Wo xi huan wo de peng-you!

Say some pr.y.rs for my brothers in East Asia

Free the Jena 6

JENA IS AMERICA

I suggest reading the above article in its entirety.


Friends of Justice

And visiting this website, linked in the former article. Also, check out links on the Friends of Justice page for some other good stuff.

Eek

Ow.

Clark put a few WALLS photos on facebook.

I miss this summer so much.

Ow.

It hurts.

Vanessa Carlton - Nolita Fairytale

When I was home on Monday I saw this, and fell in love with the mushroom towers and umbrella-fairy around 1:15+. Check it out.

miracle grow

This week has been entirely unexpected and what lies before me remains unknown. Oh... the comfort in the waiting though. This is my home!

Everyone should go to an independent pharmacist. Support Max Peoples!

Came down with a mean sinus infection yesterday. I spent the day in one place. It was funny because my Sojourners e-mail from yesterday contained a verse about God quieting the hands of the crafty or something. Guess I've been crafty...eek.

(kim sadler this next bit is for you)

Yesterday was a long day sitting in one place. The clock on the opposite wall took up half the room with its three slow motion hands, mocking my stagnant nature and elongating every tick. It became so large that I couldn't see around the monstrosity, and all the latest music videos of Kanye and Rihanna played behind it, entertaining only the ever-increasingly large keeper of time. Had I waited mere minutes longer before taking shelter in slumber, the clock surely would have consumed me, making me a part of its wooden shell and brass features. Alas, I slept, and with each REM cycle the distance between the clock and I grew. This morning, when I awoke to the tap tap of the bitty brown bird knocking on my window, the clock had shrunk to its normal size, hanging on the wall in innocence, as if prior to the moonlight I had not been its prey.


I don't know what floor I'm sleeping on tonight.

port 330 no more

My Portuguese class was canceled due to low enrollment.

Due to the nearly 60,000 students who start class on Wednesday and have all scheduled prior to now, I'm left with little options.



Long story short, I'm not taking Chinese now either, the scheduling bind forced me out of that.



Starting on Wednesday looks a little dreary now. Must trust He has this for me, praise Him.


New schedule allowing me to be a full time student:
Geology
Spanish
Modern Arabic Literature


Who knows though, this may change within the next twenty-four hours.

Hmm...

Micro credit in India

"What will it take for micro credit to become a mainstream mode for lending? One option is to provide other financial services similarly built around small amounts of money, such as micro insurance. There is tremendous scope to design well-adapted insurance products for the poor in the insurance sector as well; this will reduce their vulnerability to environmental influences - weather and pests - as well as diminish the risk should they - or their livestock - become ill unexpectedly. Such additional products will expand the micro finance platform, and even encourage more new directions."
Ramesh Menon

Thoughts?

Sopping

Tonight was hard for numerous reasons. One being, I saw my good friend that I haven't seen in quite some time, and was largely unable to speak with him. His English is not great, and while I used to speak with him in Spanish, I now find when I go to call him my brother, I say "wo gege" and not "mi hermano." I was thankful for amigos who had not replaced their espanol with chinese, and were able to converse. Praise G-d.



And I am so antsy and restless about things that sleeping seems like an awful waste of time. But I've got to get up early tomorrow and run before I go to several different places within a short time period. So writing will wait.

But writing doesn't wait, it runs away unless you hold its hand.




I do not understand why I've got this warmth and dryness, and I gave sopping wet Jesse a hug tonight and her skin released rain water like a squeezed sponge. I never understand this, and I am ashamed that I do not do anything about it.






And all this debate about spiritual suffering tonight... what condition does that leave my response to physical suffering in?









I am very confused.

Not Charity

I'm very grateful to all these organizations in the United States, especially the private and religious organizations. I appreciate the food and clothing they send. I thank them sincerely for their willingness to help, and I know they do it with great love. But I'd also like to say that this relationship–where we're dependent on the goodwill of outsiders–isn't the kind of relationship we'd like to have.... We're not going to solve our problem through handouts. Because our problem is a social one. And until we change this system, all the charity in the world won't take us out of poverty.
- Elvia Alvarado
Don't Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart

This was the Voice in my daily Sojourner e-mail. I think about this all the time, and it leaves me confused as to what my action should be in regards to this type of charity. I am not going to be changing the problematic economic system of any country soon, so do I continue to give food and clothing? Isn't it perpetuating their problem? But if I do not, am I turning a blind eye to their need? I think it has to be some sort of combined effort. While we are providing for their more immediate needs, like food and clothing, shouldn't we also be constantly working on the root of the problem-- the system that created the impoverished downtrodden and oppressed?

My friend Paul gave me a tape of field recordings from his time in New Orleans, and the paper in which he wrapped it promoted Common Ground Collective. Common Ground Collective is a community-initiated volunteer organization that provides immediate relief as well as long-term rebuilding support for the people of New Orleans. What strikes me about this organization is their slogan, "Solidarity not Charity." I think solidarity looks more like figuring out what's wrong with the system and fixing it so that it doesn't keep people stagnant. Now I'm thinking of Muhammed Yunus microcredit..

Hmm, perhaps more on this later, I've got to be somewhere.

Meanwhile, check this out.

One of their projects is bioremediation (The Meg Perry Healthy Soil Project):

"The greater New Orleans area is home to oil and chemical industries that generate and store thousands of tons of toxic chemicals. These chemicals are stored in fuel tanks, warehouses, industries, gasoline stations, dry cleaners, auto-repair businesses, in the garage and under the kitchen sink. When hit by the floodwaters and hurricane winds of Katrina and Rita, many of these chemicals floated out of their storage locations and into adjacent neighborhoods. These toxic spills will create long-term health risks to people in contaminated areas unless soil and water are fully cleaned up so that all toxins are removed, broken down into harmless chemicals, or tightly bound so that areas are safe for our most vulnerable populations: children playing in their yards and schools, and the elderly whose physical health may be compromised."

They look to correct this with testing, remediation, and planting things that promote soil health...

[commongroundrelief.org]

salaam

And so they both hug him

"So, you know, not that it's a big surprise, but if Aaron Weiss were Secretary of State, there would be no war. Only hugs."
-Billy