ARTOMATIC

This weekend I went to a local art exhibit called Artomatic. It's a building that hosts around 10 to 12 floors of local art. I only viewed floor 12 and 11, but they were both phenomenal.
I spent about 20 minutes talking with this artist from Afghanistan. He showed me some of his art work that he was working on and we talked about painting. He urged me to start painting again and gave me some advice as far as getting frustrated while painting.

I do this with every piece of "art form" I pursue. If I start getting frustrated with my painting, I keep trying to fix it and I just end up ruining it more. Then I give up on the piece all together. I do the same thing when I try to write music. I get started on an idea, and then I get frustrated and never finish. I don't know how many little pop tunes or sounds I've created without ever finishing them...

Taurus' are known to be like this...they have great ideas, but never go about starting or finishing them because they don't think it will be great or are insecure about what others might think of the project, or are lazy. I tend to think if they aren't going the way I thought or if I'm not in love with it right away, it's not worth finishing. I need to stop this. Of course it's not going to be great at first. I'm just starting out. How can I expect to write an amazing song that I'm proud of in a day? Or paint with oils and expect a masterpiece. I have high expectations of myself...I need to just readjust my default thought process and keep at it and not give up or get frustrated. OR when I DO get frustrated, learn to walk away! This is a hard thing to do, but seriously....

After seeing all the amazing local artists (some not so much, but I appreciated their expressions through art) it made me want to paint again. I look forward to going home and getting out my oils..I owe Preslie a painted picture. I've been promising her one for a few years now.

The above picture is of this guy named Tony. He is very well known for his break-dancing skills. And I can attest to his dancing abilities! He makes girls quiver and scream in the audience! Did I forget to mention that at ARTOMATIC, there was the after party to this break dancing competition? Oh yea...it was filled with high school kids who could bust moves I only saw in "Bring it On" or "Step It Up" or whatever teen-dance movies are out. And these kids are so stylish and sassy! The hip-hop scene is awesome. I want to learn how to C-walk so bad!

Maybe I'll take a class...this week was pretty crappy. I've felt like I've been here two months, when really it's only been two weeks. I'm going to make more of an effort to get out and meet people. I'm so used to people coming to me and making friends with me first. I never make the first move. I'm sure my ex-boyfriends can reaffirm this. But, I'm going to try to be more assertive. If I want to make new friends, then I'm going to have to get out of my bubble of comfort and put myself out there. It's scary, not going to lie. I have a hard time opening myself up to people. I'm honest, so if someone asks me something I'll tell them, but, there are always things I don't say, I don't lie, but...I don't expose myself that much I suppose. I think it takes awhile for people to really get to know me. but....I'm only here for three months and dammit, I really want to meet new people and make some friends out here. So, here's to a week of trying to open myself up and meet people and not being so fucking awkward. I'm queen of being awkward and I need not be.

rant rant rant....here's to a fresh new week. I hope it gets better.

This is a picture of the ARTOMATIC building. You can tell I'm awesome at taking pictures at night.

Ripples International

Today I went to an informal meeting at the GAA-Global Aids Alliance. I heard a woman spoke from Kenya, her name is Mercy Chidi. This woman was incredibly inspiring and I left the meeting feeling more energized and excited about being in D.C. and working with a non-profit. Not that I haven't been excited, it's just been a weird transition.

Mercy Chidi started Ripples International. It's an organization that is focused on educating the people in Kenya about HIV-AIDS. Her organization is doing so much and they are getting great funding. Unfortunately and fortunately, she is also getting funding from PEPFAR. PEPFAR has a lot of problems with it: it just doesn't work. Her first hand accounts prove that it does not work. The Bush Administration is imposing their ideologies and will not fund your organization if you do no teach the ABC's: Abstinence, Be Faithful, and I forget what C is for. Maybe Condoms or contraceptives? I dont know...but the Bush administration won't fund you unless you are pro-abstinence. This woman told a first hand account about how PEPFAR doesn't work! People are going to have sex regardless if you tell them to or not. So you might as well give these teens the right information so they can make the right and conscious decisions about safe/safer sex.

This woman is clever in how she goes about teaching about condoms and HIV-AIDS to people in religious denominations, especially the Catholic Church. She approaches it more as a health concern than a contraceptive. It's been a bit successful in getting these pastors to change their mind set about condoms and be okay with her teaching HIV-AIDS in their churches.

This woman is so wonderful and inspiring. I came out of the meeting wanting to go to Africa and teaching HIV-AIDS prevention or going someone to help empower women and help with population control in Africa or India where their populations are dangerously high as far as their countries resources go.

I'm still not sure if this is what I want to do with the rest of my life, but it seems to be like a pretty good way to spend it--helping others and helping to do good in the world where our policies and politics are frustrating and depressing...

A lot of people in the field I've noticed are single. I wonder if this means if I decide to chose this route in life, if it might be a bit of a lonely life...moving a lot, not "settling down" , never owning a house....maybe I'll just have international love affairs or something..who knows...people who are 40 still don't know what they want. So I don't feel so bad if I don't have it together or know what I want at 23.

D.C. : An Encounter With Politics

Washington, D.C. : An exciting city where your political wants and desires may come true, well, maybe. It's where change is suppose to occur and strides in our democracy are made. Many other interns are working with congressmen; old, white, men. Following them around while getting them a bagel and coffee. My position in D.C. until August is to "fight the man" or more so..."influence the man and change his mind about spending bills".

I work with a non-profit. We lobby congress and try to work them to bring about change.
I personally believe this is more effective than yelling out chants and picketing on the side-walks demanding change. Although, that's fun too.

With the global food crisis going on, it is a very exciting time to be in D.C. and working with an organization whose main focus is global poverty and hunger.

Today, I went to a congressional hearing with Senator Joe Biden presiding. It was about the global hunger crisis and they had guest speakers from Oxfam. I was very exciting to be there, although, a repeating phrase I kept hearing was "we have to remember that this is a long-term problem." In the U.S. we are accustomed to automatic results. If our internet takes more than 30 seconds to load a page, we become immediatly frustrated and start clicking impatiently. Strike that..more than 10 seconds we do this!

The global hunger crisis is so interconnected with other problems in our society that to solve it, we need to solve the energy crisis as well, as well as political reform on transportation and how we spend our money. Not only this, but we need to invest in agriculture and agricultural technology. We need programs implemented that will teach poor nations how to farm and grow their own food in the most productive way possible.

People in Haiti are eating "cookies" made out of oil, mud, and sugar just to fill themselves up. No one should ever have to resort to eating dirt to feel full. We are most certainly in the middle of a global food crisis.

It is certainly depressing when I think about all the problems that we are faced with. It doesn't help that our 3 branches take forever to make decisions. First it goes through the Senate, then the House, then process seems to repeat and then it goes to the floor. Then the president vetoes the bill. Sometimes he doesn't...

I've only been here a few days now. I hope that through working with a non-profit, I do not lose all my hope in politics and the old-white-men running our country. Minus the House Majority leader...I sure do like you Mrs. Pelosi.