A Carol Not Only for Christmas

Ten words for 2010: authentic, integrity, compassionate, inspired, intellectual, spiritual, commitment, excellence, fun, and creative.

Now that the holidays are over, Internet users are doing less online shopping and spending more time seeking original content that will inspire and help them adhere to their New Year’s resolutions. A beautiful and hope-filled song, even a carol, is pleasant to hear at any time of the year.

“The world is changing, and young people are a significant part of that change,” says Dana Ann Clark, founder of Carol for a Cause, a project designed to support musical talent while promoting good will. Carol for a Cause does not support any particular cause, but Clark hopes that visitors to the site will enjoy the inspiring music and pass it on to friends and family members, anyone they think needs to hear a message of hope.

“Young people have a tremendous respect for creating different mediums of art and finding innovative ways to express that,” says Clark, who wrote the lyrics for “Christmas Time”, the 2009 Carol for a Cause. The song was performed by musician Dana Robinson.

“This project exemplifies that art can be both visual and auditory while inspiring our senses to act with kindness towards one another,” says Clark.

To promote the website and YouTube music video, Clark used Twitter, Facebook, and blogger outreach. Says Clark, “Social media allows us to connect with the right people despite potential geographic limitations put in place by traditional marketing. It has made me more connected to others in ways that allow me to obtain and share more knowledge than ever before. It has also allowed more visibility and results to come from my Carol for a Cause efforts. The internet has allowed a number of young artists a means to get their talents shared and recognized.”

Clark hopes that young people will listen to the song and evaluate what they think and how they feel about their work/life balance. As a business owner, she knows first-hand about the challenges of separating her professional life from her personal life. Clark owns Organizational Talent Solutions, a company based in Edgewater, MD that provides expert assessment support to assist organizations in achieving greater efficiency. Says Clark, “I believe in paying it forward, and that doing good things for others can cause change, whether that be donating to a favorite charity or helping out a friend in need.”

Though Clark is passionate about Carol for a Cause and her work in assessment and training, she also likes to take time to enjoy songwriting, gardening, golf, theater and the arts, wine, and travel.

“In the spirit of the season may we continue to embrace hope and know that, through the power of love, all things are possible if we believe,” reads the Carol for a Cause homepage text. Clark hopes that her song and video will inspire and promote change in the world. In 2010, she plans to release volume II of Carol for a Cause.

Irish Blood, American Culture

Ten words for 2010: Jersey, Catholic, law school, reading, writing, family, theology, journaling, religious art, and invictus.

Daniel F. O’Brien, also known as “Jersey”, owns an expensive digital camera but doesn’t like getting his photo taken. In fact, no one has taken a photo of him since June 2009.

Though O’Brien, 25, is a law school student who lives in Florida, he still has love for New Jersey, the state where he was born and raised.

“New Jersey is in my blood. It is where my family is, which is the most important thing,” says O’Brien. “But it also has everything: oceans, cities, and the country. Everything you need is here, and the Jersey culture is awesome. You know Jersey has strong character because people either love it or hate it, which is a lot like me. It is so much a part of me that people call me Jersey.”

Though he tries to share his love for New Jersey’s culture with his classmates, many of them do not want to understand it.

“Generally people make fun of Jersey always with the landfill or corrupt politicians jokes, but all our landfills are closed, and we do something about corruption unlike a lot of states who sit back and watch,” says O’Brien. “Jersey isn’t something you can just visit and understand. You have to live there.”

A self-described “Jack of all trades”, O’Brien likes reading, watching sports and movies, antiques, and learning about Catholicism. Says O’Brien, who spends a lot of time studying theology, “It is the form of Christianity that I most agree with. I appreciate how a Mass appeals to all the senses: the smell of insense, the touch of the pews, hymnals, people, the sight of beautifully built parishes, the taste of the Body and Blood, and the sound of the music. It never fails to move me. Importantly too is that I am Irish, and to many Irish and Irish-Americans, Catholicism is inseparable from their self-identity. My family suffered at the hands of the English for their religion and we came from nothing so Faith was all we had. In my family we carry it with us and it is part of everything we do. Without the Church I would be lost.”

He also spends a lot of time writing, both for school and for pleasure. Says O’Brien, “I am very proud of my journals, which tell my life in five volumes.”

To promote and support American arts, O’Brien collects art.

“I like all kinds of art that is not modern art, but I’m partial to oil paintings, sculptures, and bronze work,” says O’Brien. “I am most partial to the religious art and antiques. I am all over the place with my collections. I pick things that are rare and valuable.”

He lives by the words written in the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. He even has the word invictus tattooed on his chest. Says O’Brien, “There was a time when people told me I would never graduate college, and I did. The poem reminds me to never, ever quit.”