Slumdog Millionaire

Tonight I saw the movie "Slumdog Millionaire." It is a beautifully and creatively written story about a boy's life shown as he's giving answers on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The story takes place in India and showcases the hard life of an orphaned child. The movie is sad and shocking but shows that there is beauty in everything. I loved this movie and highly recommend that everyone see it.

This movie also brought me back to something that I've really had a hard time dealing with lately and that is suffering. I can no longer accept the suffering of people. How do we end this suffering? Don't we have a duty as compassionate beings to do something about it? There is just so much suffering in the world that it seems as if there will never be an end. The strangest thing is that people emerge from suffering with these amazing stories that just make the obstacles that they've overcome so much more beautiful.

Do we need a balance? Must we have suffering to be happy? Must there be violence and peace? I know that balance is essential but I just can't accept the fact that we need violence and suffering.

Behind the Green Door, 1973**

**This blog has suggestive content, if you don't like porn skip to the next blog :)


Since our roommates were out of town and Chuck and I had the place to ourselves; we decided to kick back and watch some porn. We have this awesomely bizarre porno that a friend of mine recommended years ago (thanks Jennie) and decided to give it a whirl. The flick was made in 1973 and it is Marilyn Chamber's first movie. So I would have to say that this is by far the strangest porno I have ever watched. It's almost like driving past an accident, it's kind of horrific but you can't help but stare. So what I'm saying is that I highly recommend it. Mega 70's Bush and Oh, there is this psychedelic c*m shot scene that lasts for about 15 minutes. Fascinating how they tried to make it far out **********Enjoy!

Gratitude

Today Chuck and I went to Hidden Valley to go snowboarding. I was of course hesitant to go because I hate Hidden Valley and would much rather be on a real mountain. I was talking to the guy I was riding the lift with, when I realized that my attitude towards things have become very negative. I realized that although Hidden Valley isn't perfect we are very lucky that we have a place to practice at and a place within a 30 minute drive. This change in attitude helped me have a wonderful day snowboarding without complaining about the conditions there and I even kept my cool when I was ran into by 2 other people. Today I've continued thinking about how lucky I am for many things in my life such as getting a new job in this crappy economy. Today I am truly grateful for all of the things I have in my life.

42 flights of stairs...what?

I'm going to climb 42 flights of stairs on March 7th in order to raise money for the American Lung Association. I know most of you are familiar with the American Lung Association but I'm especially fond of them because I have asthma and they fund all kinds of research related to lung diseases.

I'm determined to climb 42 flights of stairs and I'm also determined to raise $500 for the cause.

I'd love it if you could donate to help me reach my goal. Anything is appreciated even $5 helps.

You can donate online at:
http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?rid=910575&id=2141


Thanks!
Michelle

http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?rid=910575&id=2141

Obama's Secretary of Agriculture

Here is a little information taken from the Organic Consumers Association about Obama's choice for Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

* Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's support of genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn:
http://www.gene.ch/genet/2002/Oct/msg00057.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/gefood/drugsincorn102302.cfm

* The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He was also the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership.
http://www.bio.org/news/pressreleases/newsitem.asp?id=200...

* When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child of economic development potential was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.

* Vilsack was the origin of the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, which many people here in Iowa fought because it took away local government's possibility of ever having a regulation on seeds- where GE would be grown, having GE-free buffers, banning pharma corn locally, etc. Representative Sandy Greiner, the Republican sponsor of the bill, bragged on the House Floor that Vilsack put her up to it right after his state of the state address.

* Vilsack has a glowing reputation as being a schill for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto. Sustainable ag advocated across the country were spreading the word of Vilsack's history as he was attempting to appeal to voters in his presidential bid. An activist from the west coast even made this youtube animation about Vilsack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmoc4Qgcm4s
The airplane in this animation is a referral to the controversy that Vilsack often traveled in Monsanto's jet.

*Vilsack is an ardent support of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more fossil energy to produce them as they generate, while driving up world food prices and literally starving the poor.




If you oppose this choice you can take action here:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/vilsack.cfm

Imagine

Today I watched the movie "The Killing Fields" again. I thought I would have a better understanding of it now that I've been to Cambodia and since I've read the book "When Broken Glass Floats." I highly recommend the book although the subject is not a pleasant one. At the end of the movie they play the John Lennon song "Imagine." It made me want to cry to hear this person singing about an idealistic view of the world which seems so simple. Doesn't it? How long are we going to create war and kill people. It's been going on for thousands of years and I just wonder will it ever stop?

Do you think there has ever been a point in history when there wasn't a war going on somewhere in the world? Even a second when a war wasn't going on?

I'd like to be positive and think that peace is achievable and that human beings aren't violent creatures but then why do so many of us act so inhumanely? What is the root of all this hatred and violence?

Economy rant

I heard Obama on tv about two weeks ago. I want to share this with you because it's been on my mind ever since. President Obama was saying some wonderful things (as he always does). He was talking about the economy and the way to create more jobs in America is to rebuild the infrastructure of our country just as President Eisenhower kept us out of recession by building America's highways. This makes total sense. We can create tons of jobs by improving mass transit on a local and national scale. Why don't we have bullet or mag-lift trains here in America? Airlines are a dying industry, they pollute way too much and are run inefficiently. As proof to that almost every US airline has declared bankruptcy in the last 10 years. Is this industry stable...obviously not. So instead of trying to resurrect a dying industry let's look at technology that will make this country run more efficiently and cause less pollution.

Traveling through time zones.

Chuck and I went on a 2 week long trip that unexpectedly turned into 3 weeks. Our goal was to get the most out of our free flying since I'm hoping to quit my airline job soon. The original plan was to visit Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. At my airline, in order to get to Southeast Asia you have to fly through Tokyo. All of the flights to Tokyo from the US were booked except for the flights from Hawaii. We decided to take a detour and spend a few days in Hawaii. Because of this we didn't make it to Vietnam but were still able to spend enough time in Thailand & Cambodia.