Global Night Commute. The Global Night Commute was a great success. At one point the rumor was that we had 298 people together downtown, however we somehow managed to disperse of our 400 informational packets. So great.
I stayed up all night to help with security. Part of me wishes I did have more time to commune and sleep on the concrete, just as the children do every night, but I am glad I wound up working and assisting in any capacity. You know that's the usual story though; how many times in my life whether in church or school have I been asked to play a fascilitating role and help out behind the scenes. Some times I have felt like I missed out on many opportunities by being in these roles, but so many great things have come from it. This morning, sometime around 4:30 as the dawn slowly began to break, as I sat in my folding chair hudled in a blanket and stared out at all the people sleeping and whispering and just laying down on the cold concrete of what is usually the Bank of America Ice Skating rink, I was so humbled at the power of it all. I mean these were mostly college students (although ages spanned from high school to parents with their children) who are in or are about to be in finals week, and they braved the mid-30 degree temperatures to stand up for a cause that we felt strongly about. Despite a lack of strong leadership up until a few weeks ago, it was well organized. We were given the location and security for very cheap, almost free, which was amazing. We wrote over 400 letters to Mr. Bush, many more to our state senators and prepared art collages to send to the Invisible Children Organization, as well as taking photographs last night and again this morning to be used in the documentary when the full version is released next year. The issue now is not to forget. Our lives go on, we get to return to our warm beds. We are so fortunate.

I guarantee you it never gets to 30 degrees in Uganda. 130 maybe, but never anywhere near as cold as it was last night. Check out my pictures of the night.
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After staying up all night I returned home for a few hours and then went to church, because I knew that we would be talking about global missions and the missionaries our church supports and I didn't want to miss what was going to be said. But I fort of get the feeling that I was not supposed to miss this morning. I can't explain it, other than that God wanted me to hear what Scott and our missionaries had to say. I don't know where life is leading me right now, but because of recent personal events, around and including my move to Providence this year, I can't help but recognize the path that I am on and continue over the coming months and years to be receptive to the direction--any direction--I am led towards.  ¶ 4/30/2006 01:19:00 PM 0 comments

  fruitcakes/pacing the cage. ...but before we get to tomorrow, we have tonight. Where all day in Dallas it has been pouring down rain, and yet Parrot Heads still emerge and converge for the annual event. Within five minutes of each other tonight, my Dad and my friend Kevin call me and let me know that indeed they have made it, once again, to the Jimmy Buffett concert.  ¶ 4/28/2006 09:54:00 PM 2 comments

  "Let love be heard." From as essay entitled An Image of History by Chris Kargel on Burnside Writer's Collective:

"On April 29th, in almost every major city around the United States, we will have the opportunity to show the world that people still act on struggles worth standing up for, that the violence against the children of northern Uganda needs to end, and that Christians can still lead lives focused on love.

As discussed in the previous issue of this publication, the children of northern Uganda have been assaulted for years by rebel forces, the Lord’s Resistance Army, and ripped from their homes. Once abducted, they are forced to participate in the civil war—either as child soldiers, servants, or wives of soldiers. To avoid this fate, they walk miles every night to sleep in the relative safety of parking lots, hospitals, and any available area, earning the name 'night commuters.'"

"As I imagine each of the near 130 cities packed with people of all ages, disciplines, and lifestyles, I see a picture like those captured in history books, proclaiming the power of a small group crying out for proper treatment of others. In this picture I see Christians doing what is right - simply for the sake of its righteousness and justice. And I see myself, proud to be living the action and not reading about it later, standing tall with the hope in our ability to change the world."  ¶ 4/28/2006 08:07:00 PM 1 comments

  Mr. Record Man/The Circle of...eh whatever I downloaded some music from www.emusic.com --sign up and you get 50 free downloads, no catch--this weekend. I've fallen in love with Patty Griffin. How could I not be listening to her for all these years? The best way to describe her voice is captivating. Breathtaking. So I checked out her album 'Impossible Dream' and I can't stop listening to it. Her music (and some Willie and Spoon) are the soundtrack to life right now. But I must recommend that you check out Patty Griffin. This means you Chris.

It was overcast, cold and rainy, this weekend...great for this kind of music.

I also heard some good music last night at WestSide Arts, a project my church puts on (disregard the title, as my church does actually now reside on the East Side of Providence). Rebecca Pronsky and Stefan Couture and the Campfire Orchestra. Great band name, right?

Also last night for some reason some of my friends and I kept randomly making references to 'The Lion King' and tonight on my way home from the TV station with my co-worker Barbara (that's right, I was on the local news tonight (a slow day for me really, in the morning I crashed my car into a bus full of seniors heading to Foxwood Casino, then I robbed them all at bayonnet point , and then this afternoon I built a dam across the Naragansset Bay out of Legos) on the radio in the car we heard Elton John's song 'The Circle of Life' from The Lion King. It was kind of strange and very unimportant, like this entire paragraph.  ¶ 4/25/2006 09:50:00 PM 1 comments

  the weekly show Jon Stewart is so funny. his side jokes make me laugh soooooo loud.

So I've been busy man. The pace of life has had me moving swiftly as I attempt to survive, and needless to say that survival is occuring. Yesterday I worked about 12 hours, and tomorrow I have my big RI VOAD meeting from 8:00--10:00 in the morning. I'm a little worried about that, although I don't know why exactly. I guess it's just administrative worries, fearful that I am forgetting something. They're relying on me for most of the coordination and planning and whatnot, so I guess that's why I'm a little nervous. But it should be good, we have a guest speaker coming from URI GSO to discuss the potential that a hurricane the size of the 1938 'New England (Long Island) Express' would have it it hit Rhode Island today.

Still I have been finding a little time for myself. Today I took off from work and went for an hour jog along the East Bay bike path. Spring is coming along just fine up here, the days are getting longer, flowers (and with them massive bumble bees) are emerging, and the temperatures are warming up steadily. Friday also was a good day (no pun intended) as I took the afternoon off and my friend Kathleen and I did some exploring around Barrington and found a nice beach that would be a great getaway and is very close to Providence. That night we went over to one of my fellow church members' house for some Good Friday food and fellowship. That's the easiest way to describe what was really a reflective and inspiring night. Sunday was Easter and after church I again went out with some church members for the afternoon.
But my work calendar is booked pretty solid through the month of May...and the social calendar is filling up pretty fast as well. Add in the two trips I'll be taking during May and before I know it, June will be busting out all over. Or something like that.

I tore up my car a little bit (literally sliced through the running boards--d'oh!) and punctured a tire but good--all in my driveway. My landlord has a dumpster taking up half the driveway, so I couldn't get in and as I was trying to back out without crashing into my other roommates car I scraped along a wicked sharp edge. I'm going to try and get him to pay for it; it's starting to sink in that I'm making just a little under $900 dollars a month.

Oh and yesterday, here in RI we blew up a bridge. It was AWESOME. Ok, time for hot chocolate and Law and Order, and then sleep. I missed the 'Order' part of this episode a few weeks ago, hopefully I can make it through tonight!  ¶ 4/19/2006 08:18:00 PM 2 comments

  so long and thanks for all the fish! As I'm reading this article, my mind goes back to this T-shirt I saw for sale earlier today. So as a plug I should mention that I do have a birthday coming up here in about a month...haha.

but enough about "earth science"--I have to go put on my "human science" glasses and read up on children impacted by disasters. Except there was just a really loud crash of thunder outside, so maybe I should do this reading from home...

oh hey I got out of my traffic tickets this morning. and apparently it's already Thursday afternoon. where did THIS week go?  ¶ 4/13/2006 04:53:00 PM 0 comments

  Good job, Mario! But your princess is in another castle... When I'm checking my voice mail at the office I always hang up instead of deleting my messages. Then my mailbox gets bogged down and works slow. According to the lady just a minute ago, I had "...no new messages and 9 saved messages." Eh.

So my car is in the shop again. I was at church last night and then stayed around for some music at the WestSide Arts (who conspicuously now meet on the East Side) concert--saw a local band called the Propellers play their first gig ever and it rocked--but then afterwards, around 11:00, I stumbled out to the car and it wouldn't start. LAME! So I called my friends at AAA and an hour later we had towed it back to the shop that worked on it not even two weeks ago (LAME! Plus, dude, doesn't this always happen when you take a car into a shop? And I even trust these guys!) and they're working on it now. My friend Nate stayed around and waited for the wrecker to arrive last night, saved me from braving the scary streets around RISD by myself in the cold, so that was cool. And Pat in my office here is trying to help me get out of a ticket my car received from parking on the street overnight where we dropped it by the shop. Fiends like these, eh Jackie? See...it's illegal to park overnight on the streets here in Providence, apparenty even in a marked parking space like I where I left my car last night.

So I now have two tickets that I have to get out of, and I actually have cases to get out of them both (My first came when they were tearing up our parking lot and so I parked on an area that in theory should have been sidewalk, but was long since covered up by the expanding gravel parking lot, so it was confusing where the boundary was/is...well hey those who know tell me I can get out of it).

Josh gives a big "argh!" to city life today! Plus my landlord is re-shingleing the roof at the house so we have a huge dumpster taking up a third of our driveway and have cursing repair men wandering in and out of the house. I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night, something I'm not used to doing very often these days, so I feel like I haven't stopped moving in a while. It's all good though, at least it keeps me on my toes. Plus, this is Easter Week, so internally it's all...well, it's all private.  ¶ 4/11/2006 08:22:00 AM 0 comments

  Leo McGarry dies; Richard and Emily look for houses in Stars Hollow... Well no one showed up to see the film today except my friend and fellow VISTA Kathleen--who I invited on Friday and had already seen it a few times, so we just wound up talking for about an hour. Kind of a bummer but that's alright; it was still a beautiful day that included reflections of Palm Sunday, a afternoon drive through the suburbs, batting cages and Cadbury cream eggs, some great music from Tom Petty, watching gulls play over the water and watching the sun set behind the buildings of downtown.  ¶ 4/09/2006 09:48:00 PM 0 comments

  Last week my friend Kristin told me that she wanted to show Invisible Children again at the Armory this Sunday. Originally she thought to do it at night but b/c of scheduling we had to move it to tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately Kristin has to work then so I volunteered to be there to run it. We put the word to AmeriCorps in the area and I put a listing on Craigslist, so hopefully we can have a turnout.
I was laying on my bed earlier trying to wrap my mind around the stories of these children from Uganda. I found I couldn't focus on the subject for very long. Not that I was particuarly distracted or anything but it is a very sad, rough situation. Maybe our brains can't wrap around it. Images help, first-hand accounts help, but the reality is something that deep inside we purposely block for one reason or another. I know after Katrina (et. al) so many of us--myself included--became overwhelmed by the constant barage of depressing images. They're ingrained in our minds, they caused us to react, and we were also able to turn the channel to get away from them. I'll be the first to say loudly that I have and do lead a directly sheltered life. And this is a benefit (?) to the life we lead I guess. Just like right now as I sit here in my bedroom typing on a computer watching 'Saturday Night Live' and eating tortilla chips. But even as I do this, the children are in my thoughts.
Earlier I looked around my bedroom to tried and think about how many people I could fit in my here to sleep. Half a dozen, without furniture we could double that number. That would come with a windows and a roof, some heat/air, a hardwood floor and a rug--maybe even some pillows and blankets. Such luxuries!
I don't know what to pray for or where to direct my thoughts when I'm thinking about people who are living in war zones like Uganda or Iraq. But tonight my thoughts went to the things that lighten my spirits: the power of laughter, of smiling and admiring the endless sky, a smooth breeze, or thoughts of my family. These things are so much more powerful than a movie or a book, even if we occasionally rely on those objects to engender some of these feelings. So with no other answers right now, I guess that's how I can wrap my mind around these stories. By accepting that they are humans just as I, I can focus on what we share, and pray that in the midst of war & pain & oppression they are able to share in these joys of life, in their own individual ways.  ¶ 4/08/2006 11:38:00 PM 2 comments

  (manly growling sound) I went to a minor league baseball game last night, the Paw Sox. From what I saw, it was a pretty good game. I don't know who won, we skipped out early. But I do know the Rangers lost.

But that's not why I'm updating. My adventures with little kids continued today, this time with my co-worker Barbara's 2 .1 year old Robert. He came into the office this morning for a few hours with Barbara. I taught him how to say "duck tape". It was my proudest moment all week. Tim Taylor would be so proud of me. Actually, Tim Taylor would probably say: "2 years old and he's just NOW learning to say duct tape???"

that's all I have. long week, looking forward to a slow night.  ¶ 4/07/2006 04:52:00 PM 2 comments

  When you spend time around a little kid (say, age 2.4) who is laughing and running around and playing with everything in sight (especially balloons!), it just fills your heart with youth. It helps you to forget all this grown-up mess we get ourselves into. I did that today, and it was pretty cool. Well that's all I have. Except I'm glad the kid wasn't mine...what a headache that would be. I'm not ready for all that just yet. But to be able to come in and out of a child's life every once and a while, well that's not too bad. To make a kid laugh, and be able to laugh with them...that's not too bad either.  ¶ 4/05/2006 09:09:00 PM 0 comments

  dreams, predictions, and conspiracy theories Last week I had a dream that involved myself, some of my closest friends in the world from back home, and former President's Bush and Clinton. We were sitting around in a large open area, like a church, drinking coffee and talking, when the idea came around to play a round of golf. Everyone was game except for me, I began to feel uncomfortable and uneasy...because I've never played golf before. But we were all friends, just hanging out and laughing and talking. Mr.'s Bush and Clinton were not looked at as Presidents but just a couple of the guys. I kind of forgot it but until the weekend when I went to a friend's house for lunch after church and she had a dream interpretation book, and I started flipping through it and figured out what the dream meant. It was pretty simple, really. See, the night I had the dream I spent time with my boss after hours at a business/community meeting and we got to talking in the down time and it was the first time we had really talked outside of the office and maybe I was feeling a little nervous about getting close to my boss. Why, I don't know.

Well the latest hurricane predictions were released today. It doesn't look particuarly good. Unless of course you work for the Bush Administration. In that case, we just might get a little rain before the year's over. Which leads me into my next subject...

Finally this morning I attended a meeting at a random office building in industrial/suburban Warwick. Turned out the office was a government contractor of one kind or another. As I was leaving the meeting around 10:00, I looked over and saw the creepiest image I could imagine. CGB Spender was walking straight towards me. We made eye contact for way too long as I processed who it was I was looking at. The Cigarette Smoking Man--Smokey--in the flesh. I know we all thought he died in the mountains of New Mexico; but as with the truth and the X-Files...Trust No One. The truth is out there, and I have proof. My days are numbered, I can feel it.  ¶ 4/04/2006 10:36:00 AM 1 comments

  Hi, I'm Josh. I'm the guy that goes 24 hours with his cellphone forgotten in a jacket pocket hanging in a closet...and still has no missed calls.  ¶ 4/03/2006 05:32:00 PM 1 comments

  report from Saturday I'm glad I went out last night, I had a good time. We started at McFaddens downtown; interesting place. It was a sports bar with white table cloths that after a certain hour turned into a typical college/mid-twenties nightclub. Depressing. So when that started to happen we walked next door to a smaller, quieter place. That place had red lights and deer antlers on the walls. A little better.

Saturday I awoke and drove around town looking for a sporting goods store. I couldn't find one in town so I drove over to Seekonk (where the Target and Wal-Mart and all the chain stores are) and bought a baseball bat. Then I drove to Cranston where Google told me the closest batting cages were; but I didn't take the map with me and wound up getting lost in the woods around Cranston. Started out I just wanted to hit baseballs to hit baseballs, but after getting lost I needed some stress relief! hahaha, but it was all fine; I found my way home just before it started storming and managed to snap off a few pictures of the rain clouds and the hazy sky around Providence. There was a possibility I was going to go to the zoo also, but it fell through.

Meanwhile back in Texas...Rob called me as he was driving behind Jim Crow Towing. That's right, an old white guy who drives around proudly displaying his company name: Jim Crow Towing. If you're stranded on I-35, call him up! Reminds me of the story of musician Ben Folds who was driving from a show in Austin to a show in Dallas when he found himself behind a Willie Nelson impersonator, Almost Willie. He was so impressed with the guy's vehicle that they called the number and had Almost Willie open for them in Dallas. Just goes to show, you never know what will happen on I-35.  ¶ 4/01/2006 07:20:00 PM 0 comments