Politics

So Bill Richardson turns out to be an idiot. Great, just great. Now who am I supposed to vote for? It may be back to Barack, but we shall see. If you don't know why I am referring to Bill Richardson as an idiot, it has to due with his comments regarding his favorite Supreme Court Justice ever... Check out this article on the Daily Kos for more details. Dumbass quote for the month of April: "White was in the 60s. Wasn't Roe v. Wade in the 80s?" Sure, Bill...1973, 1980s...what's the difference? ehhhh not even a date in that 10 yr span. So he could be off by anywhere from 7 to 16 years. I'm not saying the average person has to know this (though it'd be nice), but I AM saying, if you are citing as your favorite Supreme Court Justice a man who had a dissenting opinion in this pivotal landmark case, you ought to know your facts. And so what if he's good at football???

In local news, the primaries in Pennsylvania are today for the local stuff. I am now an official Pennsylvanian, having got my license after a one-hour-forty-five-minute wait on Friday. I registered to vote while I was at it, but too late for these elections. I'll catch the ones in November, I guess. Before, I was registered as an Independent, because I felt it gave me more freedom of choice, but I got tired of only voting on the issues in primaries, and want to help determine the candidates for Presidential elections, so I signed up with the Dems this time around.

I saw people outside with giant signs endorsing Luke Ravenstahl for Pittsburgh Mayor. This struck me as particularly pointless as he is running uncontested. That's right, the mayor who became mayor by the previous mayor dying has no one running against him. Some loophole or something. Goodness. He may have won regardless, but at least there would be an illusion, if nothing else, of a choice to make at the ballot boxes. Apparently, the Republicans are encouraging voters to do a Write-In. I wonder what the statistics are on a write-in winning? Hmmm. Note to self: Research Write-Ins...

Sarah On The Town

One of my part-time jobs is as "magic secretary" to local (Pittsburgh) sculptor James Simon. Here he is above with his cat "Fi-Fi"

These are some sculptures of his friends as dogs... this was at the "In Full Bloom" gallery on Liberty Avenue downtown.

Here's my pal Crystalee posing beside on of James's larger projects, the "Liberty Avenue Musicians," also on Liberty Avenue.

^^^The top part of where Crys is standing ^^^

The other two musicians (Accordian player and trumpet guy).

This is John Fleenor. He is a painter who lives accross the street from James's studio with his dog, Betty.

Here's Betty herself! A 13-yr-old Border Collie, Betty enjoys fetch and knows many commands. She is also a very sweet and playful girl.

Betty is a celebrity! Here is a painting John did, called "Betty and the Princess"

Lastly, just a random painting I sighted in the walking tunnel under/through buildings between 5th Ave and Forbes Ave downtown. It appears to be George W. with bleeding eyes. Interesting.

~S

Poetry Links

Here are some links to free POEMS on the 'net:

• Representative Poetry Online
  
• Poets.Org:
  
  
• Clickable Poems
  
• Magnetic Poetry (Play Online)

Wiki Link

Does your organization or group want it's own Wiki? The program our year of Literacy*AmeriCorps is using is called PB Wiki, introduced to us by our technoguru, Mark. It's pretty cool to be able to post and change things collaboratively. We put up upcoming events, reviews, lesson plans, committee info, etc. I just wish it had more storage available for free, but it is very easy to use. Check it out:

Recent Happenings...

1: FLUX (Braddock, April 14th)

FLUX was held on April 14th in Braddock, PA. This was a big art event-- it had both visual art and performance art. Everyone got to help James Simon with a sculpture of a sheep. There were also bands and djs. There was even a guy juggling fire and a giant creature that looked like a cross between a hamster and Shamu.

2: Balkan Beat Box and Golem Concert

I had bought my brother tickets to this concert for his birthday. It was at the Rex Theatre in the Southside of Pittsburgh. It was a great energetic concert. I am hoping to find someone who took photos online so I can post some, as it was crazy. When Balkan Beat Box were on, they came from the balcony and four of them were wearing snare drums, two had saxaphones, all were wearing masks. They marched through the crowd and formed a circle, and the audience formed a circle around them, then we followed them to the edge of the stage as they came forward. They had everyone jumping and dancing all night!

3: Earth Day

My AmeriCorps did a service project at Frick Park for Earth Day. We planted trees and pulled up garlic mustard, which is an invasive plant that the native animals don't eat. After that a bunch of us went to a GPLC/AmeriCorps event at Barnes & Noble and Vijay's band, Chaibaba played Puerto Rican music. A fun day, but very exhausting. I probably shouldn't have even attempted to walk to the park from my apt when I missed the bus, but I almost made it without having to be picked up! I slept from around 4 pm when I got home until my phone rang at 10:30, then I ate something and went back to bed for the night!

Under my Radar: Bill Richardson

Let me preface this by saying that as recently as August 2006 I was reading the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Guardian EVERY DAY and watching CNN near constantly. So I got a little burned out and pulled away from the world for a bit. And I can't afford cable and the local news doesn't talk much about anything beyond a 10 mile radius. So that's not a very good excuse. There is such a thing as NPR and the Internet, and I should have stayed aware, but I will try to remedy that now.
Anyways, in my previous one political post, I discussed three candidates for the Democratic nomination- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Rudy Gulianni. Of those three, I identified the most with Obama. This has not changed. However, there is a fourth possibility that I did not consider: Bill Richardson, the current Governor of New Mexico. This man is more than qualified. I mean, he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times. I like that he takes stronger stances on the issues. I am waiting to make a more final judgement until I learn more about his record in New Mexico and his past relationship with the Pueblos there.
So far: a conversation with Bill Richardson on Indian Country Today.
Stay tuned,

~S

Book: Touch and Go Joe

This is a book written by an adolescent with OCD in Brittain. Although Joe had different phsyical manifestations of OCD, I can completely relate with the similar thought processes he goes through. Different compulsions, but the same logic (or lack of) behind them. I also related to the ideas he brings up about how people would perceive him when they started to notice his new behavior. The parts about his first times seeking help were also very approachable. It was a quick read and I was glad to see a book from the perspective of someone who actually has battled with OCD. Most of the OCD books I've seen have been written from a psychiatrist's/psychologist's/researcher's perspective. I hope to one day add my own book to the "patient" perspective category.

• Title: Touch and Go Joe: An Adolescent's Experience of OCD
• Author: Joe Wells
• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Date 1st Published: May 2006
• Length: 128 pages