freegan moving

tomorrow is june 1, officially marking the beginning of my last month of permanent new jersey living.
and so, i am about to embark on what i hope to be a socially responsible and cheap move. i hope to follow the freegan philosophy of waste-minimalization, and so, i hope to give away a large amount of what i am not taking with me. this includes clothing, books, furniture, random appliance like things, etc.

this weekend i'll be mailing a big box to my parents which has a lot of their stuff in it, plus things i'll need while in IL.

but there is much more excess in my posession. so i hope that craigslist & freecycle will absorb much of it.

and so (not that anyone reads this) if you are looking for any of these things, let me know:
crappy lexmark printer (works fine, but it was like, $30 originally)
old school inkjet printer
ikea bed stand
full length mirror
small ikea desk
wooden slat chair
broken dresser (no bottom drawer, but you can't tell from looking at it)
old sneakers of many varieties (sizes 8-9)
many many t shirts (small-medium)
art
books including: bitch, the original coming out guide, some goulds, backlash
1/2 used bottles of lotion

probably much much more....i suppose i'll find out as i go along.

la guerra

i just got an email from nowar (yes, i'm still on the progressive alliance listserv, but i promise, i only read, never respond). apparently asg is voting (again) on (another) resolution to condemn the war in iraq.

i wonder if things have changed in 4 years. it was the early winter of 2003 when we sat in the back right corner of the northwestern room on a wednesday night. it was my first meeting from the back. i had always sat next to senator fong in the front row on the left before. it was one of many asg meetings i attended as a wo co senator, off campus senator, wo co president, academic committee member, and progressive alliance aggitator. but this one was probably the most disappointing of them all. most of my asg moments were met with opposition, but eventually things worked out. we eventually passed the lighting bill (no thanks to mike blake). we got our naomi wolf funding. we even escaped financial misconduct for the Park debacle. by the end, Carson, Le'Jamiel, Darcy & I were pretty tight. but the anti-war resolution? that was utter failure.

i do have fond memories however, of heading back to the co-op (in the glory days on ridge) and drinking no small amount of vodka with chris, jay, naureen, and i'm sure many others.

of course nostalgia is all well and good, but what's the point? this all complicates my larger, ongoing rumination on whether activism really does anything. now as a person working for a nonprofit which bases much of its work in grassroots action, perhaps this is a moot question to be raising. i certainly believe that policy and advocacy are paramount. lobbying is key. getting out the vote is of importance. but i am yet to be convinced that 10,000 people marching in dc really does anything at all. and certainly 50 students marching from the rock to norris and looping back to the library plaza is not going to affect national policy.

but maybe i'm too cynical. maybe its a start. or on the other hand, maybe i have a point. though i could probably lighten up about it. i'd suggest reading the last two scenarios in this piece.

Scammellot

we went down the shore this weekend, and everything was lovely. it truly lived up to its name like some mythical wonderland where all was right in the world. i guess there was a sense of returning to childhood, despite the fact that we were there to celebrate ryan officially becoming post-mid-twenties. i suppose one could say that there was quite a juxtaposion between the childlike activities of doing cartwheels on the beach & putting puzzles together and the adult-ness of doing laundry, washing dishes, and reading the New Yorker.

but i think the weekend succeeded on both accounts. it was fulfilling in all the right ways, relaxing, excapist, and quite frankly makes me want to (come across some large sum of capital,) open a bed & breakfast on LBI and spend my life at the beach. a girl can dream can't she?

so, now its back to city life. at least the weather is nice, sunny, bright. but its still wall street. fortunately, this weekend brings more travel, and i really only have a little over one month left in this place, which brings about simultaneous feelings of anxiety, anxiousness, excitement, and nostalgia. but this is a good move emotionally and intellectually. and there's definitely a huge part of me that can't wait!

hace un ano, mas o menos

ok, so i've been uploading some pictures from peru finally. i doubt anyone's really reading this anymore, but being the perfectionist i am, i like to have a lovely looking blog, even if its for my own enjoyment.

i also might write about some key moments i missed. gina's wedding, amanda & cari having daughters, something about that job that i never wrote about. so, i guess i'm disclaiming right now, do not assume a linear order to the blog. i will backdate things so that they will appear to be in chronological order, but the time in which they are written may not be linear.

cinco de mayo ha passado

its been a while, but i just randomly stumbled upon a blog that i was quite taken with and got a little inspired.


peruvian related things
* i attempted to make myself a peruvian style dinner the other day, though in reality it was much more like a peruvian lunch, in my experience at least: I had spicy saffron rice, smashed black beans, avocado & tomato slices, corn on the cobb, and a hard boiled egg. Very tasty, and I even had some chicha left in the fridge, but its been a few months, so i didn't partake. i think its time to throw it out.
*i'm seeing kelsey in a little over a week! she is brining me an inflatable llama from lima. she also may bring me an alpaca sweater, because i never bought one, and probably should have. i have to locate my leftover soles though. i think they've made their way to illinois (back to lima time), so it will probably require a phone call and mailing.
*my boss now has a half-peruvian daughter (she's salvadoriana, her husband is peruano). she's a pretty cute kid, though i must say, she doesn't compare to the radiance that is my own mexican-polish niece (mas o menos).


non-peruvian related items
this spring has been one of adulthood for me.
*3 babies born to close friends, plus my cousin in law is pregnant again.
*the whole grad school thing makes me feel adult-like.
*i've been to an engagement party and a wedding, and have another wedding next weekend. *this weekend i'm going away to the shore. the first weekend of june has been appointed as time to find an apartment in dc.
*i'm also being very domestic (at least in my planning). I want to make a rather elaborate quilt for myself. this is my inspiration:


and i'd also like to make something more reasonable for my sobrina.

*granted, i'm not all that grown up. i'm scouring craigslist for used furniture.


in other news, i think this blog needs more pictures. and i've been thinking about its function as well. i think i'd like it to be more of an everyday blog, than a strictly peruvian blog. to replace the myspace blog. because really...as lovely as it is, it might be time to move on (to facebook!--just kidding).


we'll see how long that lasts, but its worth a try.

camisas en todo el mundo

silvia returned from maternity (as if that is possible) and informed us all that while visiting her sister in miami, she had seen one of our shirts. just some random woman walking around in south beach.

which reminds me that i gave one to ms. moyer before her journey to south america. in her pictures, i noticed it prominently displayed. here's my favorite: