Into the woods

This weekend was full of wonderful outdoor adventure. I woke up Saturday and realized I needed to buy raingear for Nepal (because it will be the rainy season) and because it was currently raining. I got some good waterproof boots and a good raincoat and headed up to Pinnacle mountain to go for a hike. To sum it all up, Rocky ran off, and then David ran off looking for him, and then I ended up alone in the woods during the rapidly approaching night. Rocky came back, but David was still gone. After it was completely dark and I decided to turn back, I heard David clapping for Rocky in the woods. We were out there so late that we were late for Trevor's birthday party. By the time we got there, there was still fun to be had. Overall, the weekend was great. I'm spending a lot of my week in Forrest City, but if YOU are in town, the president of the motion picture association is speaking at the Clinton School on Tuesday night at 6pm. On Thursday, a man from Murphy Oil is talking about the scholarships they are giving to all highschool graduates in El Dorado. For more information on our speakers, you can go here: http://www.clintonschoolresearch.com

P.S. bravo Jennifer Hudson. She was amazing in Dreamgirls and last night.

And in other news......

I know there are more pressing things in the universe, but Christina Corrdimas' parents saw this on the news in New York, and it's pretty funny. click here to see the piano cat
I know it's not a monkey riding a dog, but for some reason animals doing human things is HILARIOUS. Now if only I could get Rocky to go get me a diet coke out of the fridge when I'm swamped with data coding. I must return to my Clinton School slavery. Karl Rove is coming on March 8th at 11am. If anyone wants to go, email publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu.

I got some more info on Nepal this week. Here is the description of the I'm working with and what I'll be doing. I'm also staying with a Nepalese family! Here is the website for my placement www.cwish.org.np

1. Hidden Child Domestic Workers (HCDWs) Advocacy program

CWISH has been involved with advocacy and rescue of hidden child domestic laborers since its inception. The dilemma is at once economic, political and cultural. There is a long standing tradition of having child domestic help within the households of the upper class/caste/nobility of Nepal. This is a common practice in the major towns, particularly in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. Economic hardship has often pushed rural dwelling parents to send their children to town in search of work, food, and shelter. This has been particularly acute during the last decade of Maoist conflict as children were often sent to town, alone with an ‘uncle’ or trafficker, in order to escape Maoist induction into the armed conflict, which could occur as early as age 7.

The practice of child domestic labor, though officially declared illegal, was still widely condoned and practiced among the upper classes and among the King’s loyalists in particular. This is a complex issue as it has been considered by many as an act of charity/ care for children who would otherwise go without adequate food, shelter or security. The rights of these children are the central issue, with many cases of abuse within the employer family, inadequate or demoralizing living conditions, unregulated and unethical working hours and workload, no access to education, nor other basic human rights. Many of these children are lost to their families and do not know their home villages or last names. Others feel forced to continue their work in town in order to send money home to help their families. With the new democratically emergent government, the practice of child domestic labor may decrease, though economic hardship and firmly entrenched tradition assure that identification of these children and protection of their rights, including access to education and health care, is an ongoing critical need. The tasks of this placement may include the following.

A. Assess CWISH’s current informal education, employer intervention, and advocacy activities for child domestic laborers.

B. Assist in developing a strategy and implementation of programs in government schools, civic education, intervention, and advocacy on issues of child sexual abuse and child rights.

C. Expand the support program for child domestic workers who have been transitioned into government schools, including employer-intervention, counseling, and access to legal aide and health care.

D. Work to connect CWISHs research and advocacy programs with international organizations working in the fields of women’s and children’s rights, with particular focus on networking with other organizations involved in rescue and advocacy.

Ash Wednesday, the unfortunate day after Fat Tuesday

Yesterday I spent all day in Forrest City making strides toward our Practicum goal. I had to give a speech in which I called the hogs. It went really well. I must say, Regina and I have created one pristine freaking survey. I've finished all questions, a cover letter and the codebook and template for the dataset. I am freakin fabulous!
When I got back from the delta, there were hoards of people dressed up in crazy clothing all over downtown. Against my better judgement and the presence of my conservative business clothing David, Christina and I went to party downtown. It really made me miss New Orleans. It wasn't even close to the same thing, but there were people EVERYWHERE, which hardly ever happens, especially on a Tuesday. I ran into Jamie, and she and Ryan are getting married! We danced and sang and then David took us home.
I saw Blanche Lincoln talk about the Farm bill this morning. I think it would have been a lot better if I really liked farming. I really didn't understand a lot about what the farmers were talking about, bushels and limits and AGIs. I came home and turned on the TV. To my dismay, the only thing to watch during lunch was Jerry Springer "I married him so I could drink". After that I decided to post on my blog instead, so here it is.

Happy Valentines Day

Because my love-life is sub-par. I decided to celebrate true-fictional love with a happy valentines day post

Favorite Romance: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I love this movie because it's about a believable couple, with real issues, in a completely unbelievable movie.

Favorite couple: I'm going to have to go with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

Favorite Tragic Romance: I'm going to have to go with All the Real Girls. This movie is beautifully heartbreaking. I loooooooove it. I have a taste for romantic tragedy.

Please post your own favorites and I'll be in Non-profit financial management class during this valentines day, boooooooooo. Down with love, up with knowledge (that was not very convincing).

Joe betrays Arkansas, heads for New Zealand

Hey everyone,
I went home this weekend and had a really great time. Ashur and I drew a lot of pictures. He drew one of me where I'm giant, and yellow, and look like a pregnant alien. I guess I need to try harder to lose weight. I listened to 6 hours of a book on tape. I ate a lot of my mom's homemade pizza, and I got all my reading done for school. Jed is starting to talk. He can say papa, nana, mama, ball, bite, bottle, ashur, and uh-oh. He also is a regular bull-in-a-china closet. He currently has 4 knots on his forehead from running into walls, falling off chairs, bumping into table tops, and tripping straight into the floor.
David got me a nightstand for Valentines Day. This is good, because I was actually using a cardboard box labeled "books" for the past 5 months. Joe is heading to New Zealand tomorrow. I had a great time at his going away party on Friday. We'll miss you, Joe!

Funny thing of the day

click here to laugh really hard

Snow Day.......I guess

This is how it looks outside my house on the "snow day"


Well it snowed less than 1 inch in Little Rock last night, but for some reason school is cancelled. I'm not complaining, it's just that I didn't have class today anyway, so all the work I was supposed to be doing today, I'm still supposed to be doing. It's also funny that all of the snow has already disappeared. It did free up my teacher friends for fun at Jamie's house, which was well worth the cold.

You know that Allstate commercial about multitasking? Mr. puts on his pants while driving? I'm miss flosses her teeth in the car. It's my worst habit, by far.

Ben Nichols and Cory Brannan are delighting not-so-snowbound Little Rock with their presence this evening. Hallelujah. It's also supposed to snow more tomorrow. Maybe I'll break a piece of furniture and use it as a sled. My dad used to tie a car hood to the back of his truck and pull us on it. It was the most fun thing on earth. I really wish I could be doing that right now.

My niece is trying to come into the world a little too soon. PJ is due April 1st, but she's already having contractions. It's not that great out here, stay in as long as you can, although I will definitely spoil the crap out of you.

I now have to get back to reading financial management and listening to Bonnie Raitt's "I can't make you love me" on repeat. Peace

What's New?

When did I become the kind of girl that likes to wear heels? I think I'm being molded to become some non-profit public service mogul. I have also become the kind of girl who doesn't mind white dog hair all over every coat she owns because it means Rocky has jumped all over her in loving adoration every time she comes home. I've been thinking about college lately, and I miss it. I know that we've grown up now, and we can't go lay on the grass at toadsuck and talk about boys, or run into the Donaghey house with pantyhose on our heads and steal Blue's chess game, or go to a safari/rockstar/halloween/Elvis has left the building party every week and once again proclaim that "THAT was the best party we've ever had." Even though those times are over, I did see 6 retired women do a cheerleading dance to Little John as the Nets' senior dance team on Good Morning America today, so...good times can be in our future.

Slacker

I have officially decided to be a slacker this semester. Last semester I earned a 3.92 and I've decided that this semester, I need not aim so high. I was so busy and tired. I could have been much happier with a 3.00. Anyway, school started last week and I'm taking Financial management for non-profits (boring boring boring, the book is almost 800 pages long, and yes, I need to read ALL of it: unfortunately, I need it), foundations of rehabilitation counseling (laws, rules, theories, and strategies for improving the lives of individuals with disabilities) and practicum. For practicum my group is headed to Forrest City at least once a week to develop a census of all organizations serving youth, and where they are on this obscure youth organizing scale. We have to develop surveys and run analysis. The weird thing is, I actually like that statistics stuff. Thank you Ms. Susie Booher for turning my hatred of math into a love for statistical data analysis. I like research; I'm a total dork. I'm sure I'll be busy; I'm sure I'll be tired, but I won't be trying so hard, so hold me to posting on this blog, hanging out with you, and attending various activities where having fun is the goal, not saving the world. Goodbye Debbie Downer Chandle, hello fantastico. Here is a picture of fantastico and beth from a happier time.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH AND KRISTEN! I LOVE YOU LADIES.

A little bit of 80's childhood nostalgia

So, I'm out of school until Tuesday and I've kinda run out of things to do to keep myself busy, since I'm done sulking about my broken engagement. For some reason or another I began thinking about this 80's movie I'd seen as a kid. All I could remember was that it was scary, and had a little baby unicorn and he saved a girl from an evil baron-type guy. Well, thank god for internet. After I searched this a little, I found that several other people were on a quest for said movie. It turns out that it is one of the first anime dubbed movies released in the US and for some weird reason the Disney channel picked it up and showed it a few times between 81 and 85. The fact that I remember this movie and could have been no more than 4 years old is quite astounding. It's called Unico, and after so many people looked for it for so long, some kind soul posted it on Youtube to bring a little tear to my eye.

Unico is a young unicorn who has the ability to make people around him happy. Whether it's because of his personality or the power in his horn, it angers the gods, who think only they should decide whether people are happy. They tell the West Wind to take Unico and abandon him on the Hill of Oblivion, but instead she tries to hide him from the gods. Realizing the betrayal, they send the Night Wind to finish the job, forcing the West Wind to continually hide him.

She hides him in places where he comes into contact with a child-devil, a cat that wants to become a girl so she can become a witch, and an evil baron guy that rules the forest and tries to kill the ex-cat-girl-wanna-be-witch by getting her drunk and tying her to a rooftop. Unico tries to stop him but the baron turns into a giant evil jackal skeleton after Unico knocks him off to roof only to be impaled on another roof. It's a thrilling bit of the creepy cinematic experience I know all of us had growing up in the 80's. If you would like to watch the entirety of the Fantastic Adventures of Unico click here

Now that you all know my favorite childhood movie, Please list your most memorable creepy movie so I can attempt to find it and watch it on Youtube.

P.S. If you like movies about disturbing fairytales, you should all go see Pan's Labyrinth. It is a foreign film about a strange little girl. It's playing at Marketstreet on the 26th. Here's the website.