too important to leave to politics

you'll have to forgive me for posting this late, as due to the time difference, i only just saw this... but if you're an american with a functioning brain between your ears, please take a minute - or forty - and watch this video. i am so thankful that someone with as much reach as mr. olbermann took the time to talk about our healthcare fiasco not just with reason on his side, but personal experience and real emotion... i know he won't read this, but i just want to say, 'thank you, mr. olbermann, from the bottom of my heart - for taking this as seriously as it needs to be taken and for continuing to talk about the facts and the issues that really matter in this debate.'

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this really is too important to leave to politicians who seem to have less than honorable intentions with regards to our national health. i have, personally, spent way more of my life fighting with insurance companies and not getting coverage because i happened to be bitten by a tick that passed lymes disease on to me at age 2 to not get overly impassioned about this issue. i hate the fact that both arkansas senators (where i am registered to vote and where my family farm is) are on the list of people who just seem to care more about getting their next campaign contribution than actually performing their civic duty - a duty we elected them for - to ensure the betterment of their constituents' lives.

in arkansas (and texas), i have been denied coverage for almost every type of treatment because of a preexisting condition i had and have no control over. in arkansas, i had to pay out of pocket for an mri to search for what my doctors thought could be brain cancer because, according to my insurance provider, brain cancer and lymes disease are inextricably linked. in arkansas and all over the states, i have friends who have to choose between buying insurance for themselves and their children and paying rent or making a car payment. i am honestly wondering why senators lincoln and pryor, of arkansas, aren't addressing this problem - in arkansas and the rest of the country - with the seriousness it deserves. i am wondering how our elected officials can sleep at night while those who gave them their votes are going bankrupt, losing their homes, and dying because of a problem they turn a blind eye to.

i hope that hearing these segments from one honest american - whether you agree with him on what exactly needs to be done or not - moves you to contact your representatives. i hope that you have the chance to tell them that if they do not do something real about this very serious set of problems, that they do not deserve the office they hold and that you will be giving your vote to someone who will deserve that honorable position.

i know that i am far removed from this debate - for now. i know that some would think that because i do not currently reside in the u.s. (even though i will be moving back next year), that i should not be entitled to the opinion i am giving here or the right to vote that i so proudly exercise when given the opportunity, even from a distance. but i also know that now that i live in germany, i have full healthcare coverage for the first time in my life... real coverage that actually pays for treatment and prevention. i know that i had to sit in a hospital and recovery center at my father's side last year and listen to stories about how people - my dad included - have to sign over their farms and houses before they can be treated for a heart attack that is currently threatening to take their life just in case their insurance doesn't pay. i know that my family and friends and their families and friends have to deal with the consequences of this every day. i know that i voted for 'change [i] can believe in' and i want that change desperately... not just for me but for everyone in america, because the right to good healthcare and prevention is what i consider to be a basic human right. as american citizens, it is high bloody time we were provided with it.

neglect

i have been rather neglectful of ye olde blog here for a while... i just wanted to post a note here to inform anyone who actually still reads this that i will be writing more (actual substance) here very, very soon. real life has kept me somewhat busy of late, but i will be posting pictures of stuttgart (finally), my quick trip to berlin with my friend enrica, and more soapbox-y type stuff than you could ever hope for in the immediate future.

cheers.

ear worm

this song is haunting me. it's beautiful and sad, yet uplifting, and it's taken up residence in my head. i thought i would share...

cheers.

i want this on a t-shirt

image via violet voice

i dream of...

...buildings!

i am all aflutter over cb2's new urban mandala bedding set. i am in the strategizing process of redoing my bedroom and i am thinking that these are a definite must for me. they are a little pricier than i am used to, but i am seriously tempted...

images via cb2.

happy fourth!

... an independent spirit at its best.

happy fourth of july.

all wound up and full of promise: a musical intervention to start the weekend

shhhhhhhhhh...

... it kinda reminds me of being in elementary school playing the 'shhhh... it' game in the library. but i am unapologetically childish like that.

cheers.

image via print liberation

it's freaking brilliant!... and damn funny, too.

at last! a movie that came out earlier in europe than the states! i actually giggled most of the way through this movie and i would recommend rushing to the theater to see this as soon as this little ditty comes to a screen near you.

and now... my favorite clip:

simon is just too precious for words!... poor little dear.

have a laugh-filled day!

revelation

many people experience crises of faith. i suppose that i have undergone something similar, but religion has nothing to do with it... in my pursuit to become an architect, i always believed that good design - the foundation of architecture as i know it - had the potential to do great good, to inspire, to educate, and to make societies better for the presence of it. while i still believe this to be true of the theory of architecture, i find the practice of it to be something else entirely.

yes, i am young. yes, i am an idealist. yes, i am most-likely completely and utterly naïve... but i also have very deeply rooted ideals and principles and values that i am extremely committed to. while the last three years that i have spent working as an architect have been invaluable to me, i also find myself increasingly dissatisfied with the work that i am doing. i have met, in my endeavors and travels thus far, some of the most incredible people anyone could possibly hope to meet. i have made life-long and unbelievably fierce friends. while these are all wonderful blessings in my life that i am thankful for every day, i find myself conflicted because i am still working for selfish and self-serving people. i find myself conflicted because i am not doing anyone but my bosses any good.

my parents instilled the will in me to always be a better person and to constantly improve on myself; to feel and love without hesitation; to be loyal even if to a fault; to be thankful for everything and everyone; to have a love for learning; and, more importantly, they instilled in me the desire to put others before myself, to help when i can, to listen when someone needs to vent, and - most importantly - that 'being there' and trying anything and everything for others in need is the greatest privilege that any person can seek.

currently, i am trying to get myself in the mindset to go back to school and get my masters. while i love art and design, i simply cannot justify continuing on the path i am on anymore. this life is for a lot of people, but not for me. not anymore. i need to do something more in tune with my principles with my time here, and stressing myself out over meaningless deadlines and working for people who care for nothing but profit is not worthwhile for me. i do not mean to insult anyone for whom this life is satisfying and/or completely fulfilling... i am just saying that this is not the way that i want to live my life.

my visa to live and work in germany will expire at the end of july. at this time, i plan to head back to the u.s., take a little time to breathe, start emt training, and apply to every school that offers an urban design and sustainable development double-graduate program (columbia is top on my list at the moment). i hope to then enlist with the peace corps and start a life in international crisis and development aid. this work will most likely take me far from my family and my home again, but this work will be done in the service of others who need the time and attention of those of us who have a much easier life than they. i feel that this is my duty and will be my privilege - should i be given the honorable opportunity - as a human being.

i have begun to lose my faith in the inherent goodness of people in the last years... based on things done to me and - much more importantly - things done to those i care about. my father recently told me that in tough times, you will see the worst in people or the best in people. my only selfish aim in this new pursuit is that i will be surrounded by (and thus, inspired by) the best of people in the midst of the worst situations. i hope that my personal strength and my desire to be better and do better for others will only be improved in the service of those who need it the most.

a common question for those who pursue a life in international aid is, 'what are you running away from?' i can say, without question or the shadow of a doubt in my heart or mind, that i will be running to something and not away from anything. if i have the chance, for even one day... one minute... to help someone else, i consider it the greatest honor i could ever achieve. i can only hope to be there for others, the way so many people have unquestioningly been there for me. i can only hope for the chance to do good where good is needed the most.

it is with this goal that i move forward and in a refreshingly new direction.

with hope... always with hope.