Eat Me

Today is Fat Tuesday, but I have always known it to be Paczki Day. That's pronounced "poonshki" for those of you who are at loss at the moment. The holiday is not so much a product of my polish heritage, but a Detroit tradition from the city of Hamtramck. As they say up in the midwest, "you don't have to be Polish to polish off a paczki", but it certainly helps. Hamtramck is a little town next to Detroit that used to be a hub for Polish immigrants. The town is so ethnic that Pope John Paul II made a visit on one of his trips to America. I try to make it into Hammtramck whenever I'm back up in Michigan to dine at the Polish Village restaurant. The menu is still written in Polish and today there are still residents who speak only Polish.

After a wild goose hunt today, I was able to track down a local grocery store that carried paczki's. This involved many phone calls, confusing several local bakers but culminated in a "do you mean pack skees?" response that I eagerly responded with "YES!". Within 15 minutes I was at the store purchasing these "pack skees". They came from a company in York, PA and at first I thought they tasted alright (I was really craving a paczki), but it didn't take long for me to remember what a real, fresh paczki was really supposed to be like. It's been about 5 years since I've had one, and I really need to find a place down here that makes them fresh. I still managed to eat 6 of these glorrified donuts, so they couldn't have been all that bad.

When it comes to Detroit, I don't miss the weather, the economy or even the Canadians, but around this time every year, I do very fondly miss the paczkis. I suppose I also miss my babciais, but that's another story.

Palestinians Need Radical Consultation

My friend Bill lead me to a nice piece on the conflict in Gaza. The article within the link raises some great questions, but fails to find solutions. Then again, I suppose there are no solutions.

Here's the conundrum that Adam Hamilton and so many of us can't seem to figure out:

The question I found myself asking as the military wing of Hamas began launching their crudely made and ineffective Qussam (Kassam) missiles into Israel two weeks ago was “Why?” After all, these missiles have no guidance systems and virtually never hit a real target. They stand no chance of winning a military battle against Israel. These missiles have killed as many Palestinians (as they occasionally fall back into Gaza) as they have Israelis. And the launching of them was almost guaranteed to bring an Israeli attack that would kill large numbers of Palestinians - making their launching of these missiles suicidal. So, I continued to ask, “Why?”

I can't answer the "why?" but I can make a suggestion. Palestinians need to find a leader in the mold of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and Nelson Mandela. These three men have spent significant time in prison, two of them were even shot and killed, but all three of them have been successful in defeating their oppressors, all in different eras and different corners of the world. Violence and terrorism will not win in Gaza and if it does win, it will only provide the Palestinians with an oppressive, militant form of government. Active nonviolence is the solution.

I know that Israel is our ally in the middle East and that the Jews are God's chosen people, but I cannot side with the way the Israeli government is treating the Palestinian people. I may be naive in saying this, but I don't think that most Americans support the actions of this government either. The problem is that Palestine's answer to oppression is militant Hamas; something most Americans side strongly against. What Palestinians needs is active, public, documented, civil disobedience. If you can convince an 18 year old kid to strap dynamite to his chest and blow himself to pieces, why can't you convince a man to stand in front an Israeli soldier who is unjustly demanding to get inside his house?

I think that Jesus gives a good example of how a Palestinian should act in a situation like this.

You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Matthew 5:38-40

The lesson from Jesus is not to back down in a situation like this, but to confront your enemy in a brave manner. If soldiers keep taking over your house, eating your food and sleeping in your bed, maybe a solution would be for you to bring in a catering service for the soldiers, or something crazy and outlandish of this nature. Instead of being walked over like a doormat, your actions would force the soldiers, or whoever is watching, to realize how oppressive they are being. It is so counter intuitive to love your enemy, but actions of love are much more powerful than actions of violence, especially if you are the one being oppressed. Jesus is not just giving us a mandate from God on how a good Christian should live, he is however providing us with very practical information that can impact the world.

Sure, civil disobedience will get you arrested, beaten, and even killed, but it will have a much greater effect than firing a Qussam missile. If there are laws and regulations that Palestinians find unjust, they must openly violate them in a peaceful way and force the Israeli's to act on it. Once we start seeing this type of behavior in Gaza, Americans will have to side with Palestinians and force a peaceful solution that will benefit them. Until that happens, all we will see is violence and Americans like myself will always side with Israel regardless of their militance and oppression.

In reality, I could be completely wrong, but that's at least how things work in Waluk's World.

The Burden of the Rich

If this article in the New York Times doesn't make you bothered by Capitalism, even in just the slightest bit, I'm not sure where your heart is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a socialist and I do understand macroeconomics, but I am troubled by some of the fundamentals of Capitalism. When it boils down to it, Capitalism relies on our selfishness. How can that not bother you? I'd like to think that investment and generosity will pick up our economy from the bottom up, but it seems that those principles are not as valuable to a struggling economy as selfish extravagance. Our economic prosperity as a whole, relies on our demand for the unnecessary.

There's got to be a bottom up solution to our recession that involves lifting up the working class, rather than just finding things for rich people to buy. I hate the entire concept of redistribution, but I also think that there must be some way in which the wealthy can boost our economy other than simply pissing away their money. The desire to spend is what got us into this whole mess, so it troubles me that our best economic minds think that it is also the solution.

It's just a matter of time

The last two months have been quite horrible, but it looks like the LRA is finally trapped this time. I won't believe it till I see it, but this has has been a long time in the making. Thousands of truly innocent people have died, and thousands of children have been raped, enslaved, and forced to kill by the LRA. It will be a huge celebration once Joseph Kony is finally captured and all this madness is behind us.

I can't wait to go back to Northern Uganda. The world has rallied around bringing aid and attention to this region, and we are seeing change. I went to Gulu in the summer of '06 and then again in the summer of '07. On my second trip I was amazed to see the economic growth that had taken place in just 11 months: 3 banks had been built when there had previously been none in Gulu, buses to Juba ran daily, and there was substantial amounts of foreign investment throughout the city. Peace has remained in Uganda, and their economic growth has continued as the DRC has experienced the wrath of the LRA. But we all hope and pray that this has now come to end.

Will the ICC save Darfur?

"Judges at the International Criminal Court have decided to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, brushing aside diplomatic requests to allow more time for peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country, according to court lawyers and diplomats."

I've been loosely following the conflict in Darfur and I just feel like, once again, the ICC is behind the times. If the ICC was somehow capable of preventing atrocities like that in Darfur, I wouldn't be such a cynic, but I just don't see them having a positive effect on the situation this late in the conflict. Al-Bashir has been in office since 1993 and is popular amongst the Arabs who run the Sudanese government. The problems in Sudan are much larger than this one man. If he actually gets arrested, and I doubt that he will, he will likely be replaced by someone even more radical. Sudan doesn't need a new president, what it really needs is a free press. I hate to say it, but my prediction is that this warrant will only increase the genocide in Darfur while also mustering more dislike towards the west in Khartoum. What's sad is that this was not the direction in which things appeared to be headed, and it does not bid well for a peaceful future in Sudan.

Someone please explain to me why I am wrong.

Violence Begets Violence

Ruling by force might protect your home or even your country, but it only makes things much much worse for those without the power to protect themselves.  The only way we will ever destroy terrorism is with education and peacemaking.  It is impossible to police the world and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has clearly made things worse in Africa, much like the US has turned Iraq into the deadliest place on the planet.  This article in the New York Times shows us just how bad a situation the ICC has created with the LRA in the Eastern Congo.  My heart goes out to these peaceful villagers who are suffering in such horrific ways.  Our attempt to rule with violence has lead to their destruction by greater violence.  

There are no easy answers, but I do know that death on a cross is more powerful than fire from the sky.  The solution in Africa is not force, and it is certainly not passivity.  The LRA is no longer fighting for any reason other than that they have been pushed into a corner with no other reasonable alternative.  There has to be a peaceful solution to this crisis otherwise many more villages will continue to burn.  

In the Independent

So it looks like News From Our Shoes is ready for prime time. At least they've gotten themselves a featured article in The Independent Weekly. "Hyperbole perhaps," as Bob Geary would put it, that two men living in a homeless shelter could appear to be successful, but these guys continue to amaze me. Ricky and Michael have beaten many of the problems homeless people face because they have found something to pursue. To go out on a bender would ruin it all for them, and it doesn't even tempt them because they are both striving for something more.

Congratulations Ricky and Michael!

Painting Lemonade

The first set of paintings have been delivered. Here is a very short video showing just a few of the children receiving their paintings.



Painting Lemonade is a project where I paired up American high school art students with children in La Limonada. The American student paints a portrait for the Guatemalan student and these paintings are delivered to the children along with a brief letter from the American and a photo of themselves. I will be travelling down to La Limonada to deliver the last of these paintings and visit "La Escuelita" in April.

Northern City Football

Thanks to Shannon, I discovered animoto today. I had to try it out, so I put together a short little video of when we got to deliver uniforms and equipment to the Northern City Football Club of Gulu, Uganda. I got to scrimmage with the boys at the end and make a fool of myself in the process. It was an awesome time, and this video takes me back.

"Even Worse Than We Thought"

Every time I talk with my friends in Northern Uganda, I am surprised by how peaceful it is over there. I say to them, "I read about the LRA's recent massacre's. Are you guys fearful?" They tell me time and time again that people are continuing to move from the IDP camps back into their bush villages and that there is a strong sense of security. In December, the governments of Uganda, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) agreed to work together in fighting the LRA. This agreement has made it near impossible for the LRA to cross the Nile, so the majority of the LRA is seemingly stuck in the DRC. This is good news for Ugandans, but horrible news for the Congolese. The Christmas Massacres are much worse than what was first discovered, and now this crisis is becoming the worst in Africa.

With this recent surge, I hope that groups like Invisible Children and the GuluWalk move their focus out of Northern Uganda and into the Congo where this tragedy has moved. I feel like there is another whole generation of "invisible children" forming right now, and it demoralizes me to watch a dark history repeat itself in a new location.

Okay, someone I actually admire

Despite my firm belief not to turn athletes into hero's, I can't deny my admiration for Cardinal Quarterback Kurt Warner. Despite losing, his performance in the Super Bowl surely solidified his induction into the Hall of Fame. Personally, I thought his 377 yards, 3 TDs and clutch 4th Quarter play was good enough to receive the award for MVP, but I can't argue giving it to a player from the winning team. After the game, a reporter went to the losing team's locker room for the always awkward post game interviews. Even though Warner had just experienced one of the most disappointing losses of his career, he managed to put a smile on his face and talk about how proud he was of his teammates. Rather than give the Jesus shout out, or just pout, Warner showed love and appreciation to his team with sincerity and pride. Maybe I'm giving the guy too much credit, but it's just one example of the many things I admire about him. Here's a decent story about him if you're not familiar with his family background. I believe he is one of the best human interest stories of our generation. I try not to put athletes up on a pedestal, but it's hard not to with this guy.