Non profit of the week - Children UP

I recently read "God Grew Tired of Us" by Jon Bul Dau. If you don't have time to read the book, check out the movie by the same name. Dau tells the story of his life from Dinka childhood in a small Sudanese village, through his experience of being a refugee and one of the Lost Boys, to his relocation to the United States and his transition into life here.

I have historically given money to local organizations with the thought that there are many people here, in the United States, who need food and shelter. This is true. I was astounded, however, at the level of poverty experienced by refugees in war-torn countries in Africa. I've never read, or seen, anything like it.

A co-worker of mine is involved with a new program aimed at educating children from Uganda. Please read the information about Children UP and learn more, read more, and give as you are able.

Children UP
Dedicated to supporting northern Uganda from the Children UP.


http://www.childrenup.org/
or see Children Up on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/childrenup?ref=ts


Children Up is an organization founded in 2007 of mostly former teachers from Elmhurst, Illinois interested in the health, welfare and education of the youth of Uganda. An under-reported war has been raging in northern Uganda for over 20 years. In that time over 30,000 children have been abducted and used as child soldiers and sex slaves. These children have seen unimaginable horrors. As an organization, we have been supporting individual children as well as supporting reading programs. Supporting one child in primary school costs $300 a year. This includes the cost of education, school supplies, food, two uniforms, a pair of shoes and a mentor overseeing the child’s welfare. A similar arrangement at the high school level costs $900 a year.

Tax-exempt contributions may be sent to:

Children UP
% Charles Laliberte
481 Alma
Elmhurst, IL 60126
630-832-9010

apple-peeler-corer-victory

It really works! As well as it's supposed to!
See images below.

What if the Candidates Were Reversed

A friend of mine forwarded this to a batch of folks yesterday. She's not one to send many emails of that sort, and I'm not either. I am, however, happy that this one is floating around in cyber space. It's worth the read and some reflection.

What if the candidates lives were reversed?

What if John McCain were a former president of
the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the
bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first
woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his
first wife after she no longer measured up to
his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not
only became addicted to pain killers, but
acquired them illegally through her charitable
organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Princeton
and Harvard Law?
What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent
speaker?

If the above questions reflected reality, do
you really believe the election polls would
be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up,
rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities
in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities
in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, 2 wars,
stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time
high prison population, mortgage crises, bank
foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science
with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in
History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law -
Juris Doctor (J.D.)

versus

McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class
rank: 894 of 899

Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College- 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire?

PS: What if Barack Obama had an unwed,
pregnant teenage daughter...

Poet Laureate 2008 ~ Kay Ryan

I'm not a big fan of poetry. Actually I don't read poetry, write poetry, or enjoy listening to poetry. So. . . how did our 16th Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan catch my eye? Take a look at her photo below.

It's encouraging to read that our newest poet laureate is an out, gay woman. And, she credits her partner of 30 years for convincing her to take the job. Can you really say "no" to an honor of this sort? Note to self: If I get a call from someone at the Library of Congress, I may want to say "yes."

So . . . for those of you who are "into" poetry, read the article below, check out some of her books, and keep your eyes (and ears) open for a chance to here our national poet laureate at an event near you.


Photo credit: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Kay Ryan, 62, will become the country’s 16th poet laureate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/books/17poet.html

Enter the Rachel Maddow Fan Club

(AP Photo/ MSNBC, Ali Goldstein)

I've attached a wonderful blog entry about tv journalist Rachel Maddow. Check out the link below, watch her show, let me know what you think.

http://wallwritings.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/now-more-than-ever-you-need-rachel-maddow/

It's all about Apples ~ and peeler-coorer-slicers!

When I was growing up, my mom would make fabulous homemade applesauce, apple crisp, apple muffins, apple cobbler, and baked apples. Wonderful delights! I have always loved eating apples and baking with apples - that's what happens when you are named after an apple.

Every fall my family and friends would go to Crane's Apple Orchard or Cornwell's Turkeyville USA. Later, once I'd moved away for school, I'd go to Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. John's, MI.

http://www.craneorchards.com/
http://www.turkeyville.com/
http://www.ujcidermill.com/

(one visit to these places and you'll be ready to move to Michigan!)

Baking with apples can be a lot of work and I can remember wanting an apple peeler-corer-slicer as early as 1995. My mom always supplied me with apple corers - and - frankly - they are dangerous tools.






(examples of dangerous tools - oops - this last one isn't an apple corer - although it looks equally dangerous)

After several near injuries I figured I'd head to Turkeyville, USA to get a "good" one. That one was just as dangerous as the rest.

I'm a patient person (some of the time) and I don't make snap decisions (some of the time), so I found myself in 2007 - yes, 12 years later, making the decision to purchase a Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer Slicer. I pulled it out yesterday so I could simply gaze at it in wonder.

I'm downright giddy about trying the thing, so . . . hold your breath and give a drum roll. . . in the next few days I anticipate there will be a different apple corer picture on my blog!

In the meantime. . . .

In the past year I've had some loss. My Dad's death and an important relationship being the two greatest. There's no good timing when you lose a parent and there are definitely relationships where a lot can be attributed to bad timing. This was one of them.

So. . . if it wasn't the right time. . . and I need to move on with life and I don't always know how based on my general feelings of sadness and loss . . . .

what do I do in the meantime?

So far my gut, a really good book (In the Meantime, Finding Yourself and the Love You Want by Iyanla Vanzant), and plenty of sadness, have led me to do the things that it would behoov me to do whether I'm in a relationship, or on my own.

~ be honest with myself and others about . . . well. . . everything
~ stay clear in my life goals and keep moving towards them
~ take time for me, for my family and friends, and for the romantic relationship in my life
~love

I'm also working on being in the moment (not stuck in memories of the past whether good or bad, or worries about the future), not thinking about what others think about me, and attempting to approach every situation from a place of love and compassion.

A long while back, my mom gave me a bookmark that had a great quote by theologian John Wesley. That quote has stuck since the day I read it.

"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

Perhaps a new version could read:

Be all the love you can,
Love by all the means you can,
Love in all the ways you can,
Love in all the places you can,
Love at all the times you can,
Love all the people you can,
Love as long as ever you can.

I like that version.
I'm going to try it.

Non-profit of the week - The Night Ministry

This is a great organization and there are plenty of ways to support them.

More on it later . . . check out the link!

http://www.thenightministry.org/004_about/

Hadron Super Collider says "no Big Bang this week"

On a day of remembrance and mourning, during a time of hyped-up election fervor and nationalism, it comforts me that over 8,000 scientists from around the world (mainly physicists I'm guessing) have been working together on the project below in order to find our (every person, living species, and rock) singular, unified, origin.

For anyone who missed this, it was perhaps one of the greatest physics undertakings of our time.

Yesterday in Geneva scientists began running experiments w/ the collider that could explain the existence of, well, us. Yup. How did mass get here? How did we get here? How did black holes get (or I guess since it's a hole - not get) here?

This thrills many and scares the crap out of some. I haven't figured out where I stand on the thrill vs. scared spectrum. If the Big Bang created our universe, it was a VERY big and VERY out of control deal. And the scientists who set up Hadron have created a VERY controlled environment. But. . . what if these little particles really do have more energy than we'd ever imagined? There had to be an awful lot of energy the day our universe was created.

Needless to say, check out some articles. The Big Bang didn't replicate (on a small, controlled scale) yesterday, nor were any new black holes created, and Europe wasn't blown to bits into the water.

See CNN and Wikipedia articles below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/09/08/lhc.collider/index.html

Non Profit of the Week - Chicago Books to Women Prisoners

harlequin romance, women prisoners, and me


I have a trunk filled with 2 large garbage bags of new Harlequin romance novels. Yup. And this Sunday I'm going to walk into the Chicago Books for Women Prisoners office, smile at the wonderful feminist volunteers and say, "Wow, it's so hard to part with this collection! These books have provided so many nights of bliss and entertainment!"

Ok. For those of you who know me, you are hopefully chuckling and not calling 911 with my address. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above reading a good romance novel. It's just more likely to be published by some other fine press.

I was given this lovely collection by a friend's 19-year-old daughter. She was encouraged (ok, outright ordered) by her mom to "weed" her collection, and who would be a better recipient than a librarian. There's a great organization in Chicagoland that provides books for women in prison. I've never been in prison, but I can only imagine that if there, I'd want every type of book I could get my hands on. Legal, spiritual, self-help, how to function out of prison, and last but not least, downright escapist entertainment.

If you have any paperbacks you can part with, take a look at the link below. If you can't drive to Chicago, you can certainly mail books inexpensively via media mail, or find groups in your area that donate to prisoners.

http://chicagobwp.org/about-us/

a very good prayer - heads up pastors

My father's memorial service was perfect. It "felt like him" and if he attended I'm sure he was quite pleased. We opened with a beautiful ballad on bagpipes, had beautiful classical music, and celebrated him in a humble, fun, honorable way.

One of the pieces of the service that was the most powerful - and the perfect way to close and give closure - was the pastors closing prayer. It started out seeming like a classic prayer for forgiveness, and it encompassed so much more. I'm going to give you the cliff notes below and hopefully do it justice:

Paula, Dad's pastor, invited the attendees (in silence, we aren't holy rollers) to:
lift anything left unsaid,
lift anything unforgiven (by us or by Dad),
any grievances, worries or friction, or pieces unresolved
and give them to God.

For in the end, let there be nothing left between us and the person who has died but love.

I can't imagine a better prayer for any memorial service. Regardless of how kind, loving, and wonderful a person is, when they leave a full life of people and moments, I imagine there are always things to be said.

on parents and pets

I believe there's a link between our parents and pets. If all goes as it should, we have them in our lives, receive love from them unconditionally, love them unconditionally right back . . . and do this knowing full well that they may leave the Earth before we do.

My Fantasy Writing Team

Many people have fantasy football leagues, baseball teams or basketball teams. You've seen these folks. They mull over their stats, get really excited watching the games, and dream of winning "the big pot" at the end of the season.

Well. . . I have a fantasy writing team. . . and I'll experience "the big pot" victory the day I am able to quit my day job, work at home or from a beach, and give book signings and lectures . . . just because I've been recognized for being as splendid as my fantasy writing team members!

Here's my writing lineup: Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert. No, not Melissa Gilbert of "Little House on the Prairie," Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love."

I have plenty of reasons for picking this team and I'll list a few here:

• They each have a great sense of humor combined with a nice balance of spiritual depth.
  
• They can each make you laugh, cry, and fall in love with humanity . . . within one paragraph . . . with a bit of subtle shock appeal thrown in.
  
• Elizabeth Gilbert got paid (in advance)to take an international sojourn in order to deal with her divorce. She learned Italian (in Italy), meditated at an Ashram in India, and hung out with her personal guru/healer (she found a second one no less!) in Indonesia. I haven't done anything quite that radical to deal with my divorce. This is definitely where we differ a bit. I went from one suburb of Chicago to another (10 miles away), purchased a condo, and am running an 8K for my next birthday. Ok, so I have read lots of spiritual books (note the two authors on my team!), and have had some other zany experiences (more on that later) but nothing quite so . . . international.
  
• Anne Lamott has written 11 books and is the former religion editor of Salon.com. Can you imagine a job more fun? Here's her quote on writing. "I try to write the books I would love to come upon, that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual transformation, families, secrets, wonder, craziness — and that can make me laugh. When I am reading a book like this, I feel rich and profoundly relieved to be in the presence of someone who will share the truth with me, and throw the lights on a little, and I try to write these kinds of books. Books, for me, are medicine." (from a quote listed on Wikipedia) How about that!?

Here's the last cool bit. My fantasy writing team is a winning pick. These writers are going to appear together a number of times this winter. Apparently they are the current divas reporting the intersectionality of everyday life and spiritual insight. It's my hope that we all have these profound experiences and insights, whether we can write about them as well as my fantasy writing team or not. I'll definitely post a few thoughts the day I quit my day job . . . or decide to keep it. . . part time . . . for fun.