pakistan and afghanistan

and narcotics.
and working in the foreign service.
and i can't really remember anything right now.

oops.

sooner or later

Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
Try not to say anything weird

Save your questions without answers
'Til your old enough to know that things ain't as they appeared

Before you go out in the sun
Cover your skin and don't get burned
Beware the cancer, it might kill you when you're old

Be first in line, raise your hand
Remember everything you hear
And playing in the rain is worth catching cold

Sooner or later
We'll be lookin' back on everything
And we'll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening
And someday you might listen to what people have to say
Now you learn the hard way

We only want what's best for you
That's why we tell you what to do
And nevermind if nothing makes sense

'Cause it all works out in the end
You're just like us without a friend
But you can build a privacy fence (Yeah)

Somethings you have to learn them all on your own
You can't rely on anybody else
Or the point of view of a source unknown
If it feels good and sounds nice
Then it's your choice don't doubt yourself
Don't even think twice

Pull the hair back from your eyes
Let the people see your pretty face
You know they like it when you smile (Find a reason to smile)

Try not to focus on yourself
Share that love with someone else
Don't let the bitters bring you down (Down)
Don't let anything bring you down

yes, they could, so they did: nytimes op-ed

“Why this mad, insane plan to travel across India in a caravan of solar electric cars and jatropha trucks with solar music, art, dance and a potent message for climate solutions? Well ... the world needs crazy ideas to change things, because the conventional way of thinking is not working anymore.”

-Alexis Ringwald, a Fulbright scholar in India

via nytimes

slumdog millionaire: movie comments

while perhaps not as good as hyped up to me, the movie was definitely worth the five bucks it cost to go see it. and i was glad that something with that much "realness" made it big in hollywood and that maybe something is being done about the exploitation of children by some who were not even aware of such a problem before. interesting to me that the jamal from this movie will be playing zuko in the upcoming avatar movie, presumably as a way of subduing the outraged apa community over the all white casting of the main characters in the movie. however, he doesn't seem to me to be the right kind of person to play zuko's character, but at least there is some asian representation in a movie based off of almost all asian themes.

but back to slumdog, i thought the way in which the movie was told was nicely laid out with some really gripping moments, maybe a bit predictable and cliched in ending, but certainly not in plot development. i'd definitely recommend seeing it.

[interesting soundtrack...wonder why m.i.a. was in there even if she is sri lankan, and wonder why that last song was in spanish...]

gaza: personal reflections

international studies colloquium (how do you spell that...) that was a panel of students who had recently spent time in the area - talked about their views and the views of people they talked to. i thought it was very interesting and a new, more intimate and personal view at what happened and how people felt about it on both sides. solution? seems distant and nearing impossible.

sadness: the wall, how long it takes to cross borders if you are remotely arab looking, the destruction.

tim wise and attempts to claim this college

for now i'll just put the title of the talk because i haven't time to reflect. and i may forget to do that. or i may just forget what he talked about. the event took place on a day which attempted to "claim" this college with a variety of speakers and workshops. we got the day off and everything. effective? who knows.

"between barack and a hard place"

summary: we do not live in a post-racial world.

courage campaign video

this is straight up a great video, made in response to ken starr's call to invalidate 18,000 same sex marriages in cali - this is human. this is life. this is real. and this isn't the kind of future i want to have to look forward to.

[and as a cherry on top, i really like regina spektor and this song is perfect for this video.]


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

interesting headlines

South African Dock Workers Boycott Israeli Ships

As Israel blocks aid ships from reaching Gaza, dock workers in South Africa are refusing to unload Israeli goods at their ports. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union says it will no longer unload Israeli ships in solidarity with Palestinians. Last year, South African dock workers refused to unload a Zimbabwe weapons shipment in protest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.


Clinton: Obama Admin Will Follow Bush Stance on Hamas Boycott

At the State Department Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated the Obama administration commitment to follow the Bush administration policy of boycotting Hamas.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “I would only add that our conditions respecting Hamas are very clear. We will not, in any way, negotiate with or recognize Hamas until they renounce violence, recognize Israel and agree to abide by, as the Foreign Minister said, the prior agreements entered into by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority."

The US position has been criticized in part because it refuses to impose the same conditions on Israel. Israel refuses to renounce violence, recognize a Palestinian state and abide by agreements, including a pledge to freeze settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

via DemocracyNow