Just Call Me McGuiver

Tonight was another fantastic chill Victorian day. It was filled with really random adventures. P O'Neill and I talked about this amazing music festival called coachella that he went ot in the dessert. We went for dinner and I had an amazing Thai Red Pineapple Tofu Curry. It was so delicious. I loved every bit of it.

Then I went ot chill with my friend Anna. We blazed and then were headed for food and an adventure into Beaconsfield Park, when we met up with my Guatemala girl Leigh Anne on the street in the Cook Street Villiage. She came with us for our walk, which impeded the pot smoking portion of the evening (no I will not smoke directly in front of my employers....not such a hot idea i've heard) and two hours later we had done an amazing walk along the ocean chatting about so many different things.

Anna and I returned and listened to good music- the Yah Yah Yah's, some Regina Spektor, and some from a soundtrack of the movie Tango Feroz- i think its Argentinian. So I book it to grab the last bus home, smoked a joint on the way home, arriving only to find that the string that goes through the fence has come untied and there is no way to unlock it from this side. Begin operation mcguiver. I start by searching for a stick that was long and skinny- no sticks were to be found and this was past midnight so it was fairly dark. There was a long thicker piece of wood, but it couldn't grip the little latch to lift it. I tried draping my laniard over and guiding it with the stick so that I could latch on and pull it up. No such luck. Then I spotted the lil tykes red and yellow plastic Frank Flinstone style car. Perfect! If only I could see maybe success with the stick was possible. Still I was not high enough to apply enough pressure to lift the latch. Then my light supply aka the neighbours sensor light went out, so i had to go waive in front of it to get it back. Then I spotted the broom...I grabbed it and hopped back on the lil tykes car, and swung it over the fence. The nook in where the broom bristles attach to handle was big enough to be able to lift the latch. Success. The lil tykes car is currently propping the door open, and I made it in fo rhte night. What lovely Victorian Nights I have been having.

I look foreward to seeing those of you at home in a mere four days. Much love. Always always.
Rach,
from a stunning, cool, fresh Victorian Night

Au Claire de la Lune

Tonight the moon was bright, brighter than I can remember it being for a while. Where the clouds were non-existent and the sky was clear, the moon lit up the sky. I noticed it on my walk home from the bus, and I knew I had to spend a little time with it. With vices in hand, ipod equipped with Iron & Wine, I had some good quality time with my beautiful Victorian night sky. I was thinking about the number of nights I have spent out there, on those stairs this year. Countless; certainly more than the number I have not spent out there.

Nearly nearly there. First year of law school done. That's something.

Rach,
from another stunning Victorian night

In the eye of the exam hurricane.

6 days left. 3 exams to go. Glory days are not far off. I think I can do this. I have the stamina to get er done. This exam period is mildly more humane. THe extra days between have saved me for sure. That and a purpose I think. That and the knowledge that I can do this, with votes of confidence from within, and external motivation from the real world, the school world too i suppose.

In what should be the eye of the hurricane, I feel calm. Well calmer than expected at least. Maybe I will feel differently tomorrow, but with these days of sanity in between its all bearable.

I've not much more tonight. Contracts and Constitutional down, Crim, Property and Torts to come. Pressure through till the end. I got this.

Rach,
from the first Victorian night in a while. Beautiful shining moon, and its getting warmer. I will miss them...

El verano en Guatemala!

This week, I received some very exciting news. I got the position in Guatemala for which I applied.
I am soooooo excited. I get to work in a legal aid clinic in Rabinal, and town in an area about 5 hours north of the capital where some of the most terrible human rights abuses of the civil war occured in 1982 during the civil war. I get to work in international human rights law, prepparing things that will go before the Inter American court of Human Rights. I get to work with the people on case work and go to court occasionally in a near-by town supporting the people who we with.

I get to speak Spanish. I get to immerse myself in a country that I have never been to before, and where I have always wanted to go (not that that doesn't mean I don't want to go to every country...). I get to change things on an individual level, chipping away at something on a broader level at the same time. I get to use this law that I have been learning all year to do good things, justice things. I get to learn about the history and culture of these people. I get to read in the evenings, and speak to people all day.

When I met with the partner on Thursday I mentioned that it was perfect. Like...in a game of match this person to this job, I would get matched with doing International Human Rights work in a Spanish speaking country for the summer. I am so excited and I feel really fortunate to be able to have this amazing opportunity. I feel really lucky and honoured to be as, Jack said, a flag bearer for lots of others who aren't able to go at this point in their lives.

I will be swapping my Victorian nights for Guatemalan evenings near the beginning of May...but not before a visit home first. I'm a happy woman this evening.
Rach
from a beautiful, clear, starry, stunning, and not cold (!) Victorian Night.

The Corporation

Tonight I did end up watching The Corporation after a very long day of studying at school, though it was a lovely study session with P. O'Neill. So um...wow. I don't even know where to begin with this one. Pfizer went into a community, built a building for housing, and since it was near a subway stop that "used to have a lot of crime", Pfizer constructed large turnstiles to keep people from taking shelter in the subway station. They went into the community, and displaced the residents of that community, for the betterment of that community.

Did you know that you can actually live in a town created by Disney. Its the most insane thing ever. The town is Celebration, Florida. It is the great American town, stars and stripes in front and everything. They have main street, and is about 15 000 people. Does that sound a little frightening. Can you even imagine?

Did you know the US Supreme Court said you can patent life forms? Anything but a human being. How can you own genes? I don't understand. Essentially we are going to commodify everything on this earth...

Monsanto...uck. Fuck. We'll tell you what the news is, says Fox to its own employees. I don't care about the truth. Falsifying news is not against the law apparently in the States at least.

This is just shocking. Joel Baken; You are amazing.

Much love to all,
Rachael
from a cool, clear, starry victorian night.
on a note of ps- i photographed a strawberry tonight. the results are fascinating. Photos to come.

My brain pressed release

Me
Only ever me
Ever only me
Friends across oceans, land masses, the Georgia Straight
Too far to hold
Too far

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. A life dominated and characterized by fear.
I'm afraid you won't like me. I'm afraid you don't like me. I am afraid.
When we are afraid, we don't live.
When we fear failure, we don't try.
When we love, we lose, but inevitably first we win, and we shouldn't forget that first we won.
But sometimes life happens. When we fail too often, we no longer want to try. When we lose too much, we don't have much remaining and how do we start over from nothing?
Shards of our former selves, we hang on to what we have. Each other.
Fellow persons. As people, we want to matter.
Matter to who? To the world. What do I care what the world thinks? Its thankless and owes me nothing. But I'm here, and I'm here now.
We can't change the whole world. We can't. I can't. I want. I want to change the world.
Who can? Is it unchangeable? Is it changeable at all? Where do we start? Here. right here?
One person at a time.
You.
Me.
Us.
We.
We can.
I hope.
Hope and despair.
A Fine Balance we all walk.

Enough is enough.

When is it going to be enough? When will we take the leap, and affirm human rights. When will we not excuse, call it what it is when we see it and say no more? How about now. Because we are tired of waiting. And because we deserve nothing less. I would ask the government, the courts, and public interest organizations for no more homophobia in the law, no more sexism in the schools, and no more racism in our halls of justice. Let us get rid of homophobic panic as a defense in the criminal law, let us include a sex and gender studies course in our high schools, and let us accept oral history for its true value in land claim cases the first time around.

Enough is enough. There are "movements" that need no longer be such. There should be pay equity in Canada by now. We should be teaching our citizens different things in their formative years. We should not stand for the genocide, misogyny, and homophobia that run rampant in this country, this society and the western world. Enough. My children, or at least my nieces and nephews, should NOT have to deal with this anymore. Be brave. Do what is right. What the world asks of us, and compels us to do.

I ask of us, citizens of the world, wage-earners of the future, middle-class canadians, we can be the generation to change the world.

Courage, fortitude, love,
Rachael