Good Book.

The Weight of a Mustard Seed: 

The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny

by Wendell Steavenson

Its a true story about an Iraqi general and his family.
He worked for Sadaam Hussein.
He was a good man.. but he sat by while bad things happened.
It makes you think about why we do what we do.. or don't do.
And if it is who we are or what we do that makes us good or bad people.
It is so eye opening.
I like that it is a story of an Iraqi family, because it shows the situation through their eyes, rather than through the eyes of an outsider.

NY Times Book review of Weight of a Mustard Seed

Online excerpts from Harpers Collins

PS - I got the hardcover on Half.com for $3 plus shipping.  That deserves a shout out.

The People of Kibera, the Largest Slum in Africa

This is ... wow. Wow, wow wow. This is a short documentary film about Kibera's residents screened on Al Jazeera English. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and it is also where I spent the summer of 2009, working on a water and sanitation project.

I am kind of shaky after watching this -it 'took me back' in a way I haven't experienced since getting back. The images are extremely powerful, and portray it much in the way I remember it. The part that is most important to me, is that it portrays the slum through the eyes of real people - it shows the human side, not just the numbers or statistics. If you have a minute, and want a glimpse into one of the world's largest slums, I highly recommend it.

Warning - the beginning few minutes are graphic, and show a birth.

Shout out to Africa is a Country for posting the video.

Things I'm Loving

pandora radio
rocks my world. seriously.


plotting
my life is... so up in the air right now... but some exciting ventures are coming together

and brainstorming is one of my very very favorite things to do...

zen green tea
mmmmm!

my new camera
(thank you so so so much v)

grey's anatomy
i started watching this in kenya on the 'rough days' -- kelli brought her sainted hard drive with all sorts of wonderful things on it that got us through the nights that followed the days of walking through feces. anyway, i'm hooked. thursday nights = grey's.

ginger soda
for real, i can't get enough.
ginger anything, really.

meditating/breathing
sometimes i forget to breathe.
especially when i start worrying about what is next, which happens A LOT lately.
So, breathing/meditating is my new friend. Usually this lasts about 1 minute at a time, but my amazing friend jen and i meditated for 20 whole minutes straight together!

cleaning out stuff
my mom and i are doing this big time. it feels SO GOOD to purge STUFF.
My goal is to only have as much as will fit in my car.

re-reading blue like jazz
his writing blows my mind.
and makes my soul happy.

reading made to stick
i was supposed to read this when i was a teacher
but... i think i was too busy working 90 hour weeks
so i'm reading it now
and it is SO GOOD!

playing the piano
i'm amazed that my fingers remember how.



what are you loving??

Tonight, I watched Iron Jawed Angels.

My friend Jen brought this over to the "Palm House" when I lived there with Elisa back in the day. It sat on on top of our television for months, but we never found the time to watch it.

I watched it tonight and it blew me away.

Thank you Jen, for introducing it to me all those years ago, and letting us keep it unwatched for all of those months.

Its part of the story about how women fought for the right to vote. I think everyone in America should watch it.

Teachers, it would be fabulous to show in your class room (there is one scene you will need to fast forward through, so screen it first).

I'm all pumped up and ready to go.

I recommend - An Imperfect Offering

An Imperfect Offering: Dispatches from the Medical Frontline

by James Orbinski

the former head of MSF (Doctors without Borders)

I think this is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in medicine or humanitarian work.

I recommend - The End of Food

I'm reading The End of Food by Paul Roberts.
And I think everyone else should too.
It is soooo interesting - I can't believe how little I actually know about where the food I buy in the grocery stores comes from - and how many of the big food brands are actually owned by the same companies.

It is especially interesting to me since I am from an agricultural area and have family in farming and ranching. This book addresses how little of the money we pay for food in the grocery stores or restaurants actually goes to the producers of the food.
I'm now super excited to get home and talk to my grandparents to find out more about what is going on.

Anyway, its fascinating.

PS - after you read this you will probably never be able to eat processed food again. Just a warning.

Waltz With Bashir

Rent this movie.
It is an Israeli film - a documentary, about a Israeli man's memories of fighting in the Israeli/Lebanese war and the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Though it was Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia that carried out the massacres, the controlling Israeli forces essentially allowed it to happen, and the man in the film cannot remember his role or if he was there. The film takes you through his search for answers about the past, what happened, and how he was involved.

The producers chose to use animation, which is the only reason I was able to even to begin to stomach this film. It allows them to cover extremely difficult material in a very powerful way. It also allows them to portray the dreams and flashbacks of the people being interviewed in a way that regular film would not allow.

It was nominated for an Academy award for best foreign film this year.

Whether or not you are interested in the Arab/Israeli conflict, it is worth it to see, because it brings up enormous questions about war, violence, massacre, responsibility and memory.

I should warn - it is hard to watch, and very, very heavy. However, it is worth it.

Bella

I *loved* this movie.
Say hello to a man so beautiful he rivals Gael. Yes, I said it - he rivals Gael.

In Grahamstown, the movie tickets are R22 - which is equivalent to $2.17 (at the current exchange rate of 10?!? rand to the dollar - thank you economic crisis) Needless to say, we have seen a lot of movies this year at the good old Roxbury Theatre. Rosa is usually my movie buddy, and we have a system down - one of us buys the movie tickets, and the other buys a big tub of popcorn. In South African movie theatres, they have flavors to put on the popcorn - like chutney, cheese, salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, etc... so we cover the popcorn in a flavor (our fav. is the chutney) and then chow down. Because most of the movies start at 5:30, we miss dinner - but flavored popcorn and R22 movies = totally worth it.

Blog Action Day - POVERTY.

Today - apparently - is blog action day, where everyone with a blog is encouraged to post on the same topic in order to hopefully change the conversation that day. This year, the topic is poverty.

Ohhh - poverty. Here's the deal with poverty - it makes me super tired. Yeah? Anyone else feel that way? Its overwhelming. Absolutely overwhelming. I have dozens of horrific stories of things I've seen that have brought me to tears - but really, I don't want to talk about that right now. Instead, I want to talk about some things that are a) not exhausting and b) super exciting.

And that would be-------- what we can do, right now, sitting at our computers.... ready?

One of the best presents I have ever received was from my dear and wonderful friend Ms. Pears, who for my birthday gave me a certificate to Kiva, a microfinance institution. The amazing thing about this present is that I was able to go online, and see dozens of people who wanted loans to start up small businesses to get themselves out of poverty. I then lent them the money that Ms. Pears had given me as a gift, and when they were finished with it - they paid it back. I was then able to lend it to the next person. It is truly one of the most beautiful, fulfilling gifts I could ever imagine receiving.

Another amazing site is Heifer International, where you can buy a cow, a goat, a pig, a bunch of chickens, etc. for a family that lives in poverty. Gifts like this are amazing as they not only provide once, but over and over again as the family is able to use the animals for their milk/eggs/meat/wool/etc. They are also able to breed their animals and create a sustainable source of income and food for themselves. AND, if you can't afford a whole cow, you can buy a share - no donation is too small.

Or what about buying a malaria net for only $10 - Malaria is one of the top killers in the entire world - and is entirely preventable. Just sleeping under a net decreases the chances of contracting malaria exponentially. You buy a kid a malaria net, you can save a life - poof! Just like that, with $10.

And there are tons of other organizations just like those out there. So, there. Writing about those organizations just made me happy. First of all - it is a way to combat poverty, right now - this very second. Second of all - if you are like me and never think more than about 12 hours ahead - they are a GREAT AMAZING BEAUTIFUL present for people. What better gift could you give someone than to tell them that in their name, you just made someone else's life better. All of those sites even have super amazing cards you can print off or email right to whoever's name you make the purchase for. Keep it in mind for stockings over Christmas.

Much love to you all.

La chureca

Watch this short documentary, if you can. It is only about 10 minutes long and very imformative.
It is also near and dear to my heart - it is about the people who live and work in the dump in the city of Managua, Nicaragua. The name of this dump is La Chureca. When I worked in Nicaragua two summers ago, I was working at Project Chacocente with families who had lived in this dump... that summer completely changed my life.

This film is especially wonderful to me because the film maker (Benjamin Packard) is the best friends of one of my very favorite and dearest friends. I found out he was interested in working on a documentary about people who work in a dump and told him about Project Chacocente (the project I had worked at)... passed on the email addresses I had, and voila! Connections make the world go round.

Enjoy.

la chureca from retainer films on Vimeo.

Youth Day - in memory of the Soweto Uprising

Today, South Africa commemorates the Soweto uprising of June 16th, 1976. On that day, thousands of school children rallied in Soweto (a township outside of Johannesburg), in protest of the apartheid government's imposition of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in their schools. The protest was intended to be peaceful, and was supported by the teachers in Soweto. However, police had barricaded the road upon which the students were marching. The crowd by this point had gathered to somewhere between 3 and 10 thousand students. A shot was fired, and chaos broke out. Police open fired into the crowd, killing scores of children. It is estimated between 200 and 600 people died, with thousands injured.

Many state the Soweto uprising as the 'beginning of the end' of apartheid. The event attracted international attention, with the photograph above of Hector Pieterson's dead body becoming the icon of the tragedy.

Today the country remembers those who were killed, but also those who stood up in the face of violence and joined together against injustice. I am reminded today of the power that we all have to effect change.

If you are interested, Cry Freedom and A Dry White Season are both fantastic movies that depict the riots.

the vagina monologues

Last night a bunch of my friends and I went to see the "Vagina Monologues" - a series of monologues written by Eve Ensler, about... well... vaginas. I had heard they were really well done, but I was truly amazed. By the end of the show, the audience, which through the first couple of monologues had been laughing nervously, was literally jumping out of their seats and cheering. It was especially poignant as it took part of a week long campus focus on rape awareness, and in general a cry for the end of gender-based violence in South Africa. With some of the highest rape statistics in the world, this is a problem very on the minds of most South Africans.

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend going to Youtube and watch a version of it. Its crass and crude and honest and angry, and powerful.