I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.
Last week I flew back home for a quick trip to LA to attend a friend's wedding. I didn't get to see all the people I would have wanted to see, but the few I did see made the trip ... beautiful.Angela was a wonderful host. Thanks for everything, Ang! It was fun to catch up on long car rides. And very cool to have the time to stay up late talking in your beautiful home. I got to hang out with Dina and Hurby, too. I didn't get pictures of them, but our time together left a lasting impression of love and gracious friendship ;p.
Jenny and I hung out for a whole day and never ran out of things to do or talk about! Thanks for a great day, Jenny. You're such an awesome friend, chica!Starbucks/Barnes & Noble, "Pride & Prejudice", Starbucks/Barnes & Noble, Afternoon Tea at the Tea Rose Garden, Window shopping, Dinner at Louise Tratorria.
(Not a bad way to spend a day!)
Next stop, The Arnolds. It was so much fun to hang out for a late-night talk. And Fina makes a mean chocholate chip pancake! Thanks Arnolds for wonderful hospitality! Please tell Tasha and Reese I said "Hi!"....
Okay, would you believe it took me seven months to finish this blog!!!
It's now July -- actually one day from August -- and I'm finally back to this blog.
The trip in January finished with great times with great friends. I miss you Pasadena Church of God! It was soooo great to see you, Claudia! How wonderful to reconnect Gia! And Yasmeen, you looked mahhhvelous at your wedding, dahling!
When I returned to NYC, I jumped into an absolutely overwhelming semester with five classes - all extremely challenging. I learned a ton and ended up finishing my courseload with flying colors.
I'm now doing the NY job search thing. Some good prospects on the horizon.
I've also started freelance writing for human rights organizations.
I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
In the meantime... it feels like the world has gone off the deep end.
- Israel is bombing Lebanon.
- Hizzbolah is gathering more and more support from countries throughout the middle east.
- Half of the U.S. has been baking for about over two weeks in 100+ degree heat.
- And Bush showed up at the NAACP convention saying he wants to "change the relationship."
Okay, I think I've seen it all.
A prayer.
God grant us your peace in our lives...
in our souls...
in our families...
in our cities...
in our governments...
in our land...
and between people groups.
Lord, let the substance of this peace be more than the absence of violence.
Let it be the presence of justice...
embrace...
reciprocity...
interdependence...
repentance...
and forgiveness.
In other words, please teach us to love in all things. In every possible way.
~ Amen.
Two Tears for Syriana
Walking down the street, I actually had to hold back the tears. When I got home, I cried.
I saw Syriana yesterday. I was rocked to the core. You know I'm really not one for conspiracy theories, but I've had a number of experiences since 2000 that have placed a question mark over my eyes and led me not to believe the surface explanation for things - especially national and international matters.
- Blacks unable to vote in Fla's 2000 election. Bush winning even though he didn't actually win.
- America's response to 9/11 - War in Iraq (though no Iraqi connection has ever been found to Al Queda and no WMDs were ever found in the land)
- The justification for the war was WMDs, yet the military switched the focus, labeling it "Operation Iraqi Freedom" the day the war started.
- Finding out that we used cancer causing, internationally outlawed Depleted Uranium tipped bombs and bullets to "free" Iraq. Thus spreading cancer throughout Iraq in the name of freedom.
- Finding out about Haliburton and Cheney.
- Witnessing our media's silence and even celebration of the Iraq war at it's onset.
- Then traveling to the Balkans where I heard Serbs talk about how Milosevic manipulated the media to get the Serbs to go to war with Croatia and Bosnia.
- Watching our president appoint a man to be the U.S. Ambassador to the UN who has outright distain for the authority and purpose of this international body (created in part by the U.S. after WWII to prevent future Holocausts).
- Watching our president say the U.S. doesn't torture, then try to block bipartisan anti-torture legislation.
- The unveiling of the incredible power of money to direct public and international policy (i.e. the downfall of Abramoff and all the people in his pockets).
- Hearing my dad (a car dealer for the last 20 years) talk about how the industry could go electric or hybrid tomorrow (thus making the U.S. more independent from foreign oil), but because of the oil lobby the legistlation that would force that industry change continues to be blocked.
There's more. But these are the things that came to mind as I walked down Broadway in Washington Heights. Then I remembered Syriana.
- The power of money to control international policy at the expense of true democracy in the middle east.
- The senator yelling at the lawyer about corruption. He said corruption is what keeps those in power - in power and not "out there fighting for scraps."
- The value of money (oil actually) placed over human life and the democratic well-being of fellow human beings, fellow nations.
- The actual conspiracy of it all. And the force of that conspiracy backed by the most powerful levels of our government.
- And the vision of that boy riding this little fishing boat into a U.S. tanker.
And here's the thing that made the first tear fall. I've learned nothing in my Graduate Human Rights program that would even begin to question the truth of it all. In fact, it all seems to be based on real relationships, real allegiances, real actions we have taken in our actual domestic and foreign policy.
Walking down the street, I thought to myself -- "What if it's true?" Then a cloud dropped and rested on my shoulders. For I felt powerless to change the course of my democratic country - the oldest democracy in the world. I, a citizen, felt powerless because in a corrupt system democracy can be twisted to produce oppressive results.
I cried, then held back the tears on Broadway. I could feel God's judgement over the nations and I felt powerless to stop his judgement over us.
When I got home I cried again. Then I prayed
God, are we really like that? If so, please have mercy, Lord. Please, Lord, have mercy. And please intervene, Lord. Only you can stop it, Lord. Only you can stop it.
~ Amen.
Today, I read a NYTimes Select article by Thomas L. Friedman, author of "The Lexus and The Olive Tree". I don't know. Maybe he saw Syriana recently too. His Op Ed article said it so well. Here's a clip from the article below. To read more, go to http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines?th&emc=th then scroll down to the Op Ed section and click on Friedman's article.
The New Red, White and Blue
By
THOMAS L. FRIEDMANPublished: January 6, 2006
NYTimes Select Op Ed ArticleAs we enter 2006, we find ourselves in trouble, at home and abroad. We are in trouble because we are led by defeatists - wimps, actually.
What's so disturbing about President Bush and Dick Cheney is that they talk tough about the necessity of invading Iraq, torturing terror suspects and engaging in domestic spying - all to defend our way of life and promote democracy around the globe.
But when it comes to what is actually the most important issue in U.S. foreign and domestic policy today - making ourselves energy efficient and independent, and environmentally green - they ridicule it as something only liberals, tree-huggers and sissies believe is possible or necessary.
Sorry, but being green, focusing the nation on greater energy efficiency and conservation, is not some girlie-man issue. It is actually the most tough-minded, geostrategic, pro-growth and patriotic thing we can do. Living green is not for sissies. Sticking with oil, and basically saying that a country that can double the speed of microchips every 18 months is somehow incapable of innovating its way to energy independence - that is for sissies, defeatists and people who are ready to see American values eroded at home and abroad.
Living green is not just a "personal virtue," as Mr. Cheney says. It's a national security imperative.
The biggest threat to America and its values today is not communism, authoritarianism or Islamism. It's petrolism.
(more at http://www.nytimes.com/todaysheadlines)
Last week I flew back home for a quick trip to LA to attend a friend's wedding. I didn't get to see all the people I would have wanted to see, but the few I did see made the trip ... beautiful.
Jenny and I hung out for a whole day and never ran out of things to do or talk about! Thanks for a great day, Jenny. You're such an awesome friend, chica!
