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My partner, Matthew surprised me with a skiing vacation to Jay Peak Vermont for my 21st birthday! Am I spoiled or what?!?

The skiing conditions were perfect (except I kept loosing my skiis in the powder). This quicktime video reflects the exhileration I felt while skiing. We stayed at a quaint little bed and breakfast called the Black Lantern Inn. I highly reccomend it! Matthew is the best!

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My friend Zoë Caron wrote a beautiful poem today entitled “Wouldn’t it be…”. The poem is special to me because these seemingly ‘far-fetched’ and optimistic thoughts that keep me going.

“Wouldn’t it be …”
by Zoë Caron

Wouldn’t it be nice, to wake up today
And hear the voice on the radio say:

The smog has lifted, the air is clear
You could breathe anywhere – without any fear

Wouldn’t it be nice, if this afternoon
You were told climate change would be over soon

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This afternoon my partner Matthew was giving me a quick lesson with his camera on our porch. Here are the results!

I gave him a hair cut yesterday- pretty cute eh?

Check out my hot new bangs. I haven’t bangs since I was 12! I try to follow the trends and be “cool” sometimes.

My super-cool friend, Delaney Greig, was doing research on fair trade shea butter in a small village in Burkina Faso near the Ghanaian border this summer. I didn’t realize how large the knowledge gap between rich and poor countries until she told me this story. In her own words

“I spent a lot of time working and talking with my host sister. She was 21 (a year older than me) and spoke French well so I was able to connect with her more than other family members. I brought a map of the world for the family which I got out after about two weeks to show her my home in relation to theirs. She had never seen a map of the world before and was really interested asking me where countries and places like France, the US or London were. After a moment of silence she said “have you heard what they say, the world is round? Do you believe that?”.

I was astounded. A high school educated young women didn’t know that the earth is round. “Yes”, I replied. “they have taken pictures of the world from outer space that show it is round.”

She nodded then looked at me puzzled. “But how does that work? If you keep going that way what happens?” she asked, pointing to the ocean beyond Japan at the right of the map. “The ocean comes around to the other side”. I bent the map into a sort of tube trying to show that the pacific ocean continues between Asia and the Americas. “and it earth connects at the north pole and south” I added pointing to the minimaps in the bottom corner showing the artic and antartic straight on.

The earth is round – a fact we have known for over 500 years. It seems so fundamental for our society yet remains unknown and unimportant to others and their way of life.”

I don’t quite know what to make of this- what lesson to learn- what to do about it- or even if I have to do anything about it. I’m sure that there is something profound or inspiring in her story so I figured I would try to publicize it.

My friend Cameron introduced me to this site today. It’s all about the idea of primitivism. One article I read really spoke to me “Five Facets of a Myth” by Kirkpatrick Sale. It does a good job at reflecting how I’ve been feeling about progress lately.

“People say they don’t care about politics; they’re not involved or don’t want to get involved, but they are. Their involvement just masquerades as indifference or inattention. It is the silent acquiescence of the millions that supports the system. When you don’t oppose a system, your silence becomes approval, for it does nothing to interrupt the system. People use all sorts of excuses for their indifference. They even appeal to God as a shorthand route for supporting the status quo. They talk about law and order. But look at the system, look at the present social “order” of society. Do you see God? Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is only the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminality, and the enslavement and genocide of millions. Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not to.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal

“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

I would like to share with you the text from an inspiring poster that I recently received as a gift from my Aunt Mare. www.syrculturalworkers.com

“How to Build a Global Community

• Think of no one as “them”.
• Don’t confuse your comfort with your saftey.
• Talk to strangers.
• Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels.
• Listen to music you don’t understand. Dance to it.
• Act locally.
• Notice the workings of powr and privilege in your culture.
• Question Consumption.
• Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation.
• Look for fiar trade union labels.
• Help build economies from the bottom up.
• Acquire few needs.
• Learn a second (or third) language.
• Visit people, places, and cultures- not tourist attractions.
• Learn people’s history.
• Re-define progress.
• Know your physica and political geography.
• Play games from other cultures.
• Watch films with subtitles.
• Know your heritage.
• Honour everyone’s holidays.
• Look at the moon and imagine someone else, somehwere else, looking at it too.
• Read the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water.
• Know where your bank banks.
• Never believe you have a right to anyone else’s resources.
• Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination.
• Question military/corporate connections.
• Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money.
• Have a pen/email pal.
• Honour indigenous cultures.
• Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs.
• Be skeptical about what you read.
• Eat Adventurously. Enjoy vegetables, beans and grains in your diet.
• Choose curiosity over certainty.
• Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go.
• Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism.
• Think South, Central and North- there are many Americans.
• Assume that many others share your dreams.
• Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.”