Solidarity and War

There's way too much to write about. I moved into a new apartment. Am trying to figure out how to communicate with a new roomate. It's such a weird balance to live with a half stranger. Trying to share space with a loved one is hard enough but trying to make the balance between how to arrange space with a half-stranger is even harder. Delicate. She's very sweet and laid-back though.... I hope I'm not too overbearing....

But I really want to write about this past weekend. MSN had its annual meeting. It was in D.C. and it was a very full weekend. Great. I stayed with my roomate from S.I.T , Beth (see cotton candy) and she was such a great hostess. It made me remember how I was going to add that into my "being a better person" repetoire. She bought cereal and soy milk for me. My mom and Emily do that for me too. That's care. Any way, we did the nightlife and saw some other classmates.. funny that we all seem to be in this kind of dissatisfied trying to figure out what the hell we're doing with ourselves space. We went to Adams Morgan and it was FULL with drunk folks eating giant slices of pizza. I felt kind of observer-y. It was so interesting being in D.C. though. I've never spent much time there outside of visiting the museums and going to protests.... I was surprised at what a Black person's city it seemed to be. Granted, it was just a weekend, but the segregation didn't seem so drastic as it does in Chicago where yes, people do mix to some extent in the bars, but mostly this bar is for that kind of person, and that bar is for this kind of person, etc. etc.... but D.C. seemed more Black than White which for such a status quo place (think: Government) I was fully expecting a white wash. Interesting.

Anyway it was socially good stuff. The meeting for my work was great too. It was all in Spanish (for Corry read: Spanglish) and I understood 100% of what was said although I don't know if folks could say the same about me... We had great discussions about the history of the org. and I got a real clear picture of the work we do. Enough that I felt like I'd be okay with some desk work some of the time... They're opening a new community center which I'd love to be a part of and maybe try the study circle thing. I'm also excited about the tours and the programs they run. It's good and real work. I'm also reading like crazy about Zapatismo and really, really identifying. I kow I'll be writing more about that.... any way- good people and good conversation. And lots of it. I also had a little struggle with the fact that we're anti-capitalist and we were drinking Mott's Apple Juice and all other assorted brands and people were smoking their Marlboro's..... we gotta walk the walk. I know its virtually impossible but to not recycle, to not live the right way in the easy details is just lazy. I'm not perfect- that's part of my struggle, neh? But we have to be more concious esp. when we are in a position to do so.

We live in the world as we struggle against it.

I am also trying to figure out how I can run this study abroad program outside
the box, so to speak. We are running it in such a status-quo way, what might it mean to run it in an anti-capitalist way? Is that possible? This book is really inspiring me right now. It makes me feel not so alone as a lil' radical. Globalize Liberation . Highly reccommend it. Check out the link, there are sample chapters. It makes me feel like I'm not nuts to try and do what I want to do and do it in a non-imperalist way. I think I'm on some kind of quest to find out what solidarity really means these days. This book is a good beginning to put words to what I'm thinking and lend much needed inspiration...

Also saw my cousin while I was in D.C. She's completely conventional but we had a great conversation about race and capitalism. They (she and her hubbie) really couldn't see the connection and it was really interesting that some of their arguments were so text book. So "they don't value life" pull up your bootstraps thinking about race & education. My cousin kept talking about the "African American Community" and making sweeping comments (like the value life one... yipes!) and so I asked here if there was a White Community. And she thought about it and said "yes" and that the White Community was "the government". it was definately interesting. We had a good conversation in the house in the suburbs with all the suburban house dressings.

So after the dinner which went a lot longer than I thought it would, I got back to the city and was going to bail on a friend who was in town because I was tired. He gave me a very good guilt trip so I ended up running several miles through the streets of pm D.C. to meet him. He was in town because his buddy was volunteering in the Marine Reserve to go to Iraq and they were sending him off. Oh My. I was sworn not to say anything negative to the poor boy. It was an interesting night. They were all fifteen sheets to the wind by the time I met up with them.... but funny. Reed's a good drunk and it was so nice to see him- although he ended up falling asleep as soon as the bars closed and we went back to their hotel. I ended up singing bad Billy Joel songs in a bubble bath with all of my clothes on with the Marine and his friend. And stayed up 24 hours to catch my flight out the next day. I can't tell you how much gas I get staying up for so long and flying and eating greasy food. And being so dehydrated because you can no longer bring water on the plane. Are they kidding? In any case I did very well with the Marine. I asked a lot of questions "So what do you say to people when they tell you they don't think it's a good idea to go to Iraq?" and he bought the line lock stock and barrel: "They can say whatever they want because they have the freedom to do that. I fight to keep that freedom." Wow. I asked him if he thought he'd make any Iraqui friends while he was there, as he also said he was fighting for their freedom. He hadn't really considered that possibility. He was really nice to me, sang me a Johnny Cash song and didn't try to come on to me in a sleazy way, but he also didn't ask me any questions about myself and I'm glad, although I felt like 'confessing' I was a commie just to see what he'd say. I don't envy him, though, despite his confident spirits. Sigh.

Now I'm back in Boston to get my ultra fat kitty and rest of my junk to move it back to Chicago. Thought a friend might be able to drive me back, but it looks like it might not happen so have to figure out how to get back without spending much money. Money again. Double sigh. Saw my gradmother who has dementia in the nursing home today. That's a whole other rumination- what being old in the U.S. is like... it was horribly depressing for about a million different reasons. Did have great talks with my mom though. She knows what's up. She's not afraid to question... nature vs. nurture- I'm the way I am for a reason, no?

I've been out dancing two nights in a row. I need some serious sleep. And have to figure out how to link other blogs with mine because I have some DOPE friends who are writing and I want the world to see..

And that's what's on my paleta mind these days. It's rich and juicy!