SNOW BALL FIGHT!

I tell you what, it snows and I just turn into this five year-old kid again. Some would prabably say that's a step in the right direction from the way I usually act like a two-year-old.

I came back from Philly around noon after having seen "Nerds" last night. They play was good by the way, very funny with its writting being done by the writters of Robot Chicken on Adult Swim. It was about the rise of Microsoft and Apple and how this group of nerds from a garrage-based inventing group grew up with the high speed growth of the personal computer era. It was a really good time.

Afterwhich we went to Tequila, which was an interesting restaurant. The lobby had murals all over depicting skeletons dressed in nice Victorian era clothing from the Mexican aristocracy. The paintings were meant to symbolize the greed and ruthlessness of the Mexican dictators of the late 1800's and the nobility that thrived off the oppression of the poor. It was interesting how the lobby depicted this righteous condemnation of tyranny and the inside of the restaurant, which was by the way owned and staffed by Mexicans, was elaborately guilded and displayed ornate wood trims on the ceiling and collumns dressed in fabric. The whole impression was a representation of romanesque life for first class citizens of 19th Century Mexico. I thought the ironies of the play "Nerds" equally present, yet translated to, this restaurant in which the wealthy were dining and if only they had the time or concern to seek it out they would have asked about the meaning of all the murals... and then wondered about the message of this place. I took it to mean that the restaurant owners and staff were directly calling to account the patrons to recognize their rights as people even though they are not as privilaged.

So... the snow fight! I got home from Union Station and it was already snowing from an hour before all the way down from Philly. The flakes were big, and were falling fast. There was no wind, it wasn't even really very cold. Thirty degrees is fine when your wearing long pants, sleeves, coat and gloves. Its the wind that makes it cold. No, it was very nice and peaceful, and the snow was already several inches deep. It made this wonderful crunching sound... imagine taking a styrofoam cup and cutting it laterally to make rings out of it. Now place them in between layers of cardboard. If you were to walk on that it would give you a good idea of what walking on snow sounds like. What it feels like is something different... like walking in tall Florida grass... when you are not really sure there is a ground under the grass... but just this grassiness that fades into earth somewhere you are not quite sure. Thats something of what walking on snow feel like.

After stopping to enjoy the snow a few times and taking some pictures I got back to the ASP dorms and met Dan and Kevin in the library just off the main entrance hallway. I threw my things down and sat with them for a while. Then, realizing I was hungry went down to the corner 7-11 to get a pizza. On the way back I threw snow balls at the library window to intice Kevin to come outside. He did not, but the girls on the second floor taunted from their living room window and I bombarded them with snow. SNOW IS SO MUCH FUN! After going back in I decided to make a snow man. Got a snow shovel (I actually had to think for a second what they are called) and pilled the base of the snow man up in a few minutes. Then I went down to our alley and rolled up the mid section. It really is easy when the snow is a certain way. When its almost like cotton-powder it rolls up very easy, grabbing all the snow as it compacts with every turn. Picked up this beach-ball-sized snow man stomach and walked it over to the base. Then I rolled a smaller head, and placed it on top. In all it took maybe 15 minutes.

People were walking bby while I was doing this. This is also not a very friendly neighborhood, in fact I would say DC has a pretty bad case of depression or sense of defeat. I dont know exactly what it is. I mean I can understand the how and why they have these feelings you can read on their faces, but specifically I don't know the city's history to explain why certain groups are the way they are. But even the people you would think might have a better outlook on life, do not. There is a great void here where Hope should sit. But I was in such a good mood with my snow man progress and the still falling snow that I was smiling at all the people walking by and they could see that I was genuinely having a good time. All 6ft 6 inches and 24 years of me - out there alone acting like a kid. One lady walked by and happily exclaimed to herself "He's making a snow man." Which made me happy. I got the impression (and it makes sense given the nature of people in this city) that no one had made a snow man in a long time in this area. I mean if you think about it, parents around here are adults like every other cynical workaholic, and wont stay outside with their kids long enough to make a snow man and get all wet from the snow. Sickness, cold, wetness, time, dog-walking, dinner-cooking, etc. all play into these kids not getting to build snow men. Even if they do they dont amount to much because you need mom or dad to help make the really big ones. So I wanted to make a really tall one, and I did, about 4 feet tall, much taller than the fence and bushes and I think it will make people who walk by happy. There is a small amount of joy, hopefully a lot that flows from that snow man, because I hope people will know how much fun went into making it.

And then as soon as I was done with the snow man people came out to see and then the snow ball fights began and there were a dozen college age students screaming and running around the sidewalk, throwing snow balls from the second story balcony, the sidewalk and the fourth floor roof. All at war with each other, and against their team mates. All free shots that were open were had, and snow rained down from the roof, sometimes in HUGE mounds that had been collected in small trash cans that made enormous thuds then they crashed into the sidewalk.

It was a rather fun day, and I am sad you poor Floridians missed it.

NW Quad

Woke up today later than I planned to, but a few extra hours of sleep is always nice. Got ready around 9 and got ready for some interview hunting by doing a little research on the organizations before going over to the NW quadrant of DC where most of their offices are. I met up with one of the program advisors to get an idea of what to ask in the interview since I need to incorporate these interviews into a paper that's due March 6.

So I set out about noon, walked over to the Senate office buildings to find a staff member in Sen. Jim Inhofe's (R-OK) office. He was the chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee before the Democrats won the Senate in November. Now Dianne Feinstein is chair and he is ranking member (which is polite language for second in line because your party isnt in control anymore). However, and this is a side note but an important one, Joe Liberman might consider joining the Republican party and that would change control of the Senate and really upset things. Anywho, this Inhofe guy is a huge anti-environmentalist guy. He doesnt believe in global warming, not saying I do completely either - I need to do more research, but its obvious that Inhofe has Big Oklahoma Oil in his pocket telling him how to think.

I thought it would be good to talk to someone in his office about it since he is on the committee, but I got refered to the committee offices since the guy in Inhofe's office really is just a liason to the committee and not "the guy" on the subject... all of them work in the committee offices. So I had to leave the Russell building and go next door to the Dirksen building for them, and got a business card and was told to come back on Monday. Apparently no one works when Congress is on recess, although I would think the staffers would be gearing up for the next round, especially on a Friday, but O well. So I went on to find Senator Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez and get something out of their staff members. Got names of who I need to see, and business cards, but no interviews. I was going to go to the House office buildings but decided against it since I need to get interviews from interest groups and federal agencies as well.

It was not about 1 pm so I headed over to Farragut North on the subway which is a nice business side of town. Stopped by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and was told the man I need to speak with was not in, and to come back Monday. Well, I know that going on Friday to get interviews is not the wisest thing to do but since it is my only day off in the week I had no other choice. You also probably figured out my paper I need to write about is on energy and the environment. So yes I am writing a paper on the subject of government incentives and mandates for the construction of "green" buildings, and I need to assess the viewpoints of differnt stakeholder groups. Hence the interviews.

So I go to the next group on the list, which is supposed to be next door but I see a not on the door that they moved one block south and three blocks west. Get over there and actually finally get to meet someone! YAY, i know right! So she isnt really an expert on the subject but offers to answer any questions to the best of her ability and get a guy who is an expert on their policies in New York on the phone. So it was sort of like an in person, and phone interview all in one. Tha interview went well and I think I got a good quote out of it, and some good stuff to paraphrase.

By the time I was done with that it was time to go to class, and so I called some people to figure out where class was today since today was one of those classes where we go out and meet with a group and they present to us. Today was the American Petroleum Institute. And if you think they had a lot of propaganda and things were really shady, try figuring out from their website what API stands for...

I didn't like the presentation, though it was VERY educational. For example I learned how grown men and women can lie outright to a group of 30 college students and 7 professors/staff and feel perfectly fine about it... and amazingly go to sleep at night. I need to follow up with the people who presented because there are some things I truely dont understand their reasoning. For example, one ssaid that if the US were completely self reliant on energy production we would still be affected by global prices of oil... ... ... ... really??? I mean, did he just say that? You know that don't make no sense right? I mean I'm sure someone can find some indirect way in which that affects our economy, but the cars we drive, even if some are still using gasoline, and we will certainly be using oil products for airplanes, but if the US is the provider to the US... how does a war or global prices of oil affect us if we're not importing it??? I REALLY need someone to explain that to me.

I can also understand the argument that we need to protect our current oil industries because they employ a lot of people. A lot of pension funds for state and federal employees have stock in oil and other energy companies. A lot of Americans are invested in oil, and they aren't just billion dollar CEOs. So we need our oil industries, but at the same time we need to dramatically get "green" industries up and running. All sorts of advantages are in this: job, a technological lead over asian countries begining to compete with Americas traditionally strong industries, and decreased pollution, whether ot not you think global warming exists - its good to cut back on pollution and increase efficiency. But these people presenting today didn't REALLY come out and say that. I think they hinted at it just to make us jump to the conclusion that they support it, but they really wanted to get access to the continental shelves around the continent to do deep sea drilling. They make it sound like we need to invest in this because oil is going to be the dominant energy source for the next 50 years and we all just need to learn that fact and anybody who wants to develope green industries has plenty of time to do so but dont interfere with Big Oil because its your best friend and you dont want to upset it. And all I had to say about the subject was sribbled on my note pad, "This presentation is bull shit."

SO, anyway, some of went afterwards to see if we could find anything interesting and we went to the National Geographic center and saw somw cool pictures of animals, and a nice display about Japanese gardens. We went to dinner ate a local sandwich maker that was really good. Apparently DC's best sandwhich joint cause a sign on the door said so. :-)

We went back to the National Geo center because there was a jazz group playing in an auditorium they had there. A lot of cool things like that here in DC. You would think this place we were at was a museum, and possibly they use the auditorium for other educational purposes but like any venue in a big city it has dual purposes. So we listened to some good jaz for about an hour and left to go back home and that brings me to this post.

Tomorrow is pancakes at the resident directors appartment, right outside my door across the hall. And in the afternoon I am going to Phillidelphia to see a play and then coming back home Sunday. I will give a full report Sunday. But now I am tired and am going to bed.

2-13 before work

Its snowing today, started just about an hour ago. I am going off to work in about 30 minutes and meeting up with a few guys after work for wings. This place called Hawk & Dove has a Tuesday deal with 12 wings for $1. Sounds like fun to me!

I just called Dad yesterday, he is doing well. Spoke to Jennifer a few days a go before the weekend, she is doing much better. Her boss is no longer her boss, which is god news, because that woman is a biatch. Jen is doing much better now that they are not working her to the bone.

Currently I am working on a paper about climate change and energy security. I need to get a third source that agrees with my first two so that I can continue with my topic. I don't know where to look. If anyone know of a consumer advocacy group that deals with "green" building projects, I would love to hear about it.

Also, atiently awaiting my stamps that I ordered DAYS ago. They have not arrived inthe mail yet and I need to send off three letters. One of which needs to be at PBA by this friday. I think I will take it to work so I can go to the post office just before going to Hawk & Dove.

Anywho, got to get going if I am going to get to work.

Mt. Vernon

Last Saturday I went to the home of George Washington, Mt. Vernon, with four friends from the ASO program. The property is amazing, and sits on a beautiful hill along the Potomac River.

As we saw the museum and his house, and some short length video about him, it was very interesting to know more about our first president who very well could have been our first king.

Pictures to come...

Regarding the MASS E-MAIL

Hi, If you are reading this, you probably just got the email I sent you, and clicked on the link to this blog.

I just want to say Hi to all my friends back in Florida, and at Palm Beach Atlantic University. I miss all of you, and it is very cold here in D.C.

Please post a comment if you want, I believe you will need to add your name to the post, since I am not sure if I will be able to tell who is posting. SO, please, no anonymous posting.

With His Love,
Jason

Starting Out at Jubilee

SO, for those of you who want to know where I am working, I am interning at Jubilee USA, which is an organization which tries to get the debt of poor nations erased. Why, is that a good thing? Well, imagine that the United States had to pay off the national debt. Currently, we just have it sitting there and nobody is really making us pay anything except interest, which if we don't no one cares. BUT, African, Latin American, and Asian countries don't have the privilages associated with being a super power.

Countries like Liberia have large debts (many in the billions, but not hundreds of billions). However, the national budget of Liberia is not even near what it needs to be to pay off mere interest payments. The worst thing is that the debt was caused by the last two dictators to rule the country. Liberia has elected a woman president, and just come out of a very bloody civil war. Liberia especially needs to heal from the problems associated with war.

Liberian citizens do not receive social services like free or even reduced cost education. Basic social services are not available because there is no funding. People need medical attention and no one can afford it on their own. Unfortunately the government is spending most of its taxes on paying the banks (IMF, World Bank) which lent the money to dictators.

Jubilee takes the biblical message found in Leviticus that calls for debt forgiveness every 7 years, and a for a Jubilee celebration every 50 years, and applies it to forgiving debts of the Third World, a.k.a. the Global South. 2007 is a year of Jubilee and we are working to get a bill introduced in Congress to relieve the debt of numerous African countries.

I encourage you to Wikipedia the IMF and World Bank to get a better description, but baiscally all the countries that are members of the IMF and World Bank have to agree to forgive the debt of each country on an individual basis. Its like a vote in a board meeting. The US has the largest number of shares. In one of the banks we have 17% of the shares, and a vote of 85% is necessary to relieve the debt. Obviously our vote puts a lot towards the vote of reliving debt, but because we have 17% we could also vote no, and cause the measure to fall short of the 85% requirement. That is why the US position is so important. The US Treasury is who can tell the IMF and World Bank to relieve the debt, but the US Congress has the sway to influence the Treasury.

Its a long process, but because President Bush has done so much already to send money to Africa, and convince G8 countries to help out some, Congress could really get a lot of countries debts cancelled if they think that it is something the American people want.

Several thousand hearts are being made for Valentines Day to send to the Treasury, along with phone calls to the Treas. and letters to the editor in Congresspeople's local districts. I can give you more info on how to get involved leter, but so far this has been an interesting and exciting first week at work.

I will update more on this later, but now I need to go to bed.

IT SNOWED TODAY!

Its the first time I have seen snow in YEARS, possibly since 1994. In other words, I can't remember the last time I saw snow, and we got 2 inches of it today. It was so awesome. A nice coat of it all over everything. I even walked down to the corner store and walked through it... it was so cool. Its so amazing how God created snow. I know its cold outside and I am going to have to walk to work in it a few times this semester, but after all its just cold air. The beauty of the snow falling is totally worth it.

Check out MySpace for videos of the snow.

Washington by moonlight

Last night the ASP gang got together for a walk around D.C. We walked to the Capital and then to the Washington Monument. I have some pictures but they are at night, and I will post them here very soon. From the W-Monument we went to the WWII Memorial which is very nice. Some of the better pictures I took last night are from this memorial, so I will be sure to put some of them up here too.

We went also to the Vietnam and Korean memorials and to the Lincoln Memorial. All of these I have seen before, but the experience was nice with this new group of friends. Its easy for me to reflect on why some of the wars got started, how they continued and why we were fighting them, but I tried no to do so since this was more of a "getting to know new people/friends" night.

I did stop to read Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. When you think about the circumstances under which he wrote the address, and then read the final product... the power in his words, and the structure of his sentences as they flow in the english language resound within your heart, mind, and soul. Hearing his speach first hand must have truely been a soul penetrating experience! Lincoln wrote the address on the way over by train. Preparation time was short, thus the message is short, but the directness and the sources from which the letter draws upon in the hearer's mind and emotions do a lot for so few words. President Lincoln was also addressing the circumstance of the most bloody battle to date in the context of the 74-year-old nation's newly begun Civil War. The future was bleak indeed. If you haven't read the Gettysburg Address ina while I encourage you to do so. It won't take you anytime at all.

The Year of Jubilee: 2007

As part of the semester program we are required to take an internship position somewhere in the city. Before arriving I had been in communication with Jubilee USA for a researching position which would give me access to office discussions about policy and initiatives. I really wanted the position because it would have given me greater influence inthe thinking and actions of the organization than some gopher position pushing pencils.

I did not get the position, but just Tuesday they called while I was on the way with my group to Ben's Chili place and they asked if I were interested in working in the Communications office, which overlaps a lot with the research office. I have been reviewing the position since Wednesday when I got a more detailed email about the position.

I really do like the job, but I am wondering how qualified I am to do some of the more technical things. I am not a Communications major or minor, I am a Communication minor, notice the "s" is different but it makes a world of difference. So... I have some free time this afternoon and have emailed and left a phone message asking if its ok to come by this afternoon for a quick tour and a little OJT before I fully commit to accepting the position. I hope that none of what I would be doing is beyond difficult, so that with a little practice and some intitial questions, I will be able to pick it up quickly and easily.

I will report back later today or tomorrow with intern news... We are all going out tonight for the Monument Walk to see some of the monuments around town.

Picture of my bedroom

My bedroom. My bunk is out of the shot on the left. You can see my comforter. Kevin's desk is on the left, his bed is in the middle and my desk is on the right.

Welcome to the American Studies Program

Hello! So, I am doing great so far. Its been an interesting few days since move-in. It was 65 degrees on Monday and it was nice being able to move in and haul luggage in Florida-esq weather. Some of us guys went to Safe Way on Monday for basic groceries and I had to get a twin comforter and pillow from a REALLY cheap place.

Tuesday we went with groups to different service projects and lunch. My group went to Ben's Chili in the area of D.C. that was part of the Black Renaisance, when New York's Harlem Renaisance was going on. It was really great food, all sorts of famous people have been there. President Bush was actually there on Monday the day before, so we missed him. After lunch we went to a Mennonite house and moved furniture and painted walls. The house is used by missionaries who commit two years to serve in the local area and international offices. All their health care and living necesities are paid for, but it is still a very modest living arrangement.

Today there was our first class session. This is going to be an interesting semester. I am still not quite sure how we are going to be taught... its not your normal syllabus, reading material, and regurgitating it back to the professor in a mid-term, final, and term paper. There are three classes, each one lasting for about a few weeks, and begining as soon as the previous one ends. So I am not in three classes at once. I am glad to have had Dr. Janet Metzger for several classes because her West Coast teaching styles that are unorthodox compared to the very structured East Coast style of lecturing is exactly what the ASP program resembles. Our projects are done and evaluated in very fair, but also very creative ways.

So, getting to some of the funny stuff... my roomates and I have been trying to figure out how EXACTLY the thermostat works. Its very easy to read, everything is ordinary and in English. However, that all being said, we are at a loss when understanding what goes on in the air conditioning system when the A/C is turned to "auto" and set to 80 degrees, and the heat is set to "auto" and 75 degrees. Does the A/C and heat work in tandem to create a mild temperature of 77-78 degrees? Do the two conflict with each other? Or does one override the other completely? Kevin has declared me the resident A/C philosopher for my public ponderings. But when I do delve into the metaphysics of air-conditioning my roommates are still inquisitive.

So here is a picture of my dorm for your viewing pleasure:















The living room, with Kevin (left), Cesar (middle), and Justin (right).