February 15, 2007 at 10:19 am (HIV/AIDS)
I’m sorry. I have no excuse for not writing for a week. Well, actually, I do. School. School is my excuse, and I’ll be glad to give you the names and numbers of my professors that have tortured me over the past week with unimportant tasks. I think they’re unimportant anyway, but maybe that’s because I have less than three months until I graduate.
I was randomly talking to someone about the AIDS Quilt the other day, saying that I might have it be a topic for my blog. Well, come to find out, it’s here at CMU today and tomorrow. Very random.
This quilt was first started by a bunch of activists in California in 1987. It made its first debut on the Washington Mall in D.C. that year, and people were just in awe of it. This thing weighs 54 tons…I can’t really comprehend in my head how heavy that is. Known as the largest community art project in the world, the quilt has traveled all over for people to see. When I was a freshman in college, the quilt came to Central. I volunteered to count people as they came in and to monitor the area. I didn’t really know what the quilt was all about until I got there. It’s really interesting to see all the different panels and designs. Check out the website, and if you go to CMU or you’re nearby, take the opportunity to see this thing. It’s pretty amazing and will put it all in to perspective for you.
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February 5, 2007 at 11:35 am (Poverty, Saving the world, Uncategorized)
I’ve fallen in love with YouTube…not sure if that’s a good/bad love. But this video is just another reminder that we’re pretty damn lucky to live under a roof. Or have anything else for that matter.
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February 3, 2007 at 11:54 am (Bush, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans)
Matt asked a good question: what was my reaction to Bush’s interview? To put it nicely, his reasons for not even mentioning Hurricane Katrina is bullshit. So he says there’s been money given to the area and its people. Well, great, he should have let the nation know that improvements have been made. The only thing is, he undoubtedly knows that not enough attention/aid has really been given and that’s probably why it wasn’t mentioned. He, along with others, does not like to remind people of his past mistakes.
People are still living in FEMA trailers and luckily there has been an extension for those residents. They were going to have to be out of them by this month and then have no place to live. Now they have until August to find somewhere else other than this trailer that many people reside in for a week or so on vacation.
So Bush didn’t mention Katrina and I’m over it now. I give him some lee-way though, seeing that he has defend his belief in something that most of the country disagrees with. I’m just hoping that this doesn’t turn out to be another “mistake”.
Annnd I’m done ranting.
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February 3, 2007 at 11:41 am (Saving the world, peace)
Oh, Mr. Bob Dylan. Blowin in the Wind was a song about Vietnam, but I feel that we could still relate to it today. Plus, it’s good music. And music somehow can say things in ways that only words can’t.
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February 2, 2007 at 2:17 pm (Bush, Hurricane Katrina)
I was driving home from school the other night and I had a couple hours ahead of me. I randomly turned to NPR news (which I definitely was called a dork after admitting this in class the next day), and an interview with President Bush was being given. The interview asked a lot of questions concerning the State of the Union Address. He was confronted about not even mentioning Hurricane Katrina. Ballsy. Click here to read more/listen to the interview.
P.S. NPR rocks. no shame.
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January 30, 2007 at 7:13 pm (Uncategorized)
The blog that I linked to below in my last post is great. I found this, as well.
Place pointer here.
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January 30, 2007 at 7:03 pm (Uncategorized)
So I came across this video from another blog. This video states a pretty strong opinion, and while I don’t advocate for his impeachment, most of his political policies and decisions have been questionable at best.
Click here, s’il vous plait.
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January 29, 2007 at 7:42 pm (Lupus, charity)
I’ve advocated for a few things on this blog – HIV/AIDS, Hurricane Katrina, Malaria, etc. I haven’t mentioned something that hits a little closer to home, though.
My dad called me one day, started a normal conversation, and then decided to let me know that he was at the hospital getting tests done. He says, no chuckles, ”It’s not cancer”. He then goes on to tell me that he may have Lupus disease. I could sit here and write to you saying that I was cool, calm, and collected, but I freaked out. Yup, pretty much. After months of crazy blood tests and reviews, my dad has been diagnosed with Lupus and Raynaud’s disease. Lupus disease isn’t something that one can diagnose easily, put it in to a box, and give it to the patient. In fact, I am not going to try to explain it to you. Just click here and read. All I know is that there was a time that I was being told that my dad could have 5 years to live, or up to 20. To this day, we still don’t know how far along the disease is; there are good days and there are bad days.
With the possibility of going in to the Peace Corps this summer, I could miss seeing my dad for two years. I talked to him last night and he told me that I had to live my life and not let anything like this stop me. I felt, and still do, helpless and I wanted to do whatever it is to make him feel better.
Well, after a little searching, I found something. I’ve decided to make a webpage (that looks extremely cheesy by the way) where people can donate money to the Lupus Foundation of America. It’s in honor of my dad, which is the cool part. :0) With this money, the Foundation will be able to research more in to the disease and maybe, possibly, hopefully, find a cure one day. My fundraising goal is $500, but it would be wicked if the webpage raised more. Remember, this isn’t just for my dad, it’s for every diagnosed Lupus patient in the country. So maybe I can’t cure the disease personally, but at least I can say I helped.
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January 27, 2007 at 6:28 pm (Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans)
I apologize for missing the past couple of days, my bad.
This might be a little too late to ask, but did any of you notice that the State of the Union Address was missing something slightly, no majorly, important? Don’t worry, Bush said the words “Iraq” and “health care” plenty of times. I’ll give you a hint…it was one of the largest disasters to hit our country and has left many people without homes still to this day. I don’t get how our own citizens are being forgotten about. Sort it out, Mr. President.
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January 23, 2007 at 7:18 pm (Poverty)
Yesterday was “Commodities Day” at my internship. This means that anyone the age of 60 or older with a monthly income that is below the poverty line is able to get a free box of food once a month. Usually the box contains powdered milk, spaghetti noodles and spaghetti sauce, canned veggies, fruit, etc. Many of these clients/couples are able to live off of just this one box a month. It’s what gets them through, surprisingly enough.
To help the clients keep at least some of their pride, we allow them to stay in their cars and line up to recieve their commodities. I’ve seen this procedure done a few times, but yesterday it really affected me. I had to leave the office to make a visit to a foster care home. So I walked out the back in my high heels, dress pants, pea-coat and scarf, going towards my leased car of two years. The only thing between my car and me were the lines of mostly old run down cars with their owners in them waiting to get their food. So I had to walk through this line, and as I walked past some clients, I couldn’t dare look at them. At that very moment I felt like I had too much in my life. I wanted to hand my car off to them and say “have it, I’ll take yours.” I wanted to give away my pea-coat and tell them to turn it in for money so they could have more food in one month than just this box.
This week I have complained a couple times about having only $20 in my bank account and getting down to my last can of tuna fish (yummm). I do know, however, that in a couple days I will be receiving a check and I will have the ability to go and buy more food and not have to eat any more Ramen. These clients, these people in their cars, most of them don’t have checks coming to them.
The next time you open your cupboard and you “can’t find anything to eat”, put all your crappy last choice foods in a box and see how much it adds up. That’s how much some of my clients live off of a month.
Lesson of the week: Tuna fish sandwiches aren’t all that bad…
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