No one knows
Or can guess
What decisions
We make
For things to come
May bring.
All we can do
Is trust
That when truth
Reveals itself
We’ll be able to stand
On the same two feet
That brought us here.
Immigration
Giving Thanks in a Foreign Land
I spent this Thanksgiving, as the past four, with my neighbors. As I frantically cleaned my house and helped in food preparations, I could not avoid remembering my first introduction to one of the biggest annual events in America. In 1995 after escaping Sarajevo and living in a refugee camp for seven months, I was finally reunited with my husband in Chicago. It was the summer of 1995 and I was beginning to recreate my life in a new country, with language and customs other than those of my birth place.
podcast
Audio: November 2008 Blogcast!
Come along with me this month as we take part in a rally for same-sex marriage rights. You might ask, what does same-sex marriage have to do with identity? I’d answer, a whole heck of a lot! First of all, it clearly challenges a dominant idea of what it means to be a man or a woman in the United States. Second, if some people have fewer rights than others, are they “less” American?
This month we talk with a bi-racial, gay man whose parents had to struggle for the right to marry because they were of different races. We also meet a Korean-American woman who grew up conservatively religious but now finds… Read more
Sustainability: Thinking Beyond Borders Part Two
When Americans import goods from foreign regions they are often exporting environmental degradation. In the U.S. we import all of our coffee, mostly from Colombia, Brazil and Guatemala. And we import a lot of it. After oil, coffee is the second largest import in the United States.
Luckily, about two thirds of the world’s coffee beans are still classified as arabica. Arabica beans are grown at higher altitudes, require less watering, and need cooler climates. Which means that almost all arabica beans are shade grown, greatly reducing the number of trees being cut down. Shade-grown coffee also grows slower than other varieties, producing a more flavorful, higher quality product.
2016: Chicago’s Olympic Dream, Do They Deserve It?
In June of 2008, the International Olympic Committee (ICO) announced that Chicago was one of its 4 finalists to host the 2016 games. The US has not hosted an Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta and many are hoping for a return in 2016.
Chicago’s bid was thought to be behind in the running, trailing Madrid and Tokyo, but Obama’s victory could swing the tide in Chicago’s favor. The big question is does Chicago deserve to host the games?
Politics
Nebraska Laws Undermine Families in Crisis
The debacle surrounding the Nebraska Safe Haven law highlights a hidden crisis within American families.
Last week Nebraska amended its Safe Haven law and social workers and hospital employees across the state breathed an uneasy sigh of relief. Now, only infants 30 days or younger may be dropped off at hospitals and firehouses with no fear of prosecution for the parents. For the last two and a half months, parents have been able to drop off kids as old at 17, and many have done so.
Immigration
Brooklyn Still Haven for New Immigrants
Brooklyn continues its long tradition as a comfortable haven for new immigrants. A resurgence of western European immigrants are reshaping Williamsburg, which has been better known for its hipsters and indie music scene the last several years. But in changing, Williamsburg and other New York neighborhoods are merely remaining true to the best versions of themselves.
Philanthropists Fuel Anti-Immigrant Bigotry
When well-known philanthropists donate money to national anti-immigrant groups, a new twist is hammered into the axiom “throwing good money after bad,” one that results in deeper discrimination and increased violence against immigrants and their families.
Controversial anti-immigrant leader John Tanton used to love to brag that from 1983 until 1986 famed financial leader and philanthropist Warren Buffet made yearly gifts of $90,000 to his organization, U.S. Inc. While Buffet is thought of as a man who donates selflessly to the public good, he is also remembered for having supported full-bore bigotry.
Scar Tissue
It’s a part of me.
Though I don’t like to think it.
Would rather disassociate
The entire thing
From my entire being.
Would rather go on like nothing happened
Like it wasn’t happening all the time.
The events so small
They hardly effected me
In such small doses
The ones I forgot I took.
Yet when the big one happened
The small ones became much more
Vivid in my memory.