good advice

“When preparing to travel,
lay out all your clothes and all your money.
Then take half the clothes and twice the money.”

— Susan Heller

Fun Facts Part Deux

these are little facts i have picked up along the way
you can click on the links to read the full articles

***
Feminist women are more likely
than other females
to be in a romantic relationship.

-MSN article

***
In 1980, the city of Detroit
presented Saddam Hussein
with a key to the city.

-CBS NEWS

***
Bimonthly means both
'twice a month'
and
'every two months'.

-Oxford Dictionary

originality

it is better to fail in originality
than succeed in imitation
-herman melville

Make Us...

"look again,
in a fresh Way,
at that which we assume about the world
because it has become overly familiar"
~Karin Fierke

(im)possible

(Photo I took at the Great Sand Dunes in CO)

*
*
*

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it.

Impossible is not a fact.

It's an opinion.

Impossible is not a declaration.

It's a dare.

Impossible is potential.

Impossible is temporary.

Impossible is nothing.

- Muhammad Ali

UN Fact Finding Mission

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." — Abraham Lincoln

After flying into Tel Aviv during the attacks on Gaza in January of this year I have been trying to follow it closely. Its normal I guess for me to want someone to have to pay the piper... in this case that someone would be those who called the shots (figuratively and literally) during the attacks early this year. In April of this year the UN established a Fact Finding Mission and the NGO I worked for in Jerusalem provided testimony in front of this commission last week.
To my dismay and I can't say surprise, Israel is not cooperating with the Mission and further more is completely cutting off access to the areas under its control.

Here is the full article

and an excerpt:

Israel refuses to cooperate with this UN Fact Finding Mission, established in April 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council and is not permitting access to areas under its control, thus rendering implementation of the Mission’s already challenging mandate that much more difficult. Mission members are accordingly unable to gain first-hand evidence and impressions of rights issues related to Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Israeli damage to property and human lives in the Gaza Strip did not end with “Operation Cast Lead” and continues to this day through the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.

seeing things

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
~Henry Miller

No, she's not my sister...

Happy Birthday * Feliz Cumpleaños
to a woman I am so blessed to have in my life

Love you mom.

Adios unwanted solicitations

So if you are tired of unwanted solicitations in your mailbox and want to save the environment (100 million trees annually) and save yourself some time (8 hours per year) here are some links to get you started:

• DirectMail.com - free, quick way to get your name off commercial mailing lists.
• MailStopper - paid service that stops your junk mail, and actively keeps you from getting back on mailing lists; promises to stop 90% of your junk mail in 90 days. Makes a great gift ($20/year).
• Catalog Choice - free service that'll get you on no-send lists to stop catalog spam.
• OptOutPrescreen.com - opt out of preapproved credit card and insurance offers online or by phone: 1-888-5-OPTOUT.
• YellowPagesGoesGreen - get your name off phonebook mailing lists.
• EcoLogical Mail Coalition - helps businesses stop mail addressed to former employees.

Now you can't say you didn't know.

Mr. Nawi

Mr. Nawi is a man I read about in the New York Times. He is a regular guy who owns a pluming business but who is also an Israeli activist who connects very deeply with the Palestinians. Below are some of the highlights from the Article that are so very true and honest. I think the powerful words DECENCY and UNDERSTAND are key to Mr. Nawi and I pray can be the future of the Middle East conflict.

(photo taken at the Mt. of Beatitudes, Galilee)

His family has trouble understanding his priorities. His mother says she thinks he is wasting his time. And many Israelis, when told of his work, wonder why he is not helping his own.

Mr. Nawi has an answer.

“I don’t consider my work political,”

he said between phone calls as he drove.

“I don’t have a solution to this dispute. I just know that what is going on here is wrong. This is not about ideology. It is about decency.”

Mr. Nawi attributes his activism to two things: as a teenager, his family lived next door to the leader of Israel's Communist Party, Reuven Kaminer, who influenced him. And he is gay.

“Being gay has made me understand what it is like to be a despised minority,” Mr. Nawi said.

Several years ago, he had a relationship with a Palestinian from the West Bank and ended up being convicted on charges of allowing his companion to live illegally in Israel. His companion was jailed for months.

Mr. Nawi said harassment against him had come in many forms. Settlers shout vicious antigay epithets. His plumbing business has been audited, and he was handed a huge tax bill that he said he did not deserve. He is certain that his phone calls are monitored. And those army jeeps are never far behind.

“I’m here to change reality,”

he said.

“The only Israelis these people know are settlers and soldiers. Through me they know a different Israeli. And I’ll keep coming until I know that the farmers here can work their fields.”

Peace in Poetry

Mahmoud Darwish is one of the most admired Arab poets. He was born in a village in upper Galilee, in 1942. In 1948, he fled with his family to Lebanon when the Israeli Army destroyed his village. A former member of the PLO’s Executive Council, and the Poet Laureate of Palestine, he wrote the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

photos I took from the roof of a friend's home in
Kalandia Refugee Camp, West Bank

The water tanks for when the water is shut off and the solar panels to save money and be more efficient. Amazing, even the refugee camps of the West Bank are ahead of the U.S. energy practices.

Mahmoud Darwish's poem, below, gives a simple yet deep vision of the future of Palestine when the oppression of the occupation is over and there is PEACE.

My favorite line,

"a dove will sleep in the afternoon in an abandoned combat tank"
Below is the poem in English then Arabic:

Another day will come, a womanly day diaphanous in metaphor, complete in being, diamond and processional in visitation, sunny, flexible, with a light shadow. No one will feel a desire for suicide or for leaving. All things, outside the past, natural and real, will be synonyms of their early traits. As if time is slumbering on vacation… “Extend your lovely beauty-time. Sunbathe in the sun of your silken breasts, and wait until good omen arrives. Later we will grow older. We have enough time to grow older after this day…”/ Another day will come, a womanly day songlike in gesture, lapis in greeting and in phrase. All things will be feminine outside the past. Water will flow from rock’s bosom. No dust, no drought, no defeat. And a dove will sleep in the afternoon in an abandoned combat tank if it doesn’t find a small nest in the lovers’ bed…

if you don't like the term...change it

sweet dreams

Tomorrow afternoon I will fly to a city I love
to visit friends I adore.

I can't wait to
ride the metro,
walk to a local bar,
laugh with friends,
drink tasty beverages,
give long overdue hugs,
dance until my feet hurt,
inhale the air from a rooftop,
be surrounded by monuments,
reminisce about good times
and
talk of future adventures.

Oh and if we so happen upon some late night empanadas...that would be ok too.

observer

photos from my visit to the Museum On The Seam - Jerusalem

"You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life."

The Observer

Doris Bühler sculpts the image of the observer contemplating the world from a different viewpoint.

“From an inquisitive angle, tense and dumb,”

says the artist.

“Are we capable of understanding and sensing the array and possibilities of our existence?”

Each moment is unique, and so are we, for every passing moment influences our concepts and our viewpoints. The burden of history influences our outlook and accordingly, we are unable to regard anything without subconsciously relating to the past. Our concepts are dictated by our human history and whatever we have experienced in the past. In this work I am trying to challenge rigid thought patterns.”

The "Observer" is introduced by the artist as a shining metallic head emerging from the earth. The head, generated by advanced technology, consists of over 300 aluminum plates welded together.

no wiggle room

(photo I took in the West Bank of an Illegal Settlement)

From a New York Times Article it would appear the U.S. is going to FINALLY start using words a little more to the point that "unhelpful".
Both used by former Secretary of State Ms. Rice and most recently Mrs. Clinton. So much for the all mighty U.S.A. it seems we have had a weak spot for Israel. Israel is like a spoiled child who the U.S. politely tells to stop doing forbidden activity like population transfer, which by the way is um... ILLEGAL (para 6). The WORLD and the U.S. tells them to stop but they continue as if they have lost their hearing... This is why I question having children...THEY DON'T LISTEN!!

Here are a couple things that might be important to understand before reading the article.

1. SETTLEMENTS are communities inhabited by Israelis in Palestinian territories (Illegal by International Law)

2. OUTPOST is a term used, often to describe a small Israeli settlements. While much smaller in nature than the average settlement, housing between one and a few families, they are often established without the approval of the Israeli Government (Illigal according to both Israeli law & International Law)

3. NATURAL GROWTH, is nothing more than a loophole, Israel uses to continue settlement expansion free of confrontation. Israel has expanded the meaning of “natural growth” to include not only births from the existing population, but also influxes of the migration populations.

Some of the important excerpts:

• In expansive language that left no wiggle room, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements — not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions.”

in response

• Mr. Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mark Regev, said that “normal life” would be allowed in settlements in the occupied West Bank, using the phrase that Israel often uses to describe continued construction to accommodate population growth.

• “This approach is predicated on the assumption that an Israeli prime minister needs a tough American president to justify tough decisions to an Israeli public,” said Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a former United States ambassador to Israel.

• “People in the American Jewish community and in Israel are sick of settlement activity. The whole zeitgeist has changed.”

New Soul

I'm a young soul
In this very strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout what is true and fake
But why all this hate?
Try to communicate
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make
la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

-Yael Naim

who are you?

Hi my name is K.C. and I'm FUTURISTIC an ACTIVATOR, RELATOR, MAXIMIZER and INDIVIDUALIZATION extraordinaire!

How do I know this you ask? Well its not from some cheesy facebook quiz or even from the horoscope section of the newspaper but rather from the very well respected people over at GALLUP.
When I was first accepted to Grad School a friend of mine who works at Gallup gifted me with this amazing book StrengthsQuest. Its a book but also available online.
Needless to say there are 34 different strengths or "themes" as Gallup calls them. I listed my top 5 in order. This evaluation was once again brought up in a class I had this quarter. It was interesting to learn what mine were again.

Today while procrastinating on a paper I started to do what I love most....LOOK to the Future.
I've been considering my "five year plan" and realized I only know what I'm doing up until 2012. If my math is correct I need to fill in two years... So for one of those years I've decided to consider an L.L.M. program in Geneva. I know its probably bad luck to even tell people about my plans. I might as well list all my birthday wishes. But truly I'm excited. I must admit I was also thinking of my upcoming trip to DC and NYC, but that is just cherry filling.

So I guess the Irony of all this, is that StregthsQuest told me this "Futuristic" theme is a Strength of mine. Oh really? because I'm pretty sure my International Humanitarian Law paper is not writing itself while I plan my future!

And...for those of you who are interested here is the run down of my "themes"
I strongly suggest you do it yourself. It not only gives your themes but also gives action items for those who are professionals or students. Really great stuff. I knew I was all these things but it puts a word to it and shows you HEY look this is what you're already good at, and this is how you should use it in School/Workforce. (oh and disclaimer, there is a small fee for the evaluation) But you can't put a price on something like this.

FUTURISTIC

“Wouldn’t it be great if . . .” You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. As if it were projected on the wall, you see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward, into tomorrow. While the exact content of the picture will depend on your other strengths and interests—a better product, a better team, a better life, or a better world—it will always be inspirational to you. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. They can energize others, too. In fact, very often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. You can paint it for them. Practice. Choose your words carefully. Make the picture as vivid as possible. People will want to latch on to the hope you bring.

ACTIVATOR

“When can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. You are impatient for action. You may concede that analysis has its uses or that debate and discussion can occasionally yield some valuable insights, but deep down you know that only action is real. Only action can make things happen. Only action leads to performance. Once a decision is made, you cannot not act. Others may worry that “there are still some things we don’t know,” but this doesn’t seem to slow you. If the decision has been made to go across town, you know that the fastest way to get there is to go stoplight to stoplight. You are not going to sit around waiting until all the lights have turned green. Besides, in your view, action and thinking are not opposites. In fact, guided by your Activator theme, you believe that action is the best device for learning. You make a decision, you take action, you look at the result, and you learn. This learning informs your next action and your next. How can you grow if you have nothing to react to? Well, you believe you can’t. You must put yourself out there. You must take the next step. It is the only way to keep your thinking fresh and informed. The bottom line is this: You know you will be judged not by what you say, not by what you think, but by what you get done. This does not frighten you. It pleases you.

RELATOR

Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people—in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends—but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk—you might be taken advantage of—but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

MAXIMIZER

Excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling. Strengths, whether yours or someone else’s, fascinate you. Like a diver after pearls, you search them out, watching for the telltale signs of a strength. A glimpse of untutored excellence, rapid learning, a skill mastered without recourse to steps—all these are clues that a strength may be in play. And having found a strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it, and stretch it toward excellence. You polish the pearl until it shines. This natural sorting of strengths means that others see you as discriminating. You choose to spend time with people who appreciate your particular strengths. Likewise, you are attracted to others who seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths. You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you well rounded. You don’t want to spend your life bemoaning what you lack. Rather, you want to capitalize on the gifts with which you are blessed. It’s more fun. It’s more productive. And, counterintuitively, it is more demanding.

INDIVIDUALIZATION

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.” Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

Have an Adventure

5 Ways to Have an Adventure

• Take the path in life you want, not the one others expect you to take.

• Turn fear into excitement by visualizing the best outcome of a risky decision.

• Commit to trying something new—twice a year.

• Don’t listen to naysayers; they’re secretly jealous of adventurers.

• Change a familiar routine—your morning ritual, the drive to work, Saturday gardening.

I'm really scared at this moment

*

All smiles to hide the FEAR

*

look mom - look dad

NO HANDS!

(still very scared)