Strangechord

I warned you blogging would be sparse these days wth my heavy Winter term. Here are a few life scraps from the past few weeks:

• Two first meetings with group of friends to form a progressive political/culture jam think tank. Great into-the-night conversation with some pretty damn interesting people. Will reveal more as time goes on.
  
• Soc. project on track: 16-page rough draft lit. review complete and pre-testing phase going on now. Will be sending out 600 e-mails next week to Portland professors from six different colleges with link to survey online. Insane amounts of tying up loose ends and keeping-track-in-head.
  
• Loving my Women of Color in the U.S. class. Learning more about the effects of racism and blind spot of white privilege than I ever imagined.
  
• Breakfasted this morning with a wonderful Portlander I met on the plane coming back from Iowa after the holidays. He was sitting across from me at the Minneapolis airport reading a book about Ramana Maharshi, an Indian saint of the first half of the 20th century whom I absolutely adore. I struck up conversation, we talked for an hour, then discovered that our seats were right next to each other on the plane(!) Spent the whole three hour flight home in conversation. He’s a Ph.D. student at OHSU, is super eco-oriented and political, and definitely a new friend.
  
• I think this summer, after I graduate, I’m going to audit a class called Grantwriting for Nonprofits. Would probably be good resume fodder.
  
• The movie “Inside Iraq: the Untold Stories” is fucking amazing. The filmmaker (a Portlander) faked press credentials, went over to Iraq, shot tons of film during his stay, and made a movie of it. We simply do not see this real-life footage of Iraqis on network TV. The film is playing here at Laurelhurst Theatre and is for sale on DVD on the website. This needs mass theatre distribution!
  
• Volunteered for clean-up duty at the 6th Annual Winter Powwow at Portland Community College last weekend. Had a great time being of service.