I totally feel this way too... there are so many people I could send it to - including my very own beloved and somewhat spoiled (compared to me of course! ;~) daughter - its a constant struggle! I miss not being able buy what I want to buy as gifts,.... but then I don't want them sitting in a corner, never used, either. I just do not "feel the love" with Gift Cards. Receiving is OK depending on how "close" I am to that person, but I don't feel as good giving them either. I love love love Cary Tenis - a philosophic advice columnist I've been reading for years on Salon.com . He puts in a very good word for the kids' POV:
Where, I ask you, are they supposed to find the values that you are talking about? Sure, parents can try to teach them these things. But kids look at their parents, and then they look at the world, and they go, What the fuck? They see the toys spewing out of the world's vast maws of plastic-mold technology, they see the microchips doubling in speed and know that in a year they will be faster and faster still, and tinier and tinier still, and more feature-rich too. They see the new dresses and the new videos, and they know they'll be changing faster than they can change their own clothes. And then they look at their parents, who seem to be moving in black-and-white slo-mo. How can they feel anything but pity and scorn? How can they have any confidence that their parents will even survive the acceleration? In fact it must frighten them that their parents seem so ill-adapted to the world that parents themselves have created.
And then we come along and we say, "I'm knitting you a sweater and I want you to be grateful for it." And they think, Are you out of your head? Are you nuts? Do you have any idea what's going on in the world?
This sentence is particularly funny because I actually DID crochet C. a black scarf several years ago. It was crazy lopsided, completely uneven. It was made from 100% Alpaca yarn though ( from my friends Lisa & Miguel's company) and it was made with LOVE. I don't think he wears it though. When he wore it working outside he would have a black ring of fibers around his neck if it was wet or cold outside. Truly- its the thought that counted in this particular case! ;~)
on this topic... This article was in the Trib today too. "What would Jesus Buy?" The movie is coming out this week. (From the same guy who made "Super Size me").
Among some regular retail outlets and online ( I'll have to do something for J and my neices & nephew) - these are two places I'll also be shopping this year:
Heifer and Project Peanut Butter
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Karmic Kick in the Keester!
Last night at a social function a friend of mine was soliciting ideas from me (about how to change a problem I had brought to his attention) and I made a comment to him that I'm an "Instigator" not a "follow-upper" ! .... and I've been thinking about this obviously more and more even before I decided to start up this blog. And he was very kind and said "that's one of your special gifts". So I made an effort to accept this compliment graciously.
And then today, lo and behold, an opportunity is presented to me today by someone who is looking for help in changing the overwhelmingly lopsided voting characteristics and local government representation of my county, town, township, and precinct by asking me to apply to be a Democratic Precinct committeeman. I've been on the email listserv for a while but haven't been active at all really "locally". So we had a long conversation and there is a lot to consider, but I'm thinking about it- believe it or not! It certainly would be a good way to meet more people in my neighboorhood. Amy was really passionate about her community organizing and its kind of infectious. I think it would do me a world of good to know that I'm not the only Democrat on my block! ( not that I've never voted Republican, but just not very often). I've got to weigh this against whatever time is involved and just how comfortable I'd be sticking my neck out. I don't ususally do that but I think I may be growing into it, and now fate is giving me a big 'ol push. Yikes!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Emerging Adulthood & Religion
This is a really good essay.
Getting a Life -The challenge of emerging adulthood, by Christian Smith -Christianity Today
I forwarded it in an email along with my comments to a few friends at church. When I was on church council we did spend time discussing a 5-year plan and how to help the church grow. So I definitely thought this was relevant to our smallest (!) demographic at our medium-sized church.
My email:
Hi All : I just had a chance to run across this article online http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/006/2.10.html (RTWT)and it really raised some very good "food for thought" so (even though I'm not on council anymore!) I thought I would pass it along....
" How does or should American Christianity speak to emerging adults as people and emerging adulthood as a cultural fact? How can the church faithfully speak the gospel to 18- to 30-year-olds? The answer is surely not for the church to fall all over itself to quickly reconstruct its message and practices to somehow become more "relevant" to emerging adults. But oblivious disregard for emerging adulthood and the larger meanings and challenges it raises for church and culture surely won't do either. For starters, American Christians—parents, pastors, seminary professors, counselors, educators, and more—can simply become better informed about the emerging adulthood phenomenon. Most people probably have at least a vague sense that something has changed on the road to full adulthood. But more clearly grasping the social forces generating emerging adulthood, its typical characteristics and concerns, and their implications for a faithful church will require sustained effort"
....
" Finally, in considering the challenge of emerging adulthood, another approach that will not do is to project sole blame onto emerging adults themselves or "the culture" as some amorphous Other. If anything, the challenge of emerging adulthood raises hard questions about the extent to which American Christians have bought into the values and commitments of the larger world. How different, really, are American Christians when it comes to assumptions and practices around personal autonomy, money, lifestyle consumerism, self-gratification, and relational commitments? I am not suggesting there are clear and easy answers here. But it is worth remembering that a church that is not much different from the larger culture is going to have little distinctive or helpful to offer that culture when it comes to issues such as those posed by emerging adulthood. By grappling with emerging adulthood, then, we face the opportunity not so much for criticizing and lamenting others as for some good, hard, self-critical reflection and discussion. "
I can only say from my experience that this 18-30 phase of life was an "epoch" of time for me personally (compared to the last 10 years) and it certainly felt that much longer because it was the FARTHEST distance I ever felt away from my faith ( It certainly didn't help that I was away from Holy Cross, away from my family, living in CA, financially strapped, starting a career, and dating & then married to a 'non-believer'... but that's another long story for a rainy day ;~) and boy am I glad that phase of my life is O-V-E-R. Yeah! thank you God!) But this article really rings true to me that this can be THE most challenging time of one's life as a Christian. And it raises the point I think that we can't really consider our evangelism/discipleship ministries "well-rounded" if we measure this by having a well-attended "successful" sunday school, high-school, or "adult-ed" program, when very often its the after-college transition time that falls through the cracks when the challenges of living as a Christian are absolutely the most challenging of all! Although a solid background in Sunday school/confirmation and friends in Youth Group will certainly help, THIS "emerging adulthood" era can make-or-break whether or not one EVER returns to church or a relationship with God ( and ergo.. instill those values and faith in your future kids and generations to come!). Anyway I just wanted to put this forward as something we should raise up and pray and think about in our growth plans/strategy. I know we can't be every church to every body, but I don't think that means either that we should focus on appealing mostly to married couples in their 30's with 2.3 kids and a minivan either ;~) My two cents...(and two more from experience!)
Getting a Life -The challenge of emerging adulthood, by Christian Smith -Christianity Today
I forwarded it in an email along with my comments to a few friends at church. When I was on church council we did spend time discussing a 5-year plan and how to help the church grow. So I definitely thought this was relevant to our smallest (!) demographic at our medium-sized church.
My email:
Hi All : I just had a chance to run across this article online http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/006/2.10.html (RTWT)and it really raised some very good "food for thought" so (even though I'm not on council anymore!) I thought I would pass it along....
" How does or should American Christianity speak to emerging adults as people and emerging adulthood as a cultural fact? How can the church faithfully speak the gospel to 18- to 30-year-olds? The answer is surely not for the church to fall all over itself to quickly reconstruct its message and practices to somehow become more "relevant" to emerging adults. But oblivious disregard for emerging adulthood and the larger meanings and challenges it raises for church and culture surely won't do either. For starters, American Christians—parents, pastors, seminary professors, counselors, educators, and more—can simply become better informed about the emerging adulthood phenomenon. Most people probably have at least a vague sense that something has changed on the road to full adulthood. But more clearly grasping the social forces generating emerging adulthood, its typical characteristics and concerns, and their implications for a faithful church will require sustained effort"
....
" Finally, in considering the challenge of emerging adulthood, another approach that will not do is to project sole blame onto emerging adults themselves or "the culture" as some amorphous Other. If anything, the challenge of emerging adulthood raises hard questions about the extent to which American Christians have bought into the values and commitments of the larger world. How different, really, are American Christians when it comes to assumptions and practices around personal autonomy, money, lifestyle consumerism, self-gratification, and relational commitments? I am not suggesting there are clear and easy answers here. But it is worth remembering that a church that is not much different from the larger culture is going to have little distinctive or helpful to offer that culture when it comes to issues such as those posed by emerging adulthood. By grappling with emerging adulthood, then, we face the opportunity not so much for criticizing and lamenting others as for some good, hard, self-critical reflection and discussion. "
I can only say from my experience that this 18-30 phase of life was an "epoch" of time for me personally (compared to the last 10 years) and it certainly felt that much longer because it was the FARTHEST distance I ever felt away from my faith ( It certainly didn't help that I was away from Holy Cross, away from my family, living in CA, financially strapped, starting a career, and dating & then married to a 'non-believer'... but that's another long story for a rainy day ;~) and boy am I glad that phase of my life is O-V-E-R. Yeah! thank you God!) But this article really rings true to me that this can be THE most challenging time of one's life as a Christian. And it raises the point I think that we can't really consider our evangelism/discipleship ministries "well-rounded" if we measure this by having a well-attended "successful" sunday school, high-school, or "adult-ed" program, when very often its the after-college transition time that falls through the cracks when the challenges of living as a Christian are absolutely the most challenging of all! Although a solid background in Sunday school/confirmation and friends in Youth Group will certainly help, THIS "emerging adulthood" era can make-or-break whether or not one EVER returns to church or a relationship with God ( and ergo.. instill those values and faith in your future kids and generations to come!). Anyway I just wanted to put this forward as something we should raise up and pray and think about in our growth plans/strategy. I know we can't be every church to every body, but I don't think that means either that we should focus on appealing mostly to married couples in their 30's with 2.3 kids and a minivan either ;~) My two cents...(and two more from experience!)
Monday, November 26, 2007
World Community Grid
Oh I forgot about this.
World Community Grid's mission is to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.Our work has developed the technical infrastructure that serves as the grid's foundation for scientific research. Our success depends upon individuals collectively contributing their unused computer time to change the world for the better.World Community Grid is making technology available only to public and not-for-profit organizations to use in humanitarian research that might otherwise not be completed due to the high cost of the computer infrastructure required in the absence of a public grid. As part of our commitment to advancing human welfare, all results will be in the public domain and made public to the global research community.
I joined up for this several years ago but stopped it for awhile (since Sept) when I was having problems with my home computer. So I just got a reminder email today telling me that my computer had logged up to 265 days of run time and 738 results and I should get it going again! Absolutely.
Anyway I used to work for Accelrys and learned a lot about how molecular modeling "accelerates" drug discovery research. Distributed computing was still in its infancy back in 2000. Anyway I used to visit Scripps when I lived in SD and know of the work that is going on in Art Olson's - - no relation -- lab (among many others). So its just one more thing that ANYONE can do with a resource they don't even know they have available that anyone else might need - free computing time for a worthy cause.
World Community Grid's mission is to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.Our work has developed the technical infrastructure that serves as the grid's foundation for scientific research. Our success depends upon individuals collectively contributing their unused computer time to change the world for the better.World Community Grid is making technology available only to public and not-for-profit organizations to use in humanitarian research that might otherwise not be completed due to the high cost of the computer infrastructure required in the absence of a public grid. As part of our commitment to advancing human welfare, all results will be in the public domain and made public to the global research community.
I joined up for this several years ago but stopped it for awhile (since Sept) when I was having problems with my home computer. So I just got a reminder email today telling me that my computer had logged up to 265 days of run time and 738 results and I should get it going again! Absolutely.
Anyway I used to work for Accelrys and learned a lot about how molecular modeling "accelerates" drug discovery research. Distributed computing was still in its infancy back in 2000. Anyway I used to visit Scripps when I lived in SD and know of the work that is going on in Art Olson's - - no relation -- lab (among many others). So its just one more thing that ANYONE can do with a resource they don't even know they have available that anyone else might need - free computing time for a worthy cause.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Girl from al-Qatif
From CNN.com... this is so outrageous!
The sentence resulted from an incident in March 2006, when the woman, then aged 18 and engaged to be married, and an unrelated man, were abducted from a mall in Qatif, Saudi Arabia by a group of seven men. She was later raped.
In October, the men were convicted and sentenced to between two and nine years in prison for the assault. She was convicted of violating the kingdom's strict Islamic law by not having a male guardian with her at the mall.
The woman was originally sentenced in October 2006 to 90 lashes -- but when she appealed that sentence, the court more than doubled it to 200 lashes.
A court source told Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper, that the woman's sentence was increased after the woman spoke to the media about the case.
done, 5 envelopes, $4 worth of stamps, totally worth it
The sentence resulted from an incident in March 2006, when the woman, then aged 18 and engaged to be married, and an unrelated man, were abducted from a mall in Qatif, Saudi Arabia by a group of seven men. She was later raped.
In October, the men were convicted and sentenced to between two and nine years in prison for the assault. She was convicted of violating the kingdom's strict Islamic law by not having a male guardian with her at the mall.
The woman was originally sentenced in October 2006 to 90 lashes -- but when she appealed that sentence, the court more than doubled it to 200 lashes.
A court source told Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern daily newspaper, that the woman's sentence was increased after the woman spoke to the media about the case.
done, 5 envelopes, $4 worth of stamps, totally worth it
Burma
Email from Avaaz.org today:
French oil giant Total (which also owns ELF and FINA) and U.S.-based Chevron (which also owns Texaco, Caltex an Unocal) have been operating the Yadana natural gas pipeline in southern Burma since the early '90s.The junta takes in an estimated $450 million a year from the Yadana project alone--and uses that money to maintain its brutal control, while most people in Burma live in dire poverty. To keep their profits flowing, Chevron and Total lobby hard in the U.S. and Europe against government measures to support a democratic transition in Burma.For companies like this, it's all about the bottom line. We must show them that if they keep backing the Burmese dictatorship, they will lose their customers--by the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, even by the millions.
Here's Total's response from their website.
Ugh, I wish we didn't have to buy gas At ALL
French oil giant Total (which also owns ELF and FINA) and U.S.-based Chevron (which also owns Texaco, Caltex an Unocal) have been operating the Yadana natural gas pipeline in southern Burma since the early '90s.The junta takes in an estimated $450 million a year from the Yadana project alone--and uses that money to maintain its brutal control, while most people in Burma live in dire poverty. To keep their profits flowing, Chevron and Total lobby hard in the U.S. and Europe against government measures to support a democratic transition in Burma.For companies like this, it's all about the bottom line. We must show them that if they keep backing the Burmese dictatorship, they will lose their customers--by the tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, even by the millions.
Here's Total's response from their website.
Ugh, I wish we didn't have to buy gas At ALL
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Supercapitalism
This is an interesting article/book review on economics and politics. I like to read about these things from people (Tony Judt, NY Review of Books on Robert Riech's Supercapitalism) who make connections with historical circumstances of the past. I think this comes close:
"There are two overriding reasons to worry about the soul of the city, and to fear that it cannot be satisfactorily substituted with a story of indefinite economic growth, or even the creative destruction of the wrecking ball of capitalist innovation. The first reason is that this story is not very appealing. It leaves a lot of people out, both at home and abroad; it wreaks havoc with the natural environment; and its consequences are unattractive and uninspiring. Abundance (as Daniel Bell once observed) may be the American substitute for socialism; but as shared social objectives go, shopping remains something of an underachievement.
and
Fear is reemerging as an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Fear of terrorism, of course; but also, and perhaps more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, fear of losing control of the circumstances and routines of one's daily life. And, perhaps above all, fear that it is not just we who can no longer shape our lives but that those in authority have lost control as well, to forces beyond their reach.
I'm starting to feel this dread more and more... I'm not optimistic. Change is on the way and I think our current system is set it up so that change will happen quickly, not gradually. And I'm not just talking about climate change, although that will probably be the main driver. I really need to think about if there is any way I can prepare...? I don't know.
"There are two overriding reasons to worry about the soul of the city, and to fear that it cannot be satisfactorily substituted with a story of indefinite economic growth, or even the creative destruction of the wrecking ball of capitalist innovation. The first reason is that this story is not very appealing. It leaves a lot of people out, both at home and abroad; it wreaks havoc with the natural environment; and its consequences are unattractive and uninspiring. Abundance (as Daniel Bell once observed) may be the American substitute for socialism; but as shared social objectives go, shopping remains something of an underachievement.
and
Fear is reemerging as an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Fear of terrorism, of course; but also, and perhaps more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, fear of losing control of the circumstances and routines of one's daily life. And, perhaps above all, fear that it is not just we who can no longer shape our lives but that those in authority have lost control as well, to forces beyond their reach.
I'm starting to feel this dread more and more... I'm not optimistic. Change is on the way and I think our current system is set it up so that change will happen quickly, not gradually. And I'm not just talking about climate change, although that will probably be the main driver. I really need to think about if there is any way I can prepare...? I don't know.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Daydream hypothetical
Thoughts on this post from Kurt Campbell at the NYT
"For the Iraq architects – or Iraqitects — life goes on and there is very little in the way of public accountability or introspection. Everything remains, well, normal"
What would I do if I bumped into Paul Wolfowitz or Donald Rumsfeld at O'Hare or a bookstore, or some other public place?? Hmmm I don't know, its hard to predict. I think my immediate gut reaction would be to turn away and walk quickly in the other direction to avoid contamination. But, as with most immediate reactions you might find yourself tossing and turning later that day about what you "coulda, shoulda, woulda" have done... I'm sure I would be curious too to just observe how someone in their position behaves when they "return to normality" after what we can only assume is some major cognitive dissonance and non-chalance and arrogance about the downstream death and destructive effects of their warmongering policies. So hypothetically, I could "upgrade" my response to perhaps engaging them in some sort of friendly conversation and then where at the last minute I give them a sincere piece of my mind while all the while maintaining some sort of composure to drive home the message that they were so so wrong. Then in my dreams they would say " yes of course you're right, its so hard to live with myself these days, this is the LAST STRAW, I'm going to start a non-profit to promote world peace and decrease our dependence on oil from the middle east. Thank you for helping me make this decision!" Hollywood fairy tale ending. Anyway there are some really good comments posted too after that post.
"For the Iraq architects – or Iraqitects — life goes on and there is very little in the way of public accountability or introspection. Everything remains, well, normal"
What would I do if I bumped into Paul Wolfowitz or Donald Rumsfeld at O'Hare or a bookstore, or some other public place?? Hmmm I don't know, its hard to predict. I think my immediate gut reaction would be to turn away and walk quickly in the other direction to avoid contamination. But, as with most immediate reactions you might find yourself tossing and turning later that day about what you "coulda, shoulda, woulda" have done... I'm sure I would be curious too to just observe how someone in their position behaves when they "return to normality" after what we can only assume is some major cognitive dissonance and non-chalance and arrogance about the downstream death and destructive effects of their warmongering policies. So hypothetically, I could "upgrade" my response to perhaps engaging them in some sort of friendly conversation and then where at the last minute I give them a sincere piece of my mind while all the while maintaining some sort of composure to drive home the message that they were so so wrong. Then in my dreams they would say " yes of course you're right, its so hard to live with myself these days, this is the LAST STRAW, I'm going to start a non-profit to promote world peace and decrease our dependence on oil from the middle east. Thank you for helping me make this decision!" Hollywood fairy tale ending. Anyway there are some really good comments posted too after that post.
"Silent Reflection" update
Oh this is encouraging news today regarding a previous post ... maybe this will blow over sooner than later... Too bad District 41 didn't wait to start this on Monday, cause now it appears that officially they do not have to, and shouldn't have in the first place!!
From the Chicago Tribune today: By the action, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman essentially froze the controversy over the moment of silence as he considers a lawsuit brought against Township High School District 214 in the northwest suburbs.On Wednesday Gettleman issued a preliminary injunction barring the district -- but that district only -- from holding the moment of silence while the lawsuit progresses through court.Gettleman has called the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act vague and "likely unconstitutional" but said he would not yet issue a statewide injunction. That could change in the coming weeks if the judge grants an expected motion to include all of the state's 680 districts as defendants.
Yeah!
From the Chicago Tribune today: By the action, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman essentially froze the controversy over the moment of silence as he considers a lawsuit brought against Township High School District 214 in the northwest suburbs.On Wednesday Gettleman issued a preliminary injunction barring the district -- but that district only -- from holding the moment of silence while the lawsuit progresses through court.Gettleman has called the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act vague and "likely unconstitutional" but said he would not yet issue a statewide injunction. That could change in the coming weeks if the judge grants an expected motion to include all of the state's 680 districts as defendants.
Yeah!
On-line anti-war petitions
I often wonder if the "easy"/quick ways to send people a message are diluted by the essence of their relative ease to do them. I'm now on Dick Durbin's mailing list. I signed a petition online earlier this summer to try to keep BP and the Indiana EPA from increasing their pollution into Lake Michigan. They did back down thank goodness do to overwhelming public outcry, from democrats and republicans alike. That's why I'm so greatful for the newspapers that uncover these kinds of stories.
So anyway today I got an email from "Friends of Dick Durbin". Its so easy to do, and they even make it easy to forward a letter to your friends for them to do it too! So I'm just wondering about the effectiveness of this, or is it just an easy way to build an email database to ask for campaign contributions. Who knows. Probably both. But its so easy, its hard NOT to do it.
So anyway today I got an email from "Friends of Dick Durbin". Its so easy to do, and they even make it easy to forward a letter to your friends for them to do it too! So I'm just wondering about the effectiveness of this, or is it just an easy way to build an email database to ask for campaign contributions. Who knows. Probably both. But its so easy, its hard NOT to do it.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Torture
So I was reading my favorite blog this morning and again he is keeping up the news on the Bush torture doctrine. This is my biggest issue by far of all the things that are bugging me, paining me in fact, about the state of our union. In a future post I will put together a bunch of my saved links about this. Anyway, last week I sent an email to my pastor thanking her for a very interesting video that was presented on All Saint's Sunday. It was ~20 minutes and there were 3 young adult speakers talking / and rhyming about the historical timeline of the saints throughout history and it really got me thinking about how I am a link in that chain... so that's one of the reasons I started blogging again to remind myself of that ... and that its ok to be a rabble-rouser. I'm getting ornery in my old age and I guess that is one of its major blessings. So anyway, this morning I decided to see if I could find any info about this topic on the elca website. Not much unfortunately. So I sent an email to Robert Francis asking what they're doing about it and how really the silence from the church on this topic is deafening! Aargh.
Gift of Hope
Yesterday was bad news for the organ transplant community. When I saw the headline in the Trib I said "Oh No, Oh NO, oh NO". I used to work at Gift of Hope ( Dec 04- Oct 06)and certainly empathize with the news that 4 recipients developed HIV after receiving organs from one high-risk donor back in January. Its sad because this hasn't happened since 1986 way bad when AIDS was "new". I'm sure my colleagues in Hospital Development (HD) will have a bit tougher job over the next few weeks. I'll continue to rant about the unfairness of people complaining about this, its a matter of the lab tests not being able to detect HIV in a high risk donor who had only recently acquired it. The Elisa test does not pick it up, but the PCR test is more sensitive and maybe able to detect earlier development of AIDS in the body. The problem is that not enough people choose to donate, so that doctors and patients are basically forced to choose between the possibility of developing a disease from a high-risk donor, and Death if they choose not to. So I sent a message of support to my friends in HD to let them know I'm with them in spirit, and to thank them for being on the front lines! Its a hard job... and emotionally demanding.
Monday, November 12, 2007
"The Coup at Home"
Frank Rich NYT
" We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized, and no matter which party they belong to, they do not see a restoration anytime soon. "
Re Pakistan: I was feeling exactly this last week. Depression. I decided to join Amnesty International's letter writing campaign (Urgent Action network). This was on their list for last week. I went to the post office on 11/6 and bought $48 worth of 90 cent international stamps so I will have all the supplies to send letters to dictators to voice my displeasure at their actions whenever the mood strikes me. (So there!!) So I copied their suggestions for letters, made a template and sent them to President Pervez Musharraf, the Minister for the Interior, the Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights, and copies of these 3 to the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC. I don't really have any dillusion of grandeur about the effectiveness of ONE letter from me asking them to not harm the HR actvisits they have put under house arrest, but I do believe that there is a really small chance thousands of letters from across the world may make a difference. I hope so... anyway it makes me feel better.
" We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized, and no matter which party they belong to, they do not see a restoration anytime soon. "
Re Pakistan: I was feeling exactly this last week. Depression. I decided to join Amnesty International's letter writing campaign (Urgent Action network). This was on their list for last week. I went to the post office on 11/6 and bought $48 worth of 90 cent international stamps so I will have all the supplies to send letters to dictators to voice my displeasure at their actions whenever the mood strikes me. (So there!!) So I copied their suggestions for letters, made a template and sent them to President Pervez Musharraf, the Minister for the Interior, the Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights, and copies of these 3 to the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC. I don't really have any dillusion of grandeur about the effectiveness of ONE letter from me asking them to not harm the HR actvisits they have put under house arrest, but I do believe that there is a really small chance thousands of letters from across the world may make a difference. I hope so... anyway it makes me feel better.
"Fierce Urgency of Now"
Obama Rocks! (~ 20 minutes)
Although I've had these for several months I've been reluctant ( !!) to put them up yet, thinking "oh maybe its too early", or "what will the neighbors think?" The Obama '08 poster
is now officially in my bedroom window so that everyone driving down L street can see it. I will put on the bumper sticker too today. I've never had a political bumper sticker on my car for the last 20 years that I've had the privledge of voting. I guess its about time... on the other hand I don't know how much difference it will make, but I guess the point of it is to share your opinion and hopefully build a critical mass of people who are still undecided. I feel like I need to pat myself on the back for "stepping outside" of my comfort zone box... It probably comes naturally to people who have been downtown activists all of their lives and I shouldn't feel like that, but I do. They don't live in a leafy-tree lined republican suburb and I do.
I do have to say I have a major beef with Obama and that is that neither he, nor any of the other Senate democrats running for president, bothered to show up to vote against or block the nomination of Mukasey for Attorney General last week. They should have done a filibuster. I think standing for anti-torture is important enough to fly back from Iowa to DC for! The Dems really caved and its shameful! On Friday, I telephoned both Senator Durbin's office in DC and Senator Obama's office in Chicago to voice my extreme displeasure and to encourage them to fight harder.
new start
I just realized I need to start keeping track again of some things happening in my life. Normal things and weird things I think I will like to read back on a few years from now to remember what I was doing and thinking. I spend way too much time on the computer. But I'm becoming more activist in my readings and opinions and I think this will be a good place to keep track of my thoughts for myself.
Today was one of those times I described to CS yesterday as when the "rubber meets the road". I went to J's middle school with my neighbor RB & his daughter to talk to the principal about how they are going to implement the "Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act" that stealthily passed the IL State Legislature in October.
J and I had already talked about this when the news first came out but nothing was announced at school so I was hoping the school board would just "do nothing" until after the dust had settled with other lawsuits or school districts deciding not to do it.
I was worrying/pre-occupied about it most of the day yesterday after RB brought it to my attention that the school was going to start it today.
So after much encouragement from Bob we went in talked to Dr. D and he was really cool about it and agreed to speak with the 1st period teacher that the girls could stand out in the hall during the stupid "10 seconds" before the pledge starts. I just left a voicemail to follow up with my state Rep Sandra Pihos. The Evanston school district is not doing this. Its so stupid its not enforceable.
To do: Now I need to call the school district and talk to the Superintendent.
Today was one of those times I described to CS yesterday as when the "rubber meets the road". I went to J's middle school with my neighbor RB & his daughter to talk to the principal about how they are going to implement the "Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act" that stealthily passed the IL State Legislature in October.
J and I had already talked about this when the news first came out but nothing was announced at school so I was hoping the school board would just "do nothing" until after the dust had settled with other lawsuits or school districts deciding not to do it.
I was worrying/pre-occupied about it most of the day yesterday after RB brought it to my attention that the school was going to start it today.
So after much encouragement from Bob we went in talked to Dr. D and he was really cool about it and agreed to speak with the 1st period teacher that the girls could stand out in the hall during the stupid "10 seconds" before the pledge starts. I just left a voicemail to follow up with my state Rep Sandra Pihos. The Evanston school district is not doing this. Its so stupid its not enforceable.
To do: Now I need to call the school district and talk to the Superintendent.
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