1.29.09
It’s so weird being back in a place that is so familiar to you after time has elapsed--- on one hand you feel as though nothing has changed, that the same people are there, doing the same things, going the same places, finding happiness in the same things, finding anxiety, anger, unhappiness from the same sources…. And on the other hand you feel betrayed and distraught that your “old world” has continued on without you. HOW COULD THAT BE? How could the universe possibly function without you in it?! HA. How ridiculous.
But that’s just it though, that was your I mean, my old world. I have a new one now, and I need to accept and embrace that—and be excited about it!!
Because my world now encompasses the familiar cobblestones of the charles bridge, the sorrow of the Czech people, the breathtaking sight of “The Birth of Venus,” the ‘traditional’ Italian pizza in Florence tasting worse than pizza hut, the infinite feeling of sitting on top of Mars hill looking over the acropolis, the frustration of becoming an orphan in Athens, and the wonderful taste of a cold Berliner kindl after exploring a fascinating city, and no matter what happens to me in my future—in the next 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 years I’m going to carry all of that with me. In addition to feeling displaced here and disconnected to so many people, I carry those sights, those cities and those experiences with me that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.
I can’t drop all of those moments, just as all of you are unable to shed all of the events and all of the time that has passed, and who would want to do that anyway?
It’s amazing how much 4 months can change a person.
And I only hope that in these next 4 months until graduation I can continue to process, and embrace all that I have learned and all that you have to teach me.
2.08.09
Elizabeth Kubler Ross has been playing a much larger role in my life than I would like. Those of you who are atlest someone aware of what's going on with me, you will understand that... but considering that that number seems to be deminishing by the second, you will most likely be quite puzzled by these words.
For now, i think i'll be stuck with anger for awhile... i'm projecting atleast 4 months, until i escape this god awful town full of sad strangers.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Learning to stay through til the end of the credits...
the day has finally come--- i leave prague in the morning.
i should be home around 10pm tomorrow night.
it has been incredible and there is no point in even trying to explain the last two weeks.
i can't wait to see you all!!!
i will be replaying my last stroll across the charles bridge in my head over and over again until i get to hug you!
see you soon <3
i should be home around 10pm tomorrow night.
it has been incredible and there is no point in even trying to explain the last two weeks.
i can't wait to see you all!!!
i will be replaying my last stroll across the charles bridge in my head over and over again until i get to hug you!
see you soon <3
Friday, December 5, 2008
the final stretch
Why hellllllllllo there blog reader! And hello to you too, December!
Let me start with this point and then jump to the updates on my life, please bare with me here.
I’ve been updating less and less because I’m not even sure who is still keeping up with this… as the semester winds down I find myself somewhat in shock how removed my relationships with all of you back home have been and how little communication we have had. Of course I knew it would be limited, but I figured skype, email and facebook would have aided much more in keeping me updated in your lives. Its been quite strange only talking with very few of you on an inconsistent basis and I find the thought of actually seeing you very soon ( AHHH YAYAA!) to be an almost scary and overwhelming thought. Some of you have been an absolutely wonderful support system with sending mail, calling etc. and I understand that we are all very very busy people, it is just a strange realization for me. I hope that you bear with me and have a little sympathy for my exhausted mind and heart as I return into the far away land of America.
Alright, now that that is out of the way here are the updates:
- Tammy and Mimi were here for their visit and we traveled to Cesky Krumlov (x2 for me), and the wonderful city of Vienna where we saw the two palaces of the Hapsburgs, the amazing christmas market anddd the oldest zoo in the world filled with baby pandas, baby polar bears AND a baby giraffe. It was pretty much the best thing ever.
- Our last two class trips will be this week, one to Pilsen to the beer factory responsible for created the first ever pilsner beer (I’m getting a really good education over here), and then one to Dresden for a brief history lesson and a chance to see the oldest Christmas market in Germany.
- SAVE KNUT!!! http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/12/03/barton.germany.bear.sale.itn?iref=videosearch
- i saw cold war kids play a show here at lucerna a few weeks ago and it was freaking INCREDIBLE!
-The countdown is really on! In less than two weeks I will be leaving Prague! I’ve got tonssssssssss of school work to do and lots of things I need to soak in before I leave, but I feel pretty good about coming home.
- I arrive late on December 18th and will most likely be in a coma until Christmas…But I can’t wait to hug the crap out of you all, and I never meant that more in my life! (If I knew how to express an even higher level of desire to embrace people I would say it here…)
This last month has been really great and I think all that I have learned here is slowly starting to work it’s way from my heart into my mind.
I would like to think that my traveling and ideas of what it means to travel has greatly improved--- and this growth has bled over, becoming the perfect subscription to my constant tunnel vision.
It seemed that the less and less I used maps and directions the more and more my mind allowed me to see what was right in front of me.
I’m not saying that I’m not still highly concerned with the future but I can feel a change in myself of learning to live more and more in the present. Prior to this trip ‘the present’ was more of a theory than a fact of life to me, not in the gravity sort of way because I can feel that… more like actually wrapping my mind around every detail of the big bang. I guess what I’m saying is that traveling has allowed my thoughts to better understand what I am actually feeling in the moment. It’s very exciting!
I owe many thanks to the individuals who have pushed me in this area and allowed me to take this on at my own pace. You know who you are and I sincerely appreciate you more than words can say.
That being said, I would like to explain where the root of all this reflection and nostalgia is coming from: The other night we all went to our Czech professor’s house and his wife cooked goulash for us! It was pretty delicious and if that wasn’t exciting enough, when we walked in the dining room there were about 8 bottles of bordeaux sitting on the table… I’ve told many of you about the great conflicts that have occurred between the group of students on this trip but let me tell you, if we would have just had a plethora of bordeaux lying around I think this semester would have gone a lotttt smoother than it did!
So, I was already in good spirits, having a really good conversation with Brookelynn and Justin on the couch and then, suddenly, in an instant, I saw the wine kick in. It was a beautiful moment for us all.
We went around and did one of those “complete the story” games where one person says about 3 sentences of the story and passes it on to their neighbor and you see how crazy the end gets. Of course, you can all safely assume what I added to this story… yes, I added the characters of Tupac, a penguin and a giraffe to lead the rest of the characters to safety. From then on out the story was obviously amazing…
Anyways, after we ate our meal someone suggested that we all go around and say what we miss most from home and what we will miss most about Prague… and this is where the not so great spectrum of the wine started to rear it’s head. Everyone started making long winded speeches about how they’ve changed and how this semester has affected them and blahblahblah girls started crying (yeah.. in case you forgot.. i am a girl...) It was a little messy and totally unexpected!
There suddenly was so much pressure to say something profound and meaningful about the past 3 months of my life and all the people around me and I had no idea what to say! When it was my turn to profess my love to everyone, thank my professors and talk about how I’m a better person, I decided to instead, call everyone on their bullshit. Haha-- I didn’t get profane or anything but I pointed out the elephant in the room that I felt everyone was ignoring. Don’t worry, everyone laughed and generally agreed with the comments I said. Honestly what is said is kind of a blur because I was filled with so much adrenaline, anxiety and yes, bordeaux… but I do recall saying the exact phrase: “In a strange way, I want to thank all of you for exceeding my expectations on how difficult this trip would be.”
And that pretty much sums it up.
All you need to know beyond that is that after all of these speeches were finished-- me, Brookelynn and the boys rounded out the night at a bar closer to campus where we listened to lil wayne and skipped in the street...
That’s all that I’ve got for whoever of you are actually still reading.
Keep up with the countdown, 13 days til I return to the states and talk all of your ears off!
(and im soooooooo excited that crystal dennis and SAMMY will be staying with us for so long during the holidays! :) )
Let me start with this point and then jump to the updates on my life, please bare with me here.
I’ve been updating less and less because I’m not even sure who is still keeping up with this… as the semester winds down I find myself somewhat in shock how removed my relationships with all of you back home have been and how little communication we have had. Of course I knew it would be limited, but I figured skype, email and facebook would have aided much more in keeping me updated in your lives. Its been quite strange only talking with very few of you on an inconsistent basis and I find the thought of actually seeing you very soon ( AHHH YAYAA!) to be an almost scary and overwhelming thought. Some of you have been an absolutely wonderful support system with sending mail, calling etc. and I understand that we are all very very busy people, it is just a strange realization for me. I hope that you bear with me and have a little sympathy for my exhausted mind and heart as I return into the far away land of America.
Alright, now that that is out of the way here are the updates:
- Tammy and Mimi were here for their visit and we traveled to Cesky Krumlov (x2 for me), and the wonderful city of Vienna where we saw the two palaces of the Hapsburgs, the amazing christmas market anddd the oldest zoo in the world filled with baby pandas, baby polar bears AND a baby giraffe. It was pretty much the best thing ever.
- Our last two class trips will be this week, one to Pilsen to the beer factory responsible for created the first ever pilsner beer (I’m getting a really good education over here), and then one to Dresden for a brief history lesson and a chance to see the oldest Christmas market in Germany.
- SAVE KNUT!!! http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/12/03/barton.germany.bear.sale.itn?iref=videosearch
- i saw cold war kids play a show here at lucerna a few weeks ago and it was freaking INCREDIBLE!
-The countdown is really on! In less than two weeks I will be leaving Prague! I’ve got tonssssssssss of school work to do and lots of things I need to soak in before I leave, but I feel pretty good about coming home.
- I arrive late on December 18th and will most likely be in a coma until Christmas…But I can’t wait to hug the crap out of you all, and I never meant that more in my life! (If I knew how to express an even higher level of desire to embrace people I would say it here…)
This last month has been really great and I think all that I have learned here is slowly starting to work it’s way from my heart into my mind.
I would like to think that my traveling and ideas of what it means to travel has greatly improved--- and this growth has bled over, becoming the perfect subscription to my constant tunnel vision.
It seemed that the less and less I used maps and directions the more and more my mind allowed me to see what was right in front of me.
I’m not saying that I’m not still highly concerned with the future but I can feel a change in myself of learning to live more and more in the present. Prior to this trip ‘the present’ was more of a theory than a fact of life to me, not in the gravity sort of way because I can feel that… more like actually wrapping my mind around every detail of the big bang. I guess what I’m saying is that traveling has allowed my thoughts to better understand what I am actually feeling in the moment. It’s very exciting!
I owe many thanks to the individuals who have pushed me in this area and allowed me to take this on at my own pace. You know who you are and I sincerely appreciate you more than words can say.
That being said, I would like to explain where the root of all this reflection and nostalgia is coming from: The other night we all went to our Czech professor’s house and his wife cooked goulash for us! It was pretty delicious and if that wasn’t exciting enough, when we walked in the dining room there were about 8 bottles of bordeaux sitting on the table… I’ve told many of you about the great conflicts that have occurred between the group of students on this trip but let me tell you, if we would have just had a plethora of bordeaux lying around I think this semester would have gone a lotttt smoother than it did!
So, I was already in good spirits, having a really good conversation with Brookelynn and Justin on the couch and then, suddenly, in an instant, I saw the wine kick in. It was a beautiful moment for us all.
We went around and did one of those “complete the story” games where one person says about 3 sentences of the story and passes it on to their neighbor and you see how crazy the end gets. Of course, you can all safely assume what I added to this story… yes, I added the characters of Tupac, a penguin and a giraffe to lead the rest of the characters to safety. From then on out the story was obviously amazing…
Anyways, after we ate our meal someone suggested that we all go around and say what we miss most from home and what we will miss most about Prague… and this is where the not so great spectrum of the wine started to rear it’s head. Everyone started making long winded speeches about how they’ve changed and how this semester has affected them and blahblahblah girls started crying (yeah.. in case you forgot.. i am a girl...) It was a little messy and totally unexpected!
There suddenly was so much pressure to say something profound and meaningful about the past 3 months of my life and all the people around me and I had no idea what to say! When it was my turn to profess my love to everyone, thank my professors and talk about how I’m a better person, I decided to instead, call everyone on their bullshit. Haha-- I didn’t get profane or anything but I pointed out the elephant in the room that I felt everyone was ignoring. Don’t worry, everyone laughed and generally agreed with the comments I said. Honestly what is said is kind of a blur because I was filled with so much adrenaline, anxiety and yes, bordeaux… but I do recall saying the exact phrase: “In a strange way, I want to thank all of you for exceeding my expectations on how difficult this trip would be.”
And that pretty much sums it up.
All you need to know beyond that is that after all of these speeches were finished-- me, Brookelynn and the boys rounded out the night at a bar closer to campus where we listened to lil wayne and skipped in the street...
That’s all that I’ve got for whoever of you are actually still reading.
Keep up with the countdown, 13 days til I return to the states and talk all of your ears off!
(and im soooooooo excited that crystal dennis and SAMMY will be staying with us for so long during the holidays! :) )
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorthea Lange
Updates:
- I officially have ONE MONTH left in prague!
- Tammy and mimi arrive in prague TOMORROW!
- I will be traveling to Vienna with them over thanksgiving break!
- I still don't have a place to live when i get back to school in the spring!
I had two presentations this week, one on Jan hus and his role in the reformation and then another one that was similar to the assignment in italy--- we had to take the class to any location around the city and incorporate it into our discussion on religion and art. So far people have presented on the jewish quarter, visherad palace and yesterday we went to the amazing Mucha gallery(absolutely stunning, i am now slightly obsessed with him)
This morning i took the class to Jan Saudek's photography gallery which I really liked, and I'm a big fan of his work. Most of the class seemed really into it and it sparked a lot of cool conversations.
Just to give you a brief bio: He was born and raised in prague, but because he is jewish, him and a lot of his family ended up in concentration camps. He was luckily able to survive and return to prague, and he lived here through the soviet occupation.
A lot of his work is very contraversial, he does a lot of nudes and sexually driven work because his goal is to explore the subconscious as well as the world of fantasy. He also places a lot of focus on the overarching human connection we all share, and exhibits the beauty in all humankind in his photos. He takes photos of everything from families to lovers and does so in an incredibly interesting, unique way. He hand colors most of his photos and layers negatives to create a great element of mystery-- basically, he's great. enough of my rambling.
Since I have tons of school work to do I thought it'd be cool to post a blog from my sacred communication/film class on this blog for you guys to read-- we're supposed to write about outside films we view as well and I recently watched this one on my own thanks to the glorious internet. as you're about to find out, these blog are very informal and have no real structure which allow me to turn in my ridiculous rants in for an actual grade haha.
here you go:
“My name is Tracey Berkowitz. Fifteen. Just a normal girl who hates herself.”
Ok, if you’ve already heard me ramble on about this film this past week I apologize, and it would be in your best interest to stop reading right now. For those of you who have yet to hear my reaction to this film, this is your final chance to turn away from my ranting.
You’re still with me? Alright. Let me preface this by just getting this out in the open: yes, I am slightly obsessed with Ellen Page.
Quickly moving on, The film “The Tracy Fragments” is a wonderful work of art, extremely experimental, and of course, very well acted. In particular, this film incorporates an interesting technique I have never seen before, which is to use multiple cameras as well as intense editing after shooting to create, as the title suggests, fragments on the screen.
This film style enables the story to become somewhat of a mystery, almost never fully revealing straight on shots of what is occurring in pivotal scenes of the film. By doing this, as well as telling the story in a jumbled manner (think “Momento”), the viewer must create the truth of the story in their own mind.
“When things happen to people, they radiate a light. Because they have a picture caught inside them. Because they were there and you weren't. And because you only got a piece. And because all you can do is shrink and blow up that one tiny piece.”
This film gives viewers many fragments of the life of Ellen Page’s character, Tracey Berkowitz, and it us up to us to put them together.
While all this great and challenging imagery is going on for the viewers, Tracey is struggling with her own idea of what the truth is, so in a sense we are in this crazy mess together. This immediately made me think of Wenders and Kieslowski’s work which both do a great job of making the audience an active part of their films. Because the story is told backwards and it is not obvious what exactly is happening in every shot, the fragments must come together in the viewers’ minds rather than on the screen. It blurs the lines of reality and fiction, and calls to question many of the topics we’ve discussed in class about philosophy and the search for meaning.
The film touches on many religious questions and Tracey’s character brings up aspects of eastern philosophy such as re-incarnation and the oneness of all living things.
“When a horse falls, foam comes out of its mouth. When it falls, the legs of the horse thrash and the horse is no good... So somebody shoots it. The horse turns into glue. A machine puts the glue into bottles and children squeeze the bottles to get the glue out and stick bits of paper onto cards. Glue gets on the children's hands and the children eat the glue. And the children become the horse.”
Now to give a brief overview of the strange story depicted in the film.
Tracey is a teenage girl completely neglected by her family and constantly made fun of at school for her androgyny, referred to by most of the student body as an “it.” She struggles with her hate for her parents, unable to decide if their ignoring her is a just reason for feeling so abused and alone. To deal with this torment Tracey creates a great fantasy in her mind of the new token “rock and roll/ rebel without a cause” boy in school falling in love with her. She exhibits much more independence and courage than an average 15 year old, and her recklessness towards life is apparently due to the fact that she has no one in her life to rely on or care about her. That is, no one except her young brother, who suddenly and mysteriously goes missing. This is where the story both begins and ends, and it is up to the audience to put the messy story of Tracey’s life to understand what actually occurred on the day her brother disappeared.
I would highly recommend this film although I would give the warning that although it still has the mature and incredible wit of Ellen Page, this is certainly no “Juno.” It is a quite dark and depressing tale of a messed up teenage girl who is facing the rough and awkward time of being a teenager completely on her own. No friends, no family and no edgy, artsy boyfriend to help out along the way. Tracey must discover for herself how to understand and deal with truth and reality while facing the ultimate question, “how do you know what’s real and what’s not when the whole world is inside your head?”
that's all i've got for now, talk to you soon.
xoxo
-a
- I officially have ONE MONTH left in prague!
- Tammy and mimi arrive in prague TOMORROW!
- I will be traveling to Vienna with them over thanksgiving break!
- I still don't have a place to live when i get back to school in the spring!
I had two presentations this week, one on Jan hus and his role in the reformation and then another one that was similar to the assignment in italy--- we had to take the class to any location around the city and incorporate it into our discussion on religion and art. So far people have presented on the jewish quarter, visherad palace and yesterday we went to the amazing Mucha gallery(absolutely stunning, i am now slightly obsessed with him)
This morning i took the class to Jan Saudek's photography gallery which I really liked, and I'm a big fan of his work. Most of the class seemed really into it and it sparked a lot of cool conversations.
Just to give you a brief bio: He was born and raised in prague, but because he is jewish, him and a lot of his family ended up in concentration camps. He was luckily able to survive and return to prague, and he lived here through the soviet occupation.
A lot of his work is very contraversial, he does a lot of nudes and sexually driven work because his goal is to explore the subconscious as well as the world of fantasy. He also places a lot of focus on the overarching human connection we all share, and exhibits the beauty in all humankind in his photos. He takes photos of everything from families to lovers and does so in an incredibly interesting, unique way. He hand colors most of his photos and layers negatives to create a great element of mystery-- basically, he's great. enough of my rambling.
Since I have tons of school work to do I thought it'd be cool to post a blog from my sacred communication/film class on this blog for you guys to read-- we're supposed to write about outside films we view as well and I recently watched this one on my own thanks to the glorious internet. as you're about to find out, these blog are very informal and have no real structure which allow me to turn in my ridiculous rants in for an actual grade haha.
here you go:
“My name is Tracey Berkowitz. Fifteen. Just a normal girl who hates herself.”
Ok, if you’ve already heard me ramble on about this film this past week I apologize, and it would be in your best interest to stop reading right now. For those of you who have yet to hear my reaction to this film, this is your final chance to turn away from my ranting.
You’re still with me? Alright. Let me preface this by just getting this out in the open: yes, I am slightly obsessed with Ellen Page.
Quickly moving on, The film “The Tracy Fragments” is a wonderful work of art, extremely experimental, and of course, very well acted. In particular, this film incorporates an interesting technique I have never seen before, which is to use multiple cameras as well as intense editing after shooting to create, as the title suggests, fragments on the screen.
This film style enables the story to become somewhat of a mystery, almost never fully revealing straight on shots of what is occurring in pivotal scenes of the film. By doing this, as well as telling the story in a jumbled manner (think “Momento”), the viewer must create the truth of the story in their own mind.
“When things happen to people, they radiate a light. Because they have a picture caught inside them. Because they were there and you weren't. And because you only got a piece. And because all you can do is shrink and blow up that one tiny piece.”
This film gives viewers many fragments of the life of Ellen Page’s character, Tracey Berkowitz, and it us up to us to put them together.
While all this great and challenging imagery is going on for the viewers, Tracey is struggling with her own idea of what the truth is, so in a sense we are in this crazy mess together. This immediately made me think of Wenders and Kieslowski’s work which both do a great job of making the audience an active part of their films. Because the story is told backwards and it is not obvious what exactly is happening in every shot, the fragments must come together in the viewers’ minds rather than on the screen. It blurs the lines of reality and fiction, and calls to question many of the topics we’ve discussed in class about philosophy and the search for meaning.
The film touches on many religious questions and Tracey’s character brings up aspects of eastern philosophy such as re-incarnation and the oneness of all living things.
“When a horse falls, foam comes out of its mouth. When it falls, the legs of the horse thrash and the horse is no good... So somebody shoots it. The horse turns into glue. A machine puts the glue into bottles and children squeeze the bottles to get the glue out and stick bits of paper onto cards. Glue gets on the children's hands and the children eat the glue. And the children become the horse.”
Now to give a brief overview of the strange story depicted in the film.
Tracey is a teenage girl completely neglected by her family and constantly made fun of at school for her androgyny, referred to by most of the student body as an “it.” She struggles with her hate for her parents, unable to decide if their ignoring her is a just reason for feeling so abused and alone. To deal with this torment Tracey creates a great fantasy in her mind of the new token “rock and roll/ rebel without a cause” boy in school falling in love with her. She exhibits much more independence and courage than an average 15 year old, and her recklessness towards life is apparently due to the fact that she has no one in her life to rely on or care about her. That is, no one except her young brother, who suddenly and mysteriously goes missing. This is where the story both begins and ends, and it is up to the audience to put the messy story of Tracey’s life to understand what actually occurred on the day her brother disappeared.
I would highly recommend this film although I would give the warning that although it still has the mature and incredible wit of Ellen Page, this is certainly no “Juno.” It is a quite dark and depressing tale of a messed up teenage girl who is facing the rough and awkward time of being a teenager completely on her own. No friends, no family and no edgy, artsy boyfriend to help out along the way. Tracey must discover for herself how to understand and deal with truth and reality while facing the ultimate question, “how do you know what’s real and what’s not when the whole world is inside your head?”
that's all i've got for now, talk to you soon.
xoxo
-a
Friday, November 7, 2008
"i have never been more hopeful that we will get there, we as a people will get there."
written 11/7
we did it! i'm so proud of america! i can say for the first time in a very long time i am truly proud to be an american. i only wish i could've been home to celebrate. i was trying to stay up all night to watch it, but knew there was a possibility of me falling asleep so i set my alarm for 6am thinking it wouldn't be announced before midnight... only problem is that the results were apparently announced about 1030 east coast time so i didn't get to see all the stuff leading up to the final announcement, but i did wake up just in time for obama's speech, after which i burst into tears, jumped up and down and ran down the hall of our apartment by myself... at 630 am...
not being there for this historic moment made me really sad and miss so many of you who i know would've hugged and danced with me for so long. and in the same instant of all this excitement and celebration i'm also really upset about prop. 8 passing in california. i am obviously upset about the other states banning same sex marriage as well, but this in particular...i just can not comprehend how it is ok to give someone a right that is doing absolutely no harm to anyone, in fact it is doing just the opposite, and then take it away. it makes me so sad.
yeah, as you can tell i'm feeling a bit nostalgic and homesick this week. i think it's also due to the realization that i only have a little over a month left here, although i do have a new appreciation for cnu and will be excited to return there in the spring.
i now have a lot of work to catch up on that i've been putting off for weeks... but i guess it doesn't really matter since my professor has yet to set one due date thus far. you all know i am a laid back person, but if you give me no structure at all i begin to lose my mind. i register for next semester's classes today and this weekend i will get atleast 2 papers done, hopefully 3. i dont really care that i have a lot of work to do now because the traveling and experiences i've had far outweigh turning b.s. papers in 'on time', and i think i could really use the alone time and the audience of open-ended philosophy papers to let out my thoughts.
next post i will add pics and more info about berlin because there is so much to say about that glorious city!
if you have some extra time i would highly recommend reading this: http://tinyurl.com/6x3h72 (the first sentence of the article is pretty ironic..)
"Watching the returns on election night was an amazing experience. Barack Obama is our new president. Change is here. I, like millions of Americans, felt like we had taken a giant step towards equality. We were watching history.
This morning, when it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can’t explain the feeling I had. I was saddened beyond belief. Here we just had a giant step towards equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away.
I believe one day a “ban on gay marriage” will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us."
- ellen degeneres
"to have a moment that means this much, that you can put alongside the emancipation proclamation in our history, in terms of what the idea of America is, and what the relationship of Americans are to one another, so that we can speak to the rest of the world ... it's sort of worth crying about."
-rachel maddow
i hope you are well, and that you remember,
'If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.'
<3a
we did it! i'm so proud of america! i can say for the first time in a very long time i am truly proud to be an american. i only wish i could've been home to celebrate. i was trying to stay up all night to watch it, but knew there was a possibility of me falling asleep so i set my alarm for 6am thinking it wouldn't be announced before midnight... only problem is that the results were apparently announced about 1030 east coast time so i didn't get to see all the stuff leading up to the final announcement, but i did wake up just in time for obama's speech, after which i burst into tears, jumped up and down and ran down the hall of our apartment by myself... at 630 am...
not being there for this historic moment made me really sad and miss so many of you who i know would've hugged and danced with me for so long. and in the same instant of all this excitement and celebration i'm also really upset about prop. 8 passing in california. i am obviously upset about the other states banning same sex marriage as well, but this in particular...i just can not comprehend how it is ok to give someone a right that is doing absolutely no harm to anyone, in fact it is doing just the opposite, and then take it away. it makes me so sad.
yeah, as you can tell i'm feeling a bit nostalgic and homesick this week. i think it's also due to the realization that i only have a little over a month left here, although i do have a new appreciation for cnu and will be excited to return there in the spring.
i now have a lot of work to catch up on that i've been putting off for weeks... but i guess it doesn't really matter since my professor has yet to set one due date thus far. you all know i am a laid back person, but if you give me no structure at all i begin to lose my mind. i register for next semester's classes today and this weekend i will get atleast 2 papers done, hopefully 3. i dont really care that i have a lot of work to do now because the traveling and experiences i've had far outweigh turning b.s. papers in 'on time', and i think i could really use the alone time and the audience of open-ended philosophy papers to let out my thoughts.
next post i will add pics and more info about berlin because there is so much to say about that glorious city!
if you have some extra time i would highly recommend reading this: http://tinyurl.com/6x3h72 (the first sentence of the article is pretty ironic..)
"Watching the returns on election night was an amazing experience. Barack Obama is our new president. Change is here. I, like millions of Americans, felt like we had taken a giant step towards equality. We were watching history.
This morning, when it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can’t explain the feeling I had. I was saddened beyond belief. Here we just had a giant step towards equality and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away.
I believe one day a “ban on gay marriage” will sound totally ridiculous. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us."
- ellen degeneres
"to have a moment that means this much, that you can put alongside the emancipation proclamation in our history, in terms of what the idea of America is, and what the relationship of Americans are to one another, so that we can speak to the rest of the world ... it's sort of worth crying about."
-rachel maddow
i hope you are well, and that you remember,
'If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.'
<3a
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
so many updates, so little sleep..
hi guys!
first: happy election day! i hope you didn't have to wait in line too long to vote.
sorry again for a huge delay in updating this, i've been traveling a lot and had some lovely visitors.
fall break was great and i think my family had a lot of fun on our trip-- my favorite part was probably visiting the small towns in southern germany where people seriously wore liederhosen as a daily situation... it was pretty hillarious. i also just really liked showing my family around prague and sharing the greatness that this city has to offer-- overall, really good times.
and then having caitlin here after that was freaking awesome, and we explored a lot of prague that i hadn't been to before such as the wallenstien garden, the jewish cemetary, the museum of modern art, and i finally wrote on the lennon wall. we also took an epic adventure to berlin in which i never wanted to return from.
i have so much i could write here about all the places i recently visited but i'm not gonna bore you and instead just gonna give you the most important points:
- asolo, italy probably has the best pizza in the world
- we saw a man fall out of a gondola and into the water in venice
- the hills are in fact alive with the sound of music
- i want to rent a car and drive all over europe-- but first austria and germany
- i want to learn german
- berlin might be my favorite city in the world
i hope everyone is doing well-- i haven't heard from a lot of you in awhile so i hope that means things are really busy and exciting in your lives.
i've gotten like 7 hours of sleep in the past two nights combined so i'm pretty exhausted ( seems to be a recurring theme here..) so sorry for cutting this short.
i really hope that tomorrow we can wake up with a new hope for our country and our identity as americans. i will be glued to cnn all night as long as i can stay awake into the wee hours of the morning here.
me and crystal on the charles bridge
in asolo-- with the glorious pizza
the fam with angelo, our good friend in asolo
me and mom in venice on the patio of the guggenheim
me and my first german friend in his oktoberfest hat
some more of my german friends in front of some beautiful scenery
in the bavarian alps, in front of the the zugspitze (the tallest mountain in germany)
talk to you soon.
-amanda
first: happy election day! i hope you didn't have to wait in line too long to vote.
sorry again for a huge delay in updating this, i've been traveling a lot and had some lovely visitors.
fall break was great and i think my family had a lot of fun on our trip-- my favorite part was probably visiting the small towns in southern germany where people seriously wore liederhosen as a daily situation... it was pretty hillarious. i also just really liked showing my family around prague and sharing the greatness that this city has to offer-- overall, really good times.
and then having caitlin here after that was freaking awesome, and we explored a lot of prague that i hadn't been to before such as the wallenstien garden, the jewish cemetary, the museum of modern art, and i finally wrote on the lennon wall. we also took an epic adventure to berlin in which i never wanted to return from.
i have so much i could write here about all the places i recently visited but i'm not gonna bore you and instead just gonna give you the most important points:
- asolo, italy probably has the best pizza in the world
- we saw a man fall out of a gondola and into the water in venice
- the hills are in fact alive with the sound of music
- i want to rent a car and drive all over europe-- but first austria and germany
- i want to learn german
- berlin might be my favorite city in the world
i hope everyone is doing well-- i haven't heard from a lot of you in awhile so i hope that means things are really busy and exciting in your lives.
i've gotten like 7 hours of sleep in the past two nights combined so i'm pretty exhausted ( seems to be a recurring theme here..) so sorry for cutting this short.
i really hope that tomorrow we can wake up with a new hope for our country and our identity as americans. i will be glued to cnn all night as long as i can stay awake into the wee hours of the morning here.
me and crystal on the charles bridge
in asolo-- with the glorious pizza
the fam with angelo, our good friend in asolo
me and mom in venice on the patio of the guggenheim
me and my first german friend in his oktoberfest hat
some more of my german friends in front of some beautiful scenery
in the bavarian alps, in front of the the zugspitze (the tallest mountain in germany)
talk to you soon.
-amanda
Monday, October 13, 2008
What a maverick would do in this situation?
Ok, now that the deadline to register to vote has passed and election day is quickly approaching (remember, the last debate is this week!) I wanted to share some info I've come across recently.
1. insightful/ upsetting new york times article on the hatred that is being produced from the intense negative campaigning: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12r ich.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin.
2. inspiring psa created by leonardo dicaprio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QClgZ7iNKBQ&NR =1
if that youtube link dies by any chance, you can just search leonardo's psa on voting and it should come up.
sarah silverman and jonah hill crack me up!
3. hillarious:
as most of you know the obama one was created early on in his campaign and i've just recently come across the other two responses. love itttt.
4. i tried to post the other clip of tina fey doing her dead on impersonation of sarah palin before but i guess nbc keeps removing it off youtube-- you can search for them on directly on the saturday night live website, find it yourself on youtube or use this link while it still works. this is the full clip of snl covering the vp debates:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/
"and for all you six pack joes out there... maverick!"
the funniest/scariest part about it is that real interviews with her are almost just the same...
let me know if you come across anything you think i'd me interested in, please post links and such.
OTHER FANTASTIC NEWS:
my parents and crystal and dennis are arriving today in prague!!
my fall break starts wednesday after class so they'll spend 3 days here and then we will be leaving wednesday afternoon to travel to asolo, venice(again), and then munich and other small towns in southern germany. i'm so pumped!
ok that is all for now. talk to you soon!
p.s. JIM AND PAM FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR!
1. insightful/ upsetting new york times article on the hatred that is being produced from the intense negative campaigning: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12r ich.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin.
2. inspiring psa created by leonardo dicaprio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QClgZ7iNKBQ&NR =1
if that youtube link dies by any chance, you can just search leonardo's psa on voting and it should come up.
sarah silverman and jonah hill crack me up!
3. hillarious:
as most of you know the obama one was created early on in his campaign and i've just recently come across the other two responses. love itttt.
4. i tried to post the other clip of tina fey doing her dead on impersonation of sarah palin before but i guess nbc keeps removing it off youtube-- you can search for them on directly on the saturday night live website, find it yourself on youtube or use this link while it still works. this is the full clip of snl covering the vp debates:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/
"and for all you six pack joes out there... maverick!"
the funniest/scariest part about it is that real interviews with her are almost just the same...
let me know if you come across anything you think i'd me interested in, please post links and such.
OTHER FANTASTIC NEWS:
my parents and crystal and dennis are arriving today in prague!!
my fall break starts wednesday after class so they'll spend 3 days here and then we will be leaving wednesday afternoon to travel to asolo, venice(again), and then munich and other small towns in southern germany. i'm so pumped!
ok that is all for now. talk to you soon!
p.s. JIM AND PAM FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR!
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