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August 20th, 2006
10:29 pm
jesus, would you guys update this thing already? i'd love to hear what you're up to! i'm sorry i haven't fucking called etc. lately- life has been intense. i'll call SOON.
i miss and love all of you- be well, take care of each other for me, i send many hugs and more joints-
leah
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July 6th, 2006
06:24 pm
i'm not sure if anyone actually reads this anymore, but for the record:
portland is fucking amazing. i'm learning right now how to formulate a campaign plan. we're going to the oregon country fair this weekend to register people to vote. i had a conversation with an employee at great harvest yesterday, and it went like this:
me: we're going to the country fair! i'm stoked!
luke: have you ever gone before?
me: no!
luke: do you like to smoke weed?
me: YES, very much!
luke; oh MAN, you are going to LOVE THE COUNTRY FAIR.
so life is amazing. i was on the pacific ocean for the fourth of july, registering voters and trying not to get hit by fireworks. still working about 12 hours a day. i'm exhausted but it's a good kind of exhaustion. it's the exhaustion of knowing that you seriously cannot squeeze another task into the day.
i hope you guys are all doing well- i miss you all lots and lots and think of you often. happy SUMMER!!
leah
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March 23rd, 2006
07:49 am - a list of things
i did today!
1. woke up with a migraine. promptly threw up and went back to bed.
2. got my first massage. me: "is it SUPPOSED to hurt that much when you're rubbing my arm?" her: "have you been hauling water or chopping wood?" me: "... no..." her: "well you've been holding onto SOMETHING."
3. went out to lunch with a fantastic older liberal, who bought me a nice sandwich
3a. played harp. lots and lots and got blistas on my fingas.
4. had a martini at 4:00 and found a place that has bottomless wine for $10 between the hours of 3 and 7. that's a lot of time. and a LOT of wine.
5. chased after our car as it was being towed
6. went to church and sucked down bad coffee while trying not to think about smoking
7. had half a cigarette
8. took a bath
9. got my grades (woooooooO!) and had a subsequent gigantic gin and tonic
10. figured out what i want to do this summer (oregon?!)
11. haven't been able to sleep because i'm having coffee with phil tomorrow and i'm going to have a seizure/stroke/heart attack right now and every moment until then
12. going to duluth tomorrow to get drunk, see friends
13. going to northland friday to get drunk, see friends
14. going to a rally at the state capitol tomorrow morning at seven fucking am for gay marriage rights. mom's speaking, woooooot!
break fuccking rooocoks.
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March 9th, 2006
05:05 am
i gave my first public speech today! there was a protest at the flagpole on campus to stand in solidarity with the students who were arrested in the reynolds club for doing a protest against military recruiters on campus, and they asked me to speak. so uh, i did. my knees were knocking together (literally) like CRAZY- my hands were shaking so badly i could barely read the paper. i talked too fast i think, but i felt good delivering it, and at the end a bunch of counter-protesters walked through without pants on. so it was a good day overall. ROCK.
I’d first like to say, as someone who was there when the protesters were
arrested in the Reynolds Club last week, that the charges by the
administration that suggest the Sparticists were creating an unsafe
environment are erroneous and ridiculous. What I saw was a realization by
the students that the administration was trying to hush up the arrests, a
reaction in the form of chanting to bring attention to what the
administration was doing, and the administration’s arrest of the shouting
students as a defensive mechanism, seemingly in order to keep the entire
situation quiet.
I was extremely disturbed by the events that I witnessed- when the
protestors got handcuffed and escorted out of the Reynolds Club I saw in
them my friend Charly and I saw Aaron and I saw Phil and I saw Emily Pimm
and I saw Heather Rosenfeld and I saw myself and I saw all of those who
have been working for years to promote social change, and again I saw
those in power doing their best to uphold the status quo and to silence
those who would object.
I have seen an outrageous number of activists shunned out of public
arenas lately.
When Hillary Clinton was in Chicago in December to speak at Roosevelt
University, a group of students began protesting, and I saw a man dragged
over auditorium seats by three security guards while the audience angrily
demanded his silence. His screams of, “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS
LIKE!” reverberated in the rafters tens of minutes after he was gone.
I was in Washington DC this past weekend for a meet up of activists who
have been working for the preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, and the final event on Monday night was a semi-swanky get-
together at the Canadian Embassy. The organizers of the event thanked the
Canadians for their hospitality, saying that it was a safe haven for US
activists in a time when it felt like a breach of the law to work for peace and
environmentalism.
And of course I saw the four students arrested two Tuesdays ago, for
protesting an entity that is currently in Iraq under the supposed-intention
of bringing democracy and freedom of speech to the Iraqi people. Ironic.
Those students were arrested in a space that has, in all respects, been
designated a student space, our Canadian embassy, our outpost on
campus where we’re encouraged to air views and heckle people for
signatures and sell wares. Arresting students in this space, with trumped
up charges of disruption of the peace, is outrageous behavior for an
institution that prides itself in expanding the “Life of the Mind”.
I don’t care what kind of red tape legal jargon reasoning the administration
has for the arrests. I don’t care that some people found the sign to be in
poor taste. When students are arrested at the University of Chicago for
utilizing their First Amendment Rights (which aren’t, incidentally,
suspended while on private property) we should be extremely concerned.
As activists, we are obligated to mobilize around this issue, regardless of
political leanings or persuasions. If our safe space is closed, where do we
have to turn to rally for social change?
So I reiterate the demands of the students who were arrested, on behalf of
them, and behalf of all of us who will continue disrupting the peace until a
point where that disruption turns into positive change.
Drop all charges. Administration, hands off the protestors. No disciplinary
actions.
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February 19th, 2006
06:53 am
what's interesting to me:
i met a girl who is also from duluth tonight at a party, which was totally random. she went to denfeld, which was a school on the west side of duluth, which usually comes with connotations that are totally contrived. but what she said stuck with me in a huge way:
"this place sucks. i'm transferring."
which makes me wonder:
is it a duluth thing? that we realize the importance of certain things that this school disregards? what is it about duluth that makes such dissident individuals? k kids, seriously- why are we at this school? what is it that we don't think we'll be able to find anywhere else? why do we feel elite, at a place that encourages such ideas without the backing of anything real? i would venture that the people that the american press pay the LEAST attention to, those who make the most difference for their local communities, who live the lives that are most potent to everything that is human, did NOT graduate from a place that was as distinguished as this. so why the fuck do we bother? so this place exposes us to locke, hobbes, and durkheim. when you bring ANY of those dead men up, HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL RELATE TO SUCH REFERENCES? and because so few can relate, are they really important?
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January 29th, 2006
08:01 am
there were bells, on a hill, but i never heard them ringing, no i never heard them at all, till there was you.
there were birds, in the sky, but i never heard saw them winging, no i never saw them at all, till there was you.
-beatles
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December 25th, 2005
06:26 pm
i hate christmas.
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December 22nd, 2005
01:36 pm
it has definitely hit that point, which i hit at every break, where i need to NOT be on break at home anymore. god i love these people (as in my family) to death but it seems inevitable that the one night i REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY NEEEEEEEED to drink/smoke, like more than i've wanted to in about uh forever, no one is in town because our breaks don't motherfucking match up. that's when i start thinking nasty thoughts about the university of chicago, and when i want to write a nasty letter to the dean asking why they did this. i'm beginning to suspect the reason has something to do with the further alienation of the u of c students: let's seperate them even MORE from their peers!! it'll build CHARACTER! they'll be better SCHOLARS! less time thinking about friends, more time to read nonfiction! GENIUS!
(speaking of, you guys have to read jane goodall's book Harvest for Hope- it changed my life.) (no joke.)
so yeah, that's where i sit tonight. i got to spend a WEEK at phil's right when i got home, which was amazing in every way. we didn't do anything incredibly exciting- lots of poker, lots of watching (and simultaneously mocking) fox news, lots of just being together, which is possibly the most blissful, exciting thing we could have done. just being around him makes me giddy, and makes my heart pound. i don't know how to describe him- but what i can say is that it's hard to kiss him sometimes because he makes me laugh too much. it does not get better than that, friends.
(oh hey, you guys trained me well- a friend of phil's said i make smoking hookah look sexy. hell yeah chicago!!)
we had the second best date of all time, which was getting stoned and watching the history channel special on the romans. every five seconds the history channel would drop this huge bomb on us, like, "you think aqueducts were cool??! JUST WAIT UNTIL AFTER THIS COMMERCIAL!!" and so phil and i would wait with baited breath, stoned-ly trying to guess as to what the romans could have done that was cooler than THOUSANDS of miles of aqueducts that were STILL STANDING even though they didn't use any sort of mortar between the stones, and then BAM!! the history channel reveals that the romans had FLUSHING TOILETS. mind-blowing. i would be content to sit with him and watch the history channel for days and days. he's coming to chicago for a week, probably around january 6th, which should be kick ASS- i can't wait for you guys to meet him. he's stellar, and i'm friggin crazy as hell about him. HUZZAH!!!
so since then i've been just kind of hanging out at the house in the cities, trying to not care about christmas, waiting for inspiration for something to strike, trying not to count days until i get to see phil again. i'm heading out to wyoming on friday, which should be pretty kick ass. going through books like no one's business, which is refreshing and lovely. contemplated being a vegan for awhile, and am still considering it, but with all of the christmas cookies just hanging around our house, it's not the right time. i've developed an unhealthy adoration of tofu stir fry, and have been called a dirty hippie by my brother at least three times a day since being home.
tomorrow is the huge, first, step-family and us extravaganza thing- it should be interesting. i'm hoping my stepbrother and i can get drunk and make fun of each other all day. that would liven things up.
new years is going to rooooock. is it cool if some northland kids come to party?
see you guys on the 31st!! lkdjsfajk;dlsfajk;lfdsaj;kdlfsajk;lsadf!!
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December 6th, 2005
04:50 pm
yo, trevor!
if you were here, i'd say:
"TREVOR! let's go play the most righteous game of all time. it starts with an R. we can smuggle in a boom box in a suitcase (which looks so natural to walk into a gym with) ("uh yeah, ha, i need a lot of clothes on when i work out"), and listen to old nineties pop hits, and bug the shit out of everyone else there! it's the perfect day for that special game- it's cold outside. my roommate is claiming it is "-13 DEGREES CELSIUS!!" , as if she's actually shocked that the weather would do something like that to her, in her south african accent, and i think that means 1. she thinks it's pretty cold, and 2. it is probably pretty effin cold outside, even in the right kind of measurments (ie fahrenheit). that means that an indoor game, coupled with some jamming tunes, coupled with the stress of everyone with finals, would make today MOST fantastic."
i would also say:
"there's this killer stir fry at pierce now. YES, pierce! remember how we were so friggin disgusted by pierce, and so very complacent about bartlett? maybe bartlett had some kick ass stir fry, but i never tried it. now at pierce they have a tofu, water chestnut, tomato, red paper, soy sauce over noodle thing that i am addicted to. i dreamed about it last night. that is not a good sign."
i would follow that with:
"i dreamed last night about the circulatory system. i think i don't need to study anymore. that is a scary thing to dream about. the circulation system looks remarkably like a zombie when standing by itself, especially if it comes lurching towards you while you shout the anti-curse, which is naming all of its parts: "SUPERIOR VENA CAVA!!! LEFT ATRIUM!! OH MY FUCKING GOD, ARTERIOLES FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!""
to top that story, i would probably have to say something like:
".... people don't you know, don't you know it's about time! can't you hear the jam is pumpin while you taste the piece of mine! many different flavours and the bass is strong, get into the hot stuff let me pour a little on..."
so:
"... that song is kind of SICK. i don't think i've ever really read the first lines before, is he talking about what i THINK he's talking about?"
and finally:
"i wish you were here."
and ps.:
"you're CUTE bald!!"
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November 7th, 2005
10:36 pm
if you guys have nothing better to do tonight, (which you probably don't if you're reading this) eco club has hosted a discussion that i'm leading about the issue of drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge. it should be pretty effin rocking! free treats, you get to hear about an INSANELY important issue, and... yaaayyy!!
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October 25th, 2005
11:59 am
"doing the garden, diggin the weeds, who could ask for more? will you still need me, will you still feed me, when i'm sixty four?"
there is something blissful about that song- it's such a simple, realistic vision of married life.
SO! i'm 21. i had a moment last night where i was like, "damn... i could use some booze..." and then it hit me that i can just wander down the street and buy all the booze that i can drink, if i had the ambition to go out of my room. what a LOVELY thought! the party was most righteous- birthdays for me aren't really even about the fact that i'm older, it's more of a reality check in terms of all of the great people in my life. i got calls and random cake and a restaurant full of strangers singing to me just for the sheer joy of watching someone turn red- there was one woman at the next table who sang so enthusiastically she could have been my aunt. people are so good. so a thousand thanks, friends of all sorts, for your presence in my life- it wouldn't be half as fun without you.
also went out to the bar with erin and sofia on saturday night, which was HILARIOUS in that here i was, fully prepared, 21, ready to be carded and to hell with ya, and the bartender honestly couldn't have cared if i coudln't have seen over the bar. i bought us all guinesses and toasted being legal when no one really gave a shit- there's some novelty in that, as well. about half an hour after we started drinking a random guy slowly sat down at our table, hefting a full pitcher of beer. he poured himself a glass and struck up a conversation with the three of us- i can't for the life of me remember what he wanted to talk about. we had a large argument about the iraq war and then he left, after like an hour of random drunken banter. we toasted his absence, and kept drinking, and then miguel showed up and chilled for a bit. after drunkenly establishing that "our beef" in his words, is behind us, we all kept drinking- we're on pitcher two by now. we left half of it at the table, and headed to the drunk van. i forget what our cue to leave was- i distinctly remember a change in vibe, where things were cool and then BAM- things were not cool anymore and the scene started feeling weird. we had crackers and cheese at sofia's (hells yea!) and headed home.
i fell asleep in the reg for three hours sunday. that was pretty much the most remarkable part of sunday.
and monday we got stoned.
and now it's tuesday, i have a midterm in some hours, and life is pretty good, on the whole. phil and i are still talking every day; it sucks having him so far away. like really sucks. and i don't know how likely it is that he'll be able to come between now and thanksgiving, as previously decided because time is going so friggin fast, and before i know it i'll be in minneapolis seeing him anyways. but the idea of not seeing him until the middle of november is enough to make me want to start coughing blood. so dramatic. there are definitely days where i would trade everything i have to be able to spend five minutes just LOOKING at him, face to face, or to be able to kiss his hands. gotta love falling for someone who is nine hours away.... seriously.
oh and hey, trev! me and matt were talking about italy the other day! i told him the story of you drinking straight out of the bacardi bottle on the train and OH MAN did he laugh. you're a bad ass motherfucker, trevor- we have to do that again SOON. i love you!
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October 3rd, 2005
11:27 pm
if anyone knows of any jobs available (that are NON-work study because i already have a work study job) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know! money acquisition= top priority right now!
also, just so you all know, you can go to ireland for $125 one-way in january and march. just to tempt you a little. merry christmas/happy birthday/happy new year/happy never having money again to me?
sorry that last link didn't work- it was a clip of the march! most righteous!
thanks for everyone's concern on saturday night. i was most WICKEDLY trashed. the ride back from matt's house took about a century and a half; BUT all in all it was a lovely evening- lots of good company. i THINK we kicked ass at flip cup? maybe that's selective memory.... northwestern actually had a SONG they sang i think. lots of clapping. i was thrilled.
waking up with a fever AND a hangover is disgusting, don't ever do it.
annnnd... that's about it! lots of class, lots of reading, lots of self-medicating with citrus fruits and honey, lots of naps. lots of phone calls with a beautiful man who is too far away for me to make out with. unfair. but so it is, huh?
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October 1st, 2005
September 28th, 2005
03:37 am
ok, so livejournal veterans, do i write in this anymore? i mean, technically the only people who read it are AT u of c...??
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September 21st, 2005
04:06 pm
girly entry:
i went on a date yesterday- i asked this guy out (my first time i've EVER done that) when he sang at my church because he had one of the most GORGEOUS operatic voices i had ever heard. it was a very tiring date- lots of awkward silences and him saying i should stay in minneapolis instead of going to chicago; awkward laughter is really the only response to someone saying something like that after knowing me for two hours.
i just realized i'm ridiculously spoiled by the truly hilarious and interesting people in my life. steve farrell absolutely spoiled me- i hung out with him and got stoned all sunday night, fingerpainting and laughing and listening to him play guitar and eating candy corn until i felt like my teeth were rotting out of my head. i ended up staying over at his house, and thinking back on this i wonder why i even bother dating- i'm so spoiled by his friendship that dating just seems... like a lot of work.
and um.... i'm going to chicago TOMORROW.*
*but probably won't be able to hang out until friday afternoon/evening- mom's here. and she's gonna cry. ;)
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September 15th, 2005
01:33 pm
i'm living in the shoreland- in a house that sounds like "sylvie" but probably isn't, according to julie. and i'm on the ten zillionth floor? no idea about the roommate. coming into chicago next thursday with mom, moving in friday, flying out friday night, flying back in monday night, massive parties ensue.
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September 12th, 2005
01:49 am
after finding out that 96%* of the US's crops go to feeding livestock, i decided (three hours ago) to be a vegetarian, and have, since that moment, spent the entire night thinking of gyros, so i can't sleep. it's two in the morning. i've been at northland for the weekend, and have spent it by the lake with gorgeous hippies. i also realized that if i'm going to be doing everything i want to be doing in the next four months, i'm going to visit a different state every month. OBSERVE:
september: anti-war march in d.c.
october: kansas potential
november: georgia for the School of the Americas protest
december: wyoming, visiting dad
i'm sunburnt and happy. my lungs have taken a severe hit this weekend- lots of pot, lots of cloves, lots of rollies. there was a dance outside on friday night with a cajun band and i have never seen such ridiculously beautiful hippie dancing. every man was shirtless. people were jumping around like mad, dancing with themselves, or holding hands like kids while they hopped and flailed their arms, dreds flying. life is too damn good for words.
(*DISCLAIMER: i haven't personally researched this stat, but the person who told me took a sustainable agriculture and farming class this summer, so they're MOST LIKELY legit.)
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September 1st, 2005
04:03 pm
off to minneapolis this evening. this summer went fucking fast.
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August 25th, 2005
12:49 pm
ANTI WAR MARCH ON DC
september 24-26. anyone interested, airfares from chicago are 150 bucks!!!! CHEAP! and lodging will be cheap because we're all going to cram into rooms/hostels, etc.
it's a "united for peace" movement, definitely in support of the soldiers but doing that the best way possible: asking for them to be brought back. so if anyone is interested, i can hook you up with details.
(you don't HAVE to miss monday- always can fly back sunday.)
612-419-2570!
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August 17th, 2005
03:50 pm
i spent about half an hour trying to search out mom's hospital online before finally caving and calling her new husband on his cell, a number i didn't have until today and didn't think to have: why would i possibly need it? afer a quick talk about where the hospital is and how she's doing (in an effort to send flowers) i begin the traditional "ok well thanks for your help" and am stopped halfway through when he says, in the amazingly gentle voice he has, "it meant a whole lot to your mom that you sent along so much love this morning." and suddenly it's a grinding halt moment and i start losing it, crying in the middle of my uncle's office, trying to catch up with my fucking life.
mom called this morning on her way; judging by my blurred, half-asleep vision it was about five thirty a.m., and i tried to convey to her over the phone the depth of my love and tried to keep from her the abyss of my worry. at this point we weren't sure what was going to happen- everything was incredibly, inexplicably fragile and unsure. it seemed like things could go either way very simply- she could be completely fine in five hours, or not. the worry that we always have for family members was sitting right next to me in bed instead of being banished to the outer limits of my thoughts where i usually stash it. i sent her sunflower vibes and hung up, a cramp in between my eyebrows from unconsciously holding the same expression for too long.
so she's out of surgery, and they know now that the ominous cyst is benign, and in the midst of this Cooper is on the phone telling me how much this morning meant, and i can't even handle it. he's going to be there for her when i am $300 dollars of plane tickets away. he'll cook her soup and probably acquiesce to her demand for chocolate, even though she probably shouldn't have it, and will massage her feet, just because he can. and because he loves her.
and finally i can breathe again, you know? mom never asked me to take care of her during the whole divorce bullshit, it was just something i did because i fucking love her and because she was broken. and it finally feels like that part of my life is over, or at least the caretaking has been cut to half-time. the reinforcements have arrived and they've brought glue in the form of foot massages and soup and chocolate and beer and love.
vive aujourd'hui.
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