Back At La Casa

My life outside of Africa Action has been good lately too - except for the fact that one of my roommates, Becca, left on Tuesday to go home. It was really sad to say goodbye to her, but we had a fun four-day weekend together before she left.

The week before last week we got out of the house during the evening twice. I know, I know, we need to settle down. On Sunday we went over to my roommates' friend Lucy's house in Bethesda, Maryland to eat dinner. Her mom made the BEST MEAL. The appetizers alone could have lasted me four days. There was hummus, little wieners in BBQ sauce, spinach dip, and cheese. Then for dinner we had hamburgers, and after there was a massive chocolate cake. It felt good to be in a house and to eat a big meal. We took leftovers home and ate them for days.

However, the best part was not the meal, it was what we did before the meal.

I was introduced to Rock Band. For those of you who have played it, you know what I mean when I say I literally felt like I was a rock star. I played the drums, the guitar, the bass... I didn't sing because I was too nervous, but I may next time.

Then on Tuesday we went to Mamma Mia... it wasn't that great but I loved it because it was so fun. I have been listening to "Honey, Honey" and "Lay All Your Love On Me" on repeat ever since.

Becca stopped work on that Thursday so we had Friday to do something fun. We went to the pool and stayed there for a few hours and then went shopping. I took last Monday off and Becca and I went to the zoo!

I hadn't been to the zoo in a really long time. We saw monkeys, elephants, etc. The monkeys were definitely my fav. There was this crazy monkey lady sitting down by one of the cages talking to a monkey named Lucy. She was showing the monkey all of her makeup and Lucy seemed to really enjoy it. It was cute... but the lady was definitely crazy.

Africa's Worst Dictator and Our Good Friend

Lately at work I've had tasks such as entering media hits into a database, updating issue pages online, fact checking, researching, organizing, and uploading photos.

I have also spent time writing blog posts for our new weblog. You can read my post about the CNN MultiChoice Journalism Awards in Africa here, and my post about the Media Practitioners Bill up for vote in Botswana here.

I also made a big presentation to the staff on oil in Equatorial Guinea, which sits in the western-central part of Africa. We had a two-hour discussion about the issue.


Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country that was colonized by Spain and has been independent for about 50 years. It's currently ruled by President Obiang, who has been called THE worst dictator on the African continent, even compared to Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, who I'm sure you've heard of. The strange thing about Obiang is that you don't hear about him at all, and you hear about Mugabe's regime all the time. Why is that, you ask? Because that tiny little country has a lot of oil - in fact, it's the third largest oil producer in Africa (after Nigeria and Angola). Despite the fact that there is a per capita GDP of more around $50,000 – which is higher than the United States and is as of 2008 the ninth highest in the world - Equatorial Guinea’s people remain some of the poorest in the world. They live in ruins while Obiang and his family live in palaces and wear gold-encrusted watches and Armoni suits. In fact, some of the family members have muli-million homes right here in America.

Not only do these criminals have homes here, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice invited President Obiang to Washington in 2006 and called him a "good friend" of the United States.



While America is condemning Zimbabwe's Mugabe, we are praising a dictator worse than him. Our foreign policy, which is why we are turning away from Equatorial Guinea. I can't wait for the day when we choose lives over energy. Or the day when we won't have to choose at all.

Voices from Sudan

This past Saturday we had our event "Voices from Sudan" at a place called Sankofa Cafe. The interns in the other department have been working on this event all summer, and it turned out so well. The idea was to have people share their thoughts, poems, and music with us who have personal experience and knowledge of Sudan to speak to us.

I showed up at about 1 p.m. to help set up. I put my big muscles to work and put all the chairs outside.

Here is a picture of where the event took place, it was a really pretty area:



All of the Africa Action crew before the event:



Every speaker and every poet blew me away. I don't know if it was because I haven't been to that many poetry readings or because the content was so raw and real and touching.

This is our executive director speaking. I have NEVER IN MY WHOLE TWO MONTHS HERE seen him in anything other than a crisp suit, so imagine my surprise when he shows up in a tie-dye Bob Marley t-shirt. I love him.


We also had hip-hop performers. Their music was also amazing. They were rapping about real stuff - stuff that mattered- and it was so poetic. Whenever I think of hip-hop I think about the gross stuff on the radio, but after seeing this I realize it's much more than that.



We also had posters around the audience that had information about the Darfur crisis, and the crisis all over Sudan. Some of the posters were pictures that children in Darfur drew. When one doctor when over there a few years ago he brought along some paper and crayons and told them to draw what was on their mind. This is one of the pictures that turned out:




Overall the event was a huge success. There were speakers, questions, discussion, and most importantly, delicious Sudanese food. It was a little spicy, but it was oh-so good. Uduak and Atlang spent so much time putting it together and getting people to attend, and they should be really proud of themselves.

Al-Bashir to the ICC!

It's been nine days since my last entry. What a shame, shame, shame.

So my time at Africa Action is slowly and sadly coming to an end. I have three days left, which means I have to do 8,890 things in three days. A lot of great things have happened at work, and there really hasn't been much downtime at the office.

Last week four other staffers and I went out to the Sudanese Embassy on Embassy Row to "celebrate" the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Present Al-Bashir. (See photo above) The President of Sudan has been standing by, and backing, the genocide in Darfur. The arrest warrant was a major step into getting this conflict resolved.

Us (Uduak, Millicent, Atlang, and me) sitting and waiting for the protest to start:


We had fun making our own protests signs. Mine said BASHIR BELONGS BEHIND BARS. Get the alliteration? You like that? Yeah? I know.



I then made a sign that said HONK FOR JUSTICE IN SUDAN! It definitely worked and everyone driving by got really fired up and started honking and there was lots of noise on the street. When the cars stopped at the light the other girls would run up to the window and give them stickers and an invitation to our event, which I'll tell you about later.


There was one incident that involved a protester spitting in a car and the car speeding away... but we won't talk about that. It was mainly a lot of supportive people driving by, understanding that Sudan's president should be sent to the ICC. We stayed out there four about FIVE HOURS, and I sweat all the water in my entire body out of myself so we needed to go back to the office.

Dinah Tibukyaya

To the right is a picture of a little girl. She is 9 years old and lives in Uganda. As of a few days ago, my mom and I are her sponsors, responsible for funding her school fees, school lunch, school uniforms, medical care, and books and supplies.

The other day at work, I got a phone call from a woman named Christine. She told me she had found Africa Action's information online, and that she and her husband were interested in adopting a child, and perhaps their sibling, from sub-Saharan Africa. I told her that unfortunately Africa Action's work does not specialize in African orphans or the adoption process, so I could not provide her with any expert help. However, when we hung up, I started to look around and found a few websites that may have helped her, and then emailed them to her. In the process this search, I found AOET, an organization that aims to help empower the youth of Africa. They specialize in getting children sponsors. After some research I had found their organization was accredited and trusted by many important people in the field.

When I was in third grade, I asked my mom if we could sponsor a child. I begged and begged her to do it. And it wasn't that she didn't want to, but it was a new idea, and it was coming from an 8 year old. It's not something that not a lot of families do, not even really wealthy ones, so why would our family be able to?

A few days ago I asked my mom again. I said we could switch on and off with the monthly payments. I pay the $30 one month, and she pays the next. And she said OK.

After looking through the database I chose Dinah to sponsor. She has been waiting since June 2006 for someone to choose her.

Dinah doesn't have an easy life, as you can imagine. She was born on New Years Day 1999 and lost her father to AIDS a few years later. She is now living with her mother who is HIV+ in a house with six people. Her mom is unable to work, so she is unable to pay for Dinah's school fees, leaving Dinah constantly in and out of the classroom.

After I committed to sponsoring the child, the program director contacted me and told me now Dinah would be able to stay in school full time and have the chance to complete her education. Her and her mother's medical costs will also be covered. She told me that when the program notified Dinah and her mother about us, they both cried and smiled. Now it will be easier for her mother to get the AIDS treatment she needs.

I thought to myself, $30 a month can really do this for someone? I can give up buying a new shirt or drinking my daily soda so a little girl who deserves an education can get one? The money does add up to about $360 a year, which I could definitely use for school, but I see it as an easy sacrifice.

We will be updated with Dinah's school report card every other month. We will also be able to keep in contact with her through letters.

I strongly encourage you to consider sponsoring a child. If you can't afford it on your own, gather 12 friends together and each of you will only pay $30. Or you could do what my mom and I are doing, and find another person to switch off with. Imagine if everyone pitched in a little.

To learn more, click here.

The last day: M&K Day 6

When we came back from New York, DC felt like home. I think any city compared to NYC is going to seem quiet and relaxed, but DC especially. Over the seven weeks I've been here, I've noticed how small and livable this city is. Compared to most places, not a lot of people live in the part of the town that is busy during the day. The "downtown" areas of DC are filled with federal government buildings, which people obviously can't live above. It's definitely a commuter city. People file in around 8 a.m. and the streets are packed until 9 a.m. Everything goes pretty quiet until 5 p.m., when they all file out. Stores close at 10 p.m. everywhere - no matter what. Needless to say (then why say it?) when we arrived at Dupont Circleat at midnight, no one was to be seen except the rows of homeless people sleeping on the streets.

We were exhausted when we got home. Keegan was able to sleep on the bus, but we weren't. I wasn't able to because there were two god-awful girls sitting behind me. Let me paint you a picture. They were each sporting tight, pink Legally Blonde the Musical tee-shirts. They each were chewing at least 3 pieces of gum (this is only tolerable when Becca does it). They looked like they were about 20, but after hearing their conversation (that the rest of the bus heard as well), I was convinced they were 13. Their conversation included how one of them had just canceled their Facebook relationship and their boyfriend was going to FREAK OUT! Isn't that so FUNNY?! All of their friends started to call them to ask if it was true, HAD THEY REALLY BROKEN UP!?!?! God, please don't let that happen. Another part of their "conversation" included them figuring out who they should not invite to their upcoming party. OH THE POOR SOULS WHO WON'T BE ATTENDING THAT ONE. Let me not forget to inform you that their knees were in the back of my chair the entire time. My body was practically shaking from their legs constantly hitting my seat. Also, they were the only people on the bus who had their lights on and who were talking. It's really sad that people can be so caught up in their own LITTLE WORLDS they can't even comprehend the entire bus of strangers strongly dislikes you.

OK- now that I've vented, we can move on.

The next morning I slept in while Molly and Keegan went to the International Spy Museum. When I woke up I met them in Chinatown and we ate a really cheap Chinese lunch.
Us by the Chinatown arch:



We walked across the street to go to the American Art Museum, which holds the National Portrait Gallery. In it, we saw pictures, sculptures and paintings from the Civil War and portraits of nearly every American president. There was also a room dedicated to Abraham Lincoln's inauguration ball. It told of the gowns women wore, the food they all ate, and even gave simple directions for the Waltz.



We were in there for a long time so when we got back to my apartment is was already about 5 p.m. We spent the rest of the night uploading pictures (ok- Molly didn't, I did) and relaxing. Molly walked pretty far to get some crepes, which were well worth the trek.

The next morning they left in a cab for the airport and I went to work. Thanks for visiting guys, and I miss you!

NY Is Wicked Fab: M&K Day 4/5

Q: What are you suppose to do be doing at 5:45 a.m. on a day off?
A: Sleeping.
Q: What were we doing at 5:45 on Friday (my day off)?
A:Not sleeping.
See a problem?

We arrived at the bus station to go to NYC around 7 a.m. We had to take a very interesting bus because the normal one I took two weeks ago was sold out. The Chinese people who ran the bus took their jobs very seriously and no one DARE mess with them. We were standing in line for the bus, and we wanted to make sure we were on the right one, so we asked the woman who looked in charge a question. She looked us with a puzzled expression, muttered something we couldn't understand, and shooed us with her hand. Normally I'd get all flustered and red and start threatening to leave the place, but I wasn't offended at all. She was hilarious, and in one way I respected her. She knew what she needed to do and she wasn't going to let some stupid blonde chick get in her way. Sometimes I wish I could do that. If someone bothers me when I'm on a mission I just want to spat mumbles at them and shoo them away. The truth is, I probably just felt this way about her because I was delusional from lack of proper sleep. Like I am now, hence why I just told that story in such detail for no reason.

We hurried to the back of the bus (but it was hard because our feet stuck to the ground) to get the only row of three seats. We decided we'd like to sit by each other SO MUCH we would handle smelling urine coming from the bathroom right next to us. Good idea. It was OK though because the two people in front of us were sneaky little devils (whom I loved) and made an "Out of Order" sign to put on the bathroom door. Every time someone came back and saw the sign, they had a look of annoyance/disappointment. We all smiled and looked at each other. The things strangers bond over.

The bus dropped us off at Madison Square Garden around noon. Even though I was just in New York two weeks before, I was still memorized by it. We ate at a restaurant and went to drop our bags off. After finding the subway station, we attempted to go Times Square. Keegan became our navigator. I felt like while he had a good picture of where where we were, I had no idea.



Times Square was just the beautiful consumer-driven place I remember it as. It is truly hilarious to me. All the tourists from other countries decide to come to NYC and Times Square to see America. It worries me a great deal they think that those flashy streets represent us all. I do love it though, but I can't handle it for more than 30 minutes at a time.



We went to Toys R Us. There was a ferris wheel inside. That's all I have to say about that.

Then we went to an Italian restaurant. It was so good. I want it now. After stuffing our faces we walked over to go to Wicked! Probably one of my top three favorite parts of Molly and Keegan's visit.

The show was amazing - and also the complete opposite of Rent, which we saw during our last visit. I can't choose a favorite between Rent and Wicked because they are incomparable. Rent was emotional and deep and the theater had character. Rent was theatrical, entertaining and easily understandable. I'll never think of the Wizard of Oz the same way. When I was little I was Dorothy for Halloween and had a stuffed animal named Toto. I was DEATHLY afraid the Wicked Witch of the West. But according to Wicked, she was really good and not wicked at all. It comforted the two-year old part of me.

We slept very well that night and woke up, for the first time, at a reasonable hour. We went out for brunch and then walked to Battery Park. Instead of waiting in an hour-long line to get on a ferry that would let us get off at the Statue of Liberty, we opted for the "Water Taxi" instead. We didn't get to get off at the island, but we only waited a few minutes to board, and seeing her up close from the water was good enough for me.



The ride was a bit rocky - ok there were some points we were all going overboard - but it was fun. Plus, we learned to adapt. I tied my dress up to avoid flashing the entire boat, and Keegan kindly suggested us his wise advice to "literally push yourself up against the wall."


After that little adventure we went to Canal Street in order to get some cheap fake stuff! Our favorite. We enjoyed exposing little Keegan to fraud as people whispered to us on the streets "Coach, Chanel, you want?" and then they would take us to a hidden room in their store and show us the massive selection of fake handbags. I bought a purse for a bargained price of $25. It's a little black Coach purse that I love. Now everyone knows my secret that it's fake! Oh my.

We got so caught up in our shopping spree we forgot about the time and became very worried we were going to miss our 7 p.m. bus. Keegan took matters into his own hands and encouraged us to run until we reached the apartment. "C'mon guys! Keep running! We can't stop!"

We made it. And this time, we were on a bus that did not smell of urine or have spilled pop on the ground :)

American History 101: M&K Day 3

On Friday we woke up early to get to the Capitol tour I had scheduled awhile ago. We finally found our way to a North Carolina senator's office to meet an intern who gave us about a 45 minute tour.
Us waiting in the office:


Keegan standing by the senators' subway system that literally takes you on a 12 second ride from the Senate buildings to the capitol. I really wanted to see Hillary on it. But that did not happen.


Our tour guide said she LOVED working on the hill and that I should consider it. Perhaps I will. She walked us through several rooms of the Capitol and explained the history of the architecture and artwork.
Each section of the wall and ceiling is hand painted and none are exactly alike:

There was one room where all of the senators used to have their desks. They all worked out of the same room. From John Adams' desk, you could hear people whispering on the other side of the room very clearly. There's a myth that John Adams would pretend to sleep while listening to conversations on the other side of the room. Nearly every intern who came through the hall repeated the story as fact.

We also walked to look at the Old Supreme Court -it's so little!


Here's the inside of the dome:


We walked through a few rooms and then went back to the office. Our intern gave us passes to the Senate Gallery for that afternoon and we left.

We got on the hop-on hop-off bus at Union Station and took it to the National Museum of Natural History (say that 5 times fast). We didn't stay long in the museum (I had already been there and we were hungry) but we saw the dinosaurs and the "hope diamond."
The biggest dinosaur in the place:


The Hope Diamond - famous for its rare color and flawlessness.


We then went back to my place to rest for a bit until it was time to leave for the Senate Gallery.
Getting into the gallery was a very long process. We probably went through four security checkpoints. We had to get rid of all of our water and food, have our bags searched twice, go through medal detectors three times, and hand over all of our electronics. When we walked into the gallery, which sits above the Senate floor, it was it was verrryyy cool. It's the room you see on CSPAN constantly. We could see the seats for all the senators, including McCain, Clinton, and Obama. Of course, none of them were there. Because it was a Friday, it was optional for the senators to be there, and only two of them were. They were the two that had co-sponsored the bills they were discussing. As we sat there I heard them start to talk about the AIDS bill (PEPFAR) that I rallied for a couple of weeks ago.



I got really excited! It was such a coincidence that the one bill I had been closely following, and actually lobbied for, was being discussed on the Senate floor before me. One democrat and one republican made a presentation on the bill, and it got kind of intense. One urged that it should have been passed a long time ago. And it should have. Luckily, just yesterday the bill was passed, making it the most ambitious global health bill America has ever had. It will save thousands of lives - very impressive and exciting!

After the Senate gallery we went to the Library of Congress and saw the exhibit called "Creating America." This room held the rough draft of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. It was pretty amazing to see those documents marked up like a rough draft of a school paper. It just seems like those documents always existed, or that someone just magically had them done. I never thought about the process of writing those words that made America. They rewrote, crossed out, added, and rewrote again. The words of those documents are genius, so I guess it makes sense they were worked on so much. The room also had the manuscript of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have A Dream" Speech.

We then went to Jessi's apartment to let Keegan go swimming. It was funny for Jessi and Molly to see each other because Molly used to babysit her when she was 8. They hadn't seen each other for a decade! After swimming we went back to the apartment to go to bed. But not for long AGAIN.

Home Sweet Home: M&K Day Two

Thursday we found our home. Nay, not Iowa City. Our very own (and thousands of other people's) Hop-on Hop-Off Double Decker bus. Every time we sat down on the top of the bus we instantly became happy. I don't know why. One theory: it was the only thing familiar to us. Most everything we saw was new, but that bus was always the same!


We called it our home and we sat back, listening to the recording tell us "This is a safety message, you are 14 feet in the air, please be careful of low hanging wires or branches." Good thing we listened. Apparently over the weekend two people died on the very same bus tour we took from hitting a steel rod. Isn't that awful? Now they are rethinking the rules of our home.

Getting to the bus was trickier than we imagined. On the website it said MUST HAVE E-TICKET OR WILL BE CHARGED AGAIN, and because I don't have a printer, we had to figure out a way to get our three tickets in hand. Ivory Tower doesn't have a printer, not even in the computer lab, so we walked to Kinkos a few blocks away. An hour, 7 dollars, and two very annoyed sisters later, we got the tickets at got to the bus, which made us happy.

See: me being happy




The tickets lasted us two days and we could, like the name suggests, hop on and hop off at various destinations that we wanted to see. We caught the bus at Union Station, and it took us around the Capitol and The Mall. We got off at the White House stop and went to say hello to Mr. President.
Here we are in front of the White House:



After the White House we decided to go check out the National Aquarium. This required walking 107 blocks (note: exaggeration) and realizing that there was an entrance fee, so we passed on that and walked 107 blocks back to get on the bus. We then finished the two-hour bus tour and saw all the great sites of DC that you want to see, but you don't necessarily want to spend an hour walking to just to say you had. Here are some of the places we saw:

The National Cathedral - the church that has hosted the funerals of presidents and Martin Luther King Jr. It is open to the public every Sunday. I should probably go.


The place where Abe Lincoln died: He was shot at Ford's Theater and then taken to a house across the street.



The Mayflower Hotel: The largest luxury hotel in DC. It has been in the news several times for scandal. Eliot Spitzer allegedly met with a prostitute in this hotel, and it is also the place where House/Senate officials interviewed Monica Lewinski during the impeachment process for Clinton.


We got off at the stop at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. I didn't really know what to expect from the cemetery, but I knew it was important that we went. The rows, and rows, and rows of marble-white tombstones in straight lines is really powerful. Each tombstone was numbered and some dated back more than 100 years.

The site hosts the statue of Iwo Jima as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We walked to the one thing we wanted to see most: JFK and Jacki Kennedy's graves.


I have studied John Kennedy and his speeches, which has made him one of my favorite presidents, so seeing the graves was really important to me. When I was there, I thought about Mom and all of the people that had to deal with his assassination, and how hard that would be.

After that stop we went back home to relax for awhile. We made dinner and Keegan went into the computer lab to Google dinosaurs, spy tools, and toys. Sometimes I wonder how that generation will end up.

Later that night we walked to the Lincoln memorial, which is on 23rd st... and so is my dorm! I told Molly this was the one memorial she HAD to see. We were walking there as the sun went down, which made it much more pleasurable without the sun ramming down on us.


I went to the Lincoln Memorial with my roommates the first night they got into town, and realized then how massive Lincoln's statue is. He's haunting and comforting, and you can tell he is watching over the city and what the politicians are doing in it.




We then went to the Vietnam Memorial. The memorial is a long wall with the names of all the soldiers who died engraved into it. From a distance I was kind of disappointed with the memorial - I thought it was too small and insignificant compared to others. But when we started walking along the thousands of names, I realized the memorial was very effective. I think they chose the best way to get the point across that all of these young people died for a cause that wasn't supported by the country.



People left flags, notes, and pictures by the wall. One note was written by a child that said "Thank you for serving our country." Other notes were folded and private. The memorial had more of an effect on us because it was the most recent.



And then we slept. But not for long.

A Memorial and a Square Bed: M&K Day One

First of all, let me tell you, I have a lot to tell you. I haven't updated for SEVEN DAYS and a lot happened during that time. If you read my blog and my sister's, BEWARE: they will probably be exactly the same. Except I may say she was annoying and she will say I was annoying. I'm right.

JUST KIDDING. I miss her already!

After too many hours of sitting at my desk accomplishing nothing, I left work early on Wednesday to meet Molly and Keegan at my dorm. At around 4 p.m. they got out of a cab and came up to my room. We hung out there for awhile and made dinner. Later on I felt they should see some of the city that night so we walked from my dorm to the WWII Memorial. The only time I had been to this site is the first night my roommates got in town.




The memorial was really pretty during the evening and it was fun to take pictures in front of the Iowa engraving. We could also see the Capitol building in the distance, as well as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It was good to get a glimpse of the most important buildings in the city. When we were there I felt really bad that I never make it out there. My routine gets so routine: wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed. I almost forget all those beautiful buildings are down the road.

Keegan at this point was not used to walking long distances. The walk from the WWII Memorial to my dorm is about 10 blocks (or 20 minutes) and he was VERY UNHAPPY. He was thirsty, tired, hungry, his feet hurt, and repeat. When we got home we had to figure out the bedding situation. Molly brought a king-size air mattress that everyone in Ivory Tower could have slept on so we attempted to find a place for it. The first night we ended up putting my roommate Liz's bed into Becca and Abbie's room. Molly and I shared my bed and Keegan slept on four couch cushions we pushed together to form a lovely little square bed.

I Need Binoculars

Hi friends. I'm updating now because I probably won't for the next few days when Molly and Keegan are here - but DO NOT FRET, you will hear all about it when they leave.

This week has been really lame so far. I basically have slept, gone to work, and... well, that's all. And at work I haven't been doing much. We launched our blog though. Go to Africa Action's website and click on the button to get to the blog, yes, the button I made. I think it looks slightly ridiculous. Those colors just don't go with the rest of the website - but those are the ones that were suggested to me. OH WELL, it just sticks out for attention like it should! Right! Yeah! My first post about media and democracy in Africa should be up soon. For my next post I am profiling a news organization that helps distribute African news to Western media. While I'm interviewing them I'll slip in the whispered *PS GIMME A JOB*

Molly and Keegan are currently on a flight here! I can't wait! Tonight I think we are going to take it easy, cook dinner, walk around, figure out our schedule for the next few days because starting tomorrow it will be a HECTIC SCRAMBLING AROUND THE CITY LIKE TOURISTS PARTY. The whole summer I've felt really good about feeling like a local and not a tourist, seeing as I live and work here. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching people walk around with flag t-shirts covering their potbellies and binoculars attached to their eyes. I don't get the binocular part... just look at what you want to see regularly. It doesn't look any cooler a little closer - and if you want to see it closer... then WALK. Ok I'm sorry. But I'm excited to be a tourist for a few days and see monuments and museums. I've seen a few things but I need to see way more. I have a tour of the Capitol scheduled for us Friday morning and I want to go to the top of the Washington Monument.

No pictures or anything exciting in this post. But deal with it. Love.
C

232 Years Later

As I walked down the street that runs along the Capitol building to better see the fireworks shooting off behind the Washington Monument, I felt oddly patriotic. I mean, not just like "I like America! Whoo!," but like "THIS IS THE GREATEST NATION THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN!!" patriotic. I didn't quite like it, but I got a glimpse into the mind of all the politicians who won't stop telling God to bless America and such. Though it may have flaws, lots of flaws, millions of flaws, it is a good place to be. Becca and I felt stupid because we weren't sure what exactly happened on July 4 many years ago that made it officially our Independence Day. Was the last battle won? Did Great Britain declare our independence? No - we officially signed the Declaration of Independence... duh. Whoops.

On Thursday I got out of work at 3 p.m. surprisingly because the office was closing early. On Thursday, RAWbecca's friend Garfield (her name is Jennifer but she looks like Garfield :)) arrived in the district to visit for the fourth of July weekend. We made dinner and went out later. On Friday the FOURTH we got up earlyish and walked into Georgetown to get brunch. However, there is no brunch on Fridays, so we got lunch. I got an amazing meal that I'm still thinking about for some reason. Probably because it's lunchtime. Then Becca and I went swimming for an hour, but then it started to rain like it always does for us, so we left. Later that night we went to their friend's party on the Hill. Then it rained again. It was a family gathering where her brother had just proposed to his girlfriend. Then we went to a restaurant and while we were sitting there I looked up and saw fireworks going off behind the Washington Monument on CNN, so I was like... whoops they started. So we ran down the block and watched them.

On Saturday we went to Eastern Market, which is a combination of a calm street fair and a farmers market. Liz bought some cherry tomatoes, peaches, and dried apples and Becca bought some corn. I bought $5 earrings. They are perty. Later on Becca and I went back to the pool for an hour.
This is where they used to auction off slaves when they came to America.


That night we went to a comedy show - We were expecting the show to be a little like Second City in Chicago but it wasn't like that at all. First of all, the set-up was different. Second City always had a kind of grudgy charm, but this place was spotless and like all things DC, hoity toity :). It was full of 20 and 30 somethings in nice clothes, sitting up too straight. I think we were the youngest ones there. Anyway, it was really good improv. There were three stand up acts. Two openers and one feature. The feature act was Brett Leake, who has been on "The Tonight Show" and PBS's "Laughing Matters with Brett Leake." During his act, I cried from laughing to hard and because he was the one of the most inspiring people I've ever seen speak. He has muscular dystrophy and has suffered from the disease his whole life, and so has his father. In 1991, he became the first disabled comic to appear on NBC's The Tonight Show about which Jay Leno said, "He broke up the whole room. People realized here's a man with a disability and he's not gonna' let it bother him." He came onto the stage in this huge wheelchair device. It also pushed him into a standing position, where he was able to speak into the microphone. His humor came from addressing some of the silliest problems in our society. He mixed motivational stories into comedy, and his basic message was that everything should be fun and laughed about. He has this disease, where every day he gets weaker and weaker, and he chooses to be happy.

One of my favorite quotes from him was "It's impossible to act your age, you have no experience at it!" and he also made fun of sayings like "Needless to say" (then why are you saying it) and I'm speechless. When he was younger he was able to walk, but his joints would come out of place every time he stepped. He told a story about a little boy who came up to him and said something adults were trained not to say. He goes, "Mister, why does your leg snap in and out like that when you walk?" And he replied,"Because I'm a transformer."He said his friends were worried that as the disease continued, he would lose his fire and his humor. He said he needs humor in his life to get through it.

He also talked about his father. He lives with his dad in Virginia and takes care of him. One day his father was sitting in his wheelchair, tilted back, looking at the sky. He went went over to him and asked him, "Dad, do you think this is all worth it?" And his Dad replied by saying how he just watched a cloud pass by and he had never seen one like it. And that he could hear a mother bird cheeping to her babies. And he enjoyed that. Then his dad asked, "Son, are you alright?" and he said yes so his father said, "Then a life doesn't get better than this." I was trying not to cry so much and then he said "Needless to say, I was speechless" And then I laughed. He did that a lot.

It made me realize that this man can't even walk, he is literally getting physically weaker every day, and I probably complain more than he does. He truly amazed me, and I'm really glad we went.

On Sunday Liz's mom came into town for the day and took us out to breakfast in the morning. It was delish. Later on Becca and I attempted to go to the zoo, but the second we stepped off the train it started to rain. We thought we could handle it, but then it was downpouring and so we rain into a CVS. We had traveled all the way out there, so we decided to see Hancock at the movie theater across the street. We were soaked the whole time but it was fun anyway!

I only have four weekends left here. Molly and Keegan are coming Wednesday and I'm so excited!

Bush Asks for Help In Sending Aid To Africa

This New York Times article explains how the Global AIDS Bill that I was protesting for last week didn't pass Congress in time for the G8 Summit in Japan because three senators blocked the bill due to "increased budget expenses." Now that America hasn't passed the AIDS bill yet (it is still expected to pass once Congress comes back from fourth of July recess) it is more likely that the 8 other countries who promised to double their funding for AIDS won't live up to that promise at the summit. If the U.S. would have passed it sooner, AIDS could have see way more funding from other nations. Instead the typical politics got in the way. George Bush has actually been a huge advocate for this bill and AIDS funding in general. It is one aspect of his foreign policy that he has done well, though of course, it could still be better (aka: he needs to get rid of the abstinence-only education).

E-mail your legislators now and tell them you need them to fight hard for this bill to pass FAST and for them to push for more comprehensive sex education funding. Find your senators here.

I Aint Freakin, I Aint Fakin This

I'm listening to the greatest song the world has ever known right now. My roommates introduced me to to it and it's hellazzz good. It's by the Ting Tings and was on the iPod commercial- it empowers me and makes me want to dance! The official video wouldn't embed into this, so here is a creepy one someone made - just listen to the song and don't look at the weird pictures:



I've actually gotten a lot of stuff done this week. At work, I've been busy and time hasn't been going quite as slow. I just got done designing a 'button' for our webpage that will allow all you good people to click on it and get to our new blog, which we will launch today! I am going to have a weekly post called "Covering the Continent," and I'll be writing about the media in Africa. Here is a clip from my first post...subject to change.

"Over the summer, I will look at how governments and media in different African nations interact with each other and how that relationship could improve. I will evaluate how the media coverage, or lack of media coverage, affects the 'ordinary' people in Africa. I will also analyze how the international media covers the continent by assessing if current African issues are being covered properly, as well as suggest ways Western reporters could do better."

So I'm excited about that. Other important things that happened this week:

- I changed my flight so that I'm coming home early Aug. 9 instead of Aug. 16 because that's when I get kicked out of my room.
- The first alarm has gone off three times in two days in my dorm. The voice of the alarm haunts me in my sleep. "May I have your attention please, May I have your attention please, a fire emergency has been reported in the building. PLEASE!!!"
- I ordered a new camera.
- My roommates and I had the best pillow fight ever. Here are some pictures/video is coming soon. The last picture shows the destruction we made. It really helped get our anger/stress out. Even though I'm not angry or stressed. Cool.