France

To sip a chilled Parisian wine is to taste the lips of Cupid

Where is my mind

Oh - stop

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Where is my mind?

Where is my mind?

Where is my mind?

Way out in the water
See it swimmin'


Well, my mind is certainly not on the shopping, the sights, the people, and the food of Paris; while this city has a lot of historical value, I'm not sure where to find the revolutionaries, and I am missing the streets of Amsterdam. My mind, however, is on neither city; instead I am thinking of Denver, and of the thousands of activists converging on the DNC to show Obama that America cares about peace, the environment, our troops, about education, about health care; to show Obama that the people of America care about people, not making the richest richer, not making our economy the strongest in the world, not making America more powerful. We care about individual rights and freedoms in a balance with safe and healthy communities. We care about the future. How do the police respond? Pepper spray, beatings, and raids on non-violent protesters, by violating the same civil liberties that we exercised to become a nation in the first place.

The Democratic National Convention is playing host to more intense patriotism than America has seen ever in recent years- check out the latest episode of sub-media to see footage from the REAL democratic convention taking place outside the pepsi stadium. http://www.themelononline.com/2008/08/dnc-video-dispatch-3.html

all of these episodes should be available on sub-media.tv : stay informed!


Et oui, j'ai vu la Louvre.

To Love Obama

I've been in Paris for less than 12 hours, and have been asked about Obama by four Frenchies. Upon recognizing my accent, these people excitedly asked if I was voting for Obama and what I thought about him. While I can honestly say that I'd prefer Obama to the rat republican party any day, Obama still isn't the heroic idealist everyone seems to be making him out to be. His energy policy is, well, bad ("clean" coal and arctic oil drilling), and he still stands for more free market policies than I'm comfortable with. We can only hope that, once elected, Obama will use his golden hour, the first 100 excited and exuberant days, to pass progressive, sustainable, and more Keynesian policies than he is promising. All too often, however, money interests and bad economists have a way of turning even the most idealistic leaders into traitors to the people they represent. I recently began reading Naomi Klein's book, The Shock Doctrine, and I have to admit that Ive been moved to tears again and again by the facts and connections she has revealed. Once I finish the book, I'll dedicate a full post to a review- until then, you should check it out. More details on Paris next time kids.


peace and love,

Reflections on Amsterdam

When I think of Amsterdam, the first thing that comes to mind is legalized marijuana. Imagining the city, I pictured street after street lined with trendy little cafés selling hash brownies, hash cookies, and a wide selection of the world's finest, while next door beautiful women beckon from their windows. After spending a few days exploring the city, I've found it to be a pleasant mix of the expected as well as some surprises.

The city appears, almost magically, to be designed perfectly for partiers. You're never more than a block away from a bar, a sex shop, a “coffee shop,” or a bakery featuring the most delicious looking pastries you could imagine. Everywhere you go, it is easy to stop in for a drink, pick up a sack, buy some munchies, and admire fine looking women.

This, I expected. What I didn't expect was the beautiful layout of the city, which is a collection of more than a hundred islands and reclaimed land with an elaborate network of defense and shipping canals. Picturesque houseboats and old world architecture surround you at every turn, and everyone seems to be riding bicycles. Everything in the city is within an easy walking distance, and there is no shortage of museums, squares, or tours for sight seers. I came to the city looking for a party, although I have to admit I'm not much of a partier, and Amsterdam offered me easy, casual access to fun as well as peaceful and serene places to just relax, like Vondelpark.

The Red Light district, probably the second thing to come to mind when thinking of Amsterdam, was also a blend of the expected and surprises. At night, metal poles with red lights rise from the ground around the district to prevent people from driving on the streets of the Red Light, and every window from ground to the third floor offers a woman, either smiling flirtatiously or talking on her cell phone. Sex stores, theaters, peep shows and bars are practically the only type of store in this part of town, lightly peppered with cafes and pastry shops. On a Saturday night walking through the Red Light, expect to be constantly propositioned, either by women knocking on their windows, bouncers asking you to come inside for some live entertainment, or people whispering advertisements for crack. In a city where you can buy marijuana and psychedelics from a menu, however, hard drugs pushed on the street have little appeal. Another thing worth noting on the Red Light is its diminished size, which only covers two streets. Until recently the Red Light spread out even more, but it seems that Chinese food restaurants are able to make more money and have taken over a portion of the district. No male prostitutes were seen in windows, and I couldn't tell if the good looking men standing outside bars and shows were bouncers or lovers (or both?). Apparently when Amsterdam had tried to set up a street for only male prostitutes, they had made it so only females could shop on the street to prevent drunken men from posing as prostitutes and selling their bodies. The street was guarded by female police officers, keeping the clients completely female. This, of course, bankrupted the male prostitutes within a few weeks (as you can guess, men probably pay men for sex more often than women do).

I do have to point out a few other highlights to my stay here in Amsterdam. First, a four hour bike tour through the city and countryside that featured fresh made local cheeses, a stop at a windmill, a bar stop, and a conclusion next to a “smartshop” was certainly worth the money. Vondelpark was absolutely gorgeous and we spent hours just walking and sitting throughout the park, which seems to be full of people any time, any day. It was really nice to see people lighting up everywhere, casually and happily without the paranoia brought about by smoking illegally and having to hide. Interestingly enough, Amsterdam youths between 12 and 18 years of age are less than half as likely to have tried marijuana than the English, which says a lot about what legalization does for a population. A delicious Italian restaurant across the street from an art museum offered the best pasta I've had as long as I can remember, and it's relatively easy to find anything and everything.

Tomorrow I leave for Paris, where I'll meet up with my SIT group and spend about ten days being immersed in French before taking the train to Switzerland, where I will move in with my host family in Nyon. I'm really glad that I decided to fly into Amsterdam and spend some time in the city before heading off to classes, and I'll be glad to come back here again at the end of my trip before leaving for the US.

the french WISH they made pastries this good

This, if all goes according to plan, will be my travel blog during the four months I spend in Europe (mainly in Geneva, Switzerland). Hopefully I will have pictures, video, and interesting things to share. So far, however, I'm tired out from 14 hours of flying and still disgruntled by the man who invited Carly and I into the peep show in Amsterdam's redlight district- "come on in ladies, it's banana time!"