Some thirty stalwart spirits braved the edge of Hurricane Hannah to begin building “Belchertown’s own pyramid.” Sailing knots secured the tarp which – propped up by two ladders – withstood the night, protecting us from the downpour and thrilling us with sounds of rain and wind as we christened the cairn near midnight with Wrongo Dongo. Howls mixed with … Read more...
Category: social justice
beyond disturbing
There is always so much going on.
Too much?
I’ve been trying to sort out some distinctions between “being spiritual” and “being religious” (after being tag-teamed by an Eastern European cynic and an Undertaker from India for the past six years, it seems I’ve finally cracked). 😉 I know I become overwhelmed, often, trying to make sense of the whole … Read more...
inequities in coverage
The new UMass Journalism Department weblog documents the disturbing trend in hard news staffing/investigative journalism, linking to an article that contexts the decline of trained journalistic staffing in the age of technological expansion. The embedded example of the linked reference source is powerful and poignant, but while an individual Palestinian enacted terror in Jerusalem, the Israeli military held an entire … Read more...
the stain of “white racism”: let it go!
Obama Read more...
Boston’s Colombian community turns out 700 strong
There were a few Americans and at least two Dominicans in the crowd, while passersby occasionally chatted with each other. I overheard two middle-aged men (apparently strangers) engage each other:
… Read more...“Do you know about FARC?”
“I’m learning!”
“They’re a serious bunch. Where are they? In Colombia I think. They had a ceasefire for awhile but just got active again.”
“Nasty
hyperempathy
Guilty as charged. :-/
A friend last night told me that that approximately 80% of what I write makes sense, but there’s 20% when I lose her. That happened somewhere in the middle of reading yesterday’s post. We hypothesized: boring? Lack of transition or context? Possibly, we mused, I wander too deep into my own mind, and simply do not … Read more...
grim realities & the force of spirit
I’ve just perused several blogposts about Ana and Alf. They are obviously remarkable people, their cadre of friends a passionate force of spirit.
A professor in the Social Justice Program challenged me, some years ago when I was learning about the range of discrimination and depth of oppression of people with disabilities – in particular, struggling with issues of accessibility. … Read more...
the bubble thins…
Friends of my friend were kidnapped in Colombia over the weekend.
Maria Claudia popped up in chat Monday, “Today is a weird day,” she wrote.
“Why?”
“Two of my best friends were kidnapped last night.”
“Oh my god.”
It is real. Violence creeps closer, no matter how hard we try to keep it at bay, no matter how thickly we … Read more...
a pledge for the future
… Read more...“I am going to stay present for the pain, and for the hope. I am an integral part of it all. I am part and parcel of this complexity. I am part of the problem . . . [and] I am part of the solution, because I love.”
Palestinian peace activists
The Israeli bus ride during morning rush hour reminded me of taxidrivers in Istanbul; if you weren’t awake when you boarded you were soon going to be!
The bus ride to Abu Dis was uneventful (well, we were boarded once by police who singled out a few people for an id check then let us continue). There, we met Sulaiman … Read more...