Waluk's World

They Paved Paradise

2010-03-21T13:37:00.000-07:00

This spot along historic Blount Street troubles me. It's great that Raleigh has put up these historic landmark signs, but when they uncover the fact that an historic landmark was replaced by a vacant parking lot, it just makes me sad. From what I understand, the Capital district on the North side of downtown was once filled with old Victorian homes before the state bought the land and tore down most of these houses in order to build large government buildings. In recent times there has been an effort to preserve some of the history of this area, with the focus on Blount Street. Several old houses have been moved and opened to the residential market, but I do not know of anyone who lives on this section of Blount other than Bev Perdue. I hope the Blount Street revival is a success and if I only had a few million dollars I would surely move into one of these antique homes.

Engaged

2010-03-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems like I've given up on blogging. Oh well. I got engaged back in December. Stephanie is an awesome girl and I am so very lucky to have her. We are both very busy with work, school and now planning a wedding that will be in August. We did take a little time off this past weekend to go hiking up in the Pisgah Mountains near her parent's house. It was a nice little getaway. Here are some photographs. I'd like to brag that there were no other people around and that I shot these myself with the 10 second timer. Not bad, eh?

That's Linville Falls in the background.

Real Estate Fail

2009-11-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Pontiac Silverdome was recently sold for less than an upper middle class home. The dome was purchased by an unidentified Canadian buyer for $583,000 during an auction on Monday. This amounts to less than 1% of the initial cost to build the stadium 35 years ago. Talk about depreciation! Seriously, you'd think 127 acres of urban land would hold some sort of value. For $583,000, I'm almost wondering if the purchaser is simply planning on taking residence there.

Of all the economic crisis stories coming from Detroit, this is one of the worst. Think about it, many of you reading this blog could have found a way to purchase the building yourself. The Silverdome was built to improve the economy of Pontiac. 35 years later, Pontiac is still in economic ruin, and now all the surrounding suburbs are as well.

As a child, I never understood why the "Detroit" Lions and the "Detroit" Pistons played 45 minutes outside of their city. The riots of '67 began the "white flight" out of Detroit. Over the next two decades, nearly a million people left the city in order to live in the safer suburbs. I suppose this was the first brain drain out the city. We're currently experiencing a larger drain of people fleeing from the entire region. It's called a brain drain since most of the people who leave are the educated working class, drastically changing the dynamics of the group of people left behind. When I travel back up to Detroit, I enjoy what Detroit has to offer now, but all my years as a child, I knew it to be a complete hole. Attending a Tigers game at night was considered a calculated risk. I remember clinging to my dad one time on our way back to the car as he got cussed out by a bum for not not giving him money. Since Pontiac was located near Chrysler headquarters and some of the wealthier suburbs, it made sense to put a stadium in a safer location that was closer to the burbs. The stadium was built in 1975 for $55.7 million. I can tell you with certainty that the stadium did not help the local economy. If you look at the new Ford Field, it is surrounded by restaurants, stores, and the Greek Town Casino. When you go to a game, it is quite common to eat at a nearby restaurant or hit up the casino. The Silverdome, on the other hand, sits in the middle of a giant parking lot next to the expressway. With any luck you could exit M-59 and park your car without seeing much of the run down city. I have no memory of the area near the Silverdome, just memories of walking great lengths in a concrete park. If you were to hang out for food and drinks before or after the game, you certainly weren't going to do it in Pontiac.

I grew up in Rochester Hills, the city directly bordering Pontiac to the East. We referred to our neighbor city as Ponti"crack", as it seemed easier to find a drug house than a car factory in that town. Rochester was a very wealthy, residential city. Most of my friends parents worked for one of the big 3, usually a white collar job, and the city didn't allow any riff-raff; no strip clubs, no liquor stores, there was even an ordinance against 7-11. In high school, we all knew that the closest 7-11 was right outside our city limits, just inside "Ponticrack". Part of the intrigue in making a slurpee run was the simple danger you were subjecting yourself to in leaving your safe suburbia and crossing over into the ghetto. Pontiac was almost this mythical place where whites became the minority, the streets were full of jallopies and potholes, and you did NOT want to get lost there. We knew their high school had metal detectors, and we all knew of a legendary liquor store called Trademark. It was well known amongst the teenage crowd that Trademark would sell alcohol to minors. I know first hand of this, as I made a trip there one time when I was 17. I stayed in the car while my friends went inside, trembling in fear; not of getting caught, but of getting mugged. My parents ended up catching my friends and I with our bottle of Dewars the next day. They were very upset to find out that I was drinking, but way more upset that I had gone into Pontiac at night.

The city owned the stadium and leased it out to the Pistons and the Lions. I can tell you that an upper deck seat for a Piston game at the dome is about the wost seat you could possibly have for a live sporting event. I can also tell you that I would get to watch 8 Lions games a year on television and had to listen to the other 8 on the radio as nearly every home game was blacked out locally due to the inability of selling out the 80,000 seat capacity stadium. The two most famous events at the Silverdome would have to be Super Bowl XVI, and Wrestle Mania 3 where Hulk Hogan body slammed Andre the Giant. The legend is that Hulk didn't think he could do it and was frantic in the locker room before the match. I remember watching it on Pay Per view with the help of my uncle's scrambler. In attendance at the stadium I did actually get to see some historic events. I was there when Dr. J play his last game in Detroit, when Michael Jordan dropped 70 points in one night (a Silverdome record...I think I cried), when Mike Utley gave the thumbs up as he was carted off the field, and when the Dolphins spanked the Lions so bad that coach Bobby Ross resigned after the game in the middle of the season. I suppose it's not just coincidence that these events don't include Detroit actually ever winning.

I don't know what will come of the dome and the 127 acre lot that it sits on, but I do know that it will most likely make me sad. Just another landmark of failure in Detroit next to all the other large abandoned warehouse buildings along the sides of the expressways. An investment that dried up way too soon, leaving nothing but memories and an eyesore. Even the good landmarks of Detroit seem to conjure painful memories: the Chrysler building is now the DaimlerChrysler building and the Renaissance Center was a symbol of the dwindling Ford motor company when it was sold to GM in the 90's, only to become an even larger symbol of failure this past year when GM was bailed out. Still, I get excited when I see the glow from the dome off of M-59, but now it will only serve as another painful reminder of what has become of Southeast Michigan. Henry Ford helped build a great city here a century ago, our generation has only seen it fall apart these last 4 decades.

Charity Marketing

2009-11-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

If you're anything like me, you routinely receive emails from various charity organizations soliciting you for their latest and greatest fundraiser. One of my more frequent organizations is Invisible Children. Their latest campaign is called the Legacy Fund. It's really just the same old same old with a new simplistic idea on why you need to give them money. If I take the time to click the link and watch the video, I find myself annoyed with their solicitation. Am I just the outlier in their campaign focus, or are their others out there like me?

For example, here's a video explaining their Tri Campaign.

I actually am curious to know if I'm the oddball; am I the only one annoyed by campaigns like this? The video gives you no real explanation of what is done with your money, other than that it is really needed.

My opinion might be skewed by the fact that I got to see Invisible Children's programs on the ground in Uganda in 2006 and 2007. At the time, I was disappointed. The general consensus from the locals was that it was a young NGO that was still trying to figure itself out. My opinion was that they put young, inexperienced people in positions of power and were thus very ineffective considering the amount of money in their organization.

But as it turns out, my opinion of IC has changed considerably. When I investigated IC's latest capaign, the Legacy Fund, I came across a series of videos from their mission director, Adam Fink. Here's one of them where he explains the Schools 4 Schools program:

Schools for Schools from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

This video is one of four where Adam explains how IC is using their money effectively. As far as my interest is concerned, these 4 videos are by far and away the best videos ever produced by IC; they clearly and tangibly explain what IC is doing in Northern Uganda. I'm not surprised that IC has become a very effective NGO over these past 2 years, but I am surprised that I had to surf around for these videos. I get an email from IC just about every week, trying to motivate me to "make a difference", but never have they sent me an email showing me in much detail how they would make a difference. Why is that?

I've had it up to here with organizations telling me why I need to donate, and there is a definite lack of marketing focus on how an organization actually uses the money you donate.

A perfect example of this is the organization, One Day's Wage.

The Movement of One Day's Wages from One Day's Wages on Vimeo.

I get it, their's a lot of sick, starving children out there. But I can't figure out what this organization is doing about it. There are a lot of organization out there like this one. I personally don't understand it. In this case, I especially don't understand the "100%" promise. Eugene makes it sound like 100% of your money will be used on the ground. I think this 100% promise was innovated by Charity: Water and has since been used by many non profits. But the promise here is simply to get 100% of your donation into another charity, kinda of like a free middle man of sorts. Why not just use the website to promote other organizations, rather than just promote the idea of giving?

What I've concluded is that the majority of donors must not be motivated by how their money is used, they simply need a push to give some of it away. This realization makes me feel sorry for my friends who have to solicit donations in order to run their organizations. I think my friend Hugh refers to this as "pimping the Gospel". My discussions with Hugh have more than motivated me to keep my paid profession.

My biggest distaste with charity marketing is this notion that you are somehow saving the world by giving a monthly donation. In a sense, these charities are selling this idea to their donors. Shame on them. If you really want to make a difference in the world, I think you need to put away your wallet, and simply find some tangible ways to love your neighbor. I'm not sold on the power of money to transform the world; especially the amount of money I have in my wallet. Unless you're a millionaire, your potential to "make a difference" goes far beyond what you can do with your money. Once your heart is in the right place, your wallet will follow; I don't think it works the other way around.

I don't mean to belittle the need of money for non profit organizations to function, so I will suggest two organizations that I feel are very worthy and doing things the right way (and really need your money). Lemonade International is by far the best foreign aid group I know, and Love Wins a worthy local ministry. Despite my cynicism, I do like the way some groups are getting it done.

Acholi Crossroads

2009-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

With Grad school and a girlfriend, I haven't kept up with some areas of my life as well as I'd like to. One such area is my friendships in Uganda. This week I had to sneak in a tuition payment for Francis, and I finally got a chance to skype with him and my friend Denis. Denis was interviewed on Monday in regards to a student protest in Gulu and he asked me to look up the article. In my search, I decided to just google, "Ocitti Denis Omoya". To my surprise I came across this teaser that my friend Michael (@Michaelfriberg) had put together. If you've ever heard me talk about Denis, please give this a watch and check out http://acholicrossroads.com/

Acholi Crossroads Promo from Nick Anderson on Vimeo.

On a side note, I also came across my own name in my search. It was nice to read Michael's recollection of our time together in 2007. I might have to drive up to Brooklyn one these days and pay him a visit, although I'd much rather cross paths with him again in Africa.

What Matters to Me

2009-10-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

In recent months I’ve taken up grad school and stepped away from the blog. My life is still interesting, I swear, but I just haven’t had much time to reflect. I got in my first real car accident on Saturday, and it made me slow down for a second and just relax for a moment. I went back and read through some of my posts over the last year and was impressed with the online journal of my life that I had created. This reflection has once again motivated me to continue my efforts in maintaining this blog.

So what is there to talk about? My life does revolve around a weekly cycle of routines. Monday through Wednesday I focus on grad school. I’m supposed to be committing about 20 hours a week to this endeavor, and it’s limited to these three days. In the past this time was used volunteering with Community Hope and attending some sort of church group. I hate having to spend all this time on school, but what are you going to do? Friday is either high school football night, or watch a movie and go to bed at 9 o’clock night; “date night” as Stephanie knows it. Saturday is my Sabbath and is dedicated to watching Michigan football with my old roommate from college. This typically involves the nervous consumption of beer, as our team has become very exhilarating to watch. Sunday’s typically involve a walk to Morning Times where I call my various family members along the way, followed by a few hours surfing the web when I should be studying, and then a trip to the grocery store to buy food for the week. And there’s my week. Oh, except for Thursday…raise your hand if you noticed that I left out Thursday.

A night that used to be dedicated to NBC’s spectacular comedy lineup is now known to me as dinner night. Stephanie and I decided a while back that Monday’s in Moore Square handing out sandwiches and hanging out, just didn’t have a place in our busy lives. We wanted to focus on maintaining the relationships of the friends we already had, rather than shooting the shit with whoever happened to be in the park. After I got back from my summer hiatus, some of the guys down at the homeless shelter wanted to catch up, so Stephanie and I hosted them for dinner at my place. We had such a good time that Stephanie suggested that this become our new weekly ritual….and it did.

So every Thursday around 6:30, either Stephanie or I drive down to the South Wilmington homeless shelter and sign out Michael, Clint, and T. I write down “Visio Dei Church Community” as my organization for whatever that’s worth. Whoever is not picking up the boys is usually preparing a wild dinner. When I say wild, I mean wild…at least by my standards. It started with Stephanie preparing some pretty incredible meals, and then I felt the need to participate. It’s turned into an exciting experimental experience every Thursday as we’ve created some of the most fantastic and fun meals I've ever eaten. We’ve done “Whities” (a sloppy Joe version of a White Castle), make your own Calzone, Fondue night, inside-out burgers, Boston Coolers (a Michigan favorite), roasted smoares, and these are just the meals I’ve played a hand in helping with (Stephanie has done some much better cooking than I). My roommate Joanna usually eats with us and is in charge of experimenting with another wild creation this week. Stephanie’s brother is the only other regular, but some of my other friends like @thesamed and @billkcummings make guest appearances.

The meals have been fabulous, but the highlight of Thursday night is the post dinner Corn Hole competition. Usually around the time the rest of my friends are watching The Office, I am dominating the Corn Hole sidewalk in front of my house with my partner, T. There have been some epic battles the last few weeks that I won’t bore you with, but I will let you know that it has been legendary…and T and I always win.

In the details here, I’ve forgotten to mention my friend Ricky. We do not need to pick him up at the shelter as he has just recently moved off of the streets and into a rental house. Last week he called me to let me know that he couldn’t come to dinner as he was in the middle of painting the inside of his house. I said, “That’s a shame man, we’re having inside out burgers this week.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a hamburger with cheese and bacon on the inside, topped with cheese…and bacon-“

“-when can you pick me up?”

At the end of the night, I drive the boys back to the homeless shelter. They typically complain about having to stay there and how they spend all week looking forward to Thursday. I never tell them this, but the truth is, so do I.

Guatemala

2009-08-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I returned from another awesome trip down to Guatemala. I was just there back in April for Painting Lemonade, but when I was leaving I looked out the window of the airplane and saw an incredible view of green mountains and towering volcanoes. I told myself that I had to come back and explore this country. So just a few months later I was back with my friend, Chris to ride around the country on rented motorcycles. Probably not the most sage decision on our part, but we managed to both make it back in good health. Although, there was one run in with a chicken bus that left Chris off the bike for a few days, but he recovered and we had a great time. As usual, here's a video, but you can also check out all of my pictures here.

If you ever get the chance, Guatemala is a fantastic place to travel. The volcanoes are incredible, the food is terrific, the people are friendly, and it's all very affordable. You can usually fly there for under $400 from the states, and stay there for between $5-$20 a night depending on your standards. From Antigua you can take a bus to just about anywhere in the country for less than $25. With many more volcanoes and Mayan ruins left for me explore, it's a safe bet that I will be back.

Home

2009-08-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

First it's off to Guatemala to ride through the country on motorcycle, but then I'll be heading home. I've learned that home can be wherever you make it to be. Life in Arizona has been great, but I'm ready to come home. I've got something special waiting there for me.

Life In Arizona

2009-07-18T18:41:00.001-07:00

Aside from just trying to find a warmer place than North Carolina for the summer, I am out in Phoenix to watch over my sister's children. She is going through chemotherapy, trying to work full time, moving next weekend, and her children are out of school for the summer. It's great out here. There's good ultimate 3 nights a week, awesome hiking if you can bare the heat, I get plenty of time to work on my graduate classes, my parents are just an hour away, and it's absolutely gorgeous. This morning I hiked to the top of Camelback mountain.

As far as city hiking goes, Camelback is probably the best in America. It's very similar to Flattop Mountain in Anchorage, Alaska. It's very satisfying to see exactly what you are hiking to the top of and then get rewarded with an incredible 360 degree view when you get there. From the top of Camelback you can see the entire Phoenix area.

If I lived in Phoenix, I'd probably try to capture the sunrise from up here every few months. They say 300,000 people climb to the top of Camelback every year, and I would consider it a must if you ever come out to visit. However, city hikes are not my favorite. The top of the mountain was small and crowded with about 20 people when I got there. I didn't stay there long before heading down the backside and getting off the trail to summit a lower peak at the far end of the mountain. From there I got to soak up the scenery by myself without the distraction of so many people. I even took the time to practice some self photography.

During the week I get to entertain the niece and nephew. They are 7 and 5 respectively, and all they ever really want to do is swim in the pool. With the temperature frequently breaking 110 degrees, it's about the only thing we can comfortably do outside. Fortunately my sister has a great, little pool that offers some relief from the sun. This is key as I probably spend about 2-3 hours out there every day.

I've learned that one of the best strategies in raising children is to wear them out during the day. If I get these two in the pool and toss them around for at least an hour in the morning, they'll have no problem at all going down for their nap after lunch.

Seeing that my family lives in Arizona and I live in North Carolina, I only get to see them maybe twice a year. Fortunately, because of my job as a teacher, this is the second time in three years that I've gotten to move in with my sister for a month. It actually fits my personality quite well. I don't keep up with my friends too well, but get us back together and it's like we've never been apart. Most uncles would never have this opportunity to live so closely with their niece and nephew, even though they'd probably see them more regularly than I see mine.

It would be nice to live out here someday, maybe after I spend some time in Africa. More likely, this will probably just be a place I get to stop in for extended periods of time. I'm about half way through my time here, and I'm going to try and enjoy every last minute of the time I have left.

South Africa preps for World Cup

2009-07-13T14:15:00.001-07:00

Is there any doubt that OTL is the best show on ESPN? I'm a little concerned that South Africa won't have everything completed before the cup, but I'm sure they'll be fine hosts nonetheless. This should be good for thier image, good for their economy and a very enjoyable experience for them. FIFA is doing a lot of things all over Africa and their efforts are very well accepted by the locals. Hopefully these programs will continue after 2010. Here are some thoughts from some boys in Soweto on what football and the World Cup mean to them:

On a personal note, I had been planning on living in South Africa next year before my plans fell through. Not to sound too cliche about it, but I think it is for the best. My interest in Africa has a lot to do with getting away from the hustle and bustle of Western life and moving to Joburg at the time of the World Cup may have been a nightmare for me. I'd prefer to watch football in Gulu at a bar with just a 13" screen and about 50 guys crawling on top of each other, rather than a packed staium with $10 beer and obnoxious drunks, but I'm kinda weird I suppose. Also, I have fallen in love with my girlfriend, Stephanie and I can't imagine what it would have been like to have to leave her for a year. America's not too bad I suppose.

CAMPING FAIL

2009-07-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

I told my mom that I was bringing my camping gear out to Arizona with me this summer so I could do some hiking and camping. She said, "Yeah, that's a great idea, and we should take your niece and nephew!" My idea of camping is filling up my backpack, hiking a challenging mountain trail, and sleeping in a remote area; none of which I can do with the niece and nephew. I was planning on going solo, but my mom anxiously misinterpreted my intentions and put together a family trip. I practically grew up on a KOA, so I can understand her confusion. Trying not to be a camping snob, I convinced myself that it would be fun to sleep outside and "ruff" it with my 7 year old niece and 5 year old nephew.

Not having much interest in site camping, I let my mom set up the whole thing. We drove about 40 miles south of Tuscon to the Coronado National Forest. The site was supposed to be at elevation, but instead it was located at the base of the mountains. It was 99 degrees when we walked out of the car around 2pm. Our "campground", was an RV park and we were the only campers crazy enough to pitch a tent on this day. My niece and nephew laughed at the meager size of my tent as their tent towered over mine. Dying in the heat, once we got the air mattress set up in the house tent, we hit the pool.

After pool time it was dinner time. We discovered a community grill next to the front office and I went over to cook some hot dogs while my mom was going to cook some canned corn on their old Coleman stove. I was turning hot dogs over the grill with my fingers when I heard, "CHRIS! CHRIS! HELP!" I casually turned around and saw my mother standing next to a roar of flames. It appeared that the picnic table was on fire and my mom was in a panic. Fortunately, I was next to the front office and I sprinted into it. I threw open the door and said, "My mother just lit our picnic table on fire!" The lady behind the counter had no idea if they even had a fire extinguisher and we both searched the room. She grabbed the phone to call the fire department when I found their extinguisher and took it outside. I'm not going to lie to you, I've always wanted to rip away that plastic cable tie and pull the metal pin from a fire extinguisher, and it felt pretty cool to finally do this for the first time. I ran out there and blasted the plastic table cloth that had blazed up so wildly.

As we all caught our breath, I was proudly grinning to myself for saving the day. A man standing near us pointed and softly spoke, "Hey hombre, your tent."

I turned around. "Shit!" Some of the smoldering debris had found it's way in the tent and the air mattress was ablaze. I blasted the tent with the extinguisher as the mattress shriveled up to nothing.

Despite the interruption, the hot dogs I was cooking turned out fine, but with the damage to the sleeping bags and tent, this camping adventure was toast. We arrived back at my parents house just 7 hours after leaving that day. I found the whole experience to be quite funny, while my mom was a little more shaken, exclaiming that she thought the entire desert was about to go up in flames. The probable cause of the fire was high wind gusts combined with a poor connection to the fuel line in the Coleman (mom's fault, not mine). My mom claims that the tent fire was my fault as the blast from the fire extinguisher (not the heavy wind, mind you) blew hot debris into the tent. She also went on to complain about the white dust I got on everything.

Oddly enough, camping with the family turned out to be just like I remembered it being as a kid. It's no wonder neither of my siblings like the outdoors.

Prosperity Gospel

2009-06-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

The older I get, the more I realize that the message of the gospel is a tough sell. This message will likely cost you your wealth, your security, and possibly your life. This message led Jesus and 11 of his 12 closest followers to the grave. I don't know about you, but that's certainly not a path I want to go down.

A much easier message to sell is to give away 10% of your earnings and the Lord will pay you back and then some; giving money to God is an investment. This is the message of the prosperity gospel and here is a great ESPN piece on high profile athletes and their high profile churches.

If you want my humble opinion, there's probably a special place in the afterlife for men like Creflo Dollar. I hate to say it, but I think my heightened image of Kurt Warner just fell a bit. Not to be too hard on the guy, but I honestly think that he is more comfortable getting involved with ministers who are wealthy. It would probably make him feel very uncomfortable dropping by Joyce Meyer's house if she lived in a modest home, or heaven forbid in the ghetto. What we have here are prosperity ministers who tell the rich exactly what they want to here: God loves you and has blessed you and will continue to bless you abundantly as long as you do a list of things. And I think it's safe to assume the list includes tithing 10% and the blessing includes personal achievement and wealth.

Messages like this make me want to rip out the Old Testament of my bible and throw it in the trash. That or steal a bunch of money from people I consider my enemies and take it back to my giant home full of wives and slaves, as I could make a pretty good biblical case for that. Giving away money is NOT an investment, it's a way of life that shows that your values are greater than money. I don't get how these preachers read the same bible I read and live such different lives. The message of prosperity and even security died with Jesus. Am I missing something here? What scares me is that I actually think Creflo Dollar believes what he preaches and is justified in acting the way that he does. What's scarier is that more Christians probably agree with him than me.

A message to Kurt Warner, if this ever finds you, please stop giving your money to a mega church and just give it to the poor.

Michigan

2009-06-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

I love North Carolina, but there's no place better than northern Michigan in June. A cousin of mine got married in Charlevoix, MI last Saturday and I was able to make a 10 day trip up there to see my family, visit old friends from high school, and take in some awesome scenery. I'll be back in Raleigh for just a week before leaving to Arizona for the summer. Hopefully things will be just as serene out there.

Art

2009-05-11T04:31:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Stephanie, her brother Michael, and I were down at Moore Square on a beautiful Monday afternoon. Right as we were about to leave, we ran into one of our friends, Roddrick. Roddrick is perhaps the happiest homeless man in all of Raleigh. He loves Stephanie's dog, always has a giant smile on his face and always has a hilarious story to tell. On this afternoon he was telling us how he had spent the day at the park just enjoying how beautiful it all was. He was so very excited about the whole thing.

"What did you do at the park all day, Roddrick?" We asked.

"It was so beautiful. I sat down and drew a picture."

"Oh really. What did you draw a picture of?"

"A gopher! I love gophers. Like in Caddy Shack." He started wiggling around like the dancing gopher in the movie.

"What'd you do with the picture?"

"Wait, I still have it." He started digging through his bag and low and behold:

What in the world? We all cracked up at the site of his drawing and Roddrick even posed like the gopher in the picture. He signed it and gave it to Stephanie as a gift and it now sits on my refrigerator. Quality.

Beep Beep

2009-05-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

In order to draw away from the fact that I drive a Ford, I have decided to shamelessly express myself through the back of my vehicle. I think I've done a fairly good job so far.

I might not have thrown a disc in 9 months, but I am a legend at EMU

Beep! Beep! Disgruntled teacher coming through!

This ride is smoke free.

America's fresh water resort. I miss those summers on the beach.

Wolfpack. My new home.

When you get out west, you gotta have it.

I lemon lemonade international

I would

Follow me or get off the road!

All you Christian Nancy's can read the fine print.

I spend 40 hours a week teaching science. Deal with it.

A redundant "I'd Rather Be" flattball sticker on the front of the car.

And that's pretty much me in 10 stickers or less. Keep the Lexus, "I'd rather be" stickered out.

blog journaling

2009-04-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've tried to focus my blog on my thoughts on humanity, but sometimes you just have to write about what's going on in your life. Seems a little narcasistic, but why not.

Tuesday was one of the best nights I've had in recent memory. After work I got my first haircut since getting my head shaved back in September. I found a gay hairdresser at a unisex salon who does a great job. It's not the man spa I grew fond of back in Michigan, but the guy certainly knows hair. After the trim I went to the gym before heading out to watch the Canes game with my friend Sam Ed. Right as I was about to walk in the bar, my friend Ricky called and asked if I could pick him up at the homeless shelter. 15 minutes later I was watching the game Hi-5 with two of my closest friends.

The game was phenominal. I had to leave part way through the 2nd period to give a friend a ride home from work. At this time I also went to pick up my new scooter that I had checked out the night before and agreed to buy. I was able to complete these two tasks in time to return to the bar right as the 3rd period was beginning.

Now if game 4 was the best game I have ever scene in person, game 7 somehow managed to outdo it. The Canes trailed 3-2 for almost the entire period. Cam Ward stood on his head as the Canes left him out to dry time and time again. Somehow the Devils failed to score the put away goal. With about 2 minutes left in the game, I thought it was over and I asked the waitress for our check. With under 90 seconds to go, the Devils failed to clear the puck from their zone once again, and Gleason made the play of the season, diving across the blue line to keep the puck in the zone and then passing it along from his knees. The near clear put the Devils out of position as Pitkanen zinged a pass for a Jokinen one timer that tied the game with about 1:20 to go. The bar went nuts. The waitress came up with our checks, but I sent her away and called for another PBR. She quickly got me the beer, but before I could hardly take a sip, Eric Staal found the 7 hole on Brodeur for the game winner. It was amaizing! No team had ever been trailing a game 7 in the last 5 minutes and gone on to win. No team had ever scored a game 7 winning goal in the last minute of the game. Nothing like this had ever happenned before, and it just had happened against one of the greatest goaltenders of all time.

After things settled down, I showed off my new Tomos scooter to Sam and Ricky. After I got my car home, and Ricky home, Stephanie stopped by for a brief visit. I surprised her with my new wheels. The bike is boda boda quality and we took it out for a tandum spin around Oakwood. We had a blast and it totally reminded us of riding around in Uganda on very similar bikes. It was the perfect end to a perfect night.

Hockey, bars, beer, bikes, and girls. I just hope this means my life hasn't become completely superficial.

Benefits of Serving the Poor

2009-04-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

For a while now I've been hanging down in Moore Square on a regular basis, making friends with homeless guys and maintaining these friendships. When people ask me why I do it, I tell them that it's really me who is being blessed and served through my actions. People assume this means that I learn invaluable lessons, I experience love through friendships, and that I receive the Holy Spirit through my service. -Maybe. But yesterday it meant that I got to go to a Carolina Hurricanes playoff hockey game.

I was teaching my last period of the day, and my phone started blowing up. Call, message. 10 minutes later, call, message. After school I had a club meeting, and finally around 3:30 I answered one of these phone calls. It was one of my homeless friends, Reggie. A few weeks ago he got a job and on this day his work had a group of tickets for people to claim. Not really asking he said, "Chris, man, I got 4 tickets to tonight's hockey game. I'm at the Y. Come get me so I can give you the tickets." I was a little reluctant at first, but eventually I agreed to come pick him up and get the tickets. Since I was in a hurry to get to they end of the year banquet for Community Hope, the reading/mentoring program I am involved with, Reggie just handed me the tickets and went on his way. I inspected the tickets for a few minutes, trying to get over the fact that a homeless guy just handed me 4 free tickets to a playoff hockey game, and then I called some friends.

I wound up taking Stephanie (my gf), De'Andre (the boy I mentor), and his younger brother Mike. The kids had a great time and I wish I had brought a camera to take their pictures. It was a very "this is what white people do" kind of evening as De'Andre and Mike were blown away by all that is Carolina hockey. The game itself was one of the best I had ever seen. The Canes went up 3-0 in a game they absolutely had to win. The Devils tied the game 3-3 midway through the 3rd. As the clock ran, I came to the forgone conclusion that if the game went into overtime, I would have to bite my lip and take these two young children home. I leaned over to Stephanie and said, "Somebody just has to score." I wasn't about to keep a first grader out past 11.

Well, right when it looked like regulation was over, a moment of divine nature occurred. With about 5 seconds on the clock, the Devils failed to clear the puck from their zone and it bounced out to the blue line. One of the Canes players got control of the puck as everyone in the stadium was yelling, "Shoot it!!!!!!" Instead, he passed the puck along the blue line as the stadium gasped in frustration that he had passed on what appeared to be their last chance for a shot in regulation. Just then, Seidenberg sent a one timer that redirected off of Jokinen and into the back of the net right as the clock read 0:00! The ref pointed to the net indicating goal, the horn sounded, right on cue mind you, and the stadium absolutely erupted. I turned to Stephanie and shouted, "I've never seen that before!" It was a buzzer beater for the win in a hockey game. No Rick Flair this time on the jumbo tron, just pure playoff electricity. They reviewed the goal as everyone continued to cheer, before one more incredible eruption when the ref finally turned around and pointed down to indicate that the goal stood. The game was over and it was immediately deemed an Instant Classic. It was crazy! They announced Jokinen as the night's number 1 star but mistakenly sent out Seidenberg from the dressing room back onto the ice for the misguided, yet emotional curtain call.

It was an incredible game and an incredible experience. But I like to just chalk it up as the fruits of serving the poor. Thanks Reggie!

Broken Dreams

2009-04-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have my job, I have my health, I have the love of my friends and family, and I know how to keep bad news in perspective, but at the moment none of that matters. When you set your sights on something, it's very disappointing when you don't reach it.

For the past month, my heart has been cast on South Africa. I was accepted into the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program and placed with an exchange in Sasolburg, South Africa. But just moments ago, my principal came by my room, looked me in the eye and told me that the exchange was a no go. He actually found out early this morning but struggled with how to break the news to me all day and even considered waiting till Monday. It turns out that our school is preparing to lose 30-40 positions over the summer and that this was the first of many difficult conversations my principal is going to have to make. Between the time and cost of processing an exchange teacher, and losing the flexibility of my teaching certificate, the human resource director for the county vetoed my exchange.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out why this hurts so much. I suppose there's that period of time when you receive bad news that your reaction is purely emotional. At some point, I'll decide to move on and get over myself, but at the moment I am devastated. I've been reading, praying and literally dreaming about South Africa. In a few days I'm sure I'll act like it doesn't bother me and that maybe there's a blessing in all of this. But at the moment is does bother me, and I want to acknowledge what my passion is before I decide to forget it.

Right now I'm going to head home and enjoy a beer as I break the news to my girlfriend. This is probably good news for her, but I know she'll empathize with me and I'll be reminded of all the things I have to be joyous about.

Guatemala Trip

2009-04-13T08:57:00.001-07:00

I got to spend an amazing spring break in Guatemala visiting my friend Leah and delivering paintings for Painting Lemonade. I brought down almost 200 portraits, painted by American high school students, and delivered them to the children of La Limonada. It was an incredible experience and a wonderful week.

A huge thanks to all the students and teachers who participated in Painting Lemonade. I hope to make it a reoccurring project. The children were mesmerized by their portraits, as were their parents. When I first walked into a shanty home in La Limonada, the first thing I saw was a Painting Lemonade portrait up on the wall that had been delivered earlier this year. An awesome sight and an incredible gift.

Laker's Visit

2009-03-24T03:56:00.001-07:00

My good friend David Laker, who I met and got to know on my two trips to Uganda, came and visited this past weekend from Minnesota. He's from Gulu and is studying Comparative Education at the University of Minnesota. He came down to speak at Viseo Dei on Sunday. Maybe the podcast will be up soon. It was an incredible weekend. I was thus inspired to make a video with some of Laker's pictures.

Going to South Africa

2009-03-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Or at least it looks that way at the moment. The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program just proposed an exchange for me outside of Johannesburg, South Africa for the calendar year of 2010. The proposal is not final yet, as both parties and schools have to finalize the agreement, but the chances of me going to South Africa are very high at the moment.

Unlike most traditional calendar exchanges, the South African exchange is on their school system's year round schedule. This is a huge plus for my travel possibilities throughout the region. 11 weeks in school followed by 3 weeks vacation. I believe this will give me three 3 week vacations while I'm there. I've already got my heart set on Cape Town for at least one of these trips. I've also got my heart set on traveling via motorcycle. The area around Sasolburg is full of endless weekend trips that I plan on taking full advantage of.

It's only March, and if all goes well, I'll still be here till January. I am very excited nonetheless. I'm going to begin my South African reading list though, starting with Nelson Mandela's autobiography. If I ever make it through that, I'll take your other suggestions. I'm also going to download some more Hugh Masekela and get more more SA in the Ipod as well. Wow Africa!

Can the ICC save Darfur?

2009-03-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

In my humble opinion, the answer to this question is simply, no.

On Wednesday, the ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president al-Bashir. The warrant included charges of war crimes and acts against humanity, but did not specifically charge Bashir with genocide. This is the first warrant for a head of state issued by the ICC since it's creation in 2002.

al-Bashir dances after the announcement of the warrant for his arrest

I'm slightly surprised to see the enthusiasm over the indictment. George Clooney was very supportive of this action as were most of my friends who are interested in Sudan. It only makes sense to support such an action. Clearly al-Bashir is directly responsible for supporting the Janjaweed tribes responsible for all the death and rape in Darfur over the last 5 years. Over 300,000 people have died and the Western world is struggling to find any notion of a solution. Concerned citizens write letters to Congress, and Clooney even made it to the White House just last week, all with the message of "Please do something to save Darfur." Finally, after years of deliberation, a case was brought before the ICC and warrant was handed down for the arrest of Sudan's president. Justice.

Well, it's only been a few days and we are already seeing several predictable problems emerging. The most obvious being that it will be impossible to capture Bashir. The UN peacekeeping force already said they would not do the job, and I'm not sure who else the ICC could send. To go into Khartoum and arrest the guy would require a large scale military operation resulting in thousands of casualties, with a limited possibility of success. It'll never happen. But just for the sake of argument, let's say they were actually able to capture Bashir. Would that help Sudan? The citizens of Khartoum are now becoming more anti-West as each day passes. The removal of their president would cause such a stir that the next president would likely be much more radical than Bashir. Bashir is very popular amongst the Arab majority of Sudan, and you can't just rob a country of their president without a significant backlash from his supporters. This might in fact be the worse scenario for Darfur.

There are so many similarities here to our intervention in Iraq. How popular was the Iraq war on the eve of the invasion? How many people did we have to kill in order to capture Sadam? Now that Sadam is gone, how has that improved Iraq? After years in Iraq, if we were to leave today, there would likely be a Sunni genocide. This is certainly not progress, and removing Sadam, oddly enough, might have been the worst thing we ever did in Iraq. Let's not forget that the product of "The Great War" was WWII, a much larger catastrophe. Our hard nosed solutions more often escalate conflicts than resolve them.

The simple truth is that the ICC will not be able to capture Bashir. In retaliation to the warrant, al-Bashir has already removed 13 aid organizations from Darfur; Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders being the two most notable groups. My guess is that Bashir is attempting to remove as much of the Western World from Darfur as possible in order to achieve what he has already been charged with. If things were bad before, I'm deathly afraid that it could get much worse.

So without justice, how do we find peace? I firmly believe that the answer lies in the freedom of the press. The overwhelming majority of people who suffer from human rights violations live in countries who deny freedom of speech. Only when lines of communication are opened can equality be attained. Oddly enough, I thought al-Bashir was slowly (albeit, very slowly) sliding in this direction. News and aid organizations were allowed into Darfur, the South was finally getting a voice in government, and Bashir was open to meeting with just about anybody (he met with Franklin Graham just the other day). I'm not implying that Sudan was freeing itself from censorship, but it was opening up to the outside world more and more. The power of the open media is a powerful deterrent to those who burn down villages and rape women. People only commit these atrocities when they know they are not being watched. Instead of demanding justice, what the West needs to demand is openness. That is the pathway to lasting peace.

Unfortunately, what is left of Darfur is a group of people without modern weaponry, without media, and without the aid of doctors, waiting to defend themselves against radical militias who wish to destroy them completely. My prayers go out to them, and I truly hope that the ICC is right and that I am the one who is wrong.

Other opinions: Franklin Graham, Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, Desmond Tutu

Intended Consequences

2009-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

One of the difficulties I have with blogging is that my world often shifts back and forth between a set of polar opposite thoughts and philosophies. Unfortunately, this does not make for good writing. I much prefer the world of Jim Rome where the primary objective is, "have a take, don't suck." For me, sometimes it's tough to take a side.

Recently I came across the Intended Consequences project; my latest conundrum. Intended Consequences is a book and now a gallery exhibit portraying Rwandan women who were raped during the genocide of 1994. It's a series of portraits of mother and child, captioned with a description of the rape and often the mother's feelings toward the child. The dilemma for me is in determining whether this project is a sincere attempt to better the lives of women and children in Rwanda, or an exploitative project designed to bulk up a short list of aide organizations at the expense of these children.

The issue of sex crimes is very sensitive especially when children are involved. Typically it is unethical for journalists to photograph victims of sexual violence or even describe in much detail these types of crimes. There is certainly a 3rd world, African aspect of this situation that somehow makes it acceptable to do this sort of thing with these children in Rwanda. Let's not forget that these are just young children, who are well documented in this project as being unwanted and unloved. Does it make sense for a mother quoted as saying, "I don't love this child," to give proper consent for that same child? Wronging Rights has a great "take" for the argument that this project is not looking out for the best interest of these children.

But it is always my instinct to side with projects like this. Maybe it's just my bleeding heart, but I live for stuff like this. I'm in North Carolina right now, what do I know about rape victims in Rwanda unless somebody does something like this. There are reports that similar systematic rape is currently taking place in Darfur. What are we doing to stop this? The truth is that rape is quite common whenever a military force invades an enemy territory. The only way to fight this fact is to bring the issue to the front of conversation. It must have been a devastating blow to the moral of our US troops in Vietnam when images of child rape victims were published in the media, but I have to believe that this type of exposure now serves as an effective deterrent for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. If anyone is doing something to prevent large scale rape, it has to be Jonathan Trogovnik, the creator or Intended Consequences.

But above all, there is something about this whole project that is very raw. I almost wish that the intent of the book and the gallery wasn't to raise money for any kind of cause, but just to shed light on this issue. These are such beautiful women and children, stained with an incredibly horrific past. I want to hear them. America gave Rwanda a large collective cold shoulder back in 1994, and the worst thing we could do now is have similar attitude once again. I'm not entirely comfortable with Intended Consequences, but I am infinitely more uncomfortable turning my back on a group of people unhappy about their circumstances.

Eat Me

2009-02-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-02-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

"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

2009-02-06T19:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-04T13:57:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

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"

2009-02-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

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

2009-02-02T07:09:00.001-08:00

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.

My New Hero

2009-01-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich is my new hero. True story. I hope I see his face on every major press outlet for months. Step over Obama, Blago is my new poster child for the American politician. It's not the fact that he tried to sell a US Senate seat, or the fact that his language in front of his young children is enough to make Snoop Dogg blush, or even the grandeur of his PROceeding hair line. The reason I love Rob Blagojevich so much is that he is working very hard to destroy America's faith in it's leaders. Rather than do the rational thing, walk away and enjoy a peaceful life with Steve Bartman down in Florida, Blago is putting his face onto every media outlet he can and fighting this one to the very end. Brilliant.

Blago is a typical politician, and the more we see his face this week, the more Americans will realize how corrupt our system is. He may be a little more arrogant and corrupt than most, but this is just politics as usual. The job description of a politician is to gain power and control and then to maintain it. That's why we have people like Blago in our public offices. This is also why we will never see something like a Fair Tax ever pass into law because it would rip away a significant portion of the power our senators have over us. The simple truth is that our elected officials will always fight for themselves and the power of their office.

So I'm going to enjoy it while is lasts and I just hope ol' Blago's 15 minutes don't become a forgotten image of the past.

Good News and Bad News

2009-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

The Good News:

A few weeks ago The Child Soldier Prevention Act was signed into law by President Bush. Currently, American tax dollars go toward military assistance for six governments using child soldiers. The Child Soldier Prevention Act restricts that funding. I believe it is a strong step in the right direction.

My only exposure to child soldiering has been in Northern Uganda. There, the Lords Resistance Army uses children almost exclusively as they are easy to brainwash and control. One of the big stumbling block in opposing the LRA is that their main enemy, the government of Uganda, also enlists children as young as 13 into their army. Hopefully this act will force governments like Uganda into acting more responsibly.

The Bad News:

To think this act will do anything significant in the fight against child soldiering is a fallacy. The problem is that the overwhelming majority of child soldering is done by rebel groups, not government armies. Just a few weeks ago the LRA abducted at least another 160 children in what is known as the Christmas Massacres. I missed this story when it happened last month, but when I finally read about it I nearly threw up. I have dear friends in Northern Uganda and to think of them being killed in such grotesque ways is just sickening. The people in these bush villages are so peaceful and friendly; it breaks my heart to read stories like this.

Ricky at Pullen

2009-01-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, Ricky was asked to speak at Pullen Baptist Church. Turns out he is a phenomenal public speaker. I still prefer the Ricky who hangs out on the street corner smoking Newports, but church Ricky looked quite comfortable up there on the pulpit. He had the congregation fully engaged and tearing up. Could there be a future in public speaking for this homeless man? We'll have to wait and see. Here is the 5 minute video and two local news sources that wrote about the speech:

News From Our Shoes

The Independent Weekly

An Atheist's Perspective

2009-01-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Every Monday night I go to quasi religious group called "The Gathering" and listen to a podcast from a radio show called Speaking of Faith. It's an incredibly diverse group of less than a dozen very independent thinkers and most of us come from some sort of Christian background but don't really feel like we fit in at church. At the same time, we all enjoy the spiritual journeys that we are on, and our discussions are very interesting, as well as the podcasts themselves.

One of the goals of the group is to question and challenge each other's thoughts, so different perspectives are highly encouraged. We already have a Hindu girl who comes, I've been trying to get a Jewish friend of mine to come and some of us have joked that whoever can find an intelligent atheist to come will win some kind of award. This might sound weird, but I'm beginning to think that if you don't feel comfortable discussing your deepest spiritual beliefs with an atheist, there might be something wrong with your belief system. I'm not talking about explaining the gospel or referencing doctrine, but really contemplating who God is and how God fits into your individual life. I really think that this is more like the approach to evangelism used by Paul, rather than the scriptural approach used at church. I can't understand why God would give us free will if his intent was to confine us to answers found in the bible.

If there was any doubt as to why a differing perspective is a valuable commodity, here is a remarkable article about Christian missionaries called, "As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God". If you are a Christian, this article should in no way validate your beliefs, but it should make you realize that outside opinion is important. The author does not believe in God, and probably never will, but he is a logical witness as to what God followers are doing in Africa. If the work of a missionary is not valued by the non Christian world, then maybe that missionary should find something more valuable to do. If you are a Christian, feel free to insert "your name" in place of the words "a missionary" and "that missionary" in the last sentence.

I'll even take it a step further for you Christians out there. What do criminals, prostitutes and thieves think about you? What would they think about Jesus if they saw him in the flesh?

The answer for myself is motivating if not altogether troubling.

My Drinking Buddies

2008-12-18T23:24:00.000-08:00

The other night, Stephanie and I did our usually Monday routine of going to Moore Square Park, handing out sandwiches and talking to people who hang out there. Most of these people are homeless. We do this every week and the people down there know us. They greet us as we walk up to them, we hang out and talk for about an hour, and at some point we hand out about a dozen sandwiches. Stephanie and I used to each eat a sandwich ourselves, but somewhere along the line the demand for the sandwiches eventually greatly outnumbered how many we would bring (We make really good sandwiches).

This past Monday night was interesting. As soon as we got there, Stephanie separated from the group to play in the leaves with a young girl. I was left standing in a circle with about 10 guys. One guy had a case of Ice House and started passing them out to everyone. Within a few seconds I was the only one in the circle without a beer. The man with the case noticed this and said, "Wait. Chris, I forgot about you. Did you want one?"

In just a fraction of a second lots of thoughts raced through my head:

Is it even legal to drink out here?
It has been a rough day at work. I could use a drink.
If I was with any of my other friends, what would I be doing right now?
I've had beer and wine with homeless guys before.
Am I pretending to be somebody I'm not when I'm down here?
I've tasted fresh moonshine in Uganda.
Why not?

And that's exactly what I said. "Why not?" The guys got a good chuckle out of this, and I felt this strange sense of community with the group as I drank my beer. There were all kinds of comments thrown out in the circle:

"I wasn't going to smoke in front of these two out of respect for them. I thought they were from a church or something."
"No, this guy is always drinking down at the Raleigh Times."
"Yeah, I've seen him there with my brother."
"Chris, man, now you know you're going to have to chip in next time we collect."

I began to realize that apparently there are eyes on the street, as well as embellishments. After that, things got a little weird. Someone pulled out a joint and some of them started passing that around. I also noticed money exchanging hands for something small that I suspect were drugs. These things never happened before, but somehow my status had instantly changed. They weren't ashamed to do anything around me. But oddly enough, they would still apologize to us after cussing, even while accidentally blowing smoke in my face while doing so. By the time we left, Stephanie and I smelled like we had just come from a Willie Nelson concert.

It's been a few days since this experience and I still can't decide how I feel about it. I have my own thoughts ranging from, "I'm an idiot," all the way to, "I should bring a case of beer to pass out next week," but I'm curious what others think. So if you've read this far, please make a stance on this issue and post a comment.

News From Our Shoes

2008-12-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

As time goes on, I am realizing that more and more of my friends are homeless. Not that my friends are losing their homes, but I am spending a lot of time chumming around with guys who live out on the streets. It sometimes makes me cringe when people call these friendships part of my ministry. These guys have become my friends and they are part of the life I am enjoying very much.

There are some remarkable people who stay down at the shelter. I wish more people would get to know some of them, as there is so much to learn from some of these guys. I'm really enjoying how Ricky's story is coming along. If you haven't been following it you should. I suggest reading the oldest post first and going through it backwards.

Ricky

Another interesting website done by a homeless man is News From Our Shoes. Michael Watkins is a fascinating guy who is attempting to bring news relevant to the homeless to Raleigh. Michael has a vision of creating an entire news broadcast around this concept. Can you believe that? There's a man living down at the shelter with a website that gets about 1,000 hits a day, who wants to produce a television news broadcast. It sounds unbelievable, but he is closer to achieving this goal than you'd think.

I took some pictures to help these guys out. They are looking for close to $1000 in sponsorships in order to take some broadcasting courses. I could use a better camera, but I still think these are pretty good.

Michael

There is a meeting about Raleigh's 10 year plan to end homelessness on Thursday (12/11). It's at 9 AM down at the shelter. I'm debating whether or not I should take off work to go. There's a poll on the right margin of this page. Please chime in.

The Last Lecture

2008-12-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

I recently finished a book called "The Last Lecture". It was an incredibly short and simple book, but the story behind the book is impacting and amazing. My mom gave it to me for my birthday earlier this year with the instruction of passing it on.

Randy did end up dying over the summer, but not before touching millions of people with his story. There will always be those people we foolishly want to believe "have it all figured out", but I really think that Randy at least had something figured out. I don't know what it means to "have it all figured out", but to accept an early death with satisfaction and contentment sounds like a good start. We can all learn something from someone so secure in his outlook on life. I'd like to think that I could stare death in the eye without fear or panic, but I somehow doubt it. Unfortunately, none of us will ever know what we're really made of until we come face to face with the inevitable. We just hope that we'll be ready when that day comes.

If you can't read the book, at least watch the last lecture that inspired the writing of the book.

A Thanksgiving Worth Remembering

2008-11-28T18:42:00.001-08:00

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
-Luke 14:12-14

Yet another passage from the bible that speaks for itself and yet is rarely followed. In our American society it actually seems foreign for a Christian to do something like this. And yet straight from the words of Jesus, it's right there in black and white (or in some cases, red).

This year my friend Steph decided to actually invite a few homeless people to her Thanksgiving dinner. Steph's motivation probably had less to do with following the passage in Luke, and more to do with the simple fact that she has formed some close friendships within Raleigh's homeless circle. It just made sense to invite a few of them over. Sure enough, everyone had a great time and one of the guys even commented that it was the best Thanksgiving he ever had. None of this was a shock, but it was the reaction from Steph's parents that surprised me.

Not at all knowing that homeless people were invited to dinner, or that their daughter even had homeless friends, we were a little concerned how Steph's parents were going to react to the arrival of Ricky and Michael at the house. But for whatever reason they just immediately connected with these two, her mother with Michael and her stepfather with Ricky. If you knew these four people, you would have hardly expected this. But there was no interrupting them as they talked back and forth throughout the afternoon. After Ricky and Michael went back to the shelter, Steph's parents commented that talking to them was such a treat and the highlight of their Thanksgiving.

The lesson for me was that relationships with the less fortunate are anything but one sided. Steph's parents came to Raleigh looking for a memorable holiday celebration with their two children. What they went home with was an unforgettable experience sharing stories with two men they had never met before. No need to wait around for the resurrection of the righteous, their repayment was immediate. I might go as far as to say that this strange social experiment was more impacting on Steph's parents than it was on Ricky and Michael, but isn't it always that way when we serve the poor.

I talked to Ricky today and he told me that Steph's mom had been sending Michael emails. I think I may have witnessed the beginning of a long friendship, not to mention a Thanksgiving worth remembering.

International Festival

2008-11-24T14:28:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back, Garner Magnet High School hosted it's 3rd annual International Festival. Since I actively participated in setting up 3 different booths, I thought it warranted a blog post. So here are the booths:

Booth 1:
Beleza/Fair Trade

Sorry about the blurry picture, these pictures were taken by students, so what are you going to do?

The paintings were done by my friend Eddie Bbira in Uganda. They're painted on bark cloth and they sell them at Beleza in Cameron Village.

Booth 2:
Invisible Children

Welcome to Gulu, Uganda. This grass roof was a pain in the ptootie to build. But it looks pretty bad-a, right?

Booth 3:
Painting Lemonade
Guatemala City, Guatemala

I'm most proud of this one. I put together the Painting Lemonade project back in August. Wake County high school students paint portraits of children in La Limonada. I'll be delivering some of these 250 pictures to the children in April, during my spring break. Not bad, huh?

Yesterday's Bible Lesson

2008-11-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, instead of church I went down to Moore Square for a free bacon and egg biscuit and some fellowship with the local homeless crowd. Afterwards, I went to a coffee shop and actually read my bible. I read Ecclesiastes and came across this gem of a passage:

And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

-Ecclesiastes 7:26

I'd like to say that this passage is the reason I am still single, but I have been "the sinner", or in my case "the fool", quite a few times in my life. I wish I could say I wasn't at all "bitter" as the passage reads. Maybe someday I'll find that special lady who is not a net and chains.

Sometimes I just can't believe the things I come across in that crazy book.

Lady's and Gentlemen, Ricky Caldwell

2008-11-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'd like to introduce you all to my good friend, Ricky Caldwell. I met Ricky down at Moore Square Park back in August. We have been great friends ever since. Ricky has a lot of noticeable differences from myself, but the most noteworthy would have to be the fact that Ricky is homeless.

Over the last few months Ricky has shared with me so many interesting stories about his life on the streets. So very often I would hear him say, "Man, Chris, you wouldn't even believe the stuff I've seen. But I tell ya, I'm going to write a book about it some day." Every time I would hear Ricky say that, the little voice in my head would say, "Yeah, right. This high school drop out is never going to actually sit down and write anything." Well, instead of being cynical, like usual, I decided to actually do something. I proudly give you rickycaldwell.blogspot.com

Ricky has worse computer skills than my Ugandan friends, so he is going to write down his thoughts on paper, and we will get together every week and try to post a blog. This is a very interesting project that I am extremely excited about being a part of. I hope it sparks some interest and maybe, some day, Ricky will fulfill his dream of writing a book.

The Gathering

2008-11-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

So, for about a month now we've been experimenting with a nameless church group, for the moment we will call, The Gathering. The goal of the gathering is to promote a Christian support group amongst the homeless and formerly homeless people of Raleigh. This is a picture from our first ever meeting, just a few weeks ago. I am very excited to be a part of this movement and I am excited to see where goes. When people ask me, "what is the gathering?" I usually get frustrated at my inability to share Hugh's vision with just about anybody. But here's a story that I think explains what it is we are trying to accomplish.

Week 2 of the gathering.

My friend Stephanie showed up 5 minutes late, and found herself locked out of the building. As she is about to bang on the door, she sees Ronnie coming down the sidewalk. They greet each other, and when the question of, "how's it going?" comes up, Ronnie explains that he is extremely frustrated. Ronnie spens the next 45 minutes talking out of control about losing jobs and people not supporting him and his large distaste for how he was treated at church earlier that morning. Stephanie, was at loss for how to respond to all of this, but is somewhat successful at calming Ronnie down at least somewhat before they decide to join the rest of the group.

At this point, Stephanie and Ronnie had missed almost all of the discussion, but there was a moment at the end where it was asked if there were any concerns we should know about that we could be praying for. Ronnie immediately jumped in with his story from church that morning, having to do with the loss of his job and his need for money and work. Before Ronnie could get anywhere in his story, another homeless guy named Everit jumped in and said something along the lines of, "Man Ronnie, at some point you just have to look at your situation and say, 'is it everybody around me, or is it something that I'm doing?' Listen, you've lost 4 jobs in the last 2 months. I used to go through the same cycle all the time, and I finally thought to myself, 'is it the world that's messin up my life, or is it something that I'm doing that's causing this?' Nothings going to change unless you start taking some responsibility for yourself"

A few of the other guys off the street chimed in and talked about the situation for a little bit. Stephanie realized that she was in no position to give Ronnie the advice that Everit had given him, but it was exactly what Ronnie needed. I think this story embodies the whole purpose of our little group. I'm looking forward to hearing more discussions like this in the future and to building a strong community in downtown Raleigh.

Speeches

2008-10-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

With all the great political speeches going on right now, I was sent down memory lane thinking about the last time I got to give a speech. It was about a year ago and the occasion was the Beta club induction at my high school. Not the greatest venue, but I remember being quite nervous with a few hundred parents and students in front of me. For the casual blog reader, this might be a bit lengthy, but I only post it because I thought it was a decent piece of work. If you actually read the whole thing please leave a comment.

October 17th, 2007

Thank you all for being here tonight, it is quite an honor to be up here speaking to you; parents, friends and most importantly our new Beta Club inductees. Congratulations! You guys are here tonight because you have displayed leadership, strong academics, service and most importantly character. So please, take pride in your achievement.

Even though I have had my share of interesting experiences in my life, the main reason I was asked to speak here tonight is because of my involvement in Uganda over the last year and a half. My experience with Uganda has been nothing short of pure joy. One of the things that makes it so enjoyable is the fact that I get to work with children. Which brings me to an interesting story.

Now before I begin my story, I must tell you that much like most of you parents, but unlike most of you students, I do not have a myspace account. Some of you might even be asking the question, “What is myspace”. Myspace is a website where you can create a personal profile, upload pictures, chat with your friends and so on. It became popular after I was out of college, and because of this I tend to make fun of all of my friends who have created accounts and gotten sucked into the world of myspace. But that’s beside the point. One of my friends gave me a t-shirt with the phrase, “YOU LOOK BETTER ON MYSPACE”, poking fun at the many people who use myspace as an internet dating ring; BTW, not something I would recommend. Just by chance I was wearing this shirt when I was in Uganda and I came across a boy who was wearing a shirt that read, “DON’T HATE THE PLAYER HATE THE GAME”. I found this hilarious and I asked the boy if he knew what the shirt meant. He of course had no idea, and none of his friends did either. I asked him if he liked my shirt, and we decided to swap shirts right on the spot. In hind site, it was probably the fairest barter I have ever been a part of. Both parties walked away with a shirt of equal value, and both of us were given a cool story to tell. Later in my trip I wore that shirt to the airport and when I walked up to the counter, the airline worker, in a heavy Ugandan accent said to me, “What ever this game is, I shall hate it.” I said, “What?” And she responded, “Whatever this game is” and she pointed at my shirt, “I shall hate it SO much.” And I said, “Yes, hate the game”.

But on a more serious note, my work in Uganda has been the best time of my life. It’s crazy for me to look back at myself just 2 years ago, I didn’t have a passport, I hadn’t left the country in over a decade, and I had never been on a trip that wasn’t purely recreational. Two summers later, I now find that my work in Uganda has become one of the most important aspects of my life. I find myself asking the question, what the heck happened to me?

The truth is that when I first went to Uganda last summer I had no idea what I was doing or even why I was going. I went over there with 4 other people from my church with the intent of helping the children in the war torn city of Gulu. You see for the last 20 years war has been taking place in Northern Uganda. What makes this war particularly devastating is that the participants are largely children. With the ability to quickly train and brainwash children, soldiers between the ages of 8-14 are the preferred fighting force for the Lord’s Resistance Army of Northern Uganda. This is a problem not specific to Uganda, in fact it is estimated that there are currently over 300,000 child soldiers around the world, most of whom are on the continent of Africa. It was our goal to find a way to help and support these children.

One day while I was at a park in Gulu, I met a man named Denis who was playing soccer with some of the children. He was drawn to me by his fascination with the strange flying object I was throwing back and forth with some of the kids. The object I was throwing was a Frisbee, and Denis had never seen one of these before. The two of us just immediately clicked; we have similar in personalities, sense of humors and so on. He too is a teacher. But after being around Denis for the next week or so I quickly learned that he has a background that I can hardly relate to. Late one night I was talking to Denis about some of the men I had seen who’s lips and ears had been cut off by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Denis then showed me several bullet wounds he had in his legs. It turns out that Denis was a former child soldier himself.
Early in the morning of January 17th, 1994, the rebels came to his village and Denis was abducted at the age of 11. Men with guns walked into his hut and forced his mother to hand over him and his older brother, leaving his younger siblings behind. Over the next two years Denis was faced with an atrocious experience. What he remembers most is walking entire days from sunrise to sunset often without any food or water. When children tried to escape he would see them viciously killed. One of these victims was his own brother. Other people’s lips and ears were cut off, the girls were sexually violated, villages were burnt to the ground and he even witnessed people being cooked in pots. What disturbs me even more is to think that Denis has never been able to give me the full details of his abduction, as most of it is too graphic and horrific to account.

Fortunately after 2 years in the bush, Denis was able to escape from the Rebels and eventually return to his family. But even after returning home, he lost hope in life. It wasn’t until after a few years that he was able to turn his life around and see optimism in the world again. And it wasn’t until my visit last summer that he was ever able to even speak about his abduction…and believe me it wasn’t easy, on his part or mine. Today Denis has committed his life to helping the children of his community. As a teacher he is considered part of the highest social standing in Gulu. In turn, not only does he raise 2 young children of his own, but 4 of his younger siblings as well. As if this doesn’t keep him busy enough, I met Denis in the park where he was playing with children from the village and a few months later he organized a soccer team for them. This soccer team turned into 2, then 3 teams, and has recently spawned a women’s netball team, which is a game similar to soccer. The boys would play soccer without shoes and without shirts because they had absolutely no equipment outside of a single soccer ball. This summer I packed up numerous uniforms, cleats and other equipment and proudly delivered them to his team.
When people ask me the question, “Why are you so involved in Uganda?” it gives me great pause. I’d like to say something about my interest in social justice, or service to my church, or that it is a matter of conscience, but these would not be accurate. The truth is that it’s Denis, plain and simple, and the relationship we formed. He might possibly be my best friend. So to think that I have this great Utopian goal of fixing the country of Uganda as a whole is ridiculous. I have fallen in love with a few specific people and I can’t seem to get away from that community. I have no choice but to find a way to help them and their commitment to their own people.

Tonight our inductees are here to be welcomed into a club of great privilege and honor. Some would say that you are the leaders of tomorrow, but I would say that you are already leaders today because you are the leaders of Garner Magnet High School. You are the ones who have the ability to make a difference in people’s lives, both during and after high school. I’m not talking about changing the world per say. Large causes are great, don’t get me wrong, but there is no shortage of reward in changing the lives of people here and now. Your community is right in front of you, and you are so capable of meeting its needs. The leaders of our world are not only taking care of themselves and their families, but also are committing themselves to serving others. For me, I have found a community in Africa, but yours may be somewhere else.

There is no shortage of work to be done in our world, that’s foreshore. The important thing to realize is that you don’t have to hold a position of power, or be anyone special to start chipping away at these needs of others. There are people living on the streets of downtown Raleigh, because they have no home. People filling up the soup kitchens because they can’t afford to eat. And senior citizens who slide into depression because they have no one to talk to. All these problems are sitting right in front of us and the question remains, why haven’t they been solved? My cynical answer to that question is that we just don’t care. Or at least it’s easier for us just not to care. Because the truth is, if a good friend of yours was living out on the street, you would find a bed for him to sleep on. If you had a family member who couldn’t afford to eat, you would feed him. And if your mother were placed in a nursing home you would find a way to take care of her. We deal with the issues that touch our hearts and affect the people we care about. Looking at the students and parents tonight, I know that you are the people who care about all of these issues; we just need to find a way to build community with these people, whoever and wherever they are. From that you will grow to love and care for them. Whether it’s visiting a nursing home, or mentoring a child, people find ways to take care of the ones they care about. When charity and community service are brought up in conversation, it’s great to ask the question, “What can I do?”, but what you should really very deeply consider is the question, “Who do I love?” It is almost second nature to run to the aid of the people we love. Imagine a world where the privileged few, not only served the many needy, but also loved and cared for them.
If I can tell you any one thing tonight, it’s this. It’s not about Africa. And it’s certainly not about attempting to change the world. It’s about a smaller scale - finding people to love, and then loving them. Plain and simple.
I want to leave you tonight with a short story from a book I’ve recently read, and the story reads:

“A journalist was invited by friends to travel to Africa. He accepted the invitation, but as the departure date drew nearer, he became more and more apprehensive about the trip. When the day arrived, he went to the airport with every intention of canceling his plane ticket. Though his friends did their best to reason with him, the journalist seemed resolute in his decision. Then a shadow fell across their discussion, and standing tall above them was a holy man with an ancient, pointed beard and long black robes. The holy man addressed the journalist, saying, “I have a word for you from God.” The journalist, noticeably shaken by the man’s presence, nevertheless asked him to continue. The holy man said, “You will go Africa—and you will come back with a terrible disease.” Hearing this confirmed the journalist’s worst fears. The holy man went on to say, “The disease IS Africa. It will be in your blood for the rest of your life. And you will not be able to stay away.” With trepidation, the journalist boarded the plane and went to Africa. And went and went, and went—again, and again, and again.”

I obviously suffer from the same disease as the man in the story. It is my hope that a similar disease will inflict you as well. And if you find yourself diagnosed with such a disease, and you think about placing some of the blame on me, I just ask you to remember a simple phrase I learned about in Uganda, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Thank you!

The New Waluk

2008-09-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

I never noticed how drafty it is in my school. Four Hundred for Francis was a huge success and it has been a tremendous week. Around 30 classes participated, endless numbers of students have approached me in the hallway all week, and in the end we raised over $1000. On Monday Francis gets to go to school, and in a few years a village in Northern Uganda will get a much needed doctor, but today the blessing is all mine.

Going Bald At 30

2008-09-14T11:10:00.001-07:00

30 years came with a bang. It happened to be yearbook picture day at work and license renewal day in my wallet, so I decided to do it up right. I believe the picture says it all. I welcome my new state of maturity and I had a great time with my friends celebrating this monumental occasion.

So what’s causing my hair to fall out? He’s the memo I’m sending out to all my co-workers on Monday morning. I’ll let you know how it all works out…or falls out for that matter.

Four Hundred For Francis

September 15th, 2008

Dear 2nd Block Teachers,

Francis is a young man in Northern Uganda with a dream to become a doctor. He is the younger brother to one of my dear friends and since last spring he has become pen pals with one of our own students, Erin Berry. Erin, along with the Invisible Children club and myself have committed to helping Francis fulfill his dream by providing a scholarship to put him through medical school. In order to do this we need to raise $400 by Friday.

Francis has been interviewed as a part of an upcoming documentary on the situation in Northern Uganda. You will have the opportunity to briefly meet Francis this week as we show highlights from his interview on the morning announcements.

The Invisible Children Club met last week, and addressed the question of, “how are we going to get this money by next Friday?” The consensus was that people would pay to see me shave off my beautiful, masculine, curly hair. My response was, “If you can get Francis into school, I will gladly shave my head.” So if the money comes in by the end of the school day this Thursday, my head will be shaved on Friday’s edition of the Trojan Vision.

I ask you to please encourage your second block classes to give to “Four Hundred For Francis”. You can send the money to me in room 207 and I will keep a daily tally for each class participating. The class that raises the most money will receive a very special prize; a bracelet from Uganda made by Francis himself for each student! These bracelets will arrive in October, and their sale is expected to help pay for Francis’ future years of education.

Any money in excess of this semester’s tuition bill will be used to pay for Francis’ winter semester and anything beyond that will go to the Schools for Schools campaign to help a high school in Northern Uganda.

Thank you so very much for your help.

Chris Waluk
Rm 207

Pressure

2008-09-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1998, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire made history as they chased after Roger Maris’ heralded home run record. The great home run chase of ’98 was one of the most followed stories in the entire history of the sport. In September, when things were getting really interesting, espn would interrupt any program they had running in order to show McGwire or Sosa whenever they came up to bat. The stress from all the pressure became visibly clear in the way McGwire looked and acted. It was widely known that the summer Maris beat Babe Ruth’s home run record, his hair was falling out in clumps from all the stress. But when Sammy Sosa was asked by a reporter about how he was handling all this extreme pressure, he just smiled and said, “Pressure is washing cars and shining shoes to support my family in the Dominican Republic.”

For the last 10 years I have often remembered that quote in order to keep things in perspective and to realize that other people have much greater problems than myself. Recently however, I am starting to relate to the thin, young Sosa whose mother would send him out working in order feed his siblings. In a situation like that it’s not hunger that causes stress. It’s knowing that if you fail, your siblings go hungry. If you don’t make any money, you’ve let your family down. Now that’s pressure.

As I try more and more to free myself from the vice of money, I keep learning how difficult this really can be. It seems like everybody needs it. If you have a dream to change society, there is probably a charity out there waiting for some money in order to make that dream happen.

So what’s stressing me out? At the moment it’s a boy by the name of Nyero Francis.

Francis is a 21 year old Ugandan who wants to be a doctor. He did not qualify for a government scholarship, but was accepted into a medical university in Gulu. Francis needs to pay about $450 to cover his semester costs before they will admit him into school. The semester begins in a little more than a week. I told Francis' brother that my club at school was going to support him, but it didn’t take long before I realized that Francis had put his entire faith in his future on me. If I didn’t send him $450 within a week, his aspirations for a meaningful future, for the time being at least, were going to get squashed.

I have a plan to get the money, so everything will be fine. But as I meet more and more poor people, their financial woes are starting to get to me. It seems like everybody has a need, and everybody has a dream that they just can’t seem to achieve on their own. And the more you get to know these people, the more you feel their struggle and the more pressure you feel to be their solution. It’s not a 10 year old boy shining shoes to feed his family, but it can still be enough to make your hair fall out.

My Prayer For The Week

2008-08-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

A Fransciscan Blessing

Do Martyr's Still Exist?

2008-08-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

Now I’ve heard stories like that of Jim Elliot who was killed trying to share the gospel to the isolated Quichua tribe in Ecuador, but that was over 50 years ago. Do things like this still happen? There are fewer and fewer isolated tribes like the Quichua, and if you’re anything like me, you never hear of missionaries dying out in the field any more. With this in mind, I've decided to share a few of the great stories I’ve recently come across. It certainly is not my ambition to become a martyr, but if that was my destiny I would hope that my story would inspire others to continue the work that I gave my life to. So for this reason, I want to remember two martyrs who I believe have given their lives to incredible causes.

Unlike most people in America, most people in Nairobi, Kenya know the story of Father Kaiser, a Catholic priest from Minnesota. For more than 30 years, Father Kaiser served as a missionary in Kenya. As tribal hatred and violence grew in the 90’s, he began to collect information on specific acts of violence that he suspected to be politically inspired. The government denied these accusations as they had even denied that AIDS was a problem in Kenya.

Father Kaiser’s protests got him arrested, beaten, and thrown far out into the bush, but his real downfall began when he came to the aid of 2 schoolgirls in the summer of ‘99. The girls claimed to have been raped by a government minister. Father Kaiser raised the matter with various high officials and was first rebuffed and eventually put under pressure to cease publicizing the facts. When he kept at it, they attempted to deport him. With the intervention of US Ambassador Jonnie Carson (for real), he was eventually granted a new work permit. But In August 2000, Father Kaiser’s corpse was found on the side of the road. He was murdered. Less than a week after his death the charges of rape were dropped.

Before his death, Father Kaiser wrote a book about his experience in Kenya, entitle If I Die. In it he warns:

““I want all to know that if I disappear from the scene, because the bush is vast and hyenas many, that I am not planning any accident, nor, God forbid, any self destruction. Instead, I trust in a good guardian angel and in the action of grace.”

Clearly Father Kaiser knew the dangers of what he was getting into, and yet he stilled sacrificed himself in order to give volume to the voices of the weak and oppressed.

I am amazed and inspired by Father Kaiser, and I wonder how many people out there have the heart and the faith of this man. It was 7 years later when things finally got crazy with the Kenyan government. Initially I was in support of the government of Kenya in this conflict, but in lieu of stories like this, it is much easier to understand how widespread violence can break out among seemingly peaceful people. Corruption and oppression breeds violence. Let’s not forget what Father Kaiser gave his life to.

Another great story is that of Amy Biehl. After graduating from Stanford, in 1993, she was a Fulbright exchange scholar in Cape Town, South Africa. As a volunteer in voter registration for South Africa’s first all-race elections approaching in April, 1994, Amy had driven three African friends home to their black township as a favor. Seeing her white face, a mob of African boys preyed on her and showered her car with stones. Amy was dragged from the car and as her friends pleaded with the assailants, yelling, “She’s a comrade!” she was viciously beaten to the ground, her head smashed with a brick and she was stabbed in the heart.

At first glance, Amy’s death would appear to be the tragic waste of a great young life. But much like Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus himself, and 11 of the 12 disciples, Amy became much more powerful through death than she could have ever been through life.

Four young men were convicted for Amy’s murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison. After 3 years, they appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and pleaded that their motive was political and not racial. The murderer’s freedom would have been impossible without the assent of Amy’s parents, but in 1998 all four boys were pardoned. Although the mother of one of the killers was so disgusted with her son that she could not face him, the Biehls embraced them. Amy’s father shook the hands of the murderers and said, “The most important vehicle of reconciliation is open and honest dialogue...we are here to reconcile a human life which was taken without an opportunity for dialogue. When we are finished with this process we must move forward with linked arms.”

The Biehl’s created the Amy Biehl Foundation, a multimillion dollar charity dedicated to empowering people who are oppressed. 2 of the boys, Ntombeko Peni and Easy Nofomela were given jobs by the Biehl’s and to this day still hold salaried positions for the foundation. Monday, August 25^th marks the 15^th year anniversary of Amy’s death. I will celebrate her life that day.

So, do you know any modern day martyrs?

Livin Cheap

2008-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you spend way TOO much money on food. In an effort to simply my life and my spending, I thought it would be an appropriate step to start eating in rather than out. I soon learned that Waluk and cooking just don't mix. I would probably start courting a nice domesticated girl before I learn to cook a meal 6 nights a week. I once had the ambition of becoming a freegan, someone who doesn't pay money at all to eat, but unless I put myself in the community of other freegans, this just isn't going to happen. I even once considered primate food, but that's neither here nor there. Then I realized that if you hit up the right bar/restaurant at the right time, you can come across a pretty good deal. So now I'm on a mission to find a meal deal for every night of the week.

I should mention that it was once my goal to find $25 cent wings 5 nights a week (this never panned out), but this time I'm looking for something more hearty and healthy than wings, but on that same kind of a budget. Subway's $5 footlongs, or Hi-5's $5 menu is good place to start the brainstorming, but I'm going to set the bar just a little higher than that. Good meals that I can buy with one Abe Lincoln, including drink. Here's my list for the week. Please help me complete this!!!

Monday:
Moe's $5 Joey and a drink (retail value of $7.95). Bring a flask of George Dickel to irish up your coca-cola and drink cheap all night.
Jax $.35 wings
Chick-fil-a, free chick sandwich if you can show up with a church bulletin.
Pint night at the Flying Saucer

Tuesday:
Harris Teeter $2.50 subs. These are high caliber, made to order.
Snoopy's $.99 hot dog day
Free snack table at the Flying Saucer...too bad beer is >$3 a drink.

Wednesday:
Person St Pharmacy 2 Dogs for $.99. This is the best deal of all, but the grill closes at 5:30.
Jax $.35 wings

Thursday:
Help!
1/2 priced sushi blues after 11pm is not that great of a deal....

Friday:
Harris Teeter $3.99 12-inch subs. 6-inch is probably enough, but go in with a friend.

Saturday:
Free beer at the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs at 1pm. That's better than a meal.

Sunday:
Stool Pigeon's 1/2 price menu
The Goat $1 mystery beer

Any night after 10pm:
Mojo's $1 burgers

Alright, upon review, this list is less than desirable. Please chime in with any good deals you know of. With your help, we can compile the ultimate go to list for any time during the week.

An American in Africa

2008-08-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

I have a friend in Sudan and I recently sent him a fantastic book called The Unheard, along with a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition (you have to read the book to understand this one). The book is about a young, deaf American's two years of Peace Corps service in Zambia. Upon finishing the book here are my friend's thoughts. Comments please.

i finished The Unheard on Tuesday. i liked it a lot! the people of Mununga in Zambia are SO much like the Sudanese in a lot of ways. probably it’s because of the level of poverty in the two places. Sudan is a bit more impoverished than what Mununga sounds like but a lot of the same things happen. a lack of a reliable justice system leads to Mob Justice. women are still considered assets, second class citizens and are still sold off for marriage. People are VERY tribally biased...the Sudanese are just terrible with that. the infant mortality and maternal mortality rates are astronomical.

reading the book i felt a noticeable level of despair creep in. i mean, it affirmed a lot of the frustrations i have with Africa. it seems like no matter what you try to do on this continent there are evil and corrupt men who simply won’t accept good things. we work with a lot of subcontractors and individuals in church leadership and i can’t implicitly trust a single one of them. not because of gut feelings or anything, but because we’re constantly burned whenever we try to trust people. i was talking to a guy who grew up in East Africa and works with us. we agreed that it seems like nobody has any hope that a better Africa can be built, so every opportunity they have to cheat the system, to cheat other people they take. they are interested only in making sure that at least their family is taken care of. it’s tough to consider that many people in the international community believe Africa will never be any better than it is right now.

take Mauritania for instance, a West African country north of Senegal. i read on BBC yesterday that after one year in office, the first popularly elected President in a free and fair election since the country’s independence from France in 1960 was ousted in a military coup this week. i mean, as soon as Justice plays out and things look like they’ll be OK some power hungry, greedy, irresponsible sons of bitches decide they want it for themselves. but hey, it’s job security for us in International Relief. i know, not cool. i’d much rather live in Africa promoting a booming tourist economy than propping up the innocent citizens of failed states who are spat on by their governments and ignored by most of the rest of the world. what’s their hope? only the love of Christ. i guess that’s ultimately why i’m here.

anyway, such a good read! i now see how the swimsuit magazine fits in. funny stuff. it’s so true though about the amount of sexual energy there is out here. it seems like sex and poverty are the two unifying themes that run throughout Africa.

Dog Sitting

2008-08-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

So as fate would have it, after posting a blog about how twenty somethings shouldn’t own dogs, here I am pet sitting for the week. My girlfriend left me her dog, Maggie, as she went up to Ohio to hopefully get people to give her money in order to go save the world. In the past few days Mags and I have spent some quality time together, and I haven’t spent one second inside of a bar or had a night on the town since her arrival. So I stand proudly as my own best example of shameful dog ownership.

Have I ever owned or even lived with a dog? -No. Have I seen The Dog Whisperer? -Yes. That hour and a half of my life more than qualifies me as “pack leader” for the week. In just two days I’ve trained Maggie to walk along side of me perfectly. Beyond that, I’ve accomplished nothing. She’ll follow me around the house obsessively, then I will turn and call her over to me and she just stares back and then runs away when I approach her. How do you train a dog to come when you call it? I’ve always gotten a good laugh at people, namely Sam Ed, who call and call their dogs to no avail, but now I am one of those people. I really could be the most shameful of dog owners.

So what’s intrigued me the most about Mags this week is her obsessive routines; most notably her pooping ritual. I’ve broken her habit of constantly pulling on her leash, but right before she poops she will pull on the leash, dip her shoulder and circle counterclockwise 2 times. This gives you a good warning incase you want to pull her out of it and avoid a shitting. If you yank the leash at any point before she squats, she will abandon her quest to poop, hence my inability to rid her of this habit. Once she poops, she will take about 4 steps forward and then claw at the ground as if she is trying to burry her poo, even though she is typically clawing nowhere near her poo and she only kicks up the smallest amount of grass. I was quite proud of myself yesterday when I saw Maggie circling around and was able to bag her poo straight from the anus. To my chagrin, she dropped two more logs, but I was still impressed with myself.

Here’s a video of Maggie displaying one of her illogical fears. The two things she fears in my house are large cardboard boxes and air vents. Rest a toy on a large box, or a vent and it’ll drive her crazy. What a weirdo. Does anyone know a good dog therapist?

Weddings Save American Economy

2008-08-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

I recently stood up in a friend’s wedding. It was only the third wedding I have stood up in, but my lack of understanding of the tradition is growing and growing. Aside from my philosophical holdup with the bridal party in general, the giant draining hole in my bank account has become a much greater concern for me. Not only did I have to sacrifice 4 ½ days to party, I paid for it dearly. Let’s examine some of these expenses:

Tuxedo: $150

Golf at bachelor party: $38

Bar tab at bachelor party: $32

Groomsmen round of golf: $32

3 nights in a hotel: $125

modest wedding gift: $45

Gas in and out of town: $40

Beer/food/miscellaneous: $100

That’s a total of $562. Now, I’ve never heard of anyone turning down a request to be in a wedding due to financial needs, but why not? And I got off easy. Some of the other groomsmen flew in from out of town, probably at a cost of about $300, and at the end of the bachelor party, about 20 guys wound up at the strip club and from what I heard, each of them spent anywhere between $100 and $400 there. All this money in the celebration of the union between two people, with a statistical 50% chance of complete failure. I had no duties outside of standing straight, smiling for pictures, and of course paying for my tuxedo. At no point did I need to speak, gesture or even help out in any way. I did get introduced at the reception, and even got paired up with a very attractive bridesmaid, but I suppose any time you drop down a small pile of c-notes, you should be treated with some level of earned respect.

This would not have been so difficult on me had I not just sent an email to a Ugandan friends explaining how I just didn’t have the money to help supplement his schooling. At a whopping $70 a semester, it will now surely require even further faith in Jesus to get me to heaven. “Sorry buddy, I just don’t have the money to give to you at this moment. Good luck…uhh…eating…I guess.”

Considering that I was just one of ten groomsmen, the wedding party of 20 people easily accrued over $10,000 in operating expenses. I’m sure this might sound a little selfish on my part considering that the families of the bride and groom easily doubled this amount of money in funding the wedding and rehearsal dinner. Then when you consider the guest list of around 250 people, largely from out of town, and taking a glance at the extensive registry of the couple, I’d say it’s a conservative ballpark guestimation that somewhere between $50,000 to $100,000 was put into this wedding somewhere along the line. And considering that the combined take home income this past year of the proud couple was surely less than half of this, the whole production seems a little ridiculous. The real winner in this wedding was not the bride and groom, but rather the small town of about 20,000 people where the wedding was held.

In defense of all this, I must say that I had an absolute blast of a time over the entire weekend. It was great to be part of the whole experience of family coming together and letting loose in celebration. My questions lie within the institution itself. Let’s remember that this wedding was performed under the supervision of a Christian church. The bride and groom were forced to take a nine week premarital course and even sign a vow of chastity. I’m not sure what went on in the premarital class, other than discussions on budgeting as a couple and waiting for the wedding night, but it concerns me that churches actually encourage people to get married in such an extravagant fashion. The pastor who conducted the wedding even told me, “there’s next to nothing in the bible on weddings”. So my question is, “Where did all this come from?”

The same pastor told me that the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the ceremony stems from arranged marriages. There was a concern that if the groom saw the bride for the first time before the wedding, he might bail and flea from town. There are countless traditions like this that are harmless details of any wedding: the first kiss, the cutting of the cake, the tossing of the bouquet and boutonniere, the toast, and even the bride wearing white. But there are also some traditions that are a little less innocent, namely the ring. It was tradition, and still is in some cultures, for the groom to make a financial sacrifice to the bride’s family (a dowry) in order to display his commitment to his bride. This tradition is out of hand in some places around the world as I have heard of so many fathers selfishly exploiting their daughter’s husband for as much money as he possibly can. The strange irony in America is that the father of the bride now seems to be the person who is left with the largest financial burden when his daughter is taken away in marriage. Somewhere down the line of American tradition, this financial sacrifice of the groom turned into the purchase of a ring, and under the marketing of De Beers, the ring turned into a diamond ring. Somewhere around 100 years ago this became the norm, but in the 1940’s De Beers realized that most couples were selling their engagement rings years after their marriage, creating a large second hand market for diamonds. De Beers then launched the most successful marketing campaign of the 20^th century; “A diamond is forever”. The rest is history, as I (and probably you) can’t think of a single American couple to get married without a diamond. As a society people are finally becoming aware of the turmoil caused by “blood diamonds” or diamond companies in general, but what’s amazing to me is that there has been no shortage in the demand for diamonds. The diamond ring stands as the single most important, fundamental detail in the American wedding.

All this coming from an unmarried blogger. Whenever the day comes when I find that special someone and we decide to tie the knot, I’d like to think that maybe we could do something completely different. No wedding showers, no registry, no flowers, no giant cake, no tuxedos and especially no diamond ring. All I want is a beautiful bride, my family and friends, and plenty of wine. We know that these simple things were in the bible and for me anything beyond this would most likely only cloud up such a grand celebration. Make this my official goodbye to any aspiration of getting married the American way. My apologies to the American economy.

Remembering Alaska

2008-07-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

Once again, is there a better blog entry than one taken straight from the journal? Probably not. So here it is. Written on the airplane as it took me home from my month long journey through Alaska (Pictures here).

July 15^th, 2008

Done. Another chapter of my life gone like the wind. It breaks my heart to leave. And yet there is nothing here that I miss outside of the very lifestyle I got to live for such a short period of time. Drifting in and out of cities, out of homes, riding by the seat of my pants and meeting loving, caring people all along the way.

“When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it.”

-Chris McCandless

I wish I knew what made me tick. Adventure, people, service, love…I don’t know. I was thinking that I came up here looking for something, and for a short while I thought I had found it. Something within uncertainty and community, between struggle and passion, that’s where life is. I see it in my friends Jessie and Mitch up in Homer. They live paycheck to paycheck, with hardly any possessions, struggling to find money and work, and even housing, but they have security within their friends old and young. It’s amazing to see. I want that!

In the introduction of “What Is The What” the Lost Boy author says:

“This book is a form of struggle, and it keeps my spirit alive to struggle. To struggle is to strengthen my faith, my hope and my belief in humanity. Since you and I exist, together we can make a difference!”

-Valentino Achak Deng

Life has been too easy for me. My struggle has been to keep up with the Jones’s, and to continually fall above or below the mark as I measure my personal success. I’m done with it! I don’t want to pay for things with money, but with friendship. I want to rely on the generosity and good will of my friends; that is the true test of your good will. And above all that, I want to be a giver. To spend my money on others and limit my possessions to only what is given to me from others.

I need to go back and learn to entertain with food and song and not with television. As I look back, I stayed with five CouchSurfing hosts in Alaska, four of them had no TV and the one who did have a TV had no cable. That’s how it’s done. There’s too much to live for to just sit back and watch from your couch.

So I read Leah’s blog today and she is now free from all of her possessions. She got to do this in dramatic fashion, with everything laid out on her front lawn. I suppose I will never really get to have this experience since my lawn sale wouldn’t amount to much. I moved to Carolina in a Ford Focus packed tight, whereas Leah moved down in an oversized Uhaul packed to the ceiling. But what a great day for her! Everything is behind her now, and once she sells her car she’ll be completely free. Free to move, free to travel, free to love. She finished her blog with a quote from Chris McCandless. How fitting. Cool girl, right?

When I get home tomorrow we’ll go out and celebrate Bill’s last day in the American workforce, as he has quit his job to work for Lemonade International full time. What a celebration it will be. I am jealous of Bill and of Leah, and my prayer today is not for them, but for me. That passion and opportunity will cross paths in my life as well.

And as for my lasting image of Alaska, go to the top of Flattop mountain on the outskirts of Anchorage and take your pick: the view of the city from up high, the setting sun at 11:30pm in the north, the view of Denali (Mt. McKinley), or seeing all three of these images blending together right next to each other. But my choice sits on a small rock at the top of the mountain peak; love rock...LOVE! Once man's graffiti is another man's lasting image of this great wonderful state. How perfect.

For all my female fans

2008-07-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I was traveling across the country on a veggie oil powered school bus. I kept a journal and I read one of my entries today. After visiting an old college friend in Texas, I was inspired to explore the world of dating and marriage. What follows is a small portion of what was deemed publishable. I hope you enjoy it.

Taken from a June 21, 2007 journal entry:

In my 28 years here on earth, I think I’ve finally come up with the idea of the perfect girl for me, but there does not seem to be an abundance of these girls. My criteria is simple, yet picky.

First, the girl must NOT be the owner of a dog. Anyone who is in their 20’s needs to be out enjoying their life, giving back to their community, not their pet. If a girl has succumb to owning a demanding pet at such a young age, it is a sure sign that she has sold out to her need for security and will never dare to dream deep.

Second, the girl must me adventurous. I don’t want to marry a lush, but I would much rather enjoy the ups and downs than the boredom of always making the conservative decision. Adventurous means taking risks, not always being responsible, and not being afraid to be bold. Small signs of adventure are drinking, smoking, cursing, and staying up late at night. Large signs of adventure are traveling to foreign countries, changing careers or quitting a job. You’re probably saying, “These all sound like negatives, not positives for someone you should date.” I couldn’t agree any less. Maybe it should be noted that I could never marry a non Christian, so the sample of girls we are looking at has just shrunk down to the ones you’d find at church on a Sunday morning. The kind of girl who goes on mission trips and wants to change the world; a Christian girl who is less concerned about rules and more concerned with making things happen.

Third, the girl must be logical. I don’t need to be with someone who thinks like me, but I do want to be with someone who can talk with me on the deepest of levels. There’s nothing worse that trying to explain your political philosophy to a girl who has no understanding of politics. I don’t need to find a conservative girl, but I need to find someone who at least understands what a conservative is. Of my 3 criteria here, this has been the most difficult one to work around. I am continually amazed by how many Christian girls are fixated on family and culinary skills, and how few I’ve met who have more than a juvenile understanding of philosophy, economics and politics.

So I’m left to ask, do I still go out and seek this type of girl, or do a change my criteria and start looking for a homemaker? Maybe I just don’t understand love as I should. I remember reading the single Donald Miller’s idealistic image of what his love for his future spouse should look like, and all I can think is, “isn’t their more out there?” I’ve been accused of wanting a travel companion, more than a spouse, but seriously, isn’t there more out there? Can’t two people live for serving the Lord together more than they do to serve each other? There have been two girls in my life who I have considered marrying. In both circumstances, my life was completely wrapped up in those relationships. I’ve finally come to a point in my life where I live for the world outside me, and I don’t ever want to give that up. I want to find someone to share that with me. So am I crazy?

Probably.

Look out world, here I come

2008-07-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Allow myself to introduce ....myself. It's been a few years of holding out, but now I am ready to join the bloggers. Look out world, it's time to welcome another cynic to the Internets. I promise not to hold back too much.