From porto alegre

the forum is in its third day. am here in santander cultural center, using its convenient and very kind free email. should be at the forum, what the hell am i doing here? but no, a few notes first.

the forum is spread out. its tiring to get from one place to another, and theres sun and beer ice-cream everywhere, which invites people to go into party mode, rather than social exchange and transformation mode. there is much trash. much waste. much hypocrisy. much consumerism. much disregard for the people who pick up the trash. much ridiculous overlap and redudancy. much lechery. all the problems of the world are manifest here.

so why am i here? because all the solutions of the world are also here.

the problems, the solutions, are all human, are all life. only when they confront each other in a space like this, will we learn where the balances lie, where the truths are sleeping, where enlightenment crouches.

i've been repulsed, i've been delighted, bored, inspired. off i go to catch the next pendulum. the problems of bottled water await me.

From Floripa

Floripa, nickname for Florianapolis. Waves, beach bums, Argentinian tourists, and maricuja sorvete.
But let me jump back a bit first.

Flew into Frankfurt Wednesday morning, spent the whole friggin day there in that terribly-lacking-in-soft-beddish-spaces airport. Eh. It wasn't that bad. I used the time to make Theacup and people-watch. And doze.

That night I flew to Sao Paolo, waited to meet up with Daisy, Thea, and MiklBoon. On the flight, chatted to my neighbor about Swedish and United Statesian politics and dirty toilet humor.

Sao Paolo for a few days. DTM and I getting used to the place, and each other. Cities are cities are cities, but the hieroglyphics on the wall there is different. Glyphitti. The hotel was more expensive than I expected, but given the people, the room, the warm water, and the breakfast (gostozo!!!), it was worth it.

Next, Floripa. Translation above. Think Santa Barbara/Cruz/Monica. We swam, sang and danced with the hippy boys and discussed Israel/Palestine in Portunol last night, and today we went on a scavenger hunt to find the permaculture people. Todo legal.

Much Portugese has NOT been learned by me, and I didn't sleep enough last night, and tomorrow we bus to Porto Alegre, and day after tomorrow the phenomenon that is Forum Sociale Mondiale starts, and my eyes are starting to blur and i htinkd lsdji should go to sldkeep .....

os suenos. boa noite.

From Daisy, December 3

Ms. Mali-vali bo-mo'-han-on-and-on-to the break o' dawn---

Oh, I've been feeling you strong tonight. Tonight, looking at your
radiance on that online community thingy that was supposed to have
blossomed but is just a little weird and a little glorious, depending
on your intents and purposes - Friendster- and then on to your blog,
because it's been so damn long without word or hide nor hair of you
that I have no idea what to think.

Today marks the beginning of the end of my time here in the nation's
capital. I ended my internship today...the job that brought me here in
the first place. Kicking and screaming, from the sagebrush plains of
Wyoming, to engross myself in power suits, business cards, buildings
and metros and buses and people. And also to discover that deep seated
in this throne of power dwell many, many fine folks with their eyes
toward change. Even when my bitter jadedness reached an all=time low,
I was sucked back up from it by an incredible force of social will,
and brought back into the optimism of a more seasoned veteran.

From here, I took off for northern shores, to reunite with family and
long-lost friends, for a brief week of time, then on to California for
a monthly time, and then on to Sudamerica with Thea and Mikl Miller,
to romp across the jungles, socially-concious gatherings,
samba-shaking fiestas, and sustainable cities of Brasil, on to finally
savor the true flavor of El Bolson with Mr. Denali, and on to visit
old friends and explore old intense flames of passion in Chile. What a
wild adventure it will be!

I miss you like mad, Ms. Mali. It was god to read some of what's going
on in your blog. Though I have to say that I can't really understand
half of the Indian (Hindi?) words you use. ;) I think my next travel
outside of the US will have to be to NOT latin america.

FUnny that you start to speak/think of yourself as maybe not American
anymore. I feel that feeling, as I start to feel less like I belong to
California like I used to. I do not feel that I've found a true home
to compare yet, out here in DC or in WY, but little parts of me are
changed in ways that can't be found back where I'm from. It will be
interesting to return for a time and see how I fit in with what I used
to be.

Despite loving you to smithereens, I must get to bed finally. Too much
fruitless internet surfing, time-wasting tonight. Good thing I wrote
you, b/c otherwise it would all have been in vane. But, for this
email, the whole night was valuable and wholesome, like the food I
love to put in my belly but that I rarely find time to prepare for
myself. Sigh. The days of time-consuming dumpstered food prepping are
long behind in this mile-a-minute rush of a city. Or, maybe that's
just me and my overly social ways making it so. sigh.

Love you like blood,
Miss you like sunsets,
Send you luck like blond breath on Vegas dice,
And strength like triangles.

Daisy

--
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There was never a night or a fear
that could destroy sunrise or hope.
--Bern Williams
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