Zimbabwe

If you are someone who has never travelled outside of the US, then you will probably read this and say "Well it doesn't affect me so why should I care". Ugh. That is the typical, selfish, ugly American attitude that so much of the rest of the world hates. Wherever I travelled outside of the US, I always found some "ugly Americans". I'm not saying we are all like this, but it is this closemindedness that infuriates other countries. Oh, if you don't know where Zimbabwe is, get off your lazy butt and look at a map! Ugh.

On with my topic. Zimbabwe. My best friend is currently living and working for an aid organization in Tanzania. She previously lived and worked (for the same organization) in Zimbabwe and that is actually where she met her husband. She was recently home for a short visit which is when I learned of the horrors that are occurring over in Zimbabwe. I felt embarrassed that I had to learn of this, not from our coveted news organizations, but from my friend. She, also, was in disbelief that there was nothing on the news about it. I only found it online after searching for information on Zimbabwe.

Here's the story: Zimbabwe held an election in which the current president appeared to be losing. Apparently he was going to concede until the hard line cronies convinced him not to. Now, not only did he force there to be a run off election, he is forcing people to vote for him! How you say, is he forcing people to vote for him? Well, for starters, people who have been rumored to have voted for the opposition have been seen being beaten to death. Now he has told all of the aid organizations in the country to stop what they are doing - do not give out any more aid. My friend advised when she was there, they gave out food on an emergency basis, meaning only to those who had no food and no way to get food. So effectively, there are now thousands of people starving....but wait! They can get food....if they vote for the president. How nicely that works out for him. Unfortunately he has brought in thugs to villages that are known to back the opposition to beat some senses into them. From what I have read in the news stories I found on the web, Zimbabwe's elections next week are anticipated to set off a storm of violence in the country.

I know this is hard for most of us to understand in our comfortable, air conditioned homes. Think about what it might be like to be tortured for wanting to vote for a particular candidate...or even just being accused of thinking about voting a certain way, even if it wasn't true. Or maybe you were seen chatting with your neighbor, who was found to be thinking of voting for that certain candidate - guilty by association. Peoples homes are being torched in the middle of the night. Mothers are jumping out back windows with the infants as thugs rush in the front doors. Teachers in particular are being targeted so most have fled, leaving the educational system in shambles.

So who cares? What are we supposed to do about? Good question. I don't really know the answer to that one yet. But stay posted, I will have updates on this one.

The election is scheduled for June 27th so keep a close eye on the news then.

Pregnant Man

What a more fitting tribute to Father's Day than the story of the first pregnant man! You heard me right...if you haven't already heard of this or read the story, just google "pregnant man" and the story of Thomas Beatie will come up. So Thomas used to be a woman and decided she wanted to be a man, but didn't want to be a man completely b/c she said to leave in the ovaries...?

OK, so I don't really think it's a fitting tribute. I mean I figured it would happen sooner or later, but not like this. Thomas isn't really a man, not in my eyes anyway. Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with the transgender group; I mean do what ya have to do to rest your tortured soul...but don't call yourself a man if you still have ovaries! Unfortunately I'm not sure what I would call him/her....like life isn't confusing enough and he/she is going to bring a child into the world this way? It's not like the child won't find out about him/her, I mean the whole world knows! I just don't think it's fair to make a child's life more difficult than you already know it's going to be.

Thomas who used to be Tracy, was actually quite pretty as a woman. This website has the story and photos http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/0806_exclusive_pregnant_man.shtml

On behalf of myself for the Father of my kids and for all Fathers out there...Happy Father's Day!

And on a Lighter Note....Men's Fashion!

So after my last blog, I guess I need to lighten things up a little. Actually, if she were here, I think she would get a good laugh out of this one.

So every morning at 7am I head to the bus stop with my daughter, where we sit and wait in the car for about 6 minutes until the bus comes. There are 4 other kids who also wait there, all boys, two of whom look like grown men but are only in the 8th grade. The other morning one of these 8th grade boys had on a pair of long shorts. You know the ones I mean. They wear long shirts over them so you can't really tell where the waist is - are they pulling them down on purpose so they hang low? Or do they really make jean shorts like this? These came down and stopped halfway b/w his knee and ankle.

Think about this people...halfway b/w his knee and ankle....if this were a woman, these would be........capris! So I told my daughter when she walks by him she should say "Nice capris" to really make his day...my daughter actually laughed at my joke but would never consider saying that to him.

So there you have it....bet you didn't realize there were capris for men out there...they can call them board shorts, street shorts, whatever....we know they are manpris (pronounced "man prees").

I dare you...the next time you see some teenage boy wearing these...just casually walk by and say..."Nice capris!"

Wake Up and Realize Life Is Too Short....

I am taking time out today to honor the memory of one of my very dear friends. She was one of my best friends in high school and we remained friends through college and after, although we went our separate ways. Of course once we married and had children, as with most, the daily/weekly ruts are harder to get out of and find time for your friends. So yes, we lived close by but our lives drifted in different currents.

About 4 years ago my husband and I had some scary, yet wonderfully eye-opening "life is too short" moments. We began to tell people we cared about they had made a difference in our lives. It was then I began trying to connect with my friend again. I would invite her to anything I had going on, but she was never able to come. At the time I thought she just felt to much time had passed for us to try to stir our friendship back into active duty.

As luck would have it, she and her husband moved their daughter into my children's school so I began to see her at some school functions. We didn't really get to talk, just polite chit chat. I hoped it would lead to us getting together at some point. All I really knew about her now was that she had worked at the same place forever and was successful there. In hindsight, I should have tried harder.

What I didn't know is that my friend was living a dual life. One that we will only be able to imagine held such horrors for her that she was willing to take her own life to escape them. By day she was the kind, friendly, helpful co-worker; she was the marathon runner, the cooking club originator, the PTA go getter. By night she was.....the prisoner? anguished soul? desperate mother? We will never know for sure. Only one knows for sure, and he isn't telling. Everyone touched by her memory cannot believe the woman gone forever is the same one who filled our lives with laughter and such great memories. Two years have passed and I'm still in disbelief. She was a master of disguise to most who knew her. Some day I hope her daughter will know how great a difference she made in others lives.

Miss you, Shar

D Day History Not Important to Media

I have to say, I've never been a big history buff. For some reason I remember weird facts - like from Freshman year in high school I remember the Battle of Hastings took place in the year 1066. No idea why that useless fact has stuck with me all these years - I have no intention of getting on Jeapordy anytime soon. Even if I did, I would never pick the "History" category.

So I had no idea this morning when I woke up that it was the anniversary of D Day. Once I heard it on the radio I had one of those "Oh yeah" moments. However, the morning show I was listening to (Loren and Wally in the morning WROR in Boston) talked about how there was nothing in the news about commemorating....or even mentioning this event!

I was soon at work and forgot all about it. Always seems hard to focus on a Friday, especially since my birthday is tomorrow and all I could think about was going to the movies with my kids and husband to see "Kung Fu Panda" and then going to Cold Stone Creamery for a dinner-sized ice cream.

So tonight when I sat down to peruse the news online, I remembered about D Day and looked through some online news sites. Nothing. Not even a mention. I had to really search to find anything. I'm not quite sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure it's not a good thing...how does it go? "We must never forget"....I don't know who said it, but those 4 words are pretty powerful.

So what did top the headlines today? Mostly politics - the Obama/Clinton meeting to be more precise. Because we just can't get enough politics on an hourly basis. The price of gas was another big one. It's hovering just under $4/gal where I am...I remember not too long ago thinking it would never get to $4/gal.

I rec'd one of those pass-it-along type of emails that said the only oil companies that do not buy from the middle east are Hess and Sunoco (for my area). I usually go to Hess anyway, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if people stopped getting gas everywhere else. Of course I have no idea if it's true or not. Maybe someone out there can enlighten me?

I would really love to hear from anyone that has seen or heard D Day anniversary coverage. I also would love to hear from others on how the cost of gas is affecting their daily life.

Happy Birthday to Me :)

Cost of Gas Creating Leaner America and Alternative Fuels

Well, I know eveyone is being hit hard due to the rising cost of gasoline; I live in MA and the cheapest grade is just hitting $4 per gallon. I know I sound like my parents when I say this, but I can remember literally digging around the car for change so I could get gas in high school. I've heard quite a bit on the radio and TV about how this is going to impact us, not just with respect to getting around in our autos, but everything we buy. Think about it, there is a trasportation charge added in to many things we buy every day and normally we don't even notice. Things we normally take for granted are going to be too expensive. It has already impacted how my family operates.

For example, my husband is fortunate to work only minutes from our home - he owns a pick up truck, typically not known for fuel efficiency. He has been riding his bike to work every day. We try to only make one run for errands on the weekend so we are not driving all around. More efficient use of our gasoline.

I am know contemplating riding my bike to work. This will take more planning since I am the parent getting our children off to school, but I think of how much we might be able to save and that is really appealing! I work approximately 13 miles from home, calculated using back roads. I think I could make this work, especially since my place of employment has a shower.

My feeling is that if gas creeps up to the $5 per gallon range, the bicycle could become more and more popular, inadvertently creating a leaner populous. In Europe the bike is the choice mode of transportation in a lot of cities. The flaw in this theory, of course, is the electric scooter and the smart cars that are on the market. Too many people, myself included, have been lazy too long to think about actually attempting to use the bike for anything other than enjoyment.

My second topic that has caught my interest is the alternative fuels. I'm not really well informed on this topic so I'll be brief. I cannot understand why the development of alternative fuels to power autos is not a priority in this country right now. I did some interesting reading on autos fueled by ethynol and ethynol fuel stations. I know there are other fuels out there as well, but my thoughts are we should be demanding the development of these immediately. There is no reason we shouldn't already have them.

Let me know your thoughts!