Unplugged

Yesterday, I spent almost an entire day without any Blackberry, email, phone calls or internet.  (Okay, I watched a few minutes of TV, but I had to see the Golden Globe clothing recap.)

It felt so good to just be.  It reminds me of going on a silent retreat, which I thought might be difficult, but it turns out that I love it.  Our lives are so intense now, it's hard to really relax and slow down.  But I did yesterday and I hope to continue to do so periodically, maybe every other week or so.  It didn't matter what I did - actually I did some reading and then I wrote something I really like, the start of a new solo piece or a play - and I walked.  This winter has been really great so far, even the five week cold I had and the frigid days. We're already two thirds through the winter and I'm grateful for the forty degree weather we've been having.  And I love walking the dogs and running into old friends every day.


I'm still watching and listening to the coverage of Haiti.  I heard a great story this morning on Brian Lehrer's show on NPR about a film school in a small city close to the epicenter of the earthquake.  The school was destroyed, fortunately all the students survived and they have been taking their equipment out into the field and sending footage of the countryside that CNN and all the networks are using on their broadcasts.  They talked about this city (I wish I could remember the name) and what a beautiful, culturally active place it was (and hopefully will be again someday.)  Most of the stories from Haiti are horrific - there's no denying that.  But I loved the story about the baby that was born on a U.S. carrier over the weekend.  The U.S. Vincent is the carrier and the baby's name is Vincent.  What a story his mom will tell about his birth.  And another story about a woman whose husband wouldn't give up looking for her in the rubble of the bank she worked in.  They found her alive after six days of no food and no water.  She drove home in a car like she'd just finished a long day at the office.  Human resilience is utterly amazing.  

I'm about to attempt to Skype with my daughter.  I have a feeling it probably won't go so well the first time, but I'm determined to try.  I miss her and hope I get to see her sweet face. 

Haiti and life

I've been trying not to spend too much time watching the news because it's so heartbreaking.  But when you hear the story of Haiti, the poverty, the corruption, the hunger, the children who have been basically sold into slavery, and you realize that now the world is focusing on taking care of a population of people who have been completely abandoned, it seems as though perhaps, in the long run, this terrible tragedy will ultimately bring positive change to Haiti.  It has to.  It really can't be much worse than it is right now and has been for so many years.

It reminds me of what I've learned about life - the good times are wonderful, but it's the catastrophes that make us grow and show us how strong we are.  This earthquake is Haiti is a catastrophe of Biblical proportions, but the world is sending so much love and aide and focusing so intently on saving lives - I hope it will eventually bring the changes that are so desperately needed.

If nothing I'm writing makes any sense, it's because last night our upstairs neighbors had a very loud dance party and I'm not quite awake yet.  And then early this morning, Lucy, my old dog, had to go out for a very early morning walk.  I have one dog that's very old and is frequently incontinent, so I have to give her eye drops for her diabetes incipitus, which is what causes her to urinate frequently, and another dog who is nearly blind and has such bad arthritis in her hind legs that it looks like she's prancing when she walks down the street.  But despite these problems, they're my family and I love them. 

Pray for Haiti

I was going to write about a really interesting Tarot card reading I had, but that will have to wait for another day.  There's too much terrible news coming from Haiti about the 7.0 earthquake and all the destruction and death it's caused.  I was looking at photos on the Times website.  It's a nightmare, so many people trapped in collapsed buildings and it's going to take a long time to recover from an earthquake of that magnitude in such a poor country. 


Last night I was at Friends In Deed and I was reminded about staying in the "now."  For hundreds of thousands of Haitians the now is pretty bleak and we should all try to donate what we can to organizations like Doctors Without Borders, even if it's just a few dollars, and keep the Haitians in our prayers.

One side note.  My loft mate and the members of the church she attends, Judson Memorial Baptist Church, have been working desperately to keep a beloved member of their community, Jean Montrivel, a Haitian community activist, from being deported back to Haiti.  Many years ago he committed a drug related crime in this country, but he went to prison for eleven years and has, since his release, become a very solid and decent member of society.  He is a husband and father of four young children, runs his own business, employing fourteen workers, has always cooperated with immigration board and has a green card.  The Judson community has been staging protests, signing petitions and calling everyone in Congress who can possibly help.  I wonder if this earthquake might be the thing that saves Jean and keeps him in this country?  He was supposed to have gone back two weeks ago and he is still here.