*Photos by Ruthie Ackerman: Photo (front page of blog) Armaa Johnson, Photo (this page, top) Garretson Sherman, Photo (this page, bottom) Nat Jefferies

A few weeks back I headed out to Staten Island for one of my twice monthly workshops with the Liberian blogging group. The sun was shining (which for those of you who have been following the New York weather lately was a blessing) and the boat ride was relaxing. Nat Jefferies picked me up at the ferry on the Staten Island side and we headed for African Refuge, the youth drop-in center where we hold the workshops.

Now in starting this blogging project I figured that the Liberians in Staten Island would have an easier time blogging than the counterparts in Liberia given the faster speed and cheaper cost of internet service in the U.S. That is not what I have found. Instead, to my dismay, I learned at that Saturday workshop just how slow the internet in Park Hill can be. Nonetheless, we encouraged each other and by the end of the three hour session we had uploaded several videos to YouTube, which you can see here and here. We have a lot more to add so please keep checking back.

Nat, who runs Genocide Records out of a studio in his house, let us use his Apple computer to work on the videos and we even met a new potential blogger Armaa Johnson, a Liberian filmmaker who is making a documentary about Liberians in Staten Island. We’re excited about seeing his work and adding it to our blog.

We also just started a Facebook fan page for the Ceasefire Liberia project so we hope you become a fan and support our work.