oh for the sake of momentum...

2008-03-05T17:29:00.001-08:00

Greetings, Stories for Change Community Members!

With more than 200 stories (and more being uploaded every week) and forum discussions on everything from microphone recommendations to tips for recruiting youth for workshops, Stories for Change has become a dynamic community of digital storytellers from around the world! If you haven’t visited in awhile, please take a moment to stop by, check out some of our latest additions, share some tips and/or questions on the forum, or even upload a new story.

As a member of the Stories for Change community, we wanted to take the opportunity to let you know about some other exciting things that you will see happening on the site over the next couple of months.

Celebrate International Women's Day: Watch Women's Stories From Around The World!

We are proud to announce our International Women's Day celebration, which features digital stories by women from around the world. Stories this month include the voices of a Ugandan woman, Kyomuhangi Marym, who has lived with obstetric fistula for more than twenty years, and Nicky, a young lesbian who survived abuse within her own family (and later the foster system) because of her sexual orientation. These and more than thirty other featured stories span continents and various life experiences to explore the struggles and joys of being a woman in our world.

These stories are currently featured on the website's main page and will continue to be featured through March 12th, but will remain on the site permanently in their own section. We also encourage members to consider uploading their own stories on this theme and including the “women’s day” tag so they can be added to our growing collection.

This celebration is a part of a new initiative at Stories for Change of sharing stories on particular themes, to coincide with various international days and celebrations. The goal of this initiative is to highlight both the diversity of voices on the site and the common social justice threads going on in the world of digital storytelling today. Through the initiative, we will be working to connect with other organization's doing work on specific social justice issues and encourage their involvement in Stories for Change Stories for Change. For more information, please email laura@storycenter.org.

Save The Date: International Day for Sharing Life Stories, May 16th

Stories for Change is also excited to announce our sponsorship of the first annual International Day for Sharing Life Stories on May 16, 2008. The goal of the campaign is to gain broad recognition of May 16 as an annual day for sharing, listening to, and gathering the stories of people’s lives.

Along with The Museum of the Person International Network (Brazil, Portugal, USA, and Canada) and the Center for Digital Storytelling, Stories for Change is encouraging various community organizations to host events, collect stories, and/or share them online. For more information, including a list of events happening around the world and information on how to put together your own event, please visit the International Day’s website at: http://www.ausculti.org/

If you have ideas, concerns, or comments about Stories for Change, feel free to drop us a line at info@storycenter.org or visit one of our forums – we’d love to hear from you.

Hope to see you around!

Yours,

Stories for Change Team
http://storiesforchange.net

Gloria's Still Got It

2007-06-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

After attending Smith graduations for my sister in 2005 and my mama in 2006, I have to say that I am a little bummed that I missed Gloria Steinem's address to the Class of 2007. Lucky for me, my mom forwarded me a copy of the address. I've got to say it's as dead-on as ever as well as an inspirational meditation for the work that my generation of feminist rebels has in front of us based on the lessons and progress of the past. Take a look.

Facebook v. MySpace: Class Warfare Enters the Digital Age

2007-06-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Check out this article by danah boyd (courtesy of Meagan - hello, Meags, I know you are reading, if the only person reading) about how class divisions transcend social networking on the internet. The whole article is incredibly interesting (if informally written) and a worthy read. An interesting anecdote follows.

"A month ago, the military banned MySpace but not Facebook. This was a very interesting move because the division in the military reflects the division in high schools. Soldiers are on MySpace; officers are on Facebook. Facebook is extremely popular in the military, but it's not the SNS of choice for 18-year old soldiers, a group that is primarily from poorer, less educated communities. They are using MySpace. The officers, many of whom have already received college training, are using Facebook. The military ban appears to replicate the class divisions that exist throughout the military."

Looking forward to more research in this field.

Wondering where all my blogs have gone?

2007-05-22T00:34:00.001-07:00

Well, there's a simple answer: school.

I've been doing a decent job chronicling the progress and development of my documentary and other projects on my class blog which you can find here: http://www2.evergreen.edu/blogs/students/hadlau02/

I've got to say, I've always been a little skeptical about journaling for class, but it's absolutely bizarre how keeping a blog instead has changed my attitude toward the whole process.

Not sure what the relationship between the two blogs will shape up to be, but for now, check the other one for more frequent updates.

I think I still have 14.9999 seconds of fame left...

2007-04-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Alright, so every once in awhile someone tells me that they've seen me in the background of Da Ali G Show during the March for Women's Lives. Thanks to the amazing technology of YouTube, however, I just found the clip today and am surprised that so many people could identity my little ol' head in the quarter of a second it's on the screen. It's also a relatively entertaining clip (especially the end, if you're into that sort of thing) so check it out and see if you can spot yours truly (right after the interview with the priest).

40% of Your Taxes Heading to War

2007-04-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yep, you heard me. Just to make the sting of paying misspent taxes a little more painful, Democracy Now! reports that out of the $2 trillion the IRS expects to collect this year, 40% of those will go to military related expenses.

In a time of underfunded, well, everything and an increasingly unjust tax system... sending your money to be spent on something you are fundamentally opposed to can be a little much to take. Organizations such as the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee are organizing to educate and support people in resisting these taxes, but not without controversy from both sides of the party lines.

Continue reading (& for the love of god, discuss!) at the YP4 blog.

Global Feminisms at The Brooklyn Museum

2007-04-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Photo: Static Drift, Ingrid Mwangi, images created by stencil & exposure to the sun

So yesterday my stir-craziness got the best of me so I started walking down Eastern Parkway until I reached The Brooklyn Museum that has an amazing exhibit on Global Feminisms until July. It is also featuring Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party - perhaps the most famous piece of feminist art of all time - which in particular is powerful in its sheer grandeur and intricacy to see in person. At any rate, it's absolutely amazing. I gave myself three hours to check out the exhibit and ended up getting kicked out at closing with about a third left to go even after abbreviated visits to the video art installations -- so make sure to give yourself plenty of time to give the exhibit justice. My personal favourite video art highlights included Mary Coble's gut-wrenching Binding Ritual and Emily Jacir's Crossing Surda in which she videotapes her feet crossing the checkpoints between the Palestinian territories and Israel. Also, Miwa Yanagi's My Grandmothers Series was also particularly innovative, featuring young women performing their fantasies about growing older and defying stereotypes. I've always thought I'd only be interested in documentary photography, but lately when presented with works like these I've begun to change my mind. Although technically fictional, they speak to a larger truth.

I was particularly struck by what one artist included in her statement (and regret that I didn't write down her name and exact wording) which was something to the effect of "if my art is about gender, it's only a reflection of the extent to which gender influences and affects the very core of my existence". I also found it interesting and somewhat arbitrary that they divided the exhibit into four themes: identity, politics, life cycles & emotion. Although I understand the challenges surrounding curating an exhibit like this and trying to fashion some sort of understandable order, if I've come to understand about gender it is that you can't separate gender or any of these aspects from one another -- they are intrinsically and inseparably linked.

Adventures at the Dog Park

2007-04-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day in Manhattan since I arrived nearly two weeks ago... yes, I'm officially not a biohazard anymore, rather I simply appear to be an unfortunately acne-infested young woman. It's not fun, but I am crossing my fingers that nothing will scar... or at least whatever does scar will be somewhere I will never noticed (or at least not on my face... please?).

At any rate, I am waiting for Lars to finish up at the gym so I do one of my favourite things to do in the village when you don't want to spend any money (perhaps because you had to cancel $250 worth of plane tickets home only to spend another $175 to reschedule them) which is to watch the dogs at the dog park at Washington Square Park. Not to get too poetic, but it just strikes me as a beautiful metaphor for this damn city itself -- everyone is either trying to get it on or establish a pecking order. At any rate, the benches are faced away from the dog park which, judging by the number of people who also find watching other people's dogs shit and jump all over one another, is a major flaw.

So I am sitting, minding my own business when two young folks sit next to me. They seem pleasant enough. Before I know it, they've got me in a conversation about the dogs and then introduce themselves. One is a theater student who dreams of being a singer the other is... well, just plain awkward. At any rate, they ask me a little about myself and what I'm up to and I am purposefully vague because it's not like I'm expecting to make these two fine young folks my new best friends, but hey, whatever.

"So, have you ever heard of Jesus?" the young woman eventually asks me after ten minutes of small talk.

Really? That's your opening line. I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. As unjustifiably cold as I find the majority of New Yorkers, I have to say, I almost understand the skepticism. Being physically surrounded by people all day every day can be emotionally exhausting - the last thing you want to do is let a stranger into your emotional space. And that's the thing - I don't so much mind people passing out literature or approaching me directly asking me if I know about my lord, but when social conversation is, unbeknownst to me, coated in a desire to save my soul which is only revealed to me ten minutes into our conversation - I feel tricked. I feel like an idiot. I need a second to recover, to put my walls back up and shuffle on, avoiding eye contact like everyone else in this city.

Not to romanticize Olympia or anything, but I really appreciate living in a place where conversations with strangers are almost always amicable and interesting. Sure, you get your wackos or religious zealots once in a blue moon, but they're straightforward about their shit - none of this subversive conversation bullshit. Maybe there should have been some red flags, and maybe there would have been if I had lived here longer, but here is the thing, I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. To a fault. And honestly... I sort of like that about me. And I'm not ready for New York to take that away from me.

Images of War

2007-04-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this photograph by Nina Berman - a portrait of an Iraq War veteran Sgt. Ty Ziegel and his childhood sweetheart on their wedding day. It's one of the most haunting photographs I have ever seen. Berman says the photograph "shows how war has crept its way into the most common phase of daily life." Originally a part of an assignment for People magazine, the photograph was never published. This fact alone is telling of how our society responds to war and turns away from showing the human costs and effects that linger after the political banter subsides and the soldiers come home - home to a country that is not prepared to deal with the consequences. The expression on the bride's face tells it all. A compelling photograph, indeed.

Check out more of this year's most compelling photography at http://digitaljournalist.org/.

A pox on my throat... and everywhere else, for that matter.

2007-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

So I had the crazy idea that the academic quarter starting on my birthday would be a good sign - a sign that the universe and I have finally found harmony, symbolically starting a new year of life alongside a new quarter of projects.

That was until a week ago when I discovered little white bumps all over my stomach and spent an entire day in a Brooklyn emergency room only to be seen by a doctor who in less than five minutes confirmed my suspicions - the chickenpox that I had (somewhat miraculously) avoided as a child decided to invade my grown-up body. Don't worry, the humor of getting the chickenpox as an adult is not entirely lost on me, although it is quickly dampered by a glimpse in the mirror.

So no interviews in Boston; no Women, Action & Media conference and certainly no CivicWeek in San Francisco. As if that weren't disappointing enough, I'm confined to an apartment in Brooklyn until I move beyond the contagious stage and stuck in New York indefinitely depending on how I can revise my travel arrangements and when they will even hypothetically let my poxed self fly. I'm grateful that I am finally beyond the physically ill stage (which dominated my spring break), but it's frustrating to be able-bodied and really anxious to get out in the world and start working on things... and not be able to.

In some ways, this is the ideal time for research/reflection/planning, I suppose, in that it forces me to stay put so I will spend the rest of the week reading "Double Crossed" which I started before the pox set in. The book looks like it is going to be such a great resource that I am afraid that I will rely to heavily on it -- something I know that could be solved rather simply through drawing on a greater variety of sources. This, too, presents a challenge in that, as much as I know ideally I will become very well-educated and versed in the subject, I realize that I can also struggle with getting a lot of things in my head with no way out into the real world. I can't let myself retreat too far into my academic brain. I'm also afraid that the inevitable widening of my understanding of the complexity of this issue will mean that narrowing it (or keeping it as narrow as possible) will be implausible. I also want to make sure to give the women who are the crux of story just as much authority, although a different type perhaps, than the books I'm reading. I've been consulting them a lot about what I should be doing to prepare but haven't gotten a lot of concrete feedback except for this book in particular.

Also, the nuns showed my fall quarter project at their monthly community assembly and it was very well-received. I'm sad I couldn't be there, but that's pretty much par for the course these days. That's very encouraging news, though -- having them all excited about the project is going to be invaluable to my future work with it.

Watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston last night -- interesting use of objects to visually propel narrative. It made me think about this project. Working on a project involving the Catholic Church is going to be overwhelming not only in terms of information but also visual information -- it has so many visual signifiers I don't want to overwhelm people with visual information. Focusing and lingering on a few key objects might be beneficial. There's really no way of knowing any of this at this point, but it's something I'll file away as a possibility for later.

So 22 is already off and running, albeit to a delayed start... I guess all I can do is follow it.

P.S. Mad props to Eli for hanging out with me last weekend! You are, officially, the best!

Coming soon to a radio near you!

2007-03-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

So this quarter culminated in a lot of projects, including a public service announcement for the Washington State Human Rights Commission on the state's new anti-discrimination policy (which now includes sexual orientation and gender identity). Although I'd like to take credit for the entire project, there were a lot of other amazing folks behind the mic. Check it out on their website and, with a little luck, on the radio soon!

The El Faces "The Year of Decision"

2007-03-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

A very dismal article about my favourite aspect of Chicago - the el. Just goes to show what a relatively low priority public transit has been for so long -- as it historically only affected the working class -- but now with the environment in collapse and urban populations growing & increasingly turning to alternative commuting, public transit enters a point of crisis. Can't help but thinking, with a little foresight and adjustment of priorities, all of this could have been avoided.

The Year Without Toilet Paper: Fight for Urban Sustainability

2007-03-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

There's a great article at the New York Times about a family going some interesting lengths to live more sustainability. The article is definitely worth a read, but brings up great questions about the challenges of addressing environmental sustainability in urban environments. They also mention The Compacters, who I aspire to join.

The quote Andrew Kirk, an environmental history professor, saying “That’s the thing about this current wave of environmentalism,” he continued. “It’s not about, how do we protect some abstract pristine space? It’s what can real people do in their home or office or whatever. It’s also very urban. It’s a critical twist in the old wilderness adage: Leave only footprints, take only photographs. But how do you translate that into Manhattan?”

A great case study of how one family attempts to address this.

Bong Hits 4 Jesus: The Problem with Free (& Worthless) Speech

2007-03-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Now, I certainly I believe that students deserve the right to free speech and the importance of affirming it, but is anyone else a little disappointed that our generation's equivalent to Tinker v. Des Moines, the legendary case that upheld black armbands as protected freedom of speech for dissenting students during the Vietnam War, is as meaningless as "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"?

Read the rest on the YP4 blog...

Remembering Rachel

2007-03-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

When I traveled with a human rights delegation to

Guatemala

this summer, I consciously carried with me the spirit of Rachel Corrie.

As a student and coordinator for Amnesty International at my high school in Tacoma, I remember following the news stories surrounding Rachel’s death with great sadness, but the story of her courage also completely changed my view of the world and my own capability and responsibility to change it. As a young woman of 17 facing high school graduation in just a few months and the imminent possibilities of a world outside the familiar walls of home that accompany it, the tragic circumstances of Rachel’s death began stirring something within me at an intensity I had never experienced before. Rachel’s work defied what I had assumed were limitations of social impact based on my own age and location. When I decided to attend Evergreen years later, it was in part due to my association of the college with the courageous action and independent-thinking that I believe Rachel embodied.

I spent six weeks traveling around rural Guatemala with other American students learning about the history of genocide and other injustices in the region and what actions were being taken to address the much needed reparations in the region. We pitched in where we could and learned firsthand what it meant to work in solidarity and use our privilege to challenge the systems of oppression.

As our journey drew to a close, our delegation met with the Guatemala Accompaniment Project, an organization that takes American activists and places them with indigenous communities involved in genocide trials in order to dissuade violence. When explaining their work, they introduced the concept behind their work by asking, “How many of you have heard about Rachel Corrie?” I eagerly offered her story to the rest of the group and proudly associated myself with the community from which she came. The trip, for me, had come full circle – my source of inspiration in journeying to Guatemala also sustained those who continued to stay there.

Rachel’s work lives on not only in the Middle East and at Evergreen, but with those engaged in the human rights struggle everywhere. And I am proud to be a part of her legacy.

Rachel Corrie's Legacy Lives On

2007-03-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

For the fourth anniversary of her death, I was interviewed for The Olympian about the effect Rachel Corrie has had on my life (as a fellow Evergreen student). You can check out the piece here. The comments the piece has elicited, however, make me want to throw up. It's so sad to see her legacy be twisted in such a hateful way.

Seeing (Red): Why Buying a T-Shirt Will Never End AIDS

2007-03-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

It sounds innocent enough.

Bono & The (Red) Campaign simply want to "empower" us as consumers to use our dollars to create change. Hand over your credit card and in exchange, they will hand back an overpriced t-shirt/cell phone/iPod and the knowledge that "a portion of the profits" will help buy medicine for AIDS patients in Africa.

But all this feel-good philanthropy simply fails to address the real issues. Rather than question and challenge the price of America's overconsumption and exploitation in those "developing" countries, we embrace our product-obsessed culture, buy a t-shirt, and feel like we've done our part and erase our collective guilty conscience. Instead of talking about community organizing or political action to end AIDS, we're encouraged to take a trip to the mall and celebrate our "power as consumers" in solidarity with our "dying brothers and sisters in Africa".

Like, totally awesome...

Continue @ YP4...

Celebrate Int'l Women's Day: Honor Incredible Women & Take action

2007-03-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

What better day to bring attention to the fact that the United States, in all of its infinite wisdom, has still yet to sign on to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW. Twenty-eight years since its adoption by the UN General Assembly, The United States remains one of only eight countries left to ratify the treaty.

Ever wondered who we share our gender ideologies with? Well, none other than the likes of Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Iran, Nauru, Palau and Tonga.

Continue at the YP4 blog...

Please come!

2007-03-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

Faces & Voices From the Welfare Zone

2007-02-28T20:23:00.000-08:00

Long time, no post... but I figure now is as good a time as any.

At any rate, part of the reason that I haven't been blogging more regularly is of my various real world commitments, among the most exciting -- a mixed media exhibit myself and fellow students from Evergreen have been working on in collaboration with the Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition. I've done a lot of the photographs and a great deal of the logistical and collaborative work surrounding the project, so needless to say, it's sort of my baby at the moment.

If you happen to see this (in time) and live in Olympia, please check it out on Thursday, March 1st (that's tomorrow!) for the opening of "Full Family Sanction: Faces and Voices From the Welfare Zone", an exhibit of photos and audio stories from Washington families facing welfare cuts. 6 - 9 pm at Bryce's Barbershop, 118 4th Avenue. The exhibit will be available for the month of March during barbershop hours. Also, eventually we would like to recreate the exhibit online, in which case I will post a link here.

Below is a more detailed description of the political aspect/timing of the project.

On March 1, 2007 seventy-two families with children living in poverty may lose their welfare grants. On this day begins the most mean-spirited welfare reform policy this state has yet known, full family sanction. It will mean the end of a cash grant for families receiving welfare assistance who are perceived as not following the rules for WorkFirst. A steady flow of families will face full family sanction in the next 6 months, and as many as 1,269 may lose their cash income.

Many of these parents report being sanctioned due to caseworker error, miscommunication or barriers outside their control that prevent their participation. DSHS's own study of 500 families in sanction in 2005 showed that nearly half of the sanctioned families had transportation barriers, nearly a third had no childcare or medical issues that prevented them from participating.

When Governor Gregoire asked DSHS to audit their sanction cases and cure the illegal or unfair sanctions last year, more than half had their full benefits restored; the number of families in sanction went from 2,660 in January 2006 to 1,279 in July 2006. Unfortunately the sanction numbers are rising and few parents or advocate trust that the Governor's Statewide Review Panel, made up of three former DSHS employees, are going to provide the unbiased oversight needed to prevent families who should not be in sanction from losing their benefits.

In the Shadow of the City

2007-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

This week's This American Life was particularly amazing. "In the Shadow of the City" was, perhaps, my favourite episode to date. As a former Chicagoan and future Brooklynite, I have geographical ties to two of the stories (check out the dead on commentary of New York conversations in the third act), but the New Orleans peace is particularly moving. Listen here.

Act One. Brooklyn Archipelago.

Out for a simple pleasure cruise with two friends, Alex Zharov was planning to see Jamaica Bay in New York City. But this end-of-the-day excursion, which should have only lasted 40 minutes, turns into an out-of-control adventure that left him lost, stranded, and bleeding ... all within sight of the Empire State Building. Brett Martin reports. (22 minutes)

Act Two. The Thin Gray Line.

In New Orleans now, visitors to that city are taking a new bus tour called "HURRICANE KATRINA: AMERICA'S GREATEST CATASTROPHE," put on by the Gray Line bus company. (The tour is also sometimes called "Hurricane Katrina: America's Worst Catastrophe.") It's designed for out-of-towners, but we asked a local to take the tour and give us their impressions. Cheryl Wagner agreed. (16 minutes)

Act Three. Yes, In My Backyard.

The story of the government cracking down on smokestack emissions at a city factory ... even though the residents LIKE the emissions. We hear from Jorge Just, who explains the one, magical, special secret about Chicago no one outside Chicago ever believes is true, from Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health Programs for the American Lung Association in Chicago; and from Julie Armitage, Manager of Compliance and Enforcement for the Bureau of Air at the Illinois State EPA. (9 minutes)

Do More People Watch the Super Bowl Than Vote?

2007-02-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Now, I don't particularly care for football, but I've got to admit that the network executives certainly figured out how to hook my Super Bowl ignoring self into watching at least part of the game by promising a once in a lifetime Prince performance.

But as I waited for the clock to run down at the end of the second quarter, I found myself less and less interested in what was happening on the field, but rather enthralled with the energy of the people in the stands. It was impossible to ignore how passionate and invested people were in the outcome of this one particular game. It got me wondering how a nation notorious for its political apathy could get so worked up about who throws the ball the farthest (that's how it works, right?) on one particular day out of the year and not care about the results of political elections that shape their everyday lives.

And then I posed the question I was afraid of answering: Do more people watch the Super Bowl than vote?

Continue on the YP4 Blog...

War Objector's Trial Starts TODAY, Amnesty Int'l Steps In

2007-02-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

A little news from the backyard...

TODAY -- Lt. Ehren Watada will face one count of missing deployment alongside two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer for critical remarks about the Bush administration. This reminds us that, in the eyes of our military, freedom of speech remains a "privilege" reserved for those wishing to perpetuate the government's message instead of a right entitled for all. Oh yeah, and the military controls your soul, too -- so no conscientious objecting, you hear?

Of his decision to refuse deployment, Watada said in a letter, "I believe so strongly in this cause that I would sit in prison or die for that belief. I would accept any punishment and take solace in a clean and clear conscience when the easier path, the safer path would have been to serve my year in Iraq."

The case is such a blatant abuse of power and violation of basic human rights that Amnesty International has stepped in.

Continue on the YP4 blog...

An Inconvenient Controversy: How the Rights Manipulates Our Fear of Censorship

2007-02-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

The same week the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" received the recognition of two Academy Award nominations, it faced harsh criticism and was dismissed as liberal propaganda in my neck of the woods.

On January 9th, the Federal Way School Board placed a 14-day moratorium on screening the film in classrooms in the district due to some complaints by local residents. On Tuesday, the board decided to lift the moratorium but under one condition - an opposing viewpoint must be presented. In fact, this is in the school board's policy, that "requires teachers to present an opposing viewpoint on issues considered 'controversial'".

Continue on the YP4 Blog here...

Divided We Fall: How Clinton and Obama Could Destroy Each Other

2007-01-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

I've always been incredibly confident in my political positions, but in regards to the 2008 Democratic hopefuls, I remain agonizingly torn.

And who can blame me? The prospects of the first African American and female president presenting themselves simultaneously? It's almost too much for a young progressive to handle!

All I know is that the infighting has got to go. Or, better yet, never start. And while this might just seem like another uncomfortable, progressive white girl imploring "why can't we just all get along?" - hear me out.

Continue on the YP4 blog...

Unhappy?

2006-12-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

Also, check out my favourite daily comic, Toothpaste for Dinner.

Mutual Appreciation

2006-11-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

Fascinating film in the most mundane of ways. Check it out for yourself and prepare to be simultaneously bored and blown out of your cranium. It really creates the feeling of overhearing someone else's conversation... and being somehow incredibly entertained. And it captures our generation's complete awkwardness better than any other film I've ever seen.

I'm looking forward to watching Andrew Bujalski's previous (and more well known) work -- Funny Ha Ha.

At any rate, Mutual Appreciation. Check. It. Out.

I don't know about you, but THIS American life got a whole lot better...

2006-10-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

So one of my all-time favourite contributions of new media (right along with blogging, online picture sharing and Netflix), is the podcast. I regularly subscribe to several, my favourites being Democracy Now!, On the Media, Paste Culture Club, and yes, even The Sunday Puzzle.

I really love radio as a medium and audio documentary as a format, yet find it hard to coordinate my life around it (especially considering some of the best things come on when I'm at school... or sleeping). I also love the possibilities of radio, like every other media, becoming more available for distribution and thus more accessible for production.

So you can imagine my delight when today I found my favourite radio program that used to charge for its podcast (via Audible) and I struggle with hearing "live" (Sundays at noon are not always the most convenient) available for FREE (via iTunes). That's right folks, This American Life has started podcasting for FREE. Scoop that shit up.

My life is complete. Or at least a whole lot better. Now all I ask is that iTunes upload the season finale to Project Runway pronto, before my roommate ruins it for me.

Womb-Words and engaging feminism

2006-10-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Just returned from Womb-Words, a spoken word/performance piece (I never know what to call these sorts of things) by Lenelle Moise, "a self-identified culturally hyphenated pomosexual poet who creates personal political texts about the spirits in sexuality, masculinities, being bicultural (Haitian-American), and the intersection of race, class, gender & resistance."

I can't help but thinking, out of all the "big name" speakers and/or academics (feminist or otherwise) I have sought to hear in the past couple of years (Toni Morrisson, bell hooks, Katha Pollitt, etc.) , none of them have engaged me as well as this woman, whose name I had never heard before, did. Which is not to say that any of the noted women are not amazing and huge contributors in their fields of work or even that their lectures didn't say interesting things. It's not even that Lenelle Moise told me things that I didn't already, on some level (intellectual or otherwise), know. It's just the difference between attempting to connect with theory vs. connecting with people and through them, to real-life, applicable theory and issues. Show me yourself and I will begin to understand your ideas much more than if you just throw your ideas at me without any context. More importantly, I will care.

And then, of course, there is the undefinable power of poetry and performance, which could kick lecture's ass up and down the block and still make it home in time for dinner.

Keep your coins - I want change.

2006-10-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted for my New Media Studies class in response to someone else's post regarding the effectiveness of The Hunger Site.)

I don't know if I quite buy into altruism being linked to our DNA, but I do agree that there is something to be said about a CULTURAL desire (or conditioning) to at least pretend we are helping others (if for no other reason than feeling good about ourselves), whether or not it is truly effective or not. Sure, we are taught that suffering is bad and that we should take pity on those who suffer (click the button!), yet we are not taught to modify our lives in a significant way to work against a system that perpetuates that suffering.

This reminds me of issues of international adoption -- so many people are willing to help "exotic" children from so far away (such as the recent celebrity adoptions in Africa that will no doubt inspire copycat antics), but refuse to adopt a black or latino child in the United States because of a separate set of cultural assumptions on poverty in the United States versus internationally. Similarly, people would rather donate to a cause that distributes funds internationally or far away because they are portrayed simply victims of the economy (or, at times, their culture), whereas hungry people in the United States are seen as those that simply failed at the American dream due to lack of personal merit or other mistakes.

Donating money to feed the hungry and clicking on the site is a band aid, we can feel like we are doing our part and move on with our lives as normal without questioning our set of privileges and at what cost to others do we have them. But until we create a system that allows every person to be financially self-sustainable (and I don't have any ideas on this one -- yet), it's a necessary band aid. But if people really care about hunger, they should learn about the systems that create it, how it affects their local communities and how they can alter their lives to make a meaningful, long-term contribution.

If clicking the site inspires a drive to this awareness or a further commitment to curing hunger, that's great. It doesn't hurt to click the site and there is nothing inherently wrong with clicking it. But it does perpetuate a system where people feel like they can ignore the underlying disease because they feel like they are doing "their part" to cover the symptoms.

The ironies abound...

2006-10-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else think it is somewhat ironic that the United State population hit 300 million (TODAY!) on World Poverty Day?

Consider the implications of the United States growth in relation to it's massive overconsumption of resources both here and abroad. Think of all the resources that we are taking from other countries just to support our unsustainable lifestyle while people in these same countries aren't allowed to use these resources for their basic needs, and are thus forced to live in abject poverty.

Kind of makes you sick, doesn't it?

Uh, is that a legal term?

2006-10-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

I mean, really, shouldn't "smackdown" at least be in quotation marks?

You all better appreciate the humour because it took me nearly an hour to figure out how to do a damn screen capture.

Life at 300 Million

2006-10-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here is an article I wrote that will be featured this week in the Cooper Point Journal (because, honestly, more people read this than the student newspaper... which is also sort of sad).

As you read this, the United States is rapidly approaching yet another milestone.

Sometime in the middle of this month (current estimates point to October 16), the United States’ population will hit the 300 million mark. And as our population keeps on growing, it is becoming harder and harder to ignore the environmental impact that accompany these rising numbers.

As the only industrialized nation with significant population growth as well as the nation with by far the largest ecological footprint per person, population growth in the United States is not something to take lightly. In terms of resources, the average American consumes nearly 10 times that of the average Chinese person, 20 times that of the average Indian and 69 times that of the average Ethiopian. And while population growth in the United States (approximately one new person every 10 seconds) has remained relatively steady for the past hundred years, the rate at which we consume our planet’s natural resources has risen exponentially. The United States will likely be among one of the top 9 countries on the planet in terms of population growth by 2060 and if current patterns of consumption persist, the environmental impact of maintaining our style of living will be grow more harmful.

The question of how many people the earth can truly sustain is a contentious one with many possible answers, but the fact remains that resource allocation for each person and quality of life for all decreases as population rises. Certainly, the earth could sustain more people living in an environmentally conscious way and Americans need to seriously reevaluate the way we are living and at what cost to the environment, but that is only one piece of the puzzle and the first step in achieving sustainability.

The other key is access to family planning. In the United States, nearly 60% of all pregnancies are unplanned whether because of a lack of education about contraception or other issues. Through increasing access to reproductive health services, comprehensive sex education and birth control in our country, we can move towards creating a sustainable society in which women have control over their bodies, their families and our planet. When given reproductive choice and access, women make the choices that are best and most sustainable for their families and by extension, the environment.

It is time for the reproductive rights and environmental movements to join our common cause to create a more sustainable and just world. Population Connection, in coalition with Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, One by One and Sierra Club, will be hosting an educational and interactive workshop on the relationship between reproductive rights and environmental sustainability at Evergreen on October 23^rd. We hope that you can join us.

Citizendium - Wikipedia for Smarties?

2006-10-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

(Note: This article/blog posting was originally written for my New Media Studies class.)

Watch out Wikipedia - a "new compendium of knowledge" is in town.

According to their website (www.citizendium.org), the Citizendium Project aims to be “a new set of responsibly-managed free knowledge projects” not terribly unlike Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). Larry Sanger, one of the original co-founders of Wikipedia, announced the project on September 15, 2006 and has taken on this project in response to his dissatisfaction with several aspects of Wikipedia which he believes results in widespread “abuse”. Among his complaints are: the lack and inconsistency of enforcement of established rules (which leads to impunity of the perpetrators), the anonymity of the website’s participants (that attracts “people who want to cause trouble”), the insularity of the website which makes it harder and harder for new people to get fully involved in the project (regardless of their qualifications), and the lack of an established and significant role for academics and other valuable contributors.

Sanger says “one might say that Wikipedia is committed to amateurism. In an encyclopedia, there's something wrong with that.” His proposed solution is Citizendium - a website very similar to Wikipedia except for two primary distinctions. The project will invite experts to serve as editors and make content decisions in their areas of specialization (as opposed to letting anyone edit) and authors will also have to log in under their real names and follow other established guidelines.

One of the most pressing questions surrounding this issue is – who qualifies as an intellectual? Sanger defines the term as "educated, thinking people who read about science or ideas regularly." My guess is that, apart from the people who purposefully falsify Wikipedia entries, the people who are motivated and invested enough to edit material on certain subjects consider themselves “intellectuals” and more than likely “experts” on particular subjects anyway.

According to the Wikipedia entry on the project, Sanger has also suggested a minimum "maturity" requirement (25 years) for editors. In my opinion, this would be the new projects biggest mistake – what about subjects, such as trends in youth culture, in which primarily (and often times exclusively) youth have knowledge of? Is Citizendium, by extension, implying that these topics are not worth discussion and public knowledge until a “qualified expert” is found and deems it worthy? In this way, it seems that Citizendium could easily be discounted as an elitist form of Wikipedia.

Sanger’s criticism of Wikipedia’s “amateurism” is also notable. Literally, the word “amateur” means (among other things) “a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons” (from dictionary.com) or “a person who admires something; devotee; fan”. While I doubt that these were the definitions that Sanger intended, they certainly seem to describe a large number of the contributors to Wikipedia favorably and, in my opinion, quite accurately describe the best aspects of Wikipedia. Sanger also claims that Wikipedia is “insular” while his proposed project for Citizendium, particularly the idea of “qualified editors”, seems alienating at best.

I do agree with Sanger’s point about ending anonymous editing (which would effectively end the impunity on false editing) but I feel like this act alone could address most of his grievances without the effort of starting up an entirely new, competing online encyclopedia. Sanger also has a point in that no one should use Wikipedia exclusively in their research, but the same should be said about any encyclopedia (or, “experimental workspace”, as Citizendium describes itself). According to a 2005 comparison done by Nature magazine, for example, researchers found that Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica were close in terms of accuracy in their articles on the natural sciences.

In the end, it doesn’t seem to particularly matter – new ideas and different approaches in technology should be explored, even if they are flawed and/or a better system already exists. The more options that people have, the better, and hopefully eventually the best aspects of all of these projects will be integrated as one.

And so fall approaches...

2006-09-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've let myself get quite slack on the photography since returning from Guatemala. I suppose that's somewhat typical after returning from such a visually rich experience and having to go back to trying to see the beauty in every day ordinary things. It's amazing how much you can train yourself visually and if you are not constantly paying attention or focusing on being present and just tapping into that sense, how much you can miss.

Well, here's my first attempt since my return to pick up the camera and just shoot a photo for no other reason besides the fact that it was interesting to me.

On the Web & of Note

2006-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Slate Magazine has an incredibly interesting article about the misinterpretation of what some are calling "the most controversial of 9/11 photos". Definitely speaks to the power of an image as well as the power of interpretation (and misinterpretation) in photography and its cultural meaning. Check it out: Frank Rich Is Wrong About That 9/11 Photograph.

Also, Democracy Now! got me interested in The Punch Clock Campaign. Not sure if I am going to be spending any of my time lobbying my legislator for putting their schedule online considering everything else that is going on and in need of some serious lobbying, but it really is a great idea. Hopefully legislators will latch onto the idea on their own and realize that it’s actually their responsibility to the voters. Yeah, right.

Alright, so I know I am pretty slow to catch on to the hype, but Overheard in New York is seriously one of the most entertaining and funny web creations I have seen in a long time. The idea that “sometimes truth is stranger/funnier than fiction” certainly seems to get a boost here. Interesting enough, it is completely user-generated comedy and I do love the idea that some side-splitting eavesdropping can be shared and equally appreciated across the country. I do wonder if there will be more manifestations of this idea in other cities (I have overheard some pretty crazy shit in Olympia) and I do hate the idea of New York City being an exceptional city in that way (but maybe I am just bitter) – the value of the submissions is not geographically based, but rather universal, so why is the regional exclusivity needed? Hmmm, New Yorkers? Typical, I suppose.

There's another great article on Slate concerning Netflix, identity and relationships. Check it out here: I Queue: Judging Your Friends By Their Netflix Lists. What does your queue say about you and, more importantly, what are you TRYING to get it to say about you? And, perhaps more importantly, how come we keep nothing private any more (no judgment, I'm among the worst of the offenders)? The best part of the article? "It's the Netflix version of the divided soul: The end of your list is the person you want to be—Eraserhead, the eight-hour BBC Bleak House, the complete Werner Herzog—while the top is the person you actually are: Wedding Crashers, Scary Movie 4, The Bridges of Madison County."

MTV is taking an interesting approach to genocide education. At first the idea sounded appalling to me: an interactive game about being a Sudanese Refugee! Are you shitting me? But then I actually checked it out: Darfur is Dying. Although I really hate to think that creating a genocide into an educational computer game is the only way to compel my generation into acting on the most horrific genocide of our lifetime – it’s an interesting concept. I would be really interested to hear what other folks think about the idea and the execution – is it demeaning or just a natural extension of the web generation’s online activism?

Housekeeping

2006-09-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

So yes, I did a complete and total rehaul of the blog. I do realize, however, that it only looks good using Mozilla Firefox and in certain dimensions but I am working on that (actually, I'm not... if anyone can help me out, though, that would be much appreciated). Does anyone use Internet Explorer any more, though?

School starts on Tuesday at which time I will be in class for ten hours straight (well, with an hour for lunch and dinner) because I am taking both Mediaworks and New Media Studies, both of which I am looking forward to. I've already begun reading Ways of Seeing (John Berger) for Mediaworks and finding it quite interesting. I also do not have housing in Olympia yet so that will certainly complicate my first couple of weeks of school (as I assume that's how long it will take to find housing), but it will be good to be back in school again as it has been six months out of academia and 9 months out of the classroom, which is just simply too long at this point.

In other news, I am holding a membership meeting for Population Connection on Monday at 7PM at Cafe Vivcae - Alley 24 and am terrified that no one is going to show. We're even having a guest speaker from Grist magazine (how cool is that?), so please -- if you love me and are in the Seattle area Monday night, please attend the meeting. I will love you forever.

Bumbershoot: A Recap

2006-09-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

So this was the weekend that makes everyone proud to be from Seattle, and I was lucky to share it (well, Saturday) with one of my favourite people in the world. Yes, you heard me, the fabulous Suj was in the area for my favourite weekend of the year: Bumbershoot. Beyond all the wonderful music acts we saw, it was also just great to catch up and hang out in Seattle Center. To follow is a rundown of the bands I got the chance to check out and my not-so-important or even informed opinion.

The New Pornographers
Alright, I wasn't too familiar with this band before the concert, but knew enough of their music to know that I wanted to see them. And my hunch was right: a great and lively show with music that's hard not to smile and move to. Hey, even my Dad was into them.

Spoon
Ehh.... Alright. I only knew that one song "I Turn My Camera On" which I like, but all of their music sort of sounded the same to me (which is often the case with artists I am not terribly familiar with). Unimpressive follow-up to New Pornographers (granted they were literally a tough act to follow).

Mates of State
I made the very tough decision to miss José González (WHAT WAS I THINKING?) in order to see "one of favourite bands" and even dragged my dad and two of our family friends along for what I promised would be a good show. LIES. Granted, Mates of State is a sound that grows on you... but the harmonies were really off for the first three-fourths of the show and that's what there is to love about their sound. By the time they started redeeming themselves, the set was practically over and most everyone had already learned to tune them out. Anyway, collosal disappointment.

Zero 7
Luckily, my dad's friends were so into the band that I got roped into staying along. I honestly didn't know much of their music besides a couple of mixed CDs and the infamous Garden State soundtrack all of which I enjoyed but man, I am converted now. A great live show that featured no one other than José González as well as a couple of other dynamic vocalists. Generally a little skeptical of music that relies so heavily on techno, but Zero 7 has me reconsidering my ways. Definitely the best show of the evening.

A wonderful day overall. Also got a subscription to Mother Jones for 50% off. Can't beat that.

Also, this guy was called up during the Zero 7 concert to dance and no one knew what the hell was going on. I was intrigued, so I looked it up afterwards and have to say that this is one of the most incredible things I've seen in my entire life. Check it out.

The week of the documentary

2006-09-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

This week I was lucky enough to catch not one but TWO fabulous documentaries on television... both about class in their different ways. I do realize this makes me a huge dork, but as Nicole said, "hey, it's your thing... I guess it's justified".

I was excited all week to see Spike Lee's documentary on New Orleans "When the Levees Broke" which was more or less great and well... really fucking long (it didn't help I watched the four parts back to back). Rekindled my sense of outrage at the whole mess. I would like to watch it again when I'm not so tired.

The second documentary I caught was by chance, even though I am one of PBS's program POV's biggest fans. "Waging a Living" is a cinema verite documentary about how difficult it is to get by in America on low wage jobs. It's kind of Nickeled and Dimed without the narration. Anyway, I was quite pleasantly surprised at how thought provoking and well, depressing the documentary was. I spent the day at work listening to the 6 part podcast that accompanies the documentary (including interviews with Barbara Ehrenreich and Howard Zinn) which complimented the documentary wonderfully. I love podcasts.

Both highly recommended, especially the latter (sorry, Spike... I just love me some cinema verite).

So, if Eli jumped off a bridge...

2006-08-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

So Eli says that I should keep blogging.

I know I totally crapped out on the whole blogging thing pretty early into my Guatemalan adventure.  After following several other people’s travel blogs for the past few years, I have noted this phenomenon with others.  Articulating is so damn hard, especially in new situations.  Not to mention that travel is exhausting enough as it is, the inward bound reflection and outward bound articulation are simply too much at times.  So basically, I was emotionally and intellectually exhausted or lazy, however you choose to look at it.

Not really sure what will be posted here now, but I guess I will know it when I come across it.

Lars has come and gone through the Pacific Northwest and moved to Manhattan today which seems completely bizarre to me.  Starts law school at NYU on Wednesday.  Anne is here for a couple more days and we are driving down to Portland in the morning to meet up with Laura (Dunn).  Anne’s visit is really the last variation to my schedule this summer before I start settling back into life here.  The rest of my summer will be dedicated to working and finding housing in Olympia is a pain and relatively emotionally draining, mostly because I have high expectations.

Not sure if that was at all worthwhile, but there you have it.  So if for no other reason, this blog is for you, Eli.

The long awaited update

2006-07-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have become the worst travel blogger of all time. But I insist that my lack of blogging since the delegation´s beginning is actually a good sign.

At any rate, I am so impressed with the program here and am having an amazing experience. We have been in Xela for the past two weeks or so and it is definitely the place to be in this country. I have a great dislike for the capital (Guatemala City) and Antigua is, ironically, way too touristy for my tastes. Panajachel and Lake Atitlan was simply GORGEOUS and with various excursions out to various fincas and smaller communities I can say with convication that this country is simply breathtaking.

My focus for the past couple weeks has been working with two other delegates on a documentation project which has meant visiting a great variety of different nonprofits and taking more pictures in two weeks than perhaps in my first 20 years. I am working very slowly to get them all (or at least the highlights) online and eventually, to turn them into something substantial.

There is officially one week left of our delegation and I have two weeks left in this country, but I am already planning a return with a more concrete documentation project. More news to come on that, I promise.

So many photos it will make your head spin

2006-07-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Kids will be kids
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

All right, long time, no update. I will write a long re-cap of the incredibly intense and rewarding past week in the next couple of days, but until then... check out the photos posted on my Flickr page.

View of Pacaya

2006-07-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Pacaya
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

Alrighty, just a brief post but... this is Pacaya, the most active volcano in Central America. Yes, I hiked it (okay, rode a horse up it) and definitely enjoyed the view. Pictures of me and lava to come!

Happy Birthday, Lars!

2006-06-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lars enjoys cooking...
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

Here's to a quarter century of excellence... An exemplary boyfriend as well as an overall kickass human being.

The selection of this picture was somewhat random, however I do believe it exhibits a little bit of that je ne sais quoi that we all know and love...

The Only Dancing Gringos in Montericco

2006-06-27T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was an interesting and fun but not perfect weekend. Laura (Seago), John and I left for Montericco at 8AM (after a night out on the town in Antigua) and arrived in the late morning. We eventually found and rented a hotel room for 50 quetzalales a person which is like $6.50. I guess it's true that you get what you pay for... Let's just say that the song "La Cucaracha" is named after the Spanish word for cockroach and it all makes sense now. Eew...

The beach was beautiful, black sand and STRONG waves. We didn't swim so much as stand in the surf and wait for a big wave to knock us over. John rented a surf board and surfed for a bit which was fun to watch. They also have (and are relatively famous for) one of the biggest turtle preservations in the world there which was weird to visit... just because the standards of maintanence are so much lower than in the US. Anyway, it was only 8 quetzales (about $1) to go so I guess we had to.

The weather during the day was nice but it POURED all night. Our hotel was having a rockin' party until about 2AM which for whatever reason was only attended by the Latin American tourists and locals, so John and I were definitely stared at when we started dancing.

The drive out there and back was actually one of the best parts and we got to see a lot of the country -- very much a jungle! We crossed over a river on a little ferry on our way to the beach which was really quite breathtaking. Lots of the roads were flooded on our way back from all the rain we've been getting recently. Because it's hurricane season, we are getting a lot of rain from storms on their way to perhaps becoming hurricanes or tropical storms in the gulf, but not anything major in and of themselves.

Anyway, I am bunkering down with a lot of reading for our program this week. I don't think we (at least John and I) will be going to Chiapas after all, it's a little bit out of our budget and the timing isn't all that great with our program starting on Sunday and all. It's a little bit of a disappointment, but I think we both decided we'd rather save the money and try to get to Tikal where the Mayan ruins are later... You actually have to fly to Tikal because it is so far away and goes through some unsafe parts of the country but flights are only $60 and the ruins are supposed to be amazing and not something one can really miss.

Sigue Destapando, Sigue Ganando

2006-06-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sigue Destapando, Sigue Ganando
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

One of my favourite things is translating Spanish catch phrases into English literally. This means ¨continue uncovering, continue winning¨. Except I don´t think I won anything...

People, places & things...

2006-06-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

The house
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

For references sake, if nothing else. Here is a picture of the people living in our house at this moment.

Today John and I were sitting on the balcony when we noticed gray smoke coming from the volcano. We wondered if that meant that we would die soon, but it turns out it does that all the time.

I'm not sure if my Spanish is getting better, but my English is most DEFINITELY getting worst. It's funny because we are all speaking Spanglish now but almost always unintentionally when we are trying to speak English. There are just some words that are just more efficient in Spanish.

This weekend we decided to go to Montericco (a beach off the Pacific) to soak up some sun and do some reading. It looks like Miss Laura Seago will be joining us from Guatemala City so beach time and cuba libres barratos para todos!

On that note, it's interesting that the term for Rum & Coke in Spanish is actually "Cuba libres" meaning, of course, free Cuba. What's more interesting is that Coke is apparently illegal in Cuba... is that the joke in and of itself or is it a toast people make with the drink? At any rate, there was a special on the other night for cuba libres por 5 quetzales -- the equivalent of about 75 cents. Yes, you can get drunk for under $2 in this city.

On Photography

2006-06-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Playtime
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

Ever since I started studing photography academically and philosophically in attempts to improve my work conceptually, I find it increasingly more difficult to take pictures. I find myself asking myself questions of intent and priviledge everytime I consider asking someone to take their photo. Photography is particularly interesting in relation to tourism as imperialism and my god, I'm no different than anyone else in this respect (especially here, now). At the same time, I had illusions (delusions?) that somehow I can justify it to myself. I try to be sensitive to particular moments and go with my gut... It's still incredibly heartbreaking to see a magnificent photograph and pass it by because the moment is not right to take that risk. Yes, for a lot of people, its just a matter of pulling a camera out of a bag and taking it without thinking and that has value too in the sense that you get magnificent photographs, sometimes that can be used for the greater good (whatever that may be). Being too careful means missing a lot of opportunities. I'm just trying to find some common ground...

These girls, however, approached me speaking in Spanish that was pretty much impossible to understand as they were speaking so quietly and high pitched. I think it was a question about my camera, though, so I went on to ask their grandmother if I could take their picture. She agreed and the girls giggled as I snapped their photo. But what now? Where does it go and what does it do? Why is this photography important or is it just cute?

Street Scene

2006-06-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Street Scene
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

The street we live on has a lot of children on it who don't appear to go to bed before 11PM (I should know, my window faces this street). The kids mostly ignore us, mostly because Antigua is a tourist town in general and our house hosts up to 6 foreigners at a time, so they are pretty used to it by now I imagine. Every once in awhile, only with the little girls so far, I get stares that break into huge grins.

View from the Roof #3

2006-06-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

View from the Roof #3
Originally uploaded by alauraborealis.

So I found somewhere to upload my photos. I haven't taken very many so far and only of scenery (I'll write a longer post about that dilemna later), but here is the view from the roof / balcony of our house. It is of the volcano (obstructed by a cloud) which you can only see fully in the morning. The rest of the photos are on my Flickr page.

Cambodia Documentary Screening in Seattle

2006-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

I promised I would pass this along to my "network" (thats you guys!), so here you have it. This is sponsored by the same group that I am in Guatemala with so it should be good stuff.

"Bombhunters"
A Documentary About Cambodians who Hunt Bombs for a Living

Special benefit screening in Seattle on June 29th at 7pm at the Admiral Theater

Event Information

"Bombhunters" documents the effects of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) on Cambodian people, both within their homeland and in the U.S. In particular, "Bombhunters" documents villagers' efforts throughout rural Cambodia as they seek out UXO and attempt to render it safe for sale to the scrap metal industry in order to survive. For more information: www.bombhunters.com

We hope you will join us for this very special benefit event in honor and support of Cambodian youth.
WHAT "Bombhunters"

Special Benefit Film Screening of Documentary About Cambodians who hunt bombs for a living and Q&A with Filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald
WHEN Thursday June 29th @ 7 P.M. ~ Reception to follow
WHERE Admiral Theater, 2347 California Avenue SW, Seattle
COST $12 per ticket at the door/$10 in advance

All proceeds to benefit projects serving Cambodian youth.

For more information about this event call (845) 338-2220 or e-mail to contact@globalyouthconnect.org

Laura the Explorer

2006-06-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today I was refered to as "Laura the Explorer" for my random insertion of Spanish words in English conversations (mostly because my brain is really confused) a la the kids program "Dora the Explorer". At any rate, the analogy is definitely working for me right now as I look sort of like a 7 year old and always wear my mochila wherever I go. All I had to do is find a pet monkey.

I am going to try to find a computer now that will let me upload my pictures so I can post them here. I am currently on free internet courtesy of the school, but there is a 10 minute limit that I am already pushing.

Also, I have to say that I just realized that while my blog is quite stunningly beautiful on my laptop at home, it looks like crap from everyone else`s computer (as well as the computer here). My apologies.

Safe & Sound & at the bottom of a volcano

2006-06-18T14:01:00.000-07:00

So I am here! After some pretty serious delays through Houston, I have arrived. Have not seen enough to say anything too insightful yet (although the keyboards here to do accomodate apostrophes so that is cramping my style a bit).

Antigua is beautiful and quite touristy. Staying with a girl from Sacramento State (she knows where Winters is, Johnson boys) with a host family. The mom was just widowed a couple of months ago and they have a daughter our age. The house itself has a beautiful open courtyard in the middle of it and really awesome balconies and such. There has been a lot of talk about drinking here -- seems to be a favourite pasttime. Getting lots of advice to be careful but have also heard that we should "adventure" a bit too.

Language classes begin tomorrow. Calling home will prove to be difficult, I think, but we will see. Free internet at school and a pool! Two weeks in Antigua should be just enough. Alright, time to call the folks and tell them I am alive and well.

Officially Employed!

2006-06-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

So after being unemployed for three whopping days, today I was hired as a "consultant" for Population Connection (formerly known as Zero Population Growth). Basically, I'll be in charge of field organizing in the Seattle area (the largest membership area in the country) so expect to hear a lot about the United Nation's Population Fund, comprehensive sex education, enivornmental sustainability and international reproductive rights law upon my return. My flight returns on August 9th at 8PM and my job contract begins August 10th. Shortly thereafter I'll be in DC for a training. I can't believe I have a part-time (15 hours/week) job set up for the entirety of next year ALREADY. Talk about a lucky break. Anyway, time to enjoy my 7 week vacation.

Check out Population Connection.

The next time you hear from me I'll be in Guatemala. Woah.

So bad it's good?

2006-06-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not entirely convinced, but entertaining nonetheless... Yes, I am aware that I am a couple of months late on picking up on this.

And weirder yet... "Kelly maintains that he is a genius for pioneering what he calls "hip-hopera." If I had more time, I would write an academic analysis of gender and race in R. Kelly's world... but it's officially summer. You'll have to wait for the fall for that.

Practically a Citizen

2006-06-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

So today I went to the Department of Homeland Security (formerly known as the INS) for my citizenship interview as well as my civics and English test. Although it might have been quite the embarassment to have failed the English portion, I was a little nervous about the civics test. It's something I have been joking about with friends for years - wouldn't it be funny if I, someone raised in the United States and the product of the American school system, failed the test on the "basics" of US history and government? Well, fortunately for me, I didn't have to serve as a reminder of our floudering school system as I did pass (with 100%, but no gold star), but not without some prep work. Two of my questions, (In what year was the constitution written?, and, Who said "Give me liberty or give me death"?) were things I will admit to not knowing prior to the last minute reviewing I did that morning. Sure, the test itself isn't terribly hard with a little studying, but is it really fair to set higher standards for immigrant's US history and civics knowledge than the average American's? How do you determine the basics of "what every citizen and/or potential citizen" should know about their country? It all seems quite arbitrary to me...

At any rate, I'm getting sworn in after I return in August. I'm thinking about having an "All-American Party" in celebration, so I'm open to any suggestions beyond beer guzzling (Bud, of course) and shooting at things.

Also, there is something strangely amusing about sitting in the waiting room with all the other applicatns while watching Lou Dobbs rant and rave about immigration policy in the United States. My favourite moment was looking down from the television set and catching the eye of a man sitting across the room from me. It was one of those knowing smiles between strangers I've come to cherish. Yeah, we're pretty scary alright.

I miss this city already...

2006-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

So Lars and I must have just aged twenty years (and jumped several income brackets) as we just attended our first art exhibition reception., not to mention incredibly talented. Here is a sample of one of his pieces I found online:

David Gista, one of Lars acquaintances through work, was exhibiting some artwork as a part of The Second Aparte Show in Chicago and we agreed that it would be a nice (and not to mention incredibly classy) way to spend one of my last nights on the town. The experience itself was interesting and there were definitely some moments where I felt horrendously out of place, but Lars' friend was very gracious and kind, not to mention incredibly talented. Here is a sample of his work that I found online.

After loading up on more tiny cheese cubes than I care to admit and a glass of champagne (yes, I was carded), we headed off to dinner in Uptown before embarking on my last el ride as a Chicago resident which almost made me weepy. It has been a very prolonged goodbye with this city, but I think this time I'm ready to go.