[Source: Allison Gibbs]

The news hit me like a brick wall
and after the collision i sit and wait for a potential aftershock.

What are we?
i don't believe that we are a compilation of our physical parts
i don't believe we are a bundle of energy.

We have life, and we have the ability to breathe it into others
if we choose to do so.
I want to breath positive life
and i will spend my life doing so

noone can stop me
no thing can stop me
no agent, no genetic inhabitant can destroy this resolve in my chest.

I understand the forms
the virtues
and i want to live in harmony with them

upon new findings I am have more resolve to not accept the providence that I have been given.
the one time i disagree with Emerson.
I don't accept the reality of the given situation

But in my head
all i see scares me.

Its that epic battle between the mind and the heart.
what is to come?
what new evidence will be brought forth

is this my eternal sleeping space?
will I achieve more than I have?
have i learned all i am meant to?

to brush up close
to breathe in that foul breath
of death
won't be the first time I have encountered a passing
and it won't be the last

a new self emerges out of every important interaction
and we are continually changing
just as a hand in the river

so i speak softly
awaiting word
for a new understanding
of life, of fate

I need an answer
for myself

Dear Friends and Loved ones,

On Tuesday we drove 8 hours to the Turkey/Iraq border through mountains, winding roads, and numerous checkpoints.  My smile that has rescued me from several traffic violations came in very useful while answering questions regarding our activities up north! I even snapped a few photos at one checkpoint with the anti-war and IVAW banner, stupid, yes…but oh so difficult to resist such a powerful photo opportunity – you can yell at me when I return home

In the region of  Erbil we stopped at a massive grave site.  The grave is the final resting place to approximately 10,000 bodies buried under 500 unmarked tombstones. The victims were murdered in the South around Baghdad during then Anfal Campaign, a genocide that took place against the Kurdish population of Iraq in 1988.  The campaign was under the leadership of Ali Hassan, Sadaam’s cousin, aka “chemical Ali" - 75,000 Kurds were deliberately murdered by chemical attacks, Ariel bombing, and mass executions.  Their remains were transferred up North and now lay to rest at this site.

Thank you to each of the groups that have allowed for this trip to commence. Without these organizations the good work that Tracey Harmon is doing wouldn't have been possible.

LOLA

[Source: Allison Gibbs]

i feel the tug at my sleeve
The one I wear my heart on.
and The days are growing in ways I had not imagined
Out rather than up

It spins ever so fast
but the stars still move me with every tilt of the earth

what string of this existence is beign plucked?
What melodic note am I in the middle of?

Fate is changing its face with every turn I make,
and I am not completely sure of my locality or proximity to the cause

I need a GPS
but I fear even then I would elude the ping of the satellite

and how I envy that sattelite-
existing within those stars that cause vaporous tears to descend down my cheeks.

I wonder where my own quark is
my completing element in this existence

Where are our intrinsic desires?
within us?
pinged into existence by these metaphorical satellites?

Or do we float among the stars?
somehow finding untiy and affinity within their twinkling eyes?
is that where we feel most safe?

Where is it that I exist in communion with the forms?
When do we understand the completeness of such delicacies as beauty and love?

Those are the wonderful delights of this world- not the frustrating times, or the descent-
but the love.
the passion
the devotion
the loyalty to compassion.

Embrace that side of you
and feed that childish wonder inside of you.
Let's truly live

Recently lauded as “The most feminist country in the world,” Iceland has not only banned prostitution as of last year, but has now passed legislation banning strip clubs in an effort to completely blot out all traces of its sex industry. The main politician behind the bill, Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, explains that the legislation is a success since "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold." Even more, the legislation is exemplified as a legendary move forward for feminism since the ban is justified on “feminist grounds only,” unlike most other countries, where bans like these are justified mostly with religious reasons.

The feminist justification for the ban is a good one-- and in fact, has to be, right? Because Iceland is a country with a sweeping women’s movement, with successful campaigns against rape and domestic violence. It has a feminist lesbian Prime Minister and a large female representation in parliament. It must then be the case that all well-intentioned actions by feminists must always be in the interest of women. At least those in Iceland apparently think so. The sex industry ban tucks right in with all the other Icelandic feminist progress thus far and warms the hearts of these Icelandic feminists. We can all go home happy now, end of story.