Paying It Forward: A Giveaway Story

About the Vases
Last month, I received a wonderful, thoughtful gift from my friend, Diva In Demand. It was a lovely handmade necklace, but that was not all. Macy’s, through it’s purchase of artisan works, was helping

Haitian craftspeople to support themselves and rebuild. I had to give something away if it would help a couple of my readers feel half as special as I have last month. So I looked at the lovely metalwork, painted wooden pieces and jewelry and I beheld these lovely papier-mâché vases (if you want to place genuine plants in them, the merchant recommends placing a water tight vessel inside of the vase to contain the plants and water – artificial plants are fine).

About the Giveaway
Leave a comment on this post to enter (or Facebook like on the status that points to this post) . On July 15, there will be a random drawing and two people will each be awarded one vase. It’s my way of passing on just some of the kindness that has been passed to me. Good luck!

Have you heard about Honsi Mubarak?

During the course of yesterday, I read (and heard on the radio) that Honsi Mubarak had been taken to the hospital, was on life support, and had been declared clinically dead. Today, when I woke up, one of his lawyers had told the New York Times that it was all a big misunderstanding and that he simply slipped in the prison bathroom. Is this Dallas or something – you know where people were dead, but now it was all a dream/misunderstanding/military propaganda? What about all of those other reports? Were journalists just following each other on twitter (or facebook) again? Was this all a rumor that was completely twisted by the time it hit the news? I’m sure the truth is out there.

End of year.

Tomorrow will be the last day of school, and while I have a bit of work (and driving) ahead of me, I am quite content to be finished with the 2011-2012 school year. It is hard to believe that this time last year we were looking forward to Al’s first year of high school (which has challenged me in ways I never expected and shown me a lot of great qualities about my son at the same time) and Nat’s first year of junior high school (he’s a little less edgy, but he is growing so much and becoming so independent). Then there is Max’s foray into kindergarten and Little A going to first grade. They have all grown and experienced so much in the past year and somehow I have managed to keep up. For the most part.  I can’t wait to see the plans I have set up come to fruition this Summer and then in the Fall!!

Monday News: Rodney King

Yesterday, Rodney King was discovered at the bottom of his Rialto, CA swimming pool and pronounced dead shortly afterwards. I thought it was ironic that he died the day of the silent march in New York City that protested the very type of profiling practices that played a major part in the videotaped police beating that he is most well known for. I saw a news article that asked if race relations have changed in the past 20 years, and while it would be easy to approach the negative in the face of the obvious (that people are still marching in protest of the very behavior that resulted in King’s beating, the not guilty verdict and the subsequent riots), I have observed some positive change in the way that people interact with each other.