Oregon Country Fair

Who is going to OCF? It is an amazing weekend in Veneta, OR (Just outside Eugene...) Here are a few videos I took last year:








Hope all is well for everyone! (and hope to see you soon!)

Moose, beluga and Elvis spotted

Hello all!

I'm back up in Alaska, relaxing at my friend Kendra's house with her wonderful family for one final day before work begins. It's day three and I've already seen a moose in mid-town Anchorage, belugas fishing alongside Turnagain Arm, and Elvis strutting his stuff downtown last night. I had a wonderful week visiting friends at Willamette and tying up loose ends there: all of my boxes (and skis) have been sorted through, I said my goodbyes and even got a wave and smile from President Pelton himself. I figure that's as good a sign as any to move on to the next chapter.

Although my goodbye to Willamette was awfully bittersweet when it came right down to it, my spirits rose immensely once I arrived at my gate for my flight. I noticed the crowd around me was quite different from the left-coasters I'd been seeing all week. Here I found many of my fellow travelers to be wearing Xtra-tuffs, Carhartts, cammo backpacks and the like. Aah, Alaska. I couldn't help but grin. I half-expected to see a moose rack in the overhead bin.

As I look forward to this upcoming season and start to consider once again my options for the fall, one thing that has really stuck with me from my recent travels is the value of close friends. I really enjoyed being around my family all fall, and getting to hang out with college friends after nearly a year's absence felt so nice after being in unfamiliar territory for two months. I find myself craving the familiar much more than I expected: the travel bug apparently has petered out for now, at least. I've been looking a bit at schools in Maine where I could do something a little more science-y, perhaps marine biology, as well as still considering the baking and pastry program in Vermont. But most of all I hope I end up not too far from my family and at least a couple of good friends. We'll see where that takes me.

hey all,

  so currently i am in Mexico, el D.F. to be exact, staying in a small colonia by the name of Santo Domingo. 38 years ago the land that im on right now was little more than bare volcanic rock but it was "invaded literally overnight by thousands of people and settled against the will of the government. Over the course of two years the people made roads established their buildings, and finally got recognition by the government as an establishment for land owning. Now the place is super lively all hours of the day, there are three tortillarillas around the corner from my house so i can constantly smell the odor of hot corn pancakes wafting to the air. Some of you might know what im talking about though, Dana, Katy, i believe you know a couple of my friends, Mojdeh and Gustavo Esteva? I heards that they help out the SIT programs as well and that our programs are actually pretty similar in Mexico. Gustavo is our coordinator and teaches two sections in our academics, and Mojdeh pretty much runs the show, her hair is blue now, what color was her hair when you all were here?

   New Zealand was amazing and i know that the justice to be done in explaining my time there will not take place over the internet, but some highlights have to be mentioned. The coordinator of the program was an environmental lawyer named Peter Horsley.  a wacky enthusiastic and read down to earth guy. One of the benefits of New Zealand being such a small country, it literally has more sheep than people, is that a well connected man like Peter knew everyone. We had guest lectures from some amazing activists, political figures including spending an entire day in the green party's office, and corporate CEO's. But not only were we exposed to the contemporary Pakeha culture (pakeha culture being the Mauri word for other, most commonly associated with european but not exclusive of other pacific islanders) we spent time living on a muri a Mouri village and traditional homestead. We took part in rituals, ceremonies, conversations, visited sacred sites, climbed mountains swam in lakes. Our Anthropologist professor was named Jessica, a Mauri woman, took us painstakingly through the hardships and battles fought for Mauri rights and above all, the battle for Mauri female voices. We learned all about the flaws and injustices within the field of anthropology, who it privileges, whose voice it represents, through a very personalized perspective. New Zealand shocked me in ways that have never before rattled me. It was an experience that loosened the dirt around my roots a little more, stunned me with its natural beauty, and brought tears to my eyes.   

more to come from mexico soon

trobb

Sup Sup Revival

Keep the Sup Sup Spirit alive! I know a lot of you Bearcatz are back in WU-town now, but I still want to know what is happening in your lives! Please post!

I just moved into a wonderful, warm, happy co-op where I make art and cook and wear costumes and deconstruct social constructs with seventeen passionate and beautiful women (12 of whom happen to be Jewish). There are six women and gender studies majors in the house, which is very different from the 80-some person dorm I lived in last semester where I was the sole SWG major. What a life! So much spontaneous music making and political conversation and tea and coffee and freshly baked bread and granola! And beer! And maybe a little too much rice and beans. And pictures of naked women drawn with chalk on the walls.

Just to give you an idea of the incredible energy that is Hopkins House, I will tell you a short anecdote. Last semester, I brought my friend from Jordan House (where I lived at the time) to meet my friends at Hopkins. She had been pretty stressed with homework and, you know, her general existence and whatnot, so she wasn't planning on staying for long. We wound up having a really great conversation with the people there about grassroots activism and local issues, and she wound up staying for quite some time. When I saw her later that night and asked how she liked Hopkins, she said, "Sarah, I came home and I wrote a poem."

Hopkins is such a welcoming, energized, creative space, and I really hope that I can share it with some of you one day. It really reminds me so much of all of you and all of the happygoofybrilliantmagical times that we've shared.

Perklunk!

Sars

P.S. I just noticed Dana's new middle name. Danes, I dig how you are really embracing B.I.E. and incorporating it into your identity.

Oh to be back at Willamette

Well, I never wrote much abroad, I think Dana's reflections about Oaxaca were similar to my own thoughts.  It is weird being back here, now, after having spent so much time in another, very different place.  Mexico seems like a dream now, if it were not for the photos and talking with friends I probably could convince myself that it was indeed a dream.  And so what, if it was a dream does it make a difference?  I have changed, regardless of the past, my current perspective on life has been altered.  Willamette does not feel the same to me.  There are so many unfamiliar places.  I feel as though I have to start over in a place that I thought I knew, a place that use to be familiar.   I guess I am okay with that, life continues, always new and always interesting.  I am glad to see faces that I have not seen in awhile, to be in the company of people that know me; but, it is still strange.  I have never felt so free to create, to encounter new people, to live! and yet so displaced and alone.  Luckily there are some cool cats hanging around.  Enough of this reflective nonsense.  Let us keep on!  I enjoy hearing about the many people who are still abroad and learning so much.

viva! 

supdate

friends,
soo, wehere in the world is timm robb? who? who knew? i am here,
Aotorea, now they call it New Zealand, it is an island and island life has
swept this awesome place. I just arrived not two days ago, i haven’t
slept in about four so this may be a ramble, however, it is my best and i
feel as though i have not ramble adequately enough for this blog and for
all of you whom i love, so as they say, ramble on...
I spent the past two months in India, an amazing place that is so
different in all of its locations, cities, beach towns, rural areas,
forests, forests within cities, cities within forests that generalizations
are unbearable. I started in New Delhi the capitol city. Upon arriving
such sites as this city had to offer where so far from any that i had seen
before. I walked through the streets, through religious ceremonies, to
street food carts, through thick auto traffic crowding streets, through
thick cattle herding through the streets. Everything: cows aplenty adorned
with painted hooves and horns for beautification, camels spitting wildly
like tobacco chewing grandfathers, elephants carrying unfathomable loads
on their backs. Walking down the street one sees enough to contemplate for
the eternity of one’s life. Once a boy no more than three ran in front of
me, pulled down his trousers and released a bowl onto the sidewalk before
my footsteps. Transportation is dominated by the auto rick-Shaw: three
wheeled, one to  nine passenger carts that crews through the expansive
streets of the city. they are cheap, you can take them (and i did, daily)
from one end of the city to the other for less than two dollars. The
cities air pollution is nearly unbearable turning your throats soar and
your boogers black. The smog choked air is most emblematic at sunrise and
sunset when you can stare at the sun with your naked eye, gloat at its
perfect shape and glamour through the thickness of smog that protects your
eyes from its overbearing intensity.
Delhi is also a collection of all the separate cultures that exist in
plurality throughout the country. It is unspeakable the variety of culture
and people that exist here, but Delhi seems to combined all of these into
a rhythmic blend of beautiful images, colors and smells. Every truck that
passes on the street is adorned with beautiful flowers, paintings, and
depictions of gods. Everything on the street are colored fantastically,
pulling your eyes attention in all directions at once. It was a city that
made me feel at home in a vast sea of differences. i could not have been
farther from my home, but something in the autonomy that exists in the
stare of the people, made me feel seen, not as an American, or westerner,
but as if they were acknowledging the budda within me, as they say,
Namaste.
Our crew of 25 traveled outside of Delhi, visiting the Taj Mahaul, and
then settling in a rural community to study and learn the complexities of
the cotton industry in India. We stayed at a Gandhian ashram, studied his
philosophies as we practiced his communalism. Later I traveled to
Dharmsala in the north part of the country. I spent ten days alone, fairly
isolated in a town settled in the foothills of the Himalayas. I hiked,
read, and wrote alone in a cabin, basking in my loneliness. I met and
befriended a Tibetan monk who took me to the top of a mountain. WE became
friends in a way i have never know friendship to exist before. we swapped
broken english sentences in exchange for companionship. After this point
our crew re-met in Mumbai for a few days before spending the rest of the
time on a small farm north of the city. The farm bordered a river within
which i swam everyday in the mid afternoon heat.
The attacks on Mumbai were hyped by the media to the fullest existent as
im sure they were in the states as well. People here were very effected by
the attacks and it has lead to. among other things, civil organizations
demanding accountability of their government. This is leading to very
intense conversations between India and Pakistan in attempts to reconcile
the violence. Although there is a lot of pressure on the Indian government
now from its people, there is little to be accomplished between these
talks and people are feeling the frustration of a tense and unsettled
dilemma. I know very little about this like many people, and are unable to
fathom the outcome of these increased tensions.
What to say in reflection of my time here... most of my academics were
spent studying under a well known activist by the name of Smitu Kathari.
He comes from a family of educators and activists and versed us students
well in the diversity of social movements that are in existence in
contemporary India. Certainly a fascinating perspective to learn from, one
that i respect very much and will miss in my months to come here on out.
We spent a majority of the time discussing the framework of social
movements, its skeleton, its fuel and its obstacles. India is a very
unique place. For example, the little i knew of India before coming was
that it was a "developing" country. I now have a clearer definition of
what this means specifically to the political borders of the landmass. it
is not always pretty, in fact, hardly ever, but in its wake exists a
plethora of mobilization and activism that cannot be described as anything
but awe-inspiring. What i love about this, is that even in the face of the
unspeakable, people speak. In the shadow of one powerful persons dream,
are the torches of those who have dreams that differ from the main stream.
It is the gentle steady hum of the individuals collectively harmonizing in
a common "no" making way for the many "yeses".
sorry to have colonized our blog wall, it happens seldom that i thought
its appropriate. i will try to be more frequent and less verbose in the
blogs to come. With enduring gratitude and love in my heart, salaam
aleikum
timm

Inauguration on the Mall

This past weekend, I drove down to DC with my brother and a friend to go see Inauguration and the events leading up to it. The trip started in typical Julia fashion with a last-minute change in plans when we learned that there would be a concert on Sunday... so we jumped in the car a few hours later, driving down through the night and taking turns sleeping. We barely snuck out of New England before a snowstorm tore through, dumping 18 inches of fresh powder on top of the piles of snow already here.

We checked in with the family friend we were staying with and hopped on the bus from her house, chatting with a Georgetown student as we journeyed into the city (We bumped into him again on our way home, actually. It was amazing how many faces we saw multiple times amidst the crowds). The masses were gathering quickly on the mall and we found ourselves nearly a mile from the Lincoln memorial and stage, in front of a massive screen behind the reflecting pool. The crowd was electric. Not only was a historic moment on the brink of becoming reality; an all-star cast of American icons was present to welcome and celebrate it. The camaraderie in the crowd was beautiful as often surprising speakers and unexpected performers showed up, one after another, to offer their services to the celebration of our country and its hopeful new direction.

The next day we relaxed, recharging our batteries for another couple of big days and connecting with two friends in the area. Sarah Zahner, one of my fellow road-trippers from my first drive to Oregon, found us in the evening and joined us for the rest of our DC visit. We enjoyed the eccentric company of our host, Cynthia. She, a generation or two older than us, benefited (I think) from our youthful energy and decided to come downtown with us for Inauguration after all. Along the way, she told us stories of witnessing MLK’s famous speech decades before. We got an early start and crammed on a crowded bus, taking it as far as we could before the roads closed. The steady trickle of people quickly became a swollen crowd that poured onto the mall and surrounding areas, cheering and chatting happily despite the wind’s icy bite.

Inauguration was over in a blur- waves of cheers washed over and past us as the speech reached the ears of all. I am a bit of an Obama skeptic myself, concerned that there is no way this one man can live up to all expectations and titles that have been given him. The political world is one I tend to avoid in general. But I was very impressed with his inaugural address. It wasn’t just a conglomeration of previous sound bites or hollow promises. I felt his ability to inspire us into becoming greater, more responsible Americans more tangibly than I ever had before.

The journey to DC was well worth it, even though it included my first road-trip breakdown: two flat tires on the interstate at 1am that evening! We finally made it home safe and sound, for which I am thankful, as well as for having the chance to witness such a historic event.

- -Que viva el año nuevo!!!!

Hola amigos!! We just wanted to wish you all the best most awesomest super duper chevere 2009!!!! We´re sure this year will bring all of you wonderful people luck, hope, love, money and travel…..or at least it will for us! Haha let us explain… Here in Ecuador el año nuevo is filled with traditions that assure plenty of awe-inspiring things to come in the upcoming year. Here are some examples/a summary of our last day of 2008(which by the way was an excellent year)… The madness began as we were driving back to Lucia´s house from the airport. The roads, sidewalks and cars were covered with “Años Viejos”. Años Viejos are stuffed lifesized figurines that every family buys/makes to burn at midnight on the 31rst of December, “to destroy by fire” (haha looked that one up in word synonyms) all the bad things that have happened to you on the year…
Along our journey we also were stopped my sexy “widows” asking for money to burry their dead husbands, symbolic of the year that passed. The widows were simply cross dressers hoping to make an extra buck out of an old tradition. Haha and one of the skimpily dressed widows begged Hilde´s brother to stay with her…AWKWARD!

From there we went to Lucia´s house to prepare our costumes for the big party… Her mother had kindly bought us both a pair of yellow panties to bring us loads of money in the upcoming year (hope it works!). haha so on new years it is rather boring to picture everyone in their underwear….seems how everyone is wearing yellow hoping to win the lottery (or some are wearing red for love!) We quickly started thinking what we could wear to cover our cute (and hopefully lucky) panties! Hilde wanted to be the abominable snowman, but considering the weather… she would have cooked inside and been dead before the new year…. From there, we searched the closet and found a makeshift wonder woman outfit for Hilde, and out of a bag hidden in the back of her closet Luci found her UNITARD making her color woman!!!! (from Willamette dance concert… I think you might remember this skin tight painted beauty).
So with our yellow underwear and customs to jumpstart the new year we headed to the party with Luci’s lovely family. As we entered the party the dance floor was filled with characters from the past and the present. We rocked the floor for a couple of hours and then got ready to receive the New Year. We killed the music and listened on the radio to the same bellowing voiced guy who has counted down the new year for the past 50 years.
As the countdown began, everyone counted out 12 grapes, lit candles, grabbed suitcases and matches to light the fireworks, and headed outside. As the clock struck twelve, we lit the Año Viejo and jumped over as it burned asking for our dreams to come true. People then shoved the grapes in their mouths, one for every month and asking for wishes to be granted. The candles were lit to bring love, hope, and money for everyone. At the same time, people were running around with suitcases to guarantee travels in the next year. As fireworks exploded in the sky, everyone hugged each other thankful that they shared this night together and wishing a good year. Then we ate a lot, sang, and dance a bit more. When the family party ended at around 3 am, we decided to go to a nightclub with some more friends… as we walked into the nightclub we realized (too late) that were the only people still in costume. A couple of people asked Luci if she worked there and if that was why she was soooo dressed up and another man kindly asked to remove her wig while they were dancing… she of course declined.
We hope you understood all of that...it was a light night and we are still suffering the side effects...
Feliz año nuevo!!! We miss you all this much =================== and more...!

BESOS
Lucia y Hilde

Happy New Year!!!

Hey everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful new year's eve party. I spent mine in Portland at the Freeman's, which was awesome! Took this video for Elsa, but thought you'd all really like to see it as well
Love, Dana