Islands

ugashik

2004-10-29T08:57:29Z

White Beluga whales swam past us sometimes in those jaded emerald waters and seals would steal fish from our nets, damaging them.

]]> On a boat for over a month with the same three people, bad food, but lots of good Chinook salmon to be eaten, lots of card games. It is always a little disorienting coming back. One day our mast broke off after attempting to help by towing from it a boat that had their web stuck in their propeller. We then traveled to an anchored up processing barge. Named the Artic Rose, it had people who could helped us weld the mast back together cause we couldn?t fish without it. We hadn?t showered for weeks and they gave us free dinner too. I ate beside Tony, a South African and beside a Filipino man I worked with in Adak. It was good seeing them again. We talked about rumors about the island. On my way back, on the planes, I had to stop in Anchorage for like seven hours and in the airport I got a hug from a Filipino who I had lived with for a while in Adak. Sometimes people in transit meet and remember good times. It was good.
Then the rest of the summer I travel in China and Thailand, met interesting people, traveled with some, shared expenses but it wasn?t the same at all. Even if I climb up the great wall and saw camels, learned how to cook thai food and did some kick boxing in Bangkok it wasn?t the same. Uhm but yes I still write to some people I met on Adak. I?m
Not sure I can say it is wonderful there but I have to say it was pretty unique. I?m not looking for wonderful. So when is the next island meeting, potluck, or conference?

October in N'Awlins

2004-09-29T18:44:05Z

I have finally gotten settled, so now I can write and tell you all about it. I got a real job! In an office, with a desk and a computer and my own telephone extension! Whoopee! I did it, I graduated and got a job! I am a legitimate adult! WOW!

]]>
so the other great part about my life is that my job is in New Orleans! uh, huh! oh so nice! so now i am a southen belle! and it is really fun! New Orleans is everything and more, than I had expected. The job I got is with the American Red Cross. I work in the Emergency Services/ Disaster Relief Department. And I just happened to move here just in time for Hurricane season which has made things pretty hectic. I got to evacuate last week! It wasn?t nearly as much fun as I had hoped it would be. Sleeping in a shelter really sucks! And sitting on the Lake Ponchatrain bridge going 5mph for 30 miles was really boring (The boats on the lake were getting across faster than we were!) But because they get so many natural disasters down here the Red Cross helps a lot of people and in return gets a lot of respect from the community So I guess I do feel pretty good about doing work to help the community, even though I totally took the job for my own selfish reasons. I got this job because I became a VISTA volunteer which is basically the domestic Peace Corps. So I signed up, and VISTA pays me but I work full on with the Red Cross. It?s working well for me. And now our dear Ms. Lydia is thinking of doing the same. It really is a pretty good deal. At the end of a year I get $5,000 to pay off student loans aka pay for Malta. And then I am free to go on and do what ever I want, become a rocket scientist, be a cowgirl, whatever sounds good. And so in the mean time I get to kick it here in the Big Easy. Nice, nice nice! It is so great! I take the street car to work every morning. (How classic!) And the people are really wonderful here. I swear they just have music flowing in the blood, I see people dancing all the time. I love waiting for the streetcar and seeing the school kids dancing around while they wait. It tends to be the boys, if they hear a beat they like from passing cars they just dance!. It is wonderful.
But as a whole New Orleans is a rough, gritty place. It?s not all wrought iron and hibiscus plants. Working for the Red Cross I have gone to all sorts of places. And it just can?t be lumped into ?bad neighborhoods? and ?good neighborhoods?. It is street by street. The poverty rate in Louisiana is nearly double what the national average is, making it number one in the USA. This year almost 900,000 people are living below the poverty line in Louisiana. As well as being the Big Easy, New Orleans is know as being The City that Care Forgot. Sad huh. I also read part of a report by the Children's Rights Council in Washington, D.C., that rated Louisiana as the worst state in which to raise a child, based on health care, abuse/neglect and education. I really don?t think that most people really realize just what reality is like in this city. The crime rate is out of this world and corruption is a historic problem. But through it all the people here are so nice and friendly. Everyone is willing to take the time to talk or answer questions. And doors are held open for me. And everyone calls each other ?my baby? ?how ya doin today mah baby?? The pace of life is nice and slow. And people don?t get stressed out if things don?t happen on time. It is really just a great place to be living for a year! I?ve been here a full month and it just keeps getting better. I am really happy! So I just have to say it. Of course, of course, any islander who can get the airfare together has a welcome place to stay in New Orleans! I would love to see you guys again.

I hope you all are doing well,
rika

Life After Islands

2004-08-11T01:50:03Z

So evedently my blog is still active and I can continue to use it... I did it, I graduated and now I am going to be a Success! I'll write more later and prove it. I've got big news! Yippee, Yippee

MY ACADEMIC QUEST IS COMPLETED! I AM A GRADUATE!

2004-06-13T20:58:59Z

But I'm not getting a big head about it folks...oh no. You see, I don't believe that a bachelor's degree is the be-all end-all of getting a job. Its a foot, more like a toe, in the door. The rest will depend on my seemingly inexhaustible supply of charisma (tee hee) and self-confidence.

]]> I loved the graduation ceremony. I've never been to one before and really felt honored by it. I had some girls behind me, however, that huffled and snuffled and gave other dismissive nasal expulsions during Vandana Shiva's speech. If I wasn't so done up and adult and respectable, I would have karate-chopped them with my cool little hat.
Now, I'm just biding my time in this little town till my next move. The past couple of days I have been really tired (and I don't think its because half of my bloodstream is now legally champagne). I think its because I feel its the end of an era, a phase in my life that has now ended. So I'm having a little rest before I work my bottom off separating a fishes brains from its semen. Come to think of it, the ability to distinguish brains from semen is a very good skill to have, at least in determining sources of creativity. So there you go, all jobs are useful in some way.
Until next time, or the blog meets the same demise as the listserv!
Lyd

What the hell, I'm going to blog... cause I feel like it!

2004-06-10T11:18:42Z

Yeah, I'm gonna blog.
I can't believe I'm graduating from college! I've been going to school since I was five years old and now I'm 21 and its over.

]]> It feels right, though: I can't wait to start exploring the world and exposing myself to new experiences. Olympia can only provide so much stimulation. First, to Toronto. Then, Petersburg, Alaska. After that, I come back for Hesper's wedding. Then, back to New Zealand and I'm going to hike a ten day track around Stewart Island. If my thirst for travel is still not slaked, I'll venture on to Western Australia in the winter. These are the plans for now.
I've loved Evergreen this past year, but it has mostly been because the people in my class are so intelligent, funny and adventurous. Without them, it would have been another frustrating year (I get easily frustrated---perhaps that's why I've got so much energy all the time). I bumped into some slow-witted shiftless art students the other day and I thought "ah well, perhaps it is better that I leave on a high note, 'cos these guys could be in my class next time". So once again, all you islanders, you rock. Of course I'm probably writing this to empty air, since no one reads the blogs anymore. So, Hell, I'll spill a few secrets: I'm actually from Barrow, Alaska! I have three nipples! I lied about going to New Zealand and actually just went to Steamboat Island! Ha HAAAAAA!

WE WENT THERE!

2004-06-05T19:33:31Z

coming to a close

2004-06-01T04:19:45Z

hello anybody still here. well, my presentation is on wednesday, june 2nd at 11:15 if anyone wants to show up in the new seminar building. it's tittle is stray dogs: concepts of ownership. this year is coming to a close and i am just packing up and getting ready to go be a counsler at skylake yosemite camp i can't wait to be back at my second home. it's been a while but i still dream about being back there, so many memories, so many lessons i learned in my shildhood. right now i am still pulling everthing together and trying to look deeper into what i have learned. greece was such a greqt learning expierence and i need to trust myself and my intuition more. well, i should go to bed, i have a full day ahead tomorrow of learning of my fellow classmates's travels.

Let the Islands Conference Begin

2004-05-24T13:05:30Z

It has been a month since we gathered at the Longhouse for our welcome back
potluck. Tomorrow the Islands Conference opens at Evergreen. In case there
are any blog fans out there who would like to see the conference schedule,
here is the link http://mediaspace.evergreen.edu/islands/schedule.html.

presentations and a camping trip

2004-05-15T15:38:28Z

hello to whomever is reading this,
well, i am about to leave for an overnight camping trip to some hotsprings for a mini vacation. presentations are coming up at the end of this month and i have been working frantically. last thursday i spent about 4 hours in the computer lab scanning about 100 pictures onto a disk so i can use it in a powerpoint presentation. i have also been mounting panaroma opictures glued together on posterboard. my theme is stray dogs: concepts of ownership. well, i am excited to go to the beautiful olympic pennunsulia today, all the green surrounding me as i bath in naturally hot mineral water. i hope i make it okay. have wonderful days and even more splendid nights.

Cigarettes: part two

2004-05-15T08:20:45Z

"A fire at one end and a fool at the other."

-Kurt Vonnegut

Nica Pics

2004-05-08T21:12:41Z

Here's some images to fill in some of the blanks.

-Stu

Alejo- Spanish Teacher
View image

San Ramon's Waterfall
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My Car in Managua
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Full Moon Party
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Pier at Granada
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Presto Coffee: Number One Convicts Choice!
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Shadow Under Tree
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YIPPEES

2004-05-04T02:49:02Z

Yeah, so I'm now in the process of writing haikus based off of the materials that I've brought back from New York, the interviews, the pictures, and what ever else I can think of. So here's some YIPPIE inspired haikus....

]]> =YIPPEE=

as i infiltrate
they argue over joints
a mere distraction

all the liberals
are only as strong as their
gun toting psychos

living underground
just isn?t as glamorous
as they expected

nobody feeds you
nobody will stop the war
and nobody cares

working as one we?ll
evacuate the cities
its rear guard action

exploiting turmoil
his strategy of tension
created demands

the criticism
is almost complete bullshit
but the kids don?t care

the streets without joy
are full of broken men and
cops without mercy

a ground swell of rage
brings on the revolution
the cycle repeats

undercover feds
stern with their pistols gleaming
emerge from the filth

blind from the power
radicals cleaning their guns
justify the means

to control a crowd
give some of them some power
to keep the rest down

passive suffering?s
acceptable behavior
for those with morals

what they call ?mobile
civil disobedience?
some call a riot

sufferings noble
and dead people are still the
noblest of all

forget felonies
when a mere misdemeanor
will work just as well

he?s just a yuppie
who thinks that reality
doesn?t effect him

mixing religion,
science and psychedelics,
Dana Beal fights smack

opiate addicts
seek salvation through holy
gabonese secrets

the man is trying
to remove all traces of
soul from the body

to keep their power
they need us all to need them
but when will we learn?

infectious disease
can be found in the water
and in the needle

the tree of life has
twelve fruits, iboga has twelve
indole alkaloids

tired and removed
the doctor prescribed him
safe, approved, pep pills

subway haikus

2004-05-04T02:42:14Z

So here's some haikus I wrote when I was on the subway...

]]> =14th st. station 1 and 9 line=

people float along
like sediment in rivers
the debris collects

drag queens dressed sharp
their clothes much nicer than mine
beg for my change

=L Train Ave 1=

hay seed rocking out
twanging the southern rhythms
for suits and stiffs

=L train to 8th Ave=

the subway car's full
of sweaty stinking people
packed in like fish

scratching and sniffing
they?ve all got somewhere to go
those L train hipsters

high heels pointy toes
stumble down the isle way
lacking any grace

=14 st. on the ACE=

the uptown hustlers
wheeling dealing and stealing
pinch all the pennies

=E train to Harlem=

ragged bag lady
sequins in her oily hair
knows the difference

somewhere on the way
a fever took hold of me
and its all changed

at some point I knew
but then all of a sudden
I wasn?t so sure

self doubt is real
while it won?t keep you happy
it will keep you safe

the car was empty
except for two homeless men
sleeping and stinking

the tracks disappear
as they stretch out forever
into the darkness

the dog is hidden
buried in the woman's purse
but we hear the moans

on one twenty fifth
I am painfully aware
that I?m the white man

WHAT NOW--CAN you TELL ME?

2004-05-03T21:38:23Z

I hate being back. It makes little sense.

This rough outline of how things are supposed to come together isn't coming together.

Feel like I need to see the music selector for the soul reflector.

looking for a good beat

not off but on

perhaps four on the floor

or maybe nine to eight.

What do you think?

Where have all the groovers gone?

Did they run behind the crisp green trees

here in oly and get taken somewhere else

beautiful?

Or were they only here for a moment and now the cool thing is to be sexually abused and globally conscious?

Am I supposed to feel bad because I like what I do and I happen to be a white male?

Ok then it is what it is.

Cool

going home(to los angeles)

2004-05-01T06:51:09Z

it's 2:40 am and i am getting up before eight to catch a flight to finally go home and be in my love's arms. i am back in a comfortable enviorment(olympia), but i am not quite home yet. well, i will be soon enough. i just watched "kill bill" for the first time a little while ago. it was really similiar to "pulp fiction" in the sense that it was done in the same style, just different content. i was a little dissappointed in it because when pulp fiction came out it was totally different from anything that was came out before. it was in it's own league. this one is so similiar to the style of pulp fiction that is not startingly new. i liked the way it was done, i.e. the camera shots, lighting, frames, and artistic cinemeatogrophy, but i think quintin tarintino has it in him to blow us away and create something completely new but didn't. it was enjoyable to watch, which is more than can be said for most recent movies. well, i am off to bed and back on a plane . i hope all is well for anyone who is reading this.