Resigned to the couch...

...again. Here Liz, here Josh - take the bed.

For and Against: Volume 5 - Colorado

For: White-Capped Mountains

Without a hint of protest, I've had to get used to living life against the back drop of the Rockie Mountains. Josh and I have been playing basketball after work and each time we've got to see the sun set behind Pike's Peak. No matter where I am, the mountains are always anchored to my west - it's a beautiful thing.

I went on a hike today with Josh, Aunt Jackie, and her friend at Deer Creek Canyon. At the top of the hike (7200 ft) was a stack of boulders that Josh and I climbed. From the top you could see Denver in front of you and pine-dressed mountains behind you. Peaking over the shoulder of the pines were the white caps of taller mountains. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture because they were too far in the distance.

Against: Lack of Lakes

So I took for granted the fact that no matter where I was in TC, I was always within 5 minutes of a lake. There aren't lakes here - just large ponds. Obviously I'm being facetious, but it's hard to be completely land locked. I noticed boats on a reservoir ("lake") and they literally drove back and forth from one end of the "lake" to the other. I thought it was funny and then realized that I miss the water! I will just have to settle for laying by the pool when I can. I will dread the days in dry Pueblo with the temps near 100. Yuck.

Pioneer

Sunday morning I rose with the sun and prepared to chase it to Denver. As I left Illinois, I saw the Mississippi for the first time - not as wide as I had imagined. I rolled through the flat hills of Iowa and rode through Nebraska on the Pony Express (I-80), stopping periodically to fill my car with gas and my body with caffeine. I pioneered my way through hundreds of miles of flat, cow-dotted fields that nearly lulled me to sleep as the sun burned my left arm that sat out of the open window - the same window that was supposed to offer reprieve from the heat.

Finally I slipped through the corner of Colorado hoping to see -again for the first time - the snow-peaked Rockies, but, alas, more fields. Finally, out of nowhere, Denver and the Rockies. Where was the steep, laborious climb up the Rockies? I didn't care, and I'm sure my car appreciated it. 1,000 miles later I had finally reached my destination.

Everything has been great so far. Colorado is pretty cool, although flatter than I had expected - except for the Rockies of course. Josh and I didn't have any luck finding housing together; everything was pretty lousy. But I am now neighbors with Josh (Apartment #25 to his #24). This place is a million times better than any place we saw.

Looks like the lease for our office will be signed in the next few days. Until then, we are working in Colorado Springs. Now that I am a bit more settled, I should be able to update more! Look for one coming at my Pacific Blog.

My Manifest Destiny...

Actually, this really isn't my "Manifest Destiny"...just my move to Colorado.


Sorry I haven't updated in forever - I've been training in Ann Arbor. About my work in AA: I worked on a project that is working to mobilize public support for the Clean Water Restoration Act. Polluters have been dumping sewage and other crap into the wetlands that feed into the Great Lakes and have been getting away with it because of a recent Supreme Court ruling the term "navigable" water to broad of a term. So the Clean Water Restoration Act is simply seeking to get rid of that word. I canvassed door to door asking for money and public support.





I really enjoyed my time in Ann Arbor. The people at Environment Michigan were great! Very laid back, fun, and goofy.





I'm in Chicago for the night at my Aunt Kimiya's for some respite before my loooong drive to Denver. Here's what my trip looks like:

Two words: yikes, bro. I should be able to blog regularly once I'm out there. In the meantime:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Suddenly...a job

All of a sudden I have a job. A real job. And I do mean "all of a sudden": I interviewed over the phone Sunday, whimsically drove to Ann Arbor Monday for a personal interview, and I am leaving Friday morning to start training. That hardly gives me time to pack and say my goodbyes! But I want to get my training in Ann Arbor over as fast as possible so I can get out to Colorado!

About the job...I will be working on a minority-voter registration project. The goal for each office is to register x amount of voters (not sure yet what the goal is) by October. I will be the Assistant Director of the office and my brother Josh is the Director. 60% of what I will do is managing, training, hiring, etc and the other 40% is hitting the streets to register voters.

I think this job is a perfect fit for me right now. It gives me a chance to do meaningful work - I was just going to work at 50's restaurant I've been at for years now. I will get a chance to see another part of the country, and I'm only committed through October. From there I can do what I want (Peace Corps). It is a lot of work for a little money, but, like I said, it is meaningful work and work that could possible make history (given a certain candidate - although this project has no ties with any political party).

I'm excited to live in Pueblo with my brother, but I am also sad that I have to leave so quickly!

Appeasement? Oh please...

I am so frustrated right now. A little bit of this frustration comes from losing to my younger brother in basketball once again, but that all seems insignificant at this point. What I'm feeling now stems from some right-wing idiots. Bill O'Reilly just stated that gas prices and health care have obscured or fight against terror.

REALLY?

Sure, attention has shifted away from homeland security towards our failing economy, uninsured, and sky-high gas prices. But to say that these issues have obscured is, well, absurd. These issues are far from obscure; they are issues that deserve the utmost devotion. Who cares that our fellow countrymen & women can't afford groceries, gas, or medical help?! Iran is scared of us!

REALLY? Obscure?

And then there are Bush's statements that Obama wants to appease terrorists...

REALLY?

Discussion is not appeasement. Talking is not giving in. I don't care how you try to frame it. Obama is not an idiot and he is not about to give power to any terrorists.

I understand people like O'Reilly and Bush trying to push some La-La Land ideas: What with Bush's horrible approval rating, the unpopularity of this war, and the shamble that is the Republican Party. But please, for everyone's sake...come back to reality.

Bloggers Unite: Human Rights

"Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries."

Today's issue: Human Rights. Instead of posting on a specific human rights issue, I'm going to broaden the discussion and talk about the advantage of using human rights vs. civil rights.

The problem with using "civil rights" in America is that it becomes an American problem to be solved by an entity or entities that have some sort of stake in such a problem. An example would be the rights of an immigrant (legal or illegal) worker to standard living and working conditions. If these rights are violated, it becomes a problem involving, but not limited to, the following entities: the 'x' State government, the ACLU, the 'x' labour union, and a civil- or worker's- rights lawyer.

The problem with civil rights being an American issue is that the majority rules in America. Who is left out?: the minority. So when a civil rights issue becomes a minority issue - and the majority of civil rights issues are minority issues - it becomes a minor issue, an issue of the ignored, an issue of the invisible. This leads to overwhelming indifference from the majority, which ultimately makes it harder to uphold the rights of the minority.

So why human rights? Aren't human rights synonymous with civil rights? In a perfect world, yes. But alas, we are far from a perfect world (or country for that matter). The advantage of using human rights is that human rights are universal (and thus it becomes a global issue instead of an issue of a generally racist, chauvinistic America). Why is this an advantage? Well, for one, it is possible for other governments to put pressure on the United States to live up to the standards we set and hold others to because it is an issue of human- rather than civil- rights.

Furthermore, the issue of minority v. majority is a non-factor because it isn't a minority or majority of people deserving human rights, it is 100% of people deserving human rights. Instead of focusing on the fact that a person may be black, brown, red, yellow, white, purple, blue, and so on, the focus can be the fact that a person is human and deserves the rights of human. (I am in no way saying we should erase a persons color because it is an important part of a person's ethnic and cultural identity - rather, we should focus on the right of a human with no regard to their color.)

It is hard for a person of one color to completely understand what it means to be a person of another color (or a person of one class to understand that of another), and therefore it may be hard to empathize or even care about an issue not relating to oneself. But we are all human and we all understand the basic needs of a human. It will be much easier to erase indifference if we can focus on the basic rights of a human instead of focusing on the rights of a civilian (two completely different beings).

What do you think? Too idealistic? You comments are appreciated.