Open Mike Monday 18th November

1. I would like to write an eulogy for Ayla Boyd. However I’m sure someone is doing it better, someone who loved and knew her, someone who is going to be able to personally comfort her parents, siblings and family, for it is as though her death was a public thing yet no one was able to respond in time, and such is the way of the world of social media. No sober driver was able to come forward and answer her Facebook request for help. Her friends were aware of her state of mind but-due to the disconnect of the real world with the digital- not in a position to help her.
   May you rest in peace Ayla. Your beautiful face represents to me the sad, sad, sadness of our lives in this disconnected world http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11158742

2. Climate Change: coming to a city near you

   http://www.bloomberg.com/video/typhoon-haiyan-images-of-the-world-s-biggest-storm-KA09~xQtQ7GsYFlvU50MJA.html?cmpid=otbrn.video

3. “Will you tell them about us?”

   I battled with the question of why I was here, in the Philippines, covering this catastrophe. I still don’t know the answer, but this is what I keep coming back to.

   Every time I visited a village or spoke with somebody here I was asked two questions. “Your country, sir?”

   “New Zealand,” I told them.

   “Ah, New Zealand,” they replied.

   “Will you tell them about us?”

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