Haiti Day 2

As I write this, someone just found a tarantula somewhere. I don’t want to see it. If I don’t see, I still hold hope that someone is mistaken. Maybe it’s just a large black toy. That’s what it is....

Ok, so I left off with beers last night. I woke up this morning thinking I didn’t sleep very well. See, my bunk is made of wooden boards, and I only brought a sleeping bag, which isn’t much cushion. And I sleep on my side. My hips were not happy. So I woke up a lot. That, and the fact that the 2,000 roosters in this town start crowing at 2 a.m. Aaaaand that I wake up every time someone leaves there tent during the night to go to the bathroom. But I guess I got better sleep than I had thought. I woke up to find huge puddles everwhere, and that is because apparently it rained, it POURED last night. Right next to my bunk (there’s an open courtyard a few feet from the bunk beds). And I didn’t hear a-THING! I wish I had, it might have been a really cool experience.

Anyhow, today Abby and I stayed in the house and worked on school furniture. We painted a bunch of tables and chairs in bright blue and green. All I could think about while we were painting was how happy these kids are going to be with their school chairs and desks. I love it!

So it was a long day, but nothing compared to what it’s going to be tomorrow. Tomorrow we’re actually going to be rubbling, aka, removing rubble. People come back from this exhausted, hot, sun burnt, and dirty. But quite satisfied with the work they’ve done. So I’m really looking forward to it.

A little more on our nightly meetings. At six o’clock sharp, everyone brings chairs onto the courtyard, and we start by getting a brief update on every project that was worked on that day. There are a few rubble sites, people that work in the hospital, crews that do house assessments (basically assess whether the house is save to move back into or not), working with children (on specific days), building the school, working on stuff for the school, and a few people that are working in the mayors office giving them advice on how to improve things (I really hope I get a chance to do this at least once).

A few other things I forgot to mention about yesterday: the UN and NGO presence is pretty astounding. There were UN cars everywhere, not to mention tanks and blue helmet soldiers.

Something that seems to be a sensitive issue around camp is the amount of food everyone is allotted. When we got our tour we were given the exact amounts of stuff we could get. The tour guide specifically said we’re only allowed one piece of meat until everyone’s eaten, and everything else should be served with the knowledge that about 99 other people have to eat also. At last night’s nightly meeting someone made an announcement that the “one piece” rule applies to EVERYTHING. That means the slices of tomato, the leaves of lettuce, the potatoes, etc. Again, not kidding. I will confess that when I first was given instructions, the one piece rules seemed to apply only to meat...so I did take two tomatoes. And my goodness, were they amazing (Pat, I think you would approve, that’s how good they are).

Going back to the day’s activities. Abby and I decided to venture out during our lunch hour today to explore a little bit. Mostly because of the above paragraph, we decided it might be a good idea to get our own stash of some stuff, so we don’t starve. So we decided to walk to the market (marche!). We soon found out that to get to the market you have to walk through the IDP (internally displaced people) camp. I’m sure most of you have seen these on TV in places like Africa, and maybe even here, since Haiti has gotten quite a bit of media attention. (By the way, I can feel myself getting eaten alive by mosquitos right now..and yes, I have sprayed myself twice already). It was a little surreal to walk through the camp. I was so focused on reaching the end of the camp that I didn’t want to focus on what was in front of me. Who would? We met a nice young gentleman of about 6, who did us the favor of guiding us through the camp to the market. The market is a huge open market. HUGE. And there’s rubble everywhere. We were a little confused as to where we were going and what we really wanted to buy, but we finally stumbled upon some packaged cookies. While paying for them, there was an incident at the stand next to us: a man in a motorcycle stopped quite aggressively in front of a woman who was at the stand-I think he actually hit her with the motorcycle. He then jumped off the motorcycle and grabbed her skirt, but she managed to jump away from him. At this point the man had already picked up a piece of rubble with each hand, and it seemed like he had every intention of throwing it at her. Abby and I were frozen in our tracks. Thankfully the people around there managed to get the man away, and an old man was talking to him. This is when I wish I understood what they were saying.

Alas, all was well, we bought our cookies, and continued with our quest: to find mango’s! Someone had given me a taste of theirs during lunch, and they tasted just like the one’s my grandma brought from Guate. Can mango’s from different places tast different, you ask? Why, yes they can. I honestly don’t think you’ve had a real mango if you’ve only eaten the ones from the States. They don’t have a lot of flavor, and they’re way too easy to eat! The ones here are full of flavor, they’re messy, they get stuck in your teeth, and they’re absolutely delicious! I had remembered seeing a few mango’s at a stand we had walked by earlier, so we made our way back there. Thankfully, as we were trying to talk to the man in charge about how much he was going to rip us off, the cook from our camp was walking by, and she took pity on us. She managed to get us a good deal: 10 mango’s for $3! And yes, they were worth every penny!

One final anecdote and I’ll let you all carry on with your lives: I had to set up my mosquito net on my bunk last night, and there was no string to use to hang it up. I miraculously found one piece of string somewhere, and I had the genius idea of stringing it apart so it would give me all the string I needed. It worked. But not until after I wished about 20 times that Jeff was there to help me out. I’ve become pretty useless without him :)

Haiti Day 1

Where did we leave off? I believe the last time we spoke, I was in the Miami International airport, waiting for our flight to Port Au Prince (“PAP”). Well, as some of you may have seen on my facebook profile, the plane was not what Abby nor I expected. What we expected was a tiny airplane, maybe even a little jet plane. Because really, who all is going to Haiti?? Well...apparently a lot of people. It was one of those planes that has three seats in the middle, and two seats on either side; so instead of your usual 5 seater row, there were 7. There was a giant surgical team that was flying on board with us, but the rest of the people were actually Haitian. There were a few people in wheelchairs, and I’m still wondering if those were people who were airlifted out at the very beginning, and are just now returning home.

So, flight was fine. A short one-and-a-half hour flight from Miami to PAP. A little turbulence, nothing crazy. Got a nice snack pack (another wonderful surprise from American Airlines!). No pillow this time, but I guess that’s because it wasn’t over night and it was such a short flight.

During the landing, Abby and I were scoping out the country. Most of it seems fine, from an aerial perspective. But the one thing that does jump out is all the blue tarp that you see spattered about. And you can begin to see the tent cities splotched every here and there also.

Being in the PAP airport was something else. I used to make fun of the airport in Guatemala (before it was renovated), but nothing, NOTHING compared to this. One airstrip, no real air conditioning. We had to wait in a crowded and hot hallway so that buses could drive us 200 feet to customs. Mind you, customs is basically a giant warehouse, and by warehouse I do mean that the ceiling is made of sheet metal. Which means it’s really, really hot inside. They had fans inside, but being in front of those was actually worse, since what you got blown in your direction was 99 degree air. But all the airport staff were really nice, and very helpful. We tipped some guy to get our luggage-not that he really gave us an option, and headed out to wait for the rest of the people that were sharing the shuttle back to the base camp. Ian, from London, had already been waiting for us for a couple hours, and we had to wait another 40 minutes or so for two other girls who were coming in on the flight after ours. We were specifically instructed to wait BEHIND the airport gates. It was no surprise why. There were about two dozen men wearing a grey uniform shirt, and these are the men that “help” you with your luggage--except they get a bit aggressive. After waiting almost another hour for our shuttle to arrive, there was some confusion as to what man had carried our luggage, who had loaded it, and who needed to be paid for it. Our driver had to drive our of the airport while three men were sticking their hands in our windows asking for money.

Now comes the fun part: the drive from PAP to Leogane. It probably took a good 45 minutes to an hour to just get out of the slums of PAP. I’ve seen slums in Guate before, but this was crazy. I had to wonder which ones were pre-earthquake and which ones were post-earthquake. The streets were insanely crowded: there was rubble everyone, people everyone, and cars everywhere in between. There was rubble in the median, rubble on the sidewalks, dump sites of ruble, people selling stuff on the of everything, houses half collapsed waiting for someone to fix them, someone who probably has already moved on and forgotten about it. People flirting, people painting, people welding, people selling, people walking from school, people walking to wherever it is that life is taking them. While taking all of this in (6 people in one car, and few words were exchanged-everyone was lost in thought), all I could think was: where would I start? How could you possibly fix this? Where would you begin to organize the clean up and reconstruction of such a behemoth?

Amid all of this, our driver gave us a heart attack a few dozen times. I mean, there’s Guate driving, and then there’s Haitian driving. Not just crazy, but INSANE. Of course, pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way, and our driver made that clear. And secondly, anything goes. This includes driving on the wrong side of the road, with oncoming traffic, for a prolonged period of time. Yes, I’m serious :)

Thankfully we made it safe and sound. This is getting a bit long, so I’ll wrap up the rest of the day as quick as I can (and thank you for reading this far already). We got to pick our bunks out (thankfully Abby and I got ones together), and waiting until everyone got back from work for dinner (beans and rice) and our nightly meeting (more about those later). After people took showers and got settled in, we headed to Joe’s bar right next door for a couple cold ones. One thing you need to understand: nothing is cold here. The water is lukewarm, the milk is lukewarm (no more cereal for me). So COLD beer was aaaaaamazing.

Traveling Adventures

We made it to Miami. It's currently 3:21 a.m. back home, and I really wish I was laying in bed with Jeff. But alas, we're on a mission!

First shocker of the night: American Airlines let me check in TWO bags with NO FEES. Not one. But two (well, one and a sleeping back, but still). Free. I didn't think that existed anymore!

Second shocker of the night: realizing I'm not as much of an expert traveler as I thought I was. When it comes to security lines, I think I've got it down pretty good. Especially with going through security areas at court all the time now, I'm pretty much shoeless and jewelry-less and everything is packed in the cubby in time. I'm not gonna lie....one of the security guards at a courthouse even commented on my preparedness. So here I am, walking up to the security point at LAX, thinking "I've got this." Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, I've never traveled with a laptop before. So there I was, just waiting to push my cubby through the x-ray machine, and the guard tells me that my laptop has to have it's own little cubby...apparently it can't share space with my shoes. Well, I wasn't prepared for this! Thanks to the helpfulness of the lady behind us (who probably just didn't want to be held up by dorks like us), we finally got our stuff through...and again thanks to the lady behind us, she handed Abby my passport and boarding pass, which I had set down in the commotion of the you're-laptop-needs-it's-own-cubby. Modesty, Alex, modesty. Life has a way of showing you you're not as much of a hot shot whenever you think you are!

Other funny story I'd like to share: after we landed, one of the flight attendants made the announcement that everyone needed to remain seated until we got stationed at our gate. There were already a few people standing and opening overhead compartments, so she had to repeat her message a couple times. Well, there was one lady standing in the aisle who apparently thought it wasn't obvious that she was the only one standing in the aisle. After another friendly and general reminder from the flight attendant that everyone needed to be seated, a second and more stern flight attendant made another announcement: "Ma'am! Please sit down!" Yes, ma'am, she's talking to you.

I also want to thank everyone again for their generosity: I got a few last minute donations in the last couple days, and I'm still amazed at people's generosity and willingness to help out. You all make this world a better place by being amazing! And thank you to the work crew for a delicious breakfast, and the TVN crew and friends for meeting up for dinner-you guys rock.

Well, we've got another two hours before we board our flight to Haiti. Time for some card games, gossip magazines, and maybe a snooze.

Haiti Update: this is it.

I still can't believe that tomorrow night I'll be on my way to Haiti. I feel like it was ages ago when Abby first shared her thoughts of this trip with me. I remember feeling so sad when things didn't pan out the first attempt, and then how amazing everything fell into place on the second go-around.

I am so thankful to everyone who made this happen. Most people have said they're so proud of me for going to do something like this. But honestly, this is something I've always WANTED to do. I'm thrilled and excited to be going. In reality, I'm more proud of every single person who has made this trip possible. Without your donations and your support, this dream wouldn't be coming true.

So my bags are packed and ready to go (cue scene from Armageddon where Ben Affleck is saying goodbye to Liv Tyler), and tomorrow will prove to be a long day. I committed myself to a half day in the office, which little did I know at the time included an 8am appearance in court. Working until lunch, then working on my last minute list: make copies of passport and ID, go to a Catholic store and replace my St. Christopher medallion, make a few calls, buy some chocolate for the volunteers already in Haiti, etc. Chocolate, you say? Yes, apparently it's in high demand over there. See, I'm only going for a week and a half, but there are volunteers down there that have committed to long term stays, such as a month or two. That means two months of rice and beans. Chocolate starts sounding pretty good after a while, I'm sure. Then I'll double check that I have packed every thing, dinner with the TVN crew, then heading out to the airport with Paul, Abby, and Jeff. Flight leaves at 10pm and we should be in Haiti within 12 hours.

My next entry will be from Leogane, Haiti. Thank you for that.

Haiti Update: Packing!

So this is it! The last couple weeks I was basically keeping piles of plastic bags in the corner of my dinning room, with whatever stuff I had just bought for my trip. Last night I finally started to put everything in one big pile, and taking things out of shopping bags. This is what my couch looked like this morning:

It only got worse once I pulled the coffee table out of the way and I pulled out every article of clothing I wanted to bring. I figured if it didn't fit, then I would scale down what I'm taking..

Thanks to some good tips from my mom, I was able to pack everything into my (ahem, Robin's) backpack, and my smaller backpack which is what I will be taking on the plane with me. I put most of the art supplies I'm taking (thanks to Erik and Marisela for their help on purchasing these items) in my backpack, since they're pretty light and I had to save an extra room on my check in luggage for all those liquid articles I can't carry on. So, minus the sleeping bag which I still have to stick in a plastic bag (and for which I'll probably get charged extra baggage), this is what I'm taking:

Not too bad, huh? It's still a little heavier than it should be, mostly because-like every trip, and every girl-I'm over packing a little. But the way Abby and I see it, Haiti is probably the last destination you want to be thinking: "I SHOULD have brought [insert item here]."

SO, HODR has a wish list of items they need down there. The first paragraph is art supplies, and the rest is construction stuff, like drills, nails, clamps, boat cutters, etc. I would love to be able to get these construction items and bring them down, since I'm sure they're much more helpful than colored pipe cleaners or crayons....but how the heck am I supposed to carry that stuff over there?! So I went with the art supplies...and one item requested was googley eyes. Mind you, the 99 cent store had regular googley eyes, but I also couldn't pass these up:

C'mon, how awesome are those???? I hope the kids in Haiti are at least half as excited as I was when I saw them....

Music Video: Coheed & Cambria

Another group I would not listen to if it weren't for my husband. There's just something so intense about their music that I really love. This song is by far one of my favorites. I remember being in a movie theater for [insert movie name here], and a trailer came on for the movie "9," the animation movie, not the musical, and this song was in the trailer. It was awesome.

Anyhow, my dear friend Sarah was lucky enough to be at Coachella this weekend, lucky enough to see Coheed, but unlucky enough to miss this final number. Watch until the end, which is where the USC band really comes in.



Here is the trailer I was talking about too, just in case you're curious :)

Who you are, defined by your iPhone apps :)

In the age of iPhones and iPhone applications, I've come to the realization that you can tell a lot about a person by the applications they decide to put on their phones. And I've come to the realization that I'm kind of a dork. There are the standard applications, for weather, maps, Facebook (a must, obviously). As far as games, I only use Words Free so Shirley can kick my butt, and Sol Free to play solitaire (see previous entry). Other than that, here are the applications I REALLY use:

• Fluent News
• UN News
• AP Mobile
• NPR News

Yes, that's right, all news. Fluent News gives me snippets of headlines from all sources of print information, from CNN, FOX, AP Mobile, USA Today, BBC, Wall Street Journal, etc. AP Mobile is similar, but it breaks the news down into categories: top news, showbiz, US News, top news, world, etc. Of course, you can customize what categories you want to see. NPR is just a great source of information when you actually want a little more in depth information on anything, since they go the extra mile in investigative journalism (I think).

But by far my favorite is UN News. I actually paid for this one. I have 16 different newsfeeds on this app, and the ones I check the most right now are "top stories" and "Americas." What's awesome about this app is that it is keeping me updated on the latest news about what is going on in terms of Haiti relief. With my trip coming up in less than two weeks, its great to see this app and know what's going on and what the latest UN projects are over there.

Like I said, dork status number one.

Justice or Injustice?

I recently came across an article about a father who is being forced to pay legal fees for the church he was suing, the church who organized protests at his son's burial. His son was killed in action. Here's a snippet from the CNN article as to why the church was protesting at the funeral:

"Members of the fundamentalist church based in Topeka, Kansas, appeared outside Snyder's funeral in 2006 in Westminster, Maryland, carrying signs reading "You're going to hell," "God hates you" and "Thank God for dead soldiers." Among the teachings of the church, which was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps, is the belief that God is punishing the United States for "the sin of homosexuality" through events such as soldiers' deaths."

Mr. Snyder's lawsuit initially met with success, receiving a verdict in his favor and an award of $8 million dollars. The church later appealed the ruling, which was reversed, and now the father has been ordered to pay $16,000 for their legal fees. Jeff and I were talking about how ridiculous this was: a father sues to protect the sanctity of his son's funeral, and ends up having to pay crazy legal fees for the people that invaded that sanctity.

This article reminded me about something I learned in my remedies class: anti-SLAPP motions. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. I remember having to memorize what these were for and how they could be used, and thinking: this is a waste of time. Not so much. It's through this legal method that the church was able to get an award of legal fees from the plaintiff. Surprisingly, just as I was thinking of writing this blog entry, the Orange County Lawyer published an article on anti-SLAPP motions, "Avoid SLAPP Motions," so I will let them explain some basic definitions. Anti-SLAPP, codified in the California Code of Civil Procedure ("CCP") Section 425.16, was "[e]nacted in 1992 as a deterrent to the filing of non-meritorious lawsuits which prevent citizens from exercising petition or free speech rights." Mr. James Moneer proceeds in his article to describe the anti-SLAPP motion as the "most powerful dispositive motion available," and "a 'super summary judgment motion' with a nuclear warhead attached." One of the things that makes this motion so powerful is that there is a "mandatory award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs." Ah-ha.

What is the point of this motion? It was basically instituted as a way to protect free speech. The church argues that their protest was simply an exercise of their free speech rights. A lawsuit to prevent this free speech rights is highly susceptible to an anti-SLAPP motion because of the rights involved. I think that, as Americans, we can all recognize the importance of free speech, of being able to protest injustice, being able to assemble and express our opinions. And yes, these rights should be protected. But where do we draw the line?

It seems the Supreme Court will be addressing these issues in the near future.

Work Update: Printer Part II

So, you long time readers may remember my rants about our printer. Well, they never end! For a while, my printer was out of commission, but that's old news. Ok, so there's the Toshiba printer which is the printer that most of the people in the office use, and it seems to be out of order almost every other day. So you know what that means. Someone comes to fix it. I think the repair guy is worse than the actual printer being out of order. I have never met anyone, in my entire LIFE, who smells as bad as this guy. I mean, I can smell this guy through walls!

It's so bad that poor Amber, one of our receptionists, has had to use her bottle of sprayey, smelly stuff to mask his insane b.o.

For the sake of everyone, I hope the printer works well for a while...

Great News today, times two!

A couple quick updates that are worth mentioning:

Firstly, Jeff got a job! We're both soooo very excited about this. Hopefully with two steady incomes, we'll be able to figure out our finances (and my stupid student loans), and maybe even start saving for a vacation or a home. The great thing about this job is that it offers health insurance, which we both haven't had in a long time and are really looking forward to (just think about how much cheaper those malaria pills would have been WITH insurance!).

aaaaaaaaaand:

MIKE AND ULI ARE COMING HOME! For those of you unawares, Jeff's brother, Mike, and his wife, Uli, had to move to Germany at the end of 2008 to take care of some stuff, and they've been out there since. Thing is, they also got a little frisky while they were out there and now we have a new member in the family, little Henry (aka, Hank). It's been pretty terrible not being able to meet the little guy, other than through Skype and Facebook picutures. I know Mike and Uli didn't make their decision to move back lightly, since there are still a lot of unresolved issues over there, but Jeff and I (not to mention their parents) are beyond stoked to have them and lil Hank in our lives again. Holidays and family time has not been the same since they were gone: although you carry on as if nothing's wrong, everyone at the dinner table is aware that there are a couple very important people missing. I can't wait for the dinner table to be full again!

Positive Outlook

So last week was a little rough at work. The work load is getting pretty crazy, and I found myself constantly frustrated by a variety of things. Poor Jeff has to hear me vent when I get home, and last night he gave me some pretty good words of advice. Basically, I'm always going to have a ton of stuff to do, there will always be too many files on my desk, and I can't control what other people do, I just have to learn to deal with it, and not let it stress me out or frustrate me.

I can't tell you guys how many times someone at work told me I looked stressed or upset in the past week and a half. And I knew they were right. I could feel my face being all contorted from how tense and frustrated I was at things. And in reality, Jeff is right. There's no need to freak out about things that are beyond my control, and I just have to learn to take work one chunk at a time.

Rama also made a good point today: we work with some pretty cool people. There are attorneys out there working twice as many hours as myself, and having to deal with people who have no sense of humor. Our office environment is pretty relaxed, everyone gets along, and we have some good laughs. And that really does make all the difference in your work day.

Here's something I've come to appreciate about L&A (aka, Los Borradores):

It's pretty much a terrible picture of everyone (sorry!), but the point I wanted to make is this: we share lunch with each other! I don't think I've worked at many places where everyone I work with is so open to sharing their food and their lunch time with each other. In the words of Napoleon Dynamite: "Yeah, it looks pretty sweet." How sweet indeed!

So, Rama and I have decided to have a more "positive outlook" on things lately. Although we had to remind each other every now and then today ("positive outlook, alex, positive outlook"), it worked pretty well. I was much happier, and still accomplished quite a bit of work. I think I'll try it out again tomorrow :)

Addictions!

What is it??! What makes games like Spider Solitaire so freakin addicting?? I can clearly remember the good ole college days when Jenna would come into Billie and my dorm, and play game after game of solitaire. And then I would follow. Over and over again. New deal. New deal. New deal. New deal. New deal. You get the point. I rarely won. But I kept trying. New deal. New deal. Restart. New deal.

And then there was lawschool. Talk about an effective way to throw your money down the drain by zoning out professors. It was also a great way to take a study break. I can't even imagine how many games Katie and I played on our laptops at Starbucks, Saxby's, the Misison Viejo library, or any other place we tried to study at.

After I bought my mac, my addiction ceased temporarily because I didn't figure out how to get spider solitaire on it. But now I have an iPhone...and it has a spider solitaire application...hmmmm.

I wonder if it boils down to human nature, and our desire to succeed. I can't take failure for an answer when it comes to Spider Solitaire, yet I know I will fail most of the time. And when I succeed...I want to succeed again!

(editorial note: I googled "spider solitaire addiction" and wow, there were a ton of entries. So we're not alone...)

Someone to Remember...

So last week I had the opportunity to witness something pretty sad, and cool. I was at the courthouse in Riverside attending some hearings, and I called my uncle to see if he could meet up for lunch since he works in the area sometimes. He called me back and told me that he was actually working a funeral procession so he wouldn't be able to make it, but he have me an intersection it would be driving by so I could see it, since it was going to be a really good procession. My thoughts: it's a funeral procession, it's just depressing...why would I want to go out of my way to see it? He mentioned there were going to be over 200 patrol units involved, since it was for a fallen soldier.

Let's rewind a few hours: I was on my way TO the Riverside Courthouse, and I saw a billboard with the picture of a soldier, and the words: "Fallen but never forgotten." I thought to myself, that's pretty cool that they did that for him, not all soldiers get that recognition on the side of a major freeway.

Now it made sense. His funeral procession was going to be driving down this exact freeway in a few hours.

As you can probably tell by my initial thoughts on parking to see a funeral procession, I didn't go out of my way to find the intersection and pull over. I wish I had. On the drive out of Riverside I started seeing people standing over all the bridges, holding signs, banners, and flags. And not just one or two people. I mean, large groups of people, over every freeway overpass, taking time out of their week. Wow.

Then I saw a few patrol motorcycles. Then a few more. Then a ton more. Then I saw it: hundreds of patrol vehicles, from cop cars, black and whites, all white, all black, ambulances, fire engines, private cars, what seemed like a motorcycle gang, etc. All driving on the 91, holding up traffic on both sides: eastbound because they had to stop for the procession, and westbound because of people who were trying to figure out what was going on. I was grateful at that point that I knew why they were there. I could appreciate the significance of this amazing display and rendering of honor to a fallen soldier. I was able to turn my radio off so I could take a moment of silence, knowing that it was because there was someone who had lost their life somewhere far away, away from his friends and his family. I honestly got a little teary eyed when I saw the people that were pulled over on the side of the road, in silence, holding American flags, waiting for the procession.

Regardless of my opinion of the war, I'm glad I was reminded of the humanity that is at stake. It's so easy for me to forget that people are losing their lives everyday: I'm not personally affected by it, I don't hear bombs, I don't hear gunfire, I don't see ruble, I don't see blood. It was good to be reminded.

Music Video: La Roux

Abby had one of her videos as her status for a few days, so I’m passing it along. I don’t think it’s something I would normally listen to, but I really liked it!

Here's a link for the official video of "In for the Kill, which I think might be one of the sons I like the most.

For those too lazy to follow the link, here are some songs:

I should mention there are plenty of comments about the lead singer and her looks. My thoughts: she's got a cool voice, and although some videos might be a little too weird for my taste, I think she looks pretty cool!

Charity of the Month: The List Project

I found out about The List Project (TLP) a couple years ago while working on a research paper about immigration issues involving Iraqi citizens. My paper discussed how there were Iraqi citizens who were putting their lives on the line in order to work for the US (as translators, etc.), and who later sought asylum because their lives were being threatened by their relationship with the US.

TLP was created to address this issue, and to create a support network for those Iraqi’s who make it to the United States: to help them adjust, find a job, etc. I’m actually embarrassed to admit I have not been as involved with this organization as I would like. I hope that sometime in the near future I’ll be able to actually put some real work towards this organization. In the meantime, I hope you guys will check out their website. They need your help, not just financially, but your time, your connections, your expertise, etc. Check ‘em out!

Haiti: Update Part IV

I still can't believe I'm going to Haiti. I'm going to be there in less than two weeks, and it still feels surreal. I think that might also be because of the fact that work has been keeping my mind pretty busy so I haven't had time to think about it...or to get all my stuff together!

I did get my malaria pills (thank you Linda!), which only cost me/donors $205. I know, right? Insane! But at least I won't get malaria, so that's good. I have to start taking them a couple days before I leave, while I'm there, and for a whole week after I get back. That won't be annoying :)

My mom also took me shopping on Sunday so we could scratch some things off my list. I got a windbreaker for $20 instead of like $60, since it's going to be raining like crazy over there (although it'll be hot, so who knows if I'll actually need it). She also bought me some comfy pants to wear around our campsite. I also went and bought a locker combination lock so I can keep all my things nice and safe. It's purple and A-MAZING. I hope I can find a good use for it after I come back.

Some stuff I still need to take care of:

• Masks/Work Gloves/Hat (Home Depot, here I come!)
• Trail/Work Boots (I'm still torn on this...should I just take tennis shoes, or do I need to actually invest in some crazy work boots I'm never going to wear again? Thoughts or suggestions?)
• Water bottle (I want to find one that holds quite a bit of water, but doesn't cost me $20)
• Personal first aid kit
• Sunscreen (duh, I need it on a daily basis)
• Highly recommended:
• Headlamp (I just have to find it in our garage)
• umbrella/poncho (umbrella check...poncho...?)
• earplugs (maybe Courtney can give me hers...)

Other than that...I just need to go through my clothes and toiletries and stuff it into the backpack that Robin is graciously letting me borrow, again. I used the same backpack when I went to South America, and I think also for my trip to Mexico. Although I like the idea of having one of my own, I feel like I would be cheating on Robin's backpack. So I'll stick with hers for now :)

Oh, and I get another vaccine next Friday, can't wait!

Jeff's Corner. Episode 2 Return of the Rant

And I’m back! Time for another Jeff’s corner! Hard to contain the excitement I know.

This time I will be talking about music. And more specifically how amazing the new Menudo album is! And you thought the comeback tour would never happen!! See you in TJ bitches! Ok well I can dream. But alas this will be about music. Or what has happened to the quality of music. I will be the first to admit that I, on occasion, watch American Idol. And I find myself saying things like: “wow she was really good,” or “that was a great performance,” or “she has a really great voice,” all of which is true, but it’s always said with an obvious asterisk after. That being, that it’s good “for what it is.” It’s good for a reality TV show. The voice is good, the song is good, the singer has a unique style and sad life story so I can feel like they deserve their shot at the big time. But it just doesn’t have the “thing.” That thing that makes me want to EVER hear it again. It’s just a little too clean and tidy. There’s no soul. And then they get to record an album and there’s even less soul. With all the pitch perfect and auto tuning it sounds great. But it ends up sounding like everything else. And people love it!

Why is that? How can so many people be excited and talk about something that’s so, well, mediocre? What has happened to our standards of music? Not saying that American Idol is the end all of music. But it is the main stream. And beyond that it doesn’t get much better. Lady Gaga. I get it. It’s poppy, catchy, and sometimes she wears a wacky hat. Great. But I can pretty much guarantee that not even a super fan of hers will be telling their kids “ you want to hear real music, listen to 'poker face,' thats talent!” I feel like musicians are more like commercials of themselves rather than talented artists. It’s no longer about being talented. Its about being just talented enough to be marketable. You’ve got a great voice, but can you sell a smart car to a nine year old? And speaking of nine year olds, The F@*%ING Jonas Brothers playing live with Stevie Wonder. Are you kidding me!? I understand they sell millions of records to twelve year old girls, but that was the biggest tragedy in music history. Worse than Hendrix dying, the Beatles breaking up, and Mylie Cyrus becoming more than a sheet stain combined. Stevie Wonder’s manager should be sent to Guantanamo for setting up that musical terrorist attack. You just don’t pair up a living legend with a couple kids that spend more time spritzing their mini fros than they do learning the lyrics to the amazingly famous song they are about to perform. And I refuse to post the video of it here. If you’re a glutton for punishment youtube it yourself. Sorry in advance.

I just don’t see pop music today standing the test of time. We won’t be listening to K-Earth in 50 years and Justin Bieber will come on. It’s just not gonna happen. There is a reason Rolling Stones are still touring and kids are newly getting into bands like Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd. And why I’m into music that was made 30 years before I was born. It was music made to be music. Not to be rich and famous, or the next Sony spokesperson. Just talented people making great music. Playing real instruments and actually singing at live shows. And if you weren’t good you didn’t go anywhere. End of story. You suck, move on, and get a day job. Now it’s, you suck, but you’ve got the look and you can dance so we can mold you into a pop star! These “artists” shouldn’t get gold records and grammys. They should get employee of the month plaques from their sponsors.

Well I could rant for days about this but I’ll just add this little bit. Feel free to enjoy all the crap music you want. I know I do. I actually DIDN”T change the station when that Kesha song came on the other day. “Wake up in the morning feelin like P Diddy” what does that even mean? Wake up feeling like a rich black guy? Any-who. My suggestion to maybe weed out the weak of the music industry, is to use the technology of today. PIRATE all the crap songs you want guilt free! Why should we pay for mediocrity? And purchase only the quality music you really want to own. Clearchannel keeps all the really trash music on a constant loop anyways. And for qualities sake, if you have a friend that sings, but they aren’t that good and have high hopes of being the next American Idol: It’s your job to tell them they suck! They should never be on national TV acting surprised when the rest of the world is laughing at them. Imagine if these people put that much energy into something they were actually good at! So I’ll leave you with some music that in terms of quality, soul and talent is the polar opposite of pop music today. Enjoy and thanks Alex for letting me banter for a bit!

This^ is singing with soul

You can't tell me that doesn't sound good. 1:20 into the song. come on thats singing.

Editor's note/legal disclaimer: the owner of this site does not endorse pirating music ;) (love, Alex)

Is God Dead?

I went to church today, Easter Sunday, and expected to hear a pretty standard sermon on the resurrection of Jesus. I was pretty surprised by the angle the priest took, however.

I have never heard the words "kill" and "murder" used so many times in one speech. I was cringing at first, thinking this was way too intense for an Easter Sunday. I was looking uncomfortably at parents who had young children with them, wondering if they were going to walk out. It turned out to be a pretty interesting sermon though. The priest quoted from Nietzsche's Mad Man parable and a few other philosophers, recounting the exact moment when God had been killed for each of these men (like receiving their first Holy Communion, and looking at the sour and unhappy faces of the people around him in Church--people who were there because they HAD to be, not because they wanted to be there). He went on to talk about how people kill God everyday, and not necessarily when you do something outlandish or crazy. He recounted how there was a gay man who told the priest how the Catholic church had been his greatest source of refuge years ago, but through the institution of the church and the people within the church, their constant criticism basically, God had been killed for him, and he couldn't go back. He talked about the actions of priests within the Catholic church who have killed God for so many people: they no longer have faith in the church, or in God. He talked about the rules of the church, and how some of these have killed God for people.

I understood what he was saying, and I was honestly surprised to hear a Catholic priest addressing these issues before his congregation. I've been a Catholic my whole life, and intend on being one for the rest of my life. But I understand people that have issues with it. I understand how there are things/issues/beliefs/actions of the church, of the institution itself, that turns people away from church, instead of towards it.

It was a slightly depressing sermon, although he did bring it around, emphasizing that we each have the power to bring God back to life to those people around us, possibly by our most minor of actions.

"You can kill God, but you can't kill Him forever."

What killed God for you? Who killed God for you? What can bring Him back to life for you?

Haiti in the News

So we're coming up on 3 months since the massive earthquake hit Haiti, which means we're not hearing too much about it in the media anymore (we all know the media has the attention span of of a two year old). One piece of news I think is worth mentioning is the International Donor's Conference that took place this week at the UN Headquarters in New York. During this conference, countries from around the world pledged to provide Haiti with over $5.3 billion dollars in aid over the next 18 months.

A few things that make this Conference unique is the goal of rebuilding a country from the foundation up: not just the infrastructure, but the government. Haiti has long been a poor nation, plagued by crime, corruption, and an ineffective government. The proposed Action Plan includes areas for economic rebuilding, social rebuilding, and institutional rebuilding (among others).

A NY Times Editorial emphasized the need these organizations recognize to include Haiti and it's government in these reconstructions efforts. The bodies involved in the reconstruction of Haiti are trying to learn from lessons of the past: you cannot try to improve a country without involving the government that will eventually have to take over control and leadership: they must be included from the beginning.