Saturday, March 31, 2007

Breaking and Entering

So Friday night Avital and I went to services at Or Hadash, which was meeting in a nice new Jewish day school (Weber). Afterwards we proceeded to one of the congregants homes for dinner, and decided to take only one car there so we could talk on the way. At 11pm when we went to pick up Avital's car, we find out the gate to the school is locked, and there's a tall fence around the perimeter.

Well, crap, what were we supposed to do? After brainstorming various ways we could get by without a car for a night, I notice a ledge nearby the fence, and suggest that Avital could jump the fence and get to her car. (After all, the gate will open for a car on the other side) When she was timid and suggested I do it, I took the bait. As I'm on the ledge analyzing how best to hoist myself over (mind you, this is rather difficult to do in heels and a long skirt), a cop car pulls up.

After chiding us that we could go to jail for breaking in, and asking numerous questions to validate our story, the guy lets us off the hook. Granted, a couple of Jewish girls in long skirts are not the most intimidating looking burglars, so this wasn't so much of a suprise. Except for 1 thing- he doesn't know how to get Avital's car other than the way I suggested. So he consents to letting me try scaling the fence again. Upon careful analysis and hoisting my skirt (partially flashing the empty building), I clear the fence with a quick hoist. Except for 1 slight problem: my skirt gets caught on the way down. At this particular moment, 2 other cop cars chose to pull up and catch the spectacle. Apparently the initial cop forgot to dismiss the backup.

The good news is that after unhooking myself (partially tearing the outer skirt), I managed to get to Avital's car and get it out of the gate with no further incident. As for the cops, I can only imagine what they were thinking. Who would've thought their breaking and entering radio would involve two very innocent looking girls attempting to do what their long skirts were not designed to do? We must've made for some entertaining donut shop talk that night, that's for sure :)

Friday, March 30, 2007

Human Rights?

Finally, someone stood up to the ridiculous and irresponsible behavior of the UN human rights commission. In the 6 months since this "new" commission has been in effect, it has ignored the blatant human rights abuses in Sudan, China, Iran, Syria, and every other country in the world. It has ignored the purposeful targetting of civilians by Hamas and Hizbullah, or the internal chaos in the palestinian territories that has claimed more palestinian lives than anything israel has done. Yet Israel it has singled out for criticism and has issued 8 pronouncements against it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, or even if you do, click on the link and see the speech.

His critique was apparently inadmissable, because of course the comission did not like to hear its bias put in the spotlight. Even more the reason to make sure you and those you know hear it.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Until they love their children

It seems odd to me that now, after Fatah has formed a unity alliance with the terrorist group Hamas and not one of the quartet's demands have been met, the western world is pushing for more talks between Israel and the palestinians. The Saudi Initiative, Rice's "new horizon" talk is just fluff, and attempt to win some points with one country or another. The reality is that the surrounding people are not ready for peace.

A wise person once said that until they love their children more than they hate us, there will never be peace. Today, I can't help but belief this, in both the Israeli conflict with the palestinians and the more general worldwide terrorism from distorters of Islam. For instance:

1) Last week, terrorists in Iraq used CHILDREN as a shield to get their car through a security checkpoint. They then proceeded to blow up the car with the children in it.
(click here for details)

2) The official school curriculum for palestinians teaches them that Israel doesn't have a right to exist, that it is their religious duty to expel the zionists, that jihad, sacrifice and death are the means by which to do it. They raise their children in a culture of violence and death, instead of love and peace. (see here for more details)

3) The Hamas TV just surfaced the video of the 4 year old daughter of a recent terrorist singing her mother's praise and wishing to follow in her footsteps. What parent in their right mind wants their children to grow up wanting to kill themselves in the name of G-d, and take as many lives as possible? (see here for more details)

Until the palestinians and the greater Muslim middle east start to speak out against child matyrs (Shahids), stop indoctrinating their children with hate, and start to teach them nonviolence, it matters not what fiery politicians do. In short, until they love their children more than they hate Jews and the western world, there's nothing anybody can do.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Running of the Brides


This past Friday I participated in the Running of the Brides (ROTB), to help my fellow labbie Kate find a wedding dress. For those of you who don't know what ROTB is, it is a big publicity event for Fillene's Basement where they mark down wedding dresses between 69%-91%, and have racks full of them. Now, instead of calm perusing through the aisles, brides-to-be and helpers wait in line overnight to get first crack at the dresses. Within the first minute or so of having been let in the store, all the dresses are grabbed of the racks. Then a massive trying them on and bartering process begins. Dressing rooms are rarely used, and you have to protect the dresses you have or someone might take them out of your hands. Craziness, I tell you!

With Kate, we had a team of 25 helpers, almost all grad students (about half males) looking for an entertaining time and a reason to miss some time at work. Thus, Operation Overkill commensed. Ridiculous to the extreme, we all had red visors on (as you can see in the photos), one guy was wearing a tux and another in his sky-diving getup complete with helmet cam. As the event itself is utterly ridiculous, we catered to it. We had walkie-talkies, designated barterers, security guards and official preferred traders. And we were first in line, with many members of the Red Raiders being interviewed by the Q100 folks, and them giving Kate her dress for free. I've pasted some links below, the first of which is the footage from Shane's helmet cam. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k29nrvdcVg

http://lpe.accessatlanta.com/gallery/view/events/0307/bridesrun

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/11212053/detail.html

Sunday, March 04, 2007

High School Spoiled Me

I spent this past weekend visiting with my high school friends in Boston. After spending such quality time with them, I realized something: high school spoiled me rotten. Now, I know many people remember high school as that awkward period where everyone was just trying to fit in. Although the stereotypical high school melodrama encircled us, I became friends with some of the most amazing people I'll ever meet.

My Grandma once referred to my circle of friends as the model UN. We had many countries and ethnicities represented: Trinidad, China, India, Hungary, Taiwan, Poland, Columbia, Bangladesh; white, yellow, brown and black; jews, catholics, sihks, muslims, christians, just to name a few. Not only were we diverse ethnically, our political views were all over the spectrum, yet that never stopped us from approaching any political or philosophical debates. Our ethnic differences allowed us to learn from each other and try a ton of great food, yet they never defined our interactions with each other. In this environment, we learned just how unique and similar we all were.

Since graduation, I have yet to find another group like this. In college, ethnic and religious groups largely self-segregated. People generally avoided hot button discussions with those of other opinions, because they weren't able to respectfully disagree. But most of all, the majority of people I met were not of the same caliber in respect to moral judgements and overall outlook on life (although I did manage to find a few exceptions :) ).

Although we are different in many ways, my high school friends all have a strong sense of ethics, morality, and justice, and are largely driven to act accordingly in their careers and personal lives. They find it important to really enjoy the nuances of life and never stop learning and evolving as people. Not only are they fun to hang out with, they've all earned my utmost respect as human beings. In doing so, they've set a high bar for everyone else to follow.