, modern slavery . . .) facing many of the continent’s youth, that Invisible Children is not the best or only method for combating the problem, and Uganda is not the only country grappling with the plight of its young people . My focus has expanded and shifted with these growing insights. As someone concerned with children’s human rights in Africa, I have learned the importance of comprehensive research in and outside the classroom, intimate knowledge of one’s subjects through ethnographic methods like interviews, surveys, and field work, a willingness to alter one’s perspective, and a plan of action shaped by one’s knowledge and experiences. These revelations have led to the creation of my own documentary, Becoming a Foot Soldier for Children’s Human Rights in Africa. It demonstrates the idea that student activists who are moved to pursue a cause with determination, passion, and perseverance will sometimes do more harm than good unless they educate themselves to the various perspectives, harness their paternalistic attitudes, and seek partnerships in creating sustainable solutions for their cause.

Come see it next Thursday in the basement of McEwen in Room 011 – Thanks!

Katie Meyer

Where: Belk 102

When: February 23 at 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

If you have any questions at all, feel free to email Katie Meyer (kmeyer3@elon.edu) or invisiblechildrenelon@yahoo.com!

See you there!

You can buy your tickets for $5 on Wednesday & Thursday of this week (Oct. 14 &15) or next Wednesday & Thursday after Fall Break (Oct. 21 & 22) at our Moseley tables from 10-2 p.m. Phoenix Card Swipers are available.

If you can’t afford the $5 or can’t attend our event but still want to support St. Jude, come to our Moseley tables to write five letters to your friends or family. Simply bring your addresses to our table (no campus boxes or business addresses please) and fill out the letters. We’ll pay for postage & take care of mailing them for you.

Thanks for your support of St. Jude & Tri-Delta!

It isn’t too late, just email me if you’re still interested!!

To sign up, just send me the names of your team/ teams to kmeyer3@elon.edu!

Thanks!

The registration fee is $40 per team if you would like t-shirts included, $20 a team without t-shirts. To sign up your team, simply email Katie Meyer (kmeyer3@elon.edu). All proceeds of the tournament go toward St. Jude!

Come support St. Jude and Tri-Delta and also get to play cornhole, get some free drinks & snacks along with some music too!

To send a candy-gram all you need is $1 and your friend’s name and year at Elon and we’ll do the rest for you! Donations are appreciated as all proceeds go directly to Invisible Children’s campaign, “Schools for Schools,” which raises money for building schools in Northern Uganda.

Support your chapter of Invisible Children while also giving a surprise to one of your friends this season! If you have any questions, feel free to contact Katie Meyer, kmeyer3@elon.edu for more information.

Bring friends, faculty, and staff to decorate holiday and winter gifts while enjoying free hot chocolate, cookies and some holiday music! Donations are appreciated and you’ll need to bring money to make gifts. All proceeds go directly to Invisible Children’s campaign, “Schools for Schools,” which helps build schools in Northern Uganda.

Take a break from studying and make gifts for Christmas or just for the holiday while supporting your chapter of Invisible Children!

If you have any questions, contact Katie Meyer, kmeyer3@elon.edu.

Professor Safia Swimelar’s POL 389 class on International Human Rights is screening films as part of their Human Rights Film Festival. The seventh in their film series is “Beyond Borders: The Debate over Human Migration,” which will be shown in McEwen 011 auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to get cultural event credit while learning about human rights.

To get a glimpse of the movie, click on the link to the right or read the synopsis below:

“Beyond Borders” moves past the headlines and takes an in-depth look at the hot-button issues of legal and illegal immigration. “Beyond Borders” explores the psychological forces driving the immigration controversy from both sides of the debate.

Anti-immigration activists demand we stop this “illegal alien invasion,” while some pro-immigration forces speak of a Reconquista, a reclaiming of the American Southwest by Mexico. In search of a middle ground, “Beyond Borders” travels across the U.S. and beyond to give voices to those on the front lines of this issue, including candid interviews with Border Patrol agents, radio celebrities, demographers, the Minute Men, potential migrants and a host of experts, including Noam Chomsky (Distorted Morality) and Gustavo Arellano (Ask A Mexican). “Beyond Borders” is an entertaining and enlightening film that asks: Is migration a basic human right? (Provided by Beyondborders.com.)

If you have any questions, please contact Katie Meyer (kmeyer3@elon.edu) for more information.

The seventh of their film series is “Beyond Borders: the Debate over Human Migration” and will be shown in McEwen 011 auditorium on Thursday Nov. 20 at 7:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to get cultural event credit while learning about human rights.

To get a glimpse of the movie, click on the link to the right.

Or read the synopsis below:

“Beyond Borders” moves past the headlines and takes an in-depth look at the hot-button issues of legal and illegal immigration. “Beyond Borders” explores the psychological forces driving the immigration controversy from both sides of the debate.

Anti-immigration activists demand we stop this “illegal alien invasion,” while some pro-immigration forces speak of a Reconquista, a reclaiming of the American Southwest by Mexico. In search of a middle ground, Beyond Borders travels across the U.S. and beyond to give voices to those on the front line of this issue, including candid interviews with Border Patrol agents, radio celebrities, demographers, the Minute Men, potential migrants and a host of experts, including Noam Chomsky (Distorted Morality) and Gustavo Arellano (Ask A Mexican). “Beyond Borders” is an entertaining and enlightening film that asks: Is migration a basic human right? -Provided by Beyondborders.com.

If you have any questions at all, please contact Katie Meyer (kmeyer3@elon.edu) for more information!

Synopsis:

Eleven directors from 11 different countries create an 11-minute, 9-second film as a response to the 9/11 attacks. The countries include: Britain, India, Israel, Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Israel, France, United States, Mexico, Japan, Egypt and Iran. The film encourages one to fit the 9/11 attacks into a broader global framework and to see the tragedy from different perspectives. Some of the directors include Sean Penn, Danis Tanovic (Bosnia-winner of best Foreign Film Academy Award in 2001); Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros).

If you have any questions at all, please contact Katie Meyer (kmeyer3@elon.edu) for more information!

Note: Swimelar’s International Human Rights course (POLS 389) has organized this human rights film series to spread awareness at Elon of diverse and global human rights issues and to examine the role of images and film in our understanding of human rights. As part of their course requirements and for educational purposes only, students will briefly present on different aspects of the film and will lead a discussion with the audience.