October Charity of the Month: Corazon!

Tired. I was tired. It was 4:30 a.m., and I had already woken up in time to make coffee, make a couple sandwich's, pack up my bright red cooler, and load it into my car in time to be at Nate's house for the rendezvous. Have I mentioned this was on a Saturday?

Regardless of how tired I was when I started the day, or how extremely-beyond-exhausted I was when I finally got back home around 11pm, my trip to Tijuana ("TJ") with Corazon was definitely worth it. Corazon was started 30 years ago, and their concept could not be more...well....obvious! What they offer is an "integrated program of community building, instruction, construction and repair projects, scholarships, and emergency and long-term assistance." I went to TJ with the organization to help build a house, and found out the organization is actually involved in so much more than just building houses. It just makes so much sense, it's actually pretty ridiculous. First of all, they don't just give houses out, people have to earn them through a point system, wherein they earn points by performing community service projects, such as providing child care for neighborhood kids in the mornings (so their parents can go to work), helping in the afternoons and weekends with the tutoring center, or helping to lay concrete or roofing on a neighbors house. Second, their approach is wholistic. So it's not just about building a house and letting them fend for themselves: it's also about providing an education for their children so they have a better future, it's about educating the parents to help them get ahead, it's about educating the community. I absolutely love the idea of a whole community taking part in improving not only their own home, but of all their neighbors. IT'S FREAKIN' BRILLIANT!

Anyhow, below are some pictures from the build I went to this past Saturday, which was an addition to an existing house (8 people living in one room) rather than a whole house build. Please check out Corazon's site and see how you can be a part of this amazing organization, either financially or by donating your time. Take a day in the next few months, and join us to help a worthy family. If you come on enough projects, you can earn your blue shirt, which I definitely plan on doing!

Walking to our work site:

The house as it stood originally, with the foundation already lead for the addition:

Painting the exterior and interior of the walls:

Putting up the walls:

Marlene, one of the members of the house, working on her painting skills:

And Marlon, her twin brother, working on his carpentry skills:

Working on the roof:

Photo opportunity of our finished product along with the sponsors and all the family members:

TJ at night:

Wanna join us next time? Check it out.

Haiti on my Mind

It has been every since I returned from my trip earlier this year. I'm sure most of my friends and family are sick of hearing me talk about it, since I'm constantly either reading books on the country, or otherwise trying to stay a little up to date on what is still going on over there. Anyhow, the organization I went with just extended their project from January 15, 2011, to December, 2011. Which means....I want to go back.

I wish that my decision to go back, and the preparations following such a decision, could be seamless and easy. But as most things in this life, it has complications upon complications. Jeff will be starting a new job soon (yipee!!!), which means we should be able to get health insurance in about three months...which means we'd like to start thinking about expanding our little family. So I have to be very careful about planning my trip...I definitely can't go if I'm pregnant, which means heading back sooner rather than later. This means I have less time to raise the funds to go (I'm thinking it's going to be a little more difficult the second time around).

Thinking about this trip has also got my mind all jumbled up and thinking about so many other things...why do I really wanna go back? Is it just for me? Is it to help the people in Haiti, or just because it's something different? I want to say it's for altruistic reasons, but I know it's because it's something that makes ME happy. Which then makes me wonder if I should really be putting my family into a financially precarious situation just to do something I want to do. Wouldn't my time be better spent at home, with my husband? On the other hand, I don't want to regret not going back, when I feel it's something I need to do for me. Once we start having kids, I can't just drop everything and go to Haiti for two weeks.

Then I start to wonder if I unnecessarily complicate my life by wanting to do the things I want to do. I'm trying to make this career in the non profit arena (which hasn't been happening for me so far) and constantly try to get involved in as many worthy activities as I can. What would I do with myself if I just focused on being a little more selfish...what if I went to college and law school just to make money and be financially stable, rather than wanting to "save the world"? What if I just spent the weekends picking up my home rather than organizing field trips to build a house in Mexico, or attending fundraisers? I wonder if my life would be just a little bit easier. But I also can't think of what else I would want to do with my life.

Suggestions and prayers are always welcomed :)

Introducing: The Dip Corner!

Ok, so here's the deal: whenever Jeff and I chose to get an appetizer when we eat out, we always go for whatever spinach-artichoke dip version they may have. There are times that we order it, and only after do we remember, hmmm, we didn't really like this one last time. But since it's our default, we always order it, regardless! So here comes my brilliant (um, lame?) idea: start a little section of this blog where I keep track of which ones we've tried, where, and a quick reminder as to what we thought of it. On the first couple I forgot to take a picture...but later entries will be better documented :) Hope this is helpful to some of you out there who enjoy spinach-artichoke dip as much as we do!

First victim: Lucille's BBQName: Spinach and Cheese Dip
Price: $4.95 for a half order
Description: "spinach and artichokes blended with a creamy cheese sauce and served hot with fresh tortilla chips."
Our thoughts: for a half order, the portion was of a good size. It was more cheesy than spinach-y, and it was a little watery for our taste. I'm thinking next time we'll probably try a different appetizer...I mean, I guess at some point we should try to venture out of our comfort zone anyway.

Arcade Fire.

I begin with an apology, this entry might run a little long :)

I had the good fortune of attending the Arcade Fire show at the Shrine Auditorium last night. I remember Jeff buying one of their cd's a while ago, and I was kind of indifferent about it. The real reason for me going was because I got to volunteer with Partners in Health, helping spread the word to fans of Arcade Fire, and trying to raise some funds. I thought it was a bonus to get to hear that band. Holy guacamole.

They're amazing. They reminded me of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: there's just soo many people on stage, playing all sorts of instruments, and they're all genuinely excited and passionate about what they're doing. It shows and it's contagious. Anyhow, they played a song last night that I really liked, but since I've never really heard much of their stuff, I don't know what song it is. I tried to find it on youtube so I could post it here, but I didn't have any luck. Instead I found about six other videos that are uber amazing (I lowered the final count...).

Ok, this first one is "Wake Up" and it's actually from the show I was at. It was their closing song, however, so I actually had to miss it because I was getting ready to annoy more people with donation requests :)



This next one is "Ready to Start." I love the song, but I also love this video because it shows how talented and passionate all of these guys are.



This one's just freakin cool:



This last one is called "Haiti." One of the lead singers is actually from Haiti, so it puts the song in perspective a little bit. I'm actually gonna post the lyrics, because they're a little difficult to understand, but the whole point of this song is the power of the lyrics:



Hait, mon pays,
wounded mother I'll never see.
Ma famille set me free
Throw my ashes into the sea.

Mes cousins jamais nes
hantent les nuits de Duvalier
Rien n'arrete nos espirits.
Guns can't kill what soldiers can't see.

In the forest we are hiding,
unmarked graves where flowers grow.
Hear the soldires angry yelling,
in the river we will go.

Tous les morts-nes forment una armee,
soon we will reclaim the earth.
All the tears and all the bodies
bring about our second birth.

Haiti, never free,
n'aie pas peur de sonner l'alarme.
Tes enfants sont partis,
in those days their blood was still warm.

In the Name of Science

There were reports through all sorts of sources on Friday discussing an experiment by American Scientists in the 1940's: the purpose was to test whether penicillin would prevent/cure syphilis. So, naturally, American scientists used individuals from a third world country (in this case, Guatemala) as guinea pigs: they used prostitutes to infect prisoners and people in insane asylums with syphilis, and later offered them penicillin to see if it would cure them. From what's come to light thus far, it seems that the results were inconclusive. Meanwhile, 696 men and women were exposed to syphilis, and it is unclear whether all of them were cured.

One article does state the prisoners were unaware they were part of an experiment, although I do find it a little humorous (politically incorrect?) that they used prostitutes....I guess this is how they keep the prisoners from knowing they are getting infected with something...instead of an injection, let us bring women to sexually deprived prisoners and see if they'll take the bait. I digress.

Although the new discovery of this research has brought to light questionable research methods, and has led to discussions about ethics in the research field, there's another topic I find interesting: diplomatic apologies.

Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama, have both offered apologies for what happened sixty years ago. As "Tom" states: "I suppose it bothers me a lot more because it was so recent. When people get all lathered up over something 300, 500, or 1000 years ago, I find myself saying the fog of history really does make it a perilous endeavor to pass fair judgment from afar. But for crying out loud, this is well within the remembered lifetimes of many citizens both here and there."

This is where I start to over-analyze.

On the one hand, it seems only fair that someone should be held accountable for what happened, and that the people affected receive some sort of compensation for what was done to them (the government of Guatemala has already requested compensation for the victims).

On the other hand, how long can you hold an organization accountable for something that was done by prior administrations? I guess as a government, or any organization that has transitional leadership, they are always accountable for any actions done under their name, but it also strikes me as unfair to have to keep apologizing over and over again for something you had no control over (I'm taking this into a general context; the United States has only barely apologized for this incident). For example, Germany will always be made to feel like crap because of what Hitler did. I'm sure most Germans today are as disgusted with Hitler's actions as everyone else, yet they will always be held responsible for what happened years ago. The Guatemalan government is accusing the United States of crimes against humanity, and is "reserving the right to denounce [the United States] in an international court."

I think I agree with Tom that maybe these events are a little worse because they are fairly recent. I wonder if this news would have had less of an impact on news stories if it had happened 100 or 200 years ago, although I think both governments would still be playing the diplomatic dance and giving the "I'm sorry" and "I'm outraged" statements. I question how much of this is done to save face, and how much is because either party is really concerned with what happened.

Eh, I might not be making sense, and I'm definitely over analyzing, so I'll leave it at this :)

Music Corner: The xx: "Islands"

Another discovery via the indie station on Slacker.com. The video made me realize just how repetitive this song is, haha, but I still think it's cute :)