mcollinknight

Last night my dad and I went out to a cafe for an open mic night for Heritage week: it was really cool! Most of the music was fairly folk-ish, which I like, but don't love. However, we got to see the winner of the 2005 (? maybe? It might have been last year) aboriginal music awards, Digawolf. He was wearing a beret and a lumberjack coat, lol. He was really good, though, and had an adorable stage presence (I think my dad mainly liked him because he had a song called 'Chainsaw,' though).

This morning we went to the museum, which was really cool - there were displays of ancient Inuit hunting tools, they were just incredible. I mean, given the geography and landscape, they had so little to work with, but the things they made were just astounding. We saw a 20-foot long moosehide canoe, it was so cool. Birchbark and moosehide canoes always look fairly delicate to me, like you could just put your foot through them or the spruce-gum glue could just come apart, but they're so strong. There was lots of cool stuff about ancient native cultures, hunting practices, and legends (Yamozha and his Beaver Wife was one of my favourites, the illustrations were gorgeous) there.
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In other news, I put my foot in my mouth re: development in a recent discussion on a comm because I didn't do my research first and let my preconceptions get in the way.... which is basically what I always critique other people for, especially in DVM, so I'm kind of frustrated with myself. ARGH. I was reading a lot about the whole 'send donated shoes to Haiti!' thing, which is very ARGH-inducing, and so I saw 'send shoes to developing communities' and let my brain go THAT'S BAD, when it was a totally legitimate organisation that does their research, has an appropriate target, adapts to different environments, and connects the public to developing communities. Check, check, check, and check. *Facepalm*

( shoes, volunteering, and cynicism )

TL;DR COLLINE NEEDS TO NOT BE A NEGATIVE NANCY AND ALSO NEEDS TO THINK MOAR.

ETA: So I know I talk about DVM a lot, and I definitely think about it a lot more than I talk about it (be afraid. Be very afraid), and if anyone's interested, here are some awesome blogs/articles/posts that are very digestible, very critical, and very awesome. It's a lot, so I've **'d the absolute best:
-Blood and Milk, by Alanna Shaikh. Best posts are:
    **Things I Believe In (this, so hard. All of this, especially 13, 21, 30, and 33, as well as 20 for the negatives)
     A Story About Donated Shoes (which is not just about shoes, but how you can't just give people stuff and expect them to use it or appreciate it, or for it to help. About examining and looking for reasons you wouldn't think would be reasons.)
     What Poor People Have & Nothing something more (about not thinking that everyone who is poor is miserable, or that all they have is misery)
-Tales from the Hood (currently in Haiti). Best posts are:
   **Screw the Outsider (this piece is not what you think it is, and I love the multi-faceted part to it.)
     The Transactions that Matter
-Good Intentions Are Not Enough - I haven't read too much of this one yet, but it seems to be really detailed and have lots of good stuff)
-and of course, EWB's own Owen Scott in Malawi. (If anyone has any questions, he's our EWB chapter buddy and thus I'll be in semi-regular contact with him. Ask away!) Best posts are:
   **A Lesson from Laundry
    For Lack of a Guitar (how poverty deprives us all)
     Playpump 1, 2, & 3 (more in-depth, actual DVM stuff about why 'oh hey it's a well' isn't always a 'yay awesome problem solved' thing)

It's very weird, writing a 2-3 page essay when I'm used to crazy monoliths, but I guess that's what being in a first-year English class will do to you. I keep having to cut myself down - "are you sure you don't want 13 pages? Because I can do 13 pages." This essay (on Beowulf) has a working title of "Beowulf - my milkshake brings all the descendants of Cain to the yard. If by 'yard' you mean 'mead hall' (and I do)." This is what happens when I write essays at night about Anglo-Saxons and their mead. Unfortunately when I went to talk to the prof about it, that title was still on the paper, and so I am shamed forever in the eyes of academia, but at least she laughed.
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I got a letter in the mail over Christmas that was from myself. One of our last days in Salabwek (Kenya) we went on a very long hike - Felix took us all the way through Salabwek and up the side of a mountain. I don't remember the mountain's name (being Felix, he tried to convince us it was Mount Kenya, but of course by this time we knew not to believe him), but he said it was the border between Maasai land and Kipsigis land, and that the Maasai and Kipsigis had fought many battles and wars for a very long period of time for land and that this mountain was the place where it ended and the place you could see both. He also showed us the kind of tree he makes his arrows from. Lawrence gave us all a sheet of paper and told us to find a spot on the top of the mountain and to write ourselves a letter. Things to remember, things we were feeling, the perspective we had in that moment, things we wanted to remind our future selves back in Canada.

This is that letter. (Warning: copious use of me being sappy and trying to be profound.)

( hey, self. here's what you need to remember about life. )

THIS IS AN ENTRY OF MEMES ABOUT 2009. TITLE STOLEN FROM KAZ BECAUSE SHE IS LE CLEVER.


In 2009 I did the following:
-went to the EWB national conference
-wrote (good) fanfic I was proud of and that other people read and liked
-made a fuck-up and subsequently learned about privilege and racism
-went to a rock concert (BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!)
-went to kenya and built a school (Africa! I've been to Africa! Africa! I broke a sweat! - JB on SNL)
-planned a trip by myself and visited someone I'd never me before (dc!)
-had a leading role in a Shakespeare play
-had a life crisis
-changed majors
-was kissed
-got a house of my own
-paid a bill
-became legal
-got an executive position with ewb and taught kidlets about development


I had a good year. Probably the best year I've ever had, or at least the year in which the most stuff happened: to me, around me. I went to Washington. I went to Kenya. I went to AFRICA. I made friends, lost touch with friends, lived on top of friends. There were thoughts of responsibility, or irresponsibility, of happiness and sadness and satisfaction all rolled into one. I got a leadership position. I recycled like crazy. I drank unholy amounts of tea. I had an awesome history professor. I saw herds of zebras, and read some books I thought were good. I listened to some pretty amazing music, and I memorised another entire Shakespeare play. I realized I hadn't picked the best plan, and I picked a new one, for better or worse. This is another year I tried for something, wanted it, and didn't get it; this year I learned that it hurt but that it wasn't such a bad thing after all, that there are other things I can do. This year I learned the importance of feedback. This year was my last year as a teenager. I wrote a story, I put on a play, I built a school in Kenya. That's right. I went to Kenya, and I saw things there and lived things there and played duck-duck-goose there. My resume came in handy. I wrote university exams, ate university food, sat in university seats and listened to university professors. I tried to find new ways to speak, in French, English, Arabic, and Swahili. Nina kupenda kubwa. Last year was the Year of Learning Things I Didn't Know I Needed to Learn, in more ways than those I talk about. Last year was the Year of Taking Steps Out; I wrote letters and cut down my water useage and I, me, was in charge of something that might change peoples' lives. I did that, I built it with my own two (sore, dirty) hands. I learned that I don't know nearly enough - about anything. For the first time, I didn't make any plans for next year in beyond, but instead I admitted that nothing is 100%. I had fun, and I cried, and I wore costumes and I felt things that were entirely too big for me and the world. Next year is the year of Confidence, of Trying to Become Competent at those things I learned this year I need to learn. Of having fun once I learn how to strut. Of still drinking entirely too much tea. I can't wait.

<3

( year in review )
( a year in fandom )

( i am part of all i have read )


( a year in which i talk too much )

As a side-note before I begin: I EFFING LOVE THIS SONG AND IT IS MY NEW ANTHEM. THE END.
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Halloweek continues to be AWESOME. Yesterday was Robin Hood (complete with construction-paper hats and feathers, as well has two sets of bows-and-arrows: one from Canadian Tire, one fashioned from random stuff in our backyard) and I had to take the bus alone again and I'm sure I was laughed at - but as soon as I came into Politics and plopped down beside Catya, all was made well. The prof (a man I despise for his horrible teaching skillz, even though he seems like a moderately pleasant person) looked up and said we had nice hats and spent the next ten minutes trying to scare us about H1N1, and the following 20 minutes actually being awesome and sarcastic and tearing people apart for being all 'well Canada gives lots of money to foreign aid' and 'I'm a student, I shouldn't have to help' and it was awesome because he just started swearing and being intelligent. But then he got boring again so I stopped paying attention.

We staged the photoshoot on the front lawn, which had trees and fences and piles of yellow leaves - and good thing we did, because when we walked by today they were blowing all the leaves away (#45 Things I Hate About Our Society: electric leaf-blowers. What is the point, you morons?) and had an amazing time.

Today's theme was Lost Little Girls, so Catya was Little Red Riding Hood, and I was Alice in Wonderland (because as you know I have the dress) - it was odd in that it wasn't immediately obvious I was in a costume, so I just got weird looks for wearing a ribbon on my head and 18 trucks of makeup. But we found a path with lampposts by the gorgeous old theatre building (all the buildings on our campus are ugly, so it was really the only option) and had another epic photoshoot with Catya's basket of cookies and rain everywhere :D

Funny story about the cookies. If you needed more proof that my house is ghetto (other than the whole in the kitchen floor and the fact that two weeks ago we had to punch 20 holes in the basement/Catya's bedroom to connect the heating system to the furnace)? I was baking cookies, whatever, and apparently the insulation melted off the coil and it started sparking and making mini-fireworks and it's all okay (I tried to bake the cookies in the toaster oven but that was weird) and we got it replaced, but yeah. This house. Is crazy.

Pictures from the first two days up on fbook, those of you who have me on there. If anyone wants to add me on fbook I can provide you with the deets - I just won't ever be putting IRL pictures of myself out on the Wide Internets.
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In seriousness now, I need opinions: tomorrow's theme is Super-Human Strength, and Catya is going to be a superhero and I will be a Maasai Warrior (because I own the shukahs and the bow). However, I was only going to change into it for the photoshoot (on a fire escape!) and not wear it to my discussion group because I'm a bit unsure about it. Because the maasai aren't storybook characters or archetypes or traditional figures open to public whoring-out (not in that sense, but I can't quite say what I mean here) like the other ones: they're people, and it's a complex culture, and it's a culture that's not mine, and I wouldn't want anyone to think that I was making it into a joke or a stereotype or just exploiting the "pretty"ness of the traditional wear, because that's not why I'm dressing up as a Maasai Warrior. Now obviously I know a bit more about the Maasai than random people in my discussion group, and I can talk about (and obviously learn way more about still, because I am clearly not actually Maasai and three weeks of knowledge is nothing compared to a lifetime) the culture and the history, but I would hate to give the wrong impression, or make a misstep, or hurt or offend anyone. So. Opinions? Should I wear the shukah and strut proud into my discussion group in-costume (since that's the whole point of this week), or should I keep it just for our own house and photoshoot, or should I not do it at all? Because I don't really know enough about issues like this yet to be able to put my finger exactly on what would be wrong with it, and I feel like on some levels it wouldn't be wrong at all, but obviously my perception of the costume is going to be different than other peoples'. (Let me know, and don't spare my feelings. If you think it's totally cool, then cool.)

For those unsure about what I mean by Maasai? I present Felix, my Maasai Warrior Husband. (Also, Felix now has FACEBOOK, WHAT. LOL FELIX.)
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TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT SHOULD I GO Y/N?

First day of Halloweek: officially a success of epicsauce. Last night Catya and I tried out our makeup and costumes, and woke up at unholy hours this morning to get it just right. I wore this dress over a red tutu and a white frilly tanktop, with white ballet tights, white ballet flats with bows, and with my hair in pigtails with white ribbon. I also did EPIC doll makeup and honestly the bus ride to school was SO MUCH FUN, I was just reading my newspaper, nothing to see here, and I would look up and people would be full-out STARING and GRINNING THEIR FACES OFF.

In Contested Places, Burdz and I sit close to the front, and today - the one day! - I put my hand up to answer the prof's question and did so while he proceeded to try to act normally but couldn't stop looking. In Political Thought, I started a tally of how many times the prof looked at me awkwardly - he started avoiding looking at me (Burdz said I was being self-involved, but I COULD TELL), and in the last five minutes I was just looking at him, head tilted, and he looked at me and I slowly tipped my head to the other side and didn't change expression and he did the most EPIC double-take of life. Muahahahaha! Arabic is such a small class that people actually asked questions, and the prof didn't notice until I answered a question and then said "What is going on here? I love your eyes!!" and Hot Boy In Front gave me like the biggest grin ever.

It was so much fun - more like a social experiment than anything (I learned that NOBODY will EVER ask you, I suppose because we're so schooled to be "oh whatever, they're doing their own thing, I won't judge"), and not only did dressing up like an awesome doll make me feel super cute the whole day, it was also so much fun to see how thrilled people get from people dressing up randomly and walking around campus. Catya and I had an epic photoshoot on the columned front of the main building (it was SO FREEZING) and EVERYONE was looking, including a little girl who like ran away when I waved at her. lol.

Tomorrow is Robin Hood and Little John for politics class, photoshoot on the front lawn with the trees, and then GROCERY SHOPPING. It's like a week of flash mobs (even though Friday is the one we've actually planned flash mobs for). I love flash mobs: just people being awesome and happy FOR NO REASON WHATSOVER OTHER THAN BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME. For those unfamiliar with the concept: Wiki tells me it is a large group of people assembling suddenly in a public place, performing an unusual action for a brief time, then dispersing. Some examples:
-designed to attract attention/publicity stunt: flash mob dance of 'Single Ladies' in London. These girls have mad skillz, yo.
-designed to make people awkward: a random one in the middle of a cafteria. Everyone is SO AWKWARD.
-designed to be cool: everyone freezes in Grand Central. (I've done this one before in Toronto, people come RIGHT UP TO YOU.)

And MY FAVOURITE (SO MANY HAPPY TEARS EVERY TIME I WATCH IT), the epic Sound of Music one in the Netherlands.

And long overdue, another KenyaTale: not a comprehensive one this time, but a straight journal entry from May 31st written on the plane from Nairobi to Amsterdam. Apologies for the purple and also the interspersed Bruce lyrics (I get maudlin on recycled airplane air :P). All the KenyaTales are here.

( tell me friend can you ask for anything more? )

Yesterday I accomplished nothing due to me waking up at 11:00 - I have never slept in that late, but after a week of early mornings and late nights (the late nights being no-one's fault but my own, of course. Or perhaps I could blame internet porn. LOL) I really needed the recharge. I went downtown with A-Dubs to meet Mariya - it was a mini-reunion of the Kenya Crew! We had lunch at La Marche/Richtree (all different states from different parts of the world, too much good food to handle) which in my case was a brunch of Pizza Margherita and Pecan Pie :DDD

And then we went and saw Craig! He was giving a talk as part of the Ottawa Writers' Festival because he and his brother have just finished a book called 'The World Needs Your Kid' about how to raise compassionate and aware children. I love seeing him speak, because he's just SO INTO whatever he's talking about, and it was a speech about what he does, of course, and about what youth can do, but also about his own childhood and how the things parents and teachers and mentors do help shape children who are not - as the Dalai Lama says - "dispassionate bystanders." After he was done there were some very good questions from both the awesome CBC personality/moderator and people in the crowd, including like an 8-year old who STUMPED Craig by asking him if there was one thing more he had not yet acheived that he wanted to in helping children.

When it was over we all lined up to sign things, and Craig is so awesome: he was thrilled to find out the three of us had been to Kenya together (and that we recognized Nbala from his slideshow!!) and asked us what we were doing and we talked about the MOBilizers trying to get started in Ottawa and We Day and it was just so epic because he's amazing and talked to us for quite a while before we snapped a beautiful picture and dashed off. I wanted to give him a haircut, though.

Mariyya had a car, and after we discovered she and I both wanted to see 'Where the Wild Things Are' she drove us out to the movie theatre. We hung around in Chapters (you guys. The computers in Chapters have a search function where you can LOOK UP BOOKS THAT WERE ON THE DAILY SHOW) reading books and looking at travelogues and biographies and going to the kid's section to read 'Where the Wild Things Are,' and then we went to Montana's for dinner before going to the movie theatre.

I loved the movie <3333 It was gorgeous and sad and adorable all at once. The main actor was BEAUTIFUL, he was so good! Oh my heaaaart <3 It was an amazing movie: not necessarily FOR kids (it's actually pretty scary for kids, I thought), but about kids and about childhood and about imagination and wanting and oh it was beautiful. The kind of movie that you can write essays about, with the themes and the overlapping between real life, and just the perfect little portal into that world we all once knew. There are funny bits, and scary bits (actually, it probably scared ME more than it scared any of the kids that were there), and sweet bits and sad bits, but it's just a beautiful, beautiful movie.

It was so wonderful to get back together with some people who went to Kenya and talk about things: about Felix, about the other people on our trip, about what more we want to do (Mariyya and A-Dubs are probably going to India with Free the Children this summer) and a lot of the things I don't talk about on a regular basis. I talk about world issues and poverty and Africa a lot, but not about specific experiences or what I remember, and it was great to be with people who knew what it was like. And also they're awesome people - Mariyya and I basically have a giganto list of places we need to travel to together now, haha. And as Mariyya said, "Every time I see Craig I just get reaffirmed once more in what I want to do and what my priorities should be and I feel like I'm on the right track."

WORD. Also I spent wayyyyy too much money yesterday :/ Time to read 'Nichomachean Ethics,' fun times. Also, I saw TWO KIDS yesterday just around Ottawa that were at my school outreach day. Weeeeeird. Pictures from Kenya? YES:

In another of life's weird acts of synchronicity, I spent the bus ride back home reading about giant beavers and paleolithic tigers, to discover two of the roommates (Marley and Nic) in the other room watching Jurassic Park. I was reading about mastodons and the like because a few days ago I bought 'The World Without Us,' by Alan Weisman (TDS interview with him here - alas, there's no comedy network version, but I thought I'd at least link the Amurrcans).

It's a fascinating book (and really well-written; or at least entertainingly-so) about what would happen if tomorrow, all humans just vanished, Rapture-style (or, uhm, Raptor-style. Whatever works). What would happen to the cities, the forests, the animals, all that C02 up in the atmosphere; and how long it would take, if ever, for our marks on the world to completely vanish.

It's also a really fascinating look at various cultures and historical happenings (for lack of a better word) over the years, especially of things I'd never heard of: the genocide of the Zápara Indians of South America, the Białowieża Puszcza (a piece of virtually untouched ancient forest in Europe, a last remaining scrap of what used to cover from Siberia to Ireland. Also really fun to try to pronounce), and the aforementioned giant creatures (sloths as big as cows). The section on all the creatures that have gone extinct (with the point of what species might come back, and what species we have put too far on the path to extinction already) was fascinating: picturing gigantic short-faced bears twice the size of grizzlies, a 10-ton mammoth, an animal 'looking like an armor-plated Volkswagon.' Just... COOL. Picturing my (distant, I'll grant you) ancestors facing those bears before crossing the Bering Strait or figuring out how to hunt lions twice the size of the ones we know today - that's pretty stunning.

I was also struck in particular by the section of the disintegration of cities and how comparatively little time it would take. Less than three days before the complete flooding of the New York subway system (even today, if you leave the pumps off for half an hour the water rises to a level where trains can't run) and the demolition of the city from underneath, the cracking and shifting and heaving of pavement. It's fascinating and harrowing and scary all at once; not least for the mental pictures it gives, but for for all our building and concrete and immovable objects, the marks we've made in cities for hundreds of years can give way so quickly. How close things like the subway systems are to constantly caving, how quickly people move every day to keep us that few hours away from collapse.

"...water would start cluicing away soil under the pavement. Before long, streets would start to crater. With no one unclogging sewers, some new watercourses form on the surface. Others appear suddenly as waterlogged subway ceilings collapse. Within 20 years, the water-soaked steel columns that support the street above the East Side's 4, 5, and 6 trains corrode and buckle. As Lexington Avenue caves in, it becomes a river. [... ] In the first few years with no heat, pipes burst all over town, the freeze-thaw cycle moves indoors, and things start to seriously deteriorate. Buildings groan as their innards expand and contract; joints between walls and rooflines separate. Where they do, rain leaks in, bolts rush, and facing pops off, exposing insulation. If the city hasn't burned yet, it will now. [...] Plugged sewers, deluged tunnels, and streets reverting to rivers, he says, will conspire to undermine subbasements and destablize their huge loads. In a future that portends stronger and more-frequent hurricans striking North America's Atlantic coast, ferocious winds will pummel tall, unsteady structures. Some will topple, knocking down others. Like a gap in the forest when a giant tree falls, new growth will rush in. Gradually, the asphalt jungle will give way to a real one."

What was also very interesting were his various hypotheses for global warming: even with humans gone and our massive carbon output stopping tomorrow (no cars, factories, breathing, or felling of trees ANYWHERE), what we have already put in motion will carry itself out. That's pretty fucking scary, considering that tomorrow millions of people will STILL be driving cars and pumping out waste and cutting down trees. By "carry itself out," though, I don't mean *~APOCALYPSE~* - he estimates it will take about 1000 years for the ocean and the earth to turn over and cycle out most of the excess carbon dioxide already trapped in the atmosphere, but that still won't reduce it to pre-Industrial levels. To get to pre-human levels, it would take about 100 000 years. That's CRAZY. Even crazier when you think about the fact that the Earth is not actually going to get that opportunity. Eek :/

And, of course, the usualy period of about 12 000 years between Ice Ages has already passed: normally, we'd be expecting another glacier over North America, oh, any day now. Which was also interesting to think about, considering humans haven't really made any plans for the earth's natural cycles of freezing and thawing and relocation of habitats. We just built our cities and assumed that the climate we had was here to stay; we're not really the type of hunters-and-gatherers who can pack up and move on and adjust with the way the Earth was built to work. A bit cool, but a bit not.

It's a very interesting mix between scientific non-fiction (like some extensively-reasearched massive National Geo article) and very gripping and personal writing. A section I found beautiful and striking: "Olduvai Gorge and the other fossil hominid sites, together comprising a screcent that runs south from Ethiopia and parallels the continent's eastern shore, have confirmed beyond much doubt that we are all Africans. The dust we breathe here, blown by zephyrs that leave a coating of gray tuff powder on Olduvai's sisals and acacias, contains calcified specks of the very DNA that we carry. From this place, humans radiated across continents and around a planet. Eventually, coming full circle, we returned, so estranged from our origins that we enslaved blood cousins who stayed behind to maintain our birthright."

Overall, it's so-far been a really fascinating look at the effect humans have had on the world: both in things like climate change that have so profoundly changed the swing of the way the atmosphere around us shifts, and yet how quickly all the things we build and accomplish can wash away, how the ultimate power here isn't ours, but the natural changes of elements: water in streets, animals and trees re-colonising what was taken, the shift of the forces at work on a massive planet too powerful for sidewalks and copper wiring.

And I'm only on page 74. Phew.
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I've also been watching Reel Bad Arabs, a documentary about the portrayals of Arabs and Middle Eastern culture in movies (particularly Hollywood). It's simultaneously disgusting and very interesting; most of the movies I haven't seen, but for the ones I have (like Aladdin, say), it's quite an eye-opener to the ways discrimination, stereotype, and outright fear and hatred can work its ways - unconsciously, and sometimes frighteningly consciously - into our art and perception of things and people.
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Oh, and I have decided that I am going to have 3 girl children: the oldest will be Enelerai, and the two youngest (twins) will be Emoryjoi and Motony. Thoughts? :D

Another KenyaTales post to come tonight or tomorrow.

Happy Things:
-Just back from the 'Busking Without Borders' event - relatively few crazies to deal with (which you always have to do, I have learned, when attempting public outreach events in large cities) and the last buskers were an awesome hip-hop dance troupe. We had free fair trade chocolate and coffee, and the event was completely not-for-profit (any donations went to the buskers, we were basically just there to talk to people). It was loads of fun, especially since someone from the Pro chapter brought their 6-month old Boxer who was fascinated with everything.
-The roommates and I are watching Ever After tonight.
-Catching up on TDS/TCR. "I thought you were Conan's date!"

World News:
-The Globe and Mail (my favourite newspaper) is doing a special this week on women in Afghanistan. The articles are very interesting, I've been making an effort to read them all this week; there's a lot obviously on the situation of women in Afghanistan, and a lot of things I would never have known: even though there's a mind-boggling statistic of domestic abuse, setting up battered women's shelters doesn't necessarily help because of strong cultural prejudices towards women living on their own and the automatic assumption that these would be brothels.

There's a lot more on the website, including video interviews with a variety of women, including women in government, a 19-year old police officer, a 14-year old Grade 9 student, and a 15-year old child bride, Sitara. The last one in particular was very striking - she looked very like my friend Zebra, and confessed her hopes and dreams "gone. It's too late for me." Just - I don't know how I would have dealt with being the journalist running the interview and not being able to help someone so obviously miserable and yet with so much potential and who you can still see smiling past the niqab. The differences between their lives and mine - and those of my sisters, who I couldn't help but think of since the ages were so similar - are so striking and heart-breaking.

I was a little annoyed with the way the interviews were run, in truth - a translator with a list of questions skipping ones that didn't apply and continuing with the questions even when there was more to ask, more to know, more to let the women speak. I understand you have to keep yourself emotionally separate, and that obviously it would be difficult or even inappropriate to ask some questions, especially when some of the women interviewed probably wouldn't have had many opportunities being invited or encouraged to share their feelings or stories (I'm thinking mainly of Sitara here; far from a family she says wouldn't listen with no-one to talk to) but I felt that the interviewer missed a lot of opportunities to ask follow-up questions and get deeper into the conversation. Which I guess is what you have to deal with when you work through a translator; but what I wouldn't give for a conversation with one of them.

-Kenya is still in drought, which is getting worse and worse. 24 million people are in urgent need of food and have no basic supplies. Crops won't grow, rivers are drying up, and cattle are dying. Cattle and goats are a MAJOR part of family and community life and subsistence - speaking of my heart breaking.

-I'm still mad at my government. Because they refuse to fix broken legistlation, our last shipment of cheap AIDS drugs is being sent to Africa. And then that's it. That's all. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Loserface just got back from Kenya - yes, I call one of my dearest friends Loserface (mostly to make up for the fact that I can only ever hope to be half as awesome as she is) - where she was doing the exact same trip I was, in the same community. We even had one of the same facilitators. I can't wait to hang out with her and trade stories and pictures, wrapped up in our shukahs and drinking chai (chai tea: one of the best things about Kenya, as far as I'm concerned). Mostly because I want to know how it went, but also because I want to remember how it went for me. I knew the rhythm of Canadian life would be tempting, would be hypnotizing, would be easy to slip into and hard to get out of.

I'm not afraid of feeling out of place. I'm not afraid of struggling with this, with grappling with conflicting hearts and issues and worlds. I'm not afraid of feeling alienated or guilty or helpless. What I am afraid of is how easy it is to forget. Of how easy it is to go grocery shopping, to go driving, to go shopping, and not think about the impact, the resources, the bright zebras. How easy it is to spend the rest of your summer just as you would have the year before: no changes, no new activities, no new drive.

There is no balance between two worlds, because there is no two worlds *~*"TWO WORLDS, ONE FAAAAAAAAAAMILY"*~* - definitely not for me, since I've only dipped my toes in. But there is living in one world with the mentality of the other evaluating your choices and needs and desires. Driving down a paved Canadian road in a car with a satellite radio and a lunch in the back seat thinking about another road entirely, one lined with cactus trees and children who wave at you instead of throwing glares or pinecones.

I can't believe I've forgotten. I can't believe Kenya was so long ago. I can't believe I've gone nearly two months in Canada - part of the reason it's so hard to remember, to think about it everyday, is because it's so different. I'm clean, I'm wearing makeup, I'm greeting people on the telephone and selling them things and going to movies. I'm not swinging a shovel, I'm not sweaty and tired, I'm not playing stella-ella-oh-la in the same clothes I wore yesterday. I'm not having life-affirming, life-changing moments in the evenings with a cup of chai and braided hair. And I'm frustrated with myself, for trying to trivialize the trip instead of taking the important parts and using them as part of myself. And I need to do that more. I can have fun, I can hang out with my friends, I can be frivolous, but what I can't be is forgetful.
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Two KenyaTales today (*~for the price of one~*).

o7: Food - ours and theirs, how the drought is affecting food supplies, and food as it relates to education (jessica_june , your question is in here)

( Pass the ugali... )

09: Best (and Hilarious) Quotes of Kenya, or Awesome People I Have Known

( 'I've had my way with any number of giraffes...' )

This weekend was spent working, stepping in marshmallows, and pouting because my family has gone off to the cottage and left behind for the week with an empty house, no pets, and a stick-shift car with a tank full of gas. I am somewhat pleased (I can practice my lines AT FULL VOLUME in the house! I can drive places! I can buy food I like and then cook it!) and somewhat displeased (I want to be at the cottage! I cannot actually drive this car! I want my mommy to cook for me!). I don't mind it, actually, except that today I really, really wanted to be at the cottage. It's three-and-a-half hours north, there is no electricity, and it's one of my favourite places on earth. I used to go up for two weeks every summer (and read like seventeen books, lol), but now between Working, Other Travelling, and Things, I'm lucky if I get a few days. I doubt I'll even get up there this year, which makes me sadder than I'd like to admit, like I'm compromising some part of myself. On the one hand, I need to buy food next year. But on the other hand, I want to go paddling on the lake with the kind of desire that most people reserve for oxygen and orgasms.

I worked in the G store today, which is down by the wharf. It was the absolute PERFECT kind of summer day: brilliantly sunny but slightly cool, with a wind. There was nothing I wouldn't have given to have a bathing suit with me to go swimming when I was done. I haven't been swimming yet this summer (!! You don't know how crazy this is unless you LIVE IN MUSKOKA, WHAT). Instead, I drove home on backroads with the windows down and loud music (the Little Black Pony, for all it lacks the conveniences of me actually being able to drive it, has an excellent stereo system) and a perfect sunshine and breeze lighting a perfect green world. I love where I live :)

Moments At Work:
-Yesterday someone asked me if I was Australian. I may have been doing an Australian accent at the time. But still. It's like those times I was mistaken for the Irish.
-Some people who had been in went into Marty's (a cafe where my sister works) across the road and my sister saw their bags and asked if they'd seen the Flying Monkey (only the Coolest Toy Ever) and sent them back over so I could show them. She had also given them the extra from their smoothie, so they gave it to me. Awwwwwww, squishy happiness at my sister and random strangers.

Last night I went to a bonfire at Ratanadawong's house and saw Jeremy, who was back for the weekend. I brought with me a girl from El Salvador who is staying with my neighbours - she's my age, so my neighbour phoned to ask what I was doing and could I take her along. It was lots of fun: we watched Jeremy and Rat play Rock Band, played with Rat's little siblings' new puppy, and roasted a TON of marshmallows.

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Today I read another large chunk of Dreams from my Father, and... I... I don't even... It's a beautiful book that, at the same time it's a pleasure to read, isn't, because RACISM AUGH. My education in racism has been woefully small and inadequate and this summer is only the tiniest step towards rectifying that. There are so many things, racism included, that haven't been part of my experience or my life, whether through geography or economics or my own willful (and woeful) ignorance. I keep probing the world, testing the waters, and getting electrical shocks of "this is not what I know," and they keep happening:

Reading about Obama being asked if his father ate people because he's from Kenya, or being asked if someone can rub his hair.

Getting a sickness in Canada that could have killed me in the place I had just left, realising that if I had grown up there those would have been all the years I would have had.

Neda.

I didn't... I never knew privilege. I never knew white privilege, wealth privilege, democratic privilege. Which is in itself a privilege, floating up above and not realising that you were actually sitting on a cloud only to discover it was raining on other people the whole time. It's not luck. It's not anything so flippant and innocent and random. It's not. It's nothing you knew you were complicit in, but it's too much a tangle of blame and fault and carefully structured 'seperateness.' And I'm learning about what I never knew, step by inching step, and getting more horrified and saddened and at a loss with each one. And remembering things, little tiny niggling things that did mean anything at the time but which shock me now to think "why didn't I say anything," or "how could I have shrugged," or worse, "laughed."

This whole thing is far too big for me - far bigger than me, but what I want to do at this point is break down the barrier of "that is other peoples' lives, and this is mine, and one does not touch the other." Because as much as that has been the way it's been, it's not going to be that way anymore. I'm not going to be that person anymore, not now that I know that person exists.

... wow. This entry did not go where I thought it was going to.

------------

( Music meme? )

Just got back from watching Transformers with Ratanadawong, because he was bored - it was okay, I guess, if you like that sort of movie, which I don't. I hadn't seen the first one, and was worried I would be confused.
COLLINE: Can you give me a plot summary or something? I just don't want to be left out.
RATANADAWONG: It's about robots fighting each other.
COLLINE: No, but I mean what happened? Was there intruige? A mission?
RATANADAWONG: There are robots, and they fight each other.
COLLINE (sadly): So there are no metaphors?
RATANADAWONG: I don't understand. It's just robots fighting each other. It's not that hard a concept to grasp.

The robots did indeed fight each other, and I was mainly preoccupied with Shia LeBoeuf (He Of The Many Vowels) and parts of it were very funny (though I have a feeling I am getting to be an Old Matron when I am offended by all the female characters serving the purpose of Boob Rack and nothing else... le sigh. Oh, action movies).

Speaking of technology being too smart for its own good, I put gas in the truck on my own for the very first time today. I'd only done it once before, so I phoned my mom to make sure I was doing it right. I just didn't want to spill gas everywhere or put in diesel or do some other Vehicle Noob thing. Of course, this plan didn't work so well when a little intercom over my head said "Mam'n, you're not supposed to be on your cell phone." THEY'RE WATCHING US, I SWEAR.

Chris found an interesting list:
You know you're an EWB'er when...
1. Fair trade is a major food group
2. Your best work is done after 2am
3. You get paranoid when you receive less than 30 emails in a day
4. Your idea of a study break is to do EWB stuff
5. On average, every seventh word is Change, every sixth word is Learn, every fifth word is Impact, and every fourth word is Awesome!
6 . You open a hotel room drawer at an EWB National Conference and wonder why they didn't supply the Orange Book
7 . Its perfectly normal to have a conversation about diarrhea with an OVS (overseas volunteer)
8 . You think Chapter Capacity Matrices are sexy
9 . You have nightmares you successfully achieved your desired impact, but couldn't measure it
10. Your wardrobe has a disproportionate amount of orange
11 . You know what day of the week it is by what meeting you are currently in
12. When you finish reading this, you question whether doing so positively impacted Dorothy.

And, because it's been a while since I've shared any KenyaTales*, I'm going to tackle a big one: Gender Inequality.

*For the new people: for 3 weeks in May I travelled to Kenya with an organisation called Free the Children to build a school. It was exhausting, exhilarating, amazing, and mind-blowing. I'm sharing my experiences and the things I learned and saw - a list of the posts I've done so far is here. This is my favourite one, and probably the most important.

I learned a lot about poverty while in Kenya, which was one of the main points of going on the trip, after all. I expected to learn that, I epected to see poverty and its effects - what I didn't expect to learn so much about (even though I was warned in advance) was gender inequality. I knew it existed in Kenya, I knew it was prevalent, but I didn't expect to be able to see it as vividly as I did, and I certainly didn't expect it to be as pervasive as it was.

( Gender Inequality and Soccer Games )

Before I get into the KenyaTales section, I have some links to share!
-Christie Blatchford being amazing as always, talking about the Latest Scandal on Parliament Hill (which I realise is not that important or exciting, but she makes that point for me in an awesome and hilarious way). Best quotes: "I was ready to beg for mercy before 9 a.m., but by late afternoon, when I saw my Ottawa colleague Jane Taber, whom I adore and admire, in conversation with CTV's Sandie Rinaldo, both of them quivering with excitement, I wanted to slit my wrists" and "In fairness to me, I didn't know then that Ms. MacDonnell is whatever the opposite of a kleptomaniac is."
-An awesome article about Creative Writing programs at universities - whether they work or don't work, and their importance in the grand literary scheme of things.
-I know he's being mentioned all over the place (even in my sister's paparazzi magazines), but seeing Monsieur Stephano el-Colberti mentioned in the Globe Style Section (of all places - underneath Leah McLaren is sort of an odd and uncomfortable place to be, and I mean that in a purely non-sexual way) made my day.

And finally, because both razmatazkaz and hndrds_n_thsnds asked for a picture of my Alice in Wonderland dress, voila! Forgive my abnormally pale legs. Also to the latter: I am editing your piece and will have it back to you soon.

In KenyaTales: I thought I'd tackle one of the hard ones, finally. It's basically an exercise of Clyde Aster's observation that "when someone tells you something defies description, you can be pretty sure they're going to have a go at it anyway."

( Depressions vs Wonder: Impressions of the World, or How Did It Get Like This, and Am I Mad? )

Even though my presentation at the high school was disappointing (two people showed and I was kicked out of the library by the person who BOOKED me to do the presentation), the day has been full of people doing nice things for me :) Pater stopped by the store to give me a dinner of sushi (!!), and Jeremy, Seahorse and Ratanadawong came into the store to entertain me. I wore my cornflower-blue dress for the first time today and got so many compliments I don't know what to do with them all - it's such an adorable dress, very Alice-in-Wonderland-esque (with puffy sleeves and a blue ribbon!), so of course I am pleased with it.

It's time for another KenyaTales post! Speaking of happiness... so, every week at one of the Social Issues talks, one of the facilitators would ask each of us to share a highlight of the trip. Though there were many different ones, the overall best part of the trip was, for most of us, the kids. The kids were amazing. Just... there are no words.

( No words... well, except for these ones )

First things first: I GOT THE PART!!!!!!!!! I GOT MIRANDA!! *So* excited. Robin phoned me to let me know - warning that it was dependent on Cooper, my Ferdinand, accepting the part as well - and I haven't stopped grinning since. A little disappointed not to be doing it with Lys, but if I'm honest my audition with Cooper was better, and it'll still be amazing. I also realise that it's sort of pathetic that I already have all the lines memorised, but I did for Midsummer as well, so... more time to work on the actual acting, I suppose.

I'm going to go out of order with the KenyaTales, because I don't think I'm quite ready to do #2 yet, that's the one I really need to get right and I need to let it stew around in the grey matter a little more (WHAT an appetizing mental image!). Instead, I present "Free the Children Best Practices, or Respect for the Community."

( YOU get a bright and shiny toy, and YOU get a bright and shiny toy, and YOU get a horrible charity! (How Not To Piss Off The Locals) )

Also I've decided I need another Africa icon. I wanted one with 'I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AAAAFRICA' on it (I have the picture in my mind, I just need to figure out how to work photoshop), but in its absence I am choosing between these, and I need help!
1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7-

Over the past few days I've been keeping track of the story the Globe and Mail is doing on the Toronto Humane Society - an unusually low number of euthanised pets and a very high number of dead pets, a seemingly-tyrannical president, et cetty rah - and this morning I opened the paper to discover that Toronto police had searched the premises in response to four complaints of abuse, and that people have been coming forward with evidence and allegations. I'm still not sure about what exactly is transpiring, but I closed the newspaper and looked at the cover and said aloud to my mom "See? That's what the media should do." After months of swine flu hysteria, CNN's 'Pundit Smackdown' and hours of coverage devoted to Obama's mustard choices when there's so much going on every day (like, uhm, two wars? The Congo?), it was refreshing to see the media (albeit print media, which has always been my favourite and far more investigative and introspective than MSM) find a story, research it, go after it, expose it, and have action result from it. And all without touch screens or half of the paper devoted to it for three weeks on end. YAY MEDIA! My inner Jon Stewart squishes you.

Speaking of squishing, it's mosquito season again in Canada. I went for a run through the woods (part walking the dog, part fitness, and part to look for puffballs for Ann's science project) and GOOD GOD MAGNUM. I inhaled six, they were just EVERYWHERE (wanna know how I know I inhaled six? Because I spat them out one by one). My mother says she would sell this house for a dime in June, and I'm inclined to agree.
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The first of my Jambo Entries, or KenyaTales, or Adventures from the Hinterland: Colline goes to Salabwek or what-have-you: schoolbuilding!

( I never want to see a pickaxe again in my life )

I thought, before my brains explode, that I would make a Comprehensive List of all the things I want to talk about for Kenya. That way I won't leave anything out, I can plan them, and if there's something you want to know that isn't on the list you can ask about it.

oo: Felix the Adorable Maasai Warrior
o1: Schoolbuilding - life at the work site, or how I learned to stop worrying and love my badass arm muscles
o2: Gender Inequality (this is going to be a big one)
o3: Free the Children Best Practices, or Respect for the Community
o4: The kids <3 (also happiness)
o5: Depression vs Wonder - impressions of the world
o6: Poverty and Development
o7: Food - ours and theirs, how the drought is affecting food supplies, and food as it relates to education
o8: Expeditions: the Safari, the Athletic Competition, and Church
o9: Best Quotes from Kenya, or Awesome People I Have Met
1o: Travelling in Kenya - the landscape, the people, the surrounding communities
11: Fun Things: weapons training, lorry rides, soccer games, eskaris, Elaine and Benson's mad love affair
12: Education in Kenya
13: The Final Day: the Talent Show, the Kata Song, the Goat-Killing
14: A Journal Entry On Returning

Ahead: More Lists!

Recent Things I Have Googled:
-dik diks
-Maasai rock-throwing trick
-how fast can an elephant run
-giraffe spit
-giant prehistoric beavers (because Mariya told me they exist and I didn't believe her)
-Zoey 101+Disney? (a Scattergories rivalry gone way too far)
-Harvard+Darfur+China+Larry Summers (because I did not know that Larry Summers was that much of a massive dick)

Here are all the animals we saw on safari - I can put up any pictures you'd like
-ostrich
-cheetahs!
-vultures
-zebras
-wildebeest
-lions!
-water buffalo
-black rhino! (there are only 5 in the whole park, and only about 3500 left in the world, so this is extremely rare and awesome)
-jackals
-hippos
-gazelles
-warthogs
-antelope
-elephants!
-giraffes
-babboons

Things That Changed While I Was Away:
-Ann NOT ONLY got her G2, NOT ONLY got her scuba licence, but also attended what she calls "nerd camp" for Junior Engineers at Queens University and decided she wants to be an engineer instead of a surgeon.
-Yaden also got her scuba licence and is, as I suspected, now taller than I am.
-The weiner-shaped artist formerly known as The Puppy is now once again unbearably cute.

I had lunch with Loserface today, who is gorgeous and awesome as always, to prepare her for her own upcoming Kenya trip in July - she's going to the exact same community! I'm so happy for her, and she's so excited: I told her what to bring, what not to bring, but not too much about the trip, since she's going to have her own experiences. Since I stopped in at the high school to pick her up, I also saw Weenie and Mr O'T; I got to have a nice long chat about the Springsteen concert with the latter: he had FANTASTIC seats, and told me all about how fantastic Bruce is. He also talked about older concerts where Springsteen used to tell stories to lead up to songs, starting out cute and sweet, but working up to intense stories that fit with his songs, since they're so storical and narrative as well: he tells stories. O'T said its where he got a lot of inspiration from, and I can definitely tell, since his teaching style incorporates much the same thing - O'T said he wouldn't be as confident doing it or know about its effects if it hadn't been for Springsteen. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, SHE'S THE OOOONE! (sorry. Couldn't help it.)

A Smattering of Other Thoughts
-Tempest callbacks tonight! Aiee!
-My face is more tanned than I expected. I like it.
-I still love Jon Stewart
-... I miss Kenya <3 :(

The shower was indeed glorious (I can RUN MY FINGERS THROUGH MY HAIR, YOU GUYS. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW PLEASED I AM AT THIS), though I've been sick since Saturday and it's still not letting up. Seahorse and Jeremy came over last night and tried to make me stay up until 1 in the morning to watch the Bourne movies. I nearly died, but curled up on the couch with my cat and my Maasai shukah.

I got back late Sunday night, staying downstairs to tell stories to my waiting parents. I finally stumbled up the stairs with my backpacks (not quite as hard as it was before, since I now have some impressive guns, thanks to three weeks of weilding a pickaxe). My first thought when I entered my room was "...Wow. I have a lot of clothes." I stood there looking at the turquoise walls that looked closer together than I remembered, and running my hands over nice things. It's crazy how much pleasure you get from wearing a nice pair of socks after scrabbling in dirt for three weeks. If nothing else, this trip makes me all the more appreciative of showers and nice things - I'm almost afraid to touch them, and for the past day I've been treating everything here as near-sacred.

I could have stayed there, by the way. I didn't want to leave. If I could have had a few more t-shirts, my iPod, and the chance to phone home every once in a while, I could have stayed quite happily for the rest of the summer. Or... or my life. I loved it. I've always been a person who enjoys things, who enjoys having things, but I'm also a person who can quite easily and happily go without. I had one t-shirt for the entire three weeks, grubby toenails, and no movies or music or newspapers or flush toilets. But I had everything I needed. I've never felt so completely, wonderfully full.

The landscape was gorgeous - we went at the tail end of the rainy season, during their winter. There are two kinds of rain in Kenya: He-Rains and She-Rains. We only had two He-Rains (torrential downpour like you've never seen) - the mess tent flooded and everyone got frogs in their tents. We didn't mind when it rained, because everyone was so grateful for it (Kenya has been in a drought for 3 years), though it made travelling a hassle: the roads, already full of mud and ruts and bumps to begin with, were completely unnavigable after a rainfall. We travelled in a massive lorry, with a smaller Land Cruiser for people who couldn't handle all the bumps and jolts of the lorry. We got stuck on more than one occasion, though Magnus (our driver) was basically the most pro person I've ever met, and would steer through massive piles of mud while chatting away on his cell phone.

I've been wondering how to tell all the Kenya stories, and came to two conclusions: either I make a Kenya flist who is then subjected to all the stories/essays/tales, or I just make an LJ-cutted section on each of my entries for the next few weeks. I wanted to just C&P my journal entries for the past 3 weeks, but I think I'll just summarise. Any suggestions? Also, feel free to ask any questions you have about anything I say or don't say - if there's anything in particular you want to know about the trip, something you want to know more about, or something you don't get, just let me know and I'll either answer you or tell you I don't know the answer but where to get it :) My main reason for going on this trip was to share what I learned, so I'd love to tell you about anything you want to know.

Item the First, though: My New Husband.

His name is Felix.

( Meet Felix )

I'm off to mail more postcards, get my copy of The Demon's Lexicon (that's right: EARLY. This is why my best friend works in the bookstore. Booyah), and continue to apply salve to my aching inbox slash try to get over this sickness without taking massive quantities of Immodium. Much Love,
-Colline

I'm back.

Exhausted and exhilarated and filthy, with one million stories to share and one million new hopes.

I didn't want to leave - the drive back to Nairobi was filled with maize fields and goat herds and a desperate trying to grab and hold as many of them in my heart as I could, and the drive to the airport (at insane-o-clock in the morning) was filled with a cold breeze and deep, desperate lungfuls of African air.

This is my coming-back post. I have more to say (*SO* much more), and pictures to share, and I'm sure tears to cry, but first things first: a shower. O sweet, sweet running water. With that shower I will become the cleanest girl in all of Canada. I'm not actually going to tell you the last time I had a shower - suffice it to say that we took water conservation to the extreme.

So. How've you guys been? What's happening? (Is swine flu over yet?)

Well, I’m in the midst of packing (again – though I’m sober this time, ahuhuhu) and this will likely be the last time I’ll be online before tomorrow, when I leave for Kenya for 3 weeks. I’ll be back My 31st, back online sometime in early June, hopefully full of stories and crazy new worldviews and better construction skills, and hopefully without malaria. XD

You know what else I just realised? IT’S OVER NINE HUNDREEEEEEEEEED! 904 entries, man. That’s a lot. That’s what, 280ish per year? Clearly I talk too much. But, in case anyone has any questions beyond what I’m putting in this entry (either about Kenya or the trip or anything else, ask away and I’ll answer them in June). Either that or Lal can answer them, we’re practically the same person and chances are you wouldn’t notice ;)

What I (and FTC) am doing: I’m going with Free the Children to Salabwek, Kenya (a rural community in the Narok South District, Rift Valley Province, Masai Mara), population ~5000. Our group (just over 20 people with 2 facilitators) is going to help rebuild Salabwek Primary School, which was a dark and overcrowded mud structure, but is going to be a series of one-room schoolhouses for over 900 students. A sanitation system is also underway, since 90% of the households in Salabwek are without access to safe drinking water and children often have to walk for hours to collect water and are unable to attend school as a result. FTC has built a rainwater catchment system at the school site, and is building latrines, hand-washing stations, and holding sanitation workshops. FTC is also training the 17 active women’s groups in Salabwek in financial literacy, business skills, micro-financing, leadership, constitution, and conflict-resolution as part of their alternative income program.

About Kenya and Salabwek: In 2003 the Kenyan government abolished school fees, which prevent the poor from attending schools – some schools still impose uniform fees or other “secret” fees, but bit by bit these are being abolished as well. Salabwek, where I am going, is largely populated by the Kipsigis, a pastoralist tribal group. Regional challenges include gender inequality, drought, female circumcision, child labour, and migration. The average monthly income for a family in Salabwek is $17 USD, most of which is made from selling livestock and farm products and making and selling charcoal.

( My Itinerary! )

Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Spam. Lots and lots of spam. Gifs, news stories, pictures, descriptions of your daily activities, places you want to travel, animals you think I will see (lions and zebras and rhinos, oh my!), crazy happenings on LJ, whatever. I want to come back and be overwhelmed and not have time to go through it all :P Facebook is also spammable, as is email (evilgreenbunny@gmail.com). Or you could, just, idk, go about your lives as normal. That is cool too.

Fun Things: To leave you with a little spam of my own, I present to you a review of the Springsteen concert, which they called a “three-hour blitzkrieg.” Choice quotes:
“…18 000 hungry hearts reacting as if this were the climax, not the introduction.”
“The song is only a few months old, but already Springsteen’s core audience has identified this as a sing-along favourite.”
“Toronto is a lucky town. We got a rocking version of Louie Louie and Springsteen’s mastery of the lyrics (as far as we could tell) suggest this was a staple of his early days.”

PATER: Urgh, it’s almost mosquito season. I ~can’t wait~
COLLINE: Huh, good thing I’m leaving the country just in time to miss mosquito season!
PATER: … Instead, you’re going somewhere where the mosquitoes can kill you.

This is what Jaden said to me last time I took a big trip somewhere because it still makes me happy and fluffy:
“I'm going to say 'Bon Voyage' as opposed to 'Goodbye'. Goodbye sounds like you're hopping on a ship with a newfound pirate boyfriend to set off into the sunset and embark upon the greatest chapter of your life which may or may not include rum and the creation of little swashbuckling Collines. And CUE epic movie end theme music. *laughs*
I'm sure you shall have an adventure (swords and rum are optional). And yes, I do realize you are going to Belgium as opposed to the Tropics but I'm sure the Belgians dream of the high seas. FOR SURE! Lookit, Colline. I'm already slipping into a state of incoherency (or rather more so) without you."

<3

( Why I'm going to Kenya: Solidarity vs Charity )

IN CONCLUSION:

( Travel songs! )

I’ll have you know this entry is five pages long in Word. Okay, shutting up now. Need to go have hallucinogenic dreams on my malaria meds slash try and find a copy of Grapes of Wrath to read on the plane. KEEP COOL, STAY SAFE, PLAY HARD, DANCE(ING) IN THE DARK, FIGHT FIGHT KILL, (PROFIT!), DON’T TAKE ANY WOODEN NICKELS, AND IF THE RUSSIANS TAKE OVER LJ WHILE I’M GONE GIVE THEM MY REGARDS.
-colllinE

Media Stories That Made Me Cry
-This made me lose my faith in humanity and then gain it all again at once. I just... agh. <3
-A great article about the role - and effects - of the press. Christie Blatchford is my journalism girlfriend.
-This (a Korean student suspended after being racially insulted and attacked while his harasser isn't punished) makes me pissed off - not just that it happened, but that still, after days in the news, there's been no change. I also <3 the 400 students at the school who walked out in protest.
-I'm finding the Kenyan Sex Protest fascinating (and not only because I'm going to be there in one week, aieeee).

( Puppy pictures! )

Had a fantastic day hanging out with Mir and A-dubs (and passive-aggressively imposing my anti-McDonalds stance on people, muhahaha), as well as doing nothing but cleaning my room (after a tragic disaster known as Hurricane Suitcase. Donations glady accepted) and listening to great music. Tomorrow it's off to Rellieville to buy the rest of my Kenya supplies (you guys I'm so freaking excited and nervous and ready to go aaahhhhhhhhh two years of planning and paying out my arse is going to pay off and it's going to be incredible) and coming back to go back to work at the Toy Store.

Guess why else I am happy. Guess. Give up? BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SEE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ON THURSDAY. SUCK ON *THAT* (!!!!!!!). Bruuuuuuuuuuuce <3

Also? I get my tax rebate soon. CAN YOU SAY PARTY?


Why yes. Yes we I can.