My fear for you

What are you doing? Don't you realize that you only have a short amount of time? And still, as the mountain of time caves in around you, you are oddly pulled to those things that just don't seem to matter. You always say that you aspire for higher than mediocre. But to be exceptional you have to move. An apathetic person goes no where, they just don't care. But you would never be fine with just mediocre or stagnation. So why? Why are you doing nothing today?



I wish I could say these things to you today, and as a friend I know I need to. But this is your undertaking and I want so badly for this to be your success. But how do I tell a friend who is so incredibly important to me that they are being lazy?

Grit

Dirt between your finger nails,
grinding underneath.
Scraping and scratching.
Grit between your teeth,
the taste of hot earth in your mouth.
Not a drop of water in sight to wash it all away.
Sand between your toes,
skin crackling from heat and raw dust.
A footprint left behind.

YEATS!!!

I love Yeats more than you can imagine. The way he works with words astounds me. My souls gets fed by him. I have to thank my dear friend Arri for showing me this brilliant man.

"The hour of the waning of love has beset us,
And weary and worn are our sad souls now;
Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us,
With a kiss and a tear on thy drooping brow."
W.B.Yeats

Starless Summer Night

In this place you are incubated,
growing into some kind of wonderful the world knows not yet.
There are two pools of mystery sitting stagnant in front of you.
They are your moat, you are guarded here.
Outside, you passed your friends cycling through your home, your neighborhood.
Lights glittered on their porches, casting diamonds across their skin as they warmly laughed.
What a comfort to know they exist on.
What a comfort to know that those you love with every cell in your body laugh together.
Trees overwhelm you in fantastic joy, stretching their branches underneath to carry you.
Water pours out in the distance, trickling on its journey. Its destination unknown even to itself.
The smell of freshness surrounds you and life fills you.
Words of a deeper wisdom than your own fill not only your mind, but your heart.
Go on, walk across that tiny concrete bridge.
You can always come back to this place.
And when you leave, know that you are being a gift to the world itself.

Pledge

Here's my pledge: (it's stupid, but it's really on my heart to say something)

I pledge to be a better employee. I pledge to do less tasks for myself on their time. I pledge to think of them more than I think of myself. I pledge to do my hardest work as fast as I can. I pledge to be a better employee.

A few Beautiful Things People should know

I want so badly to share with everyone some beautiful things that I really support and love. Some organizations are community based and other are international. I just felt it extremely important to spread the word on some of the most important projects (that I know of at least) that are happening around us.

And if any of you lovely readers have a program that you think is super awesome, please share! I would love to share it with you!

ONE Campaign



This is an amazing campaign to make extreme poverty history. I deeply support and believe in its actions. It primarily tries to capture the attention of those in power to truly make a difference. That meaning people in legislative and representative positions. But, that does not mean that an individual person like yourself does not matter, in fact, we are the most important part. It's an organization that needs the voice of every single person to say in one large voice the changes we think should happen in the world. It seeks to aid those in need (primarily in Africa) by giving them the tools needed to cycle themselves out of poverty. It also provides health campaigns to bring preventive measures to the people affected by AIDS/HIV and provide the opportunity for them to heal. They are currently going through a vaccine campaign meant to aid in bringing over simple vaccines for children that could save their lives. A big victory for ONE recently was this campaign they conducted to make sure that President Obama kept funding for international aid in legislation cuts. It was so very successful!

There are a lot of things that ONE is trying to do to make this world a better place. I believe in it so much because it has a higher purpose of compassion and humanity. It is seeking to take the resources that a country like the United States doesn't need anymore and trying to distribute it to people in desparate need for it. It's a beautiful depiction of love in action.

http://www.one.org/us/

Bead for Life



Bead for Life does a lot of work with ONE. It's a beautiful program that employs Ugandan women (at fair and resonable wages) to create unique beads and jewelry. It is programs like these that promote self-suffiency for nations and populations struggling to get out of poverty. This program prevents these women from reverting to harmful lifestyles to support their families. Not only is the jewelry beautiful, it's saved someone's life.

http://www.beadforlife.org/

TOMS



This is starting to get big and I am so glad it is! I just recently bought my own pair. It is a campaign called One for One, which seeks to provide shoes (and now eye-wear) to those who don't have their own. For every pair of TOMS bought they donate a pair to a child that does not have their own. It's a company that was the dream child of just one person. This inspires me to no end. If one person can make such a difference, we know it can be possible for all of us to do the same.

http://www.toms.com/
The A 21 Campaign



Sex-trafficking is one of the most disgusting forms of injustice that exists in this modern world. It ruins lives of thousands of women, men, children and families all over the world. It leads to total disregard of human rights and other forms of enslavement. It breaks my heart to think that a person would wake up any day and feel like the are a commodity. It reminds me to fight for the rights of others and respect their integrity as a fellow human being. Through this organization is a really cool internship where I could go to Moldova, Mumbai or Greece to support coping sex-trafficking victims. You have no idea how much I want to support this cause.

http://www.thea21campaign.org/

The Peace Corps



Before I took this Cold War history class I believed in the purpose of the Peace Corps. And after taking this class I still do. I don't care what politics or rumors surround this organization it still upholds humanity and compassion. It's about bringing better lives to those that our capitalistic system has disenfranchised enough that they will never get out themselves. It's an organization I hope and pray to be a part of.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/

Compassion International



I used to sponsor a child myself, but he moved out of the Compassion zones and I no longer had the opportunity to sponsor him. I haven't had the financial opportunity to sponsor another child, but the second I do I will sign up full-heartedly again. This is a beautiful organization that seeks to provide education and compassion to international children whose families cannot provide that opportunity for them. Education is vital to bringing people to a higher life. I was given the chance to learn, I believe every child should too.

http://www.compassion.com/

Charity: Water



This is a really cool program that raises money to bring clean water to people that do not have access to clean and healthy water. Clean water is crucial to making sure that people can lead healthier and

http://www.charitywater.org/

Atlas Theater

This is my home. It's hard to find the words to describe something that has been so very life-changing to me. Atlas is so much more than just a group of people. It's a community, it's a family, it's a lifestyle. Their mission is to bring light into dark places. They do that and so much more. They have brought me art, color, vibrancy, passion, and most importantly, love. Everyone should have a community like Atlas. It was here where I found my family, my love, myself and my life.

http://www.whatisatlas.com/

So these are just a few of the things I love and support. If any of you have something you support, please share! I'm dying to know!

Deer Crossing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBcMKwbMEcQ

The flashing lights blinded and distorted what little was left to see.
All there needed to be known was the deer carcass pillowed in white fluorescents at the front of the stage.
It's body lay there lifeless and broken.
Degraded to the point that no one felt it worthwhile enough to move it away from the speeding coffins.
And it passed with a slow and silent gasp of pain.
But if deer could scream, it would have been the most agonizing and chilling cry.

Laundry

The laundry never seems to get folded in this place,
Wrinkles are the sworn enemy,
Yet, it never seems to be enough to motivate anyone to do anything about it.
Instead it sits there,
In a looming pile of wrinkles and mildew,
rotting away as it is believed that their lives are too busy.
Too consumed, too involved
to simply just fold it.

The Walls Come Crumbling Down

Hail to the King and Queen! We yell with a type of blind fervor that we hate.
Heralds of the perfect picture of domesticity,
Continuing the path wrought with children and picket fences,
We fought long and hard for that gilded road covered in perfection.

But we can see the foundation cracking,
And a different type of light is coming through.

I cannot deny that when I heard the news,
A slightly spiteful smile escaped from my face.
I used to think I was to be the Queen.
But I escaped that fate,
Taking up my sword and fighting more courageous battles.
The things I have seen and the adventures I have had are gold themselves,
Now, I can hardly imagine a life with you, your Majesty, possessing me.

I pity the King and Queen,
as their faces turn to ash and the walls of their fortress come crumbling down.
Their faces distort in anger as all they thought was secure is shaken.

We live is insecure times,
The concept to perfection to which you cling, is dead.

This is the community I live in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kguzdMSFRes&feature=player_embedded

So incredibly thankful and blessed that I can say I know a community where beauty like this can be created. Super proud of you Greeley, Colorado. Not only have you changed my life, you are changing the lives of so many others.

Tread Softly

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet,

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W.B. Yeats

The Abolition of Resentment

"I have forgotten where the hatchet is buried"

I don't even know what to say. All I know is I need to just let it go.

The Male Gaze

By Barbara Kruger

"The girl in the household is taking a lot longer to get ready, as usual." The class erupts into laughter. It's funny because it's just so typical of the old structures of ideology to assume that women take longer to get ready. It's so old fashioned, so, NOT post-modern. It's funny because we all assume we live in a much more progressive society, where men and women take just as long to get ready. It's funny because in this day and age women are not placed in that category. It's funny because we have triumphed over the dusty systems of the past, we are better than that.

But yet, there is an uncomfortable undertone growing in the pit of your stomach between the giggles. A certain fear to admit that you still assume women take longer to get ready. I mean, who could blame you for that assumption? You've lived with a mother at one point in time. She would always take years to primp herself to go out. Your girlfriend has to start getting for your date 2 hours in advanced because it takes her that long to shave her legs perfectly. And you realize, you are only laughing at the absurdity because you have to.

Meanwhile, one of the only women in the class is laughing too. But in her stomach a ball of concern is growing too. Little do you know that its actually panic. Her heart is racing because she believes she laughed just a little too hard at that joke. She looks around with a grin plastered to her face, luckily no one seems to be making eye-contact with her at the moment. She doesn't feel too extreme. But she still has the scars from being called that one horrible word, FEMINIST. That word is painted to her like an unforgiving adulturous A. She remembers the realization that came with that word, the realization that it was just joke to them. The moment she gained the label it's like no one listened to her anymore. It became a category within itself, "Of course a woman would be a feminist. How typical." So, she stresses daily over trying to seem moderate enough for them. Don't laugh to hard when they bring up the systems of the old, you might seem too victorious. It's easy to brush off the words of an extremist. And don't remain completely silent either, then you'll just seem like a fuddy-duddy conservative, recalling the 1950s era as the golden age. So she laughs (not too loud) in hopes of pleasing all of those around her.

Things are Changing

The moments we remembered flash in light as the bulb captures and stamps it to light-sensitive paper for us.

We could cling to those mementos forever if we wanted to.

But how could you really capture the sound of your laugh ringing on my ears, the smell of the air, or the way our clothes felt on our skin?

Is it really worth it then to try to record every moemnt on a piece of paper when in the end we know it will never really be the same?

Especially when I know tomorrow these moments will be miles away from you and I.

Oh, I can feel it in my bones. Times are changing.