Is it kosher to wear white before Memorial Day? Oh, wait, that's right, he doesn't care about kosher, he's Catholic.

Forgotten is the diatribe following Catholic child abuse and incest if the current visit of the papal father is anything to go by. Greeted by George Bush and a legion of adoring fans, Pope Benedict XVI is apparently taking his 81^st birthday, the country, and for that matter, the democratic presidential hopefuls by storm; “Barack Obama declared: “It will not only be Catholics who are listening to the Holy Father's message of hope and peace; all Americans will be listening”; Hillary Clinton, a Methodist, opined that the US was “blessed” to be hosting the Pope.” Really? When did Catholic equal Cool?

That being said, how awesome is the Pope Bobblehead?

Pope Benedict XV is already pitting anti-abortion-rights activists against Roman Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights. Lame.

"Ashamed," huh. Well now that is settled...

Nixon on vacay?

Dela-what!?

Amongst wild gesturing and uttered at quick-fire pace, as I am apt to do, I informed friends (and some foes) that I was on the ballot to become a delegate for the Democratic party in California. Almost immediately my ears and inbox were full of questions and suspicions. Some questioned my claim to citizenship - yes, I am BOTH American and English, it is called dual nationality thankyouverymuch - and others questioned why me? HOW me? It seems only kosher to give y'all the rundown.

The Democratic National Convention will be held in Denver August 25th through 28th, and delegates from all fifty fair states will be in attendance. If there are still two candidates in the race at that point, the nomination for the Democratic presidential candidate will be put to the vote; further if you intend to pursue a position of leadership in the California or National Democratic Party, you must first become a delegate for your district. In California, there are 441 delegates (and 62 alternates) that go to the DNC.*

In order to be considered for a (Dem) congressional district delegate you must be 18 years of age, registered as a Democrat in your district, and there are some forms you must return previous to the caucus. It really isn't that difficult, people. Pretty much more important than any of the aforementioned is passion, commitment, and an inclination towards the political process.

I am pretty sure my time as a CDD is yet come, but it was still fun to see my name on the Cal Dem site, and there is something very powerful about feeling invested in the political process. As part of an apolitical, and often apathetic generation, it was refreshing to feel I just might have a place in this government yet. Post-PC non-competitive entry what...

Wanna know more?

California Democratic Party

Democratic National Convention 2008

*N.b. the delegates are split evenly between males and females; yes, the binary notion of gender is prevalent in the political arena.

Ballin'

A gorgeous Friday in the East Bay means one thing to me: tennis and champagne.

26.2

So, I finally did it!

I ran the Nike Women's Marathon on Sunday October 21^st, 2007.

From the second that I decided to register for a marathon to the second that I crossed the finish four hours thirty-seven minutes and twenty-three seconds after I crossed the start line, it was one helluva rollercoaster.

I used to be a fairly decent runner and ran my way through angst in junior high, homesickness at boarding school, and in tandem and adoration with my high school boyfriend. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that my fastest mile time at 5:31 or something took place 15 years ago on the Sequoia Elementary School track and has gotten exponentially slower as time passes. It was way easier to propel my tiny frame back then, and I had never inhaled anything at that point, either.

I've always held admiration for marathon-ers and always knew I'd complete one, the question that remained was when. Fast forward to 2007.

My "training" wasn't quite non-existent, but could be described as sporadic…Pretty much my training was interrupted by every non-fatal thing I can think of: I was on antibiotics 3 times (twice for a persistent ear infection and once for strep throat 3 weeks before the race date), I fell off my bike directly onto my knees and got a hairline fracture in one of my kneecaps, I was out of town on business for 3 weeks and on vacation for 14 days (all in humid locations that made running deathly) and so forth…oh, and did I mention, lots of my friends are heavy drinkers and smokers…love you guys, but a challenge none-the-less!

As race day approached I was the picture of calm despite only running once in the month preceding the race and feeling winded after a flight of stairs! But I was filled with dread swiftly and silently as I was handed my racing bib and chip, and as panic began to sweep over me, I fought hard not to entertain negative thoughts of injury, death, catastrophe…It dawned on me that my usual laissez faire, off the cuff approach to life might not have been the best way to prepare to run 26.2 miles…

Lucky for me, I have a few friends that are experienced marathons (Ilia and Dana, thanks for the advice) and most importantly, I have an AMAZING bunch of friends that met me between miles 17 and 22 exuding positive encouragement and bursting with energy. Pouring water down my back, singing and dancing, and holding many cups of Gatorade and luna moons, they were the bestest I could have ever hoped for. Irina, Ilia, Natalie, Carman, Dave, Gabriel, Christian, Alex and Nellie – you are the best friends a runner could EVER have. Seriously, the best. I couldn't have done it without you. Not to mention, my training partner (in crime), Shannon, who also ran her first marathon that day; a woman who "trained" through about the same motley list of ailments that interrupted her training, but was 100% trooper and lifted my spirits at mile 13 like nothing has ever done before.

Running a marathon was awesome and really not that hard. You could totally do it, if you want to. And I'll help you if you like; to be honest, I do miss my 5:45am track workouts and the sitting down to cheese rolls and latte's at the cheeseboard after a quick six miler with my comrades. Shockingly, I have run far more in month since the marathon than I did in the three months before the marathon combined, and am thinking I might do a half in January or February…who's in?

Mi Trabajo Rocks

…this past year the average California public school grew 6 points on the API and the average Aspire public School grew 37 points. We are outpacing the expected state performance by 5x;

…70% of American parents give their child's school a letter grade of either "A" or "B" and 92% of Aspire parents give that same rating;

…earlier this year the California State Board of Education awarded us a Statewide Benefit Charter, which enables us to open as many as 10 schools across the state.

…we are now serving about 6000 students in some of California's most underserved communities and here's what our students said on the Aspire survey:

• 91% of our students graded our teachers either good (11%) or excellent (80%)

• 96% of our students stated that they will go to college

• 89% reported learning a lot from their teachers this year

…students at Ben Holt, Cal Prep and Wilson Prep have amassed over 1600 college credits through matriculation at Universities and Community Colleges such as CSU-Stanislaus, UC Berkeley, CSU-Dominguez Hills, Laney College, Berkeley City College and Delta College.

Flame this, baby

I danced on stage with the Flaming Lips.
And it was awesome.

I'll try to post some pictures that I took with my camera phone from the stage...to the left of the UFO that Wayne popped out the top of and the band descended from.

It was the New Year's Eve Eve show at the Bill Graham Civic with Gnarls B. and Cat Power.
Fuckyeah.

Oh, and I wore an alien costume. Ironically, or not you might add, mine was the only one that was superslutty. They saw straight through me in the dressing room and handed me a slip of foil to wear under my lowcut dress that was way way smaller than my breasts are. It was also suggested that we dance sans pants. Seriously! If you were there you saw how short the alien skirt was...if i wasn't wearing my super skinny jeans that went well under the costume, I might add, you would have seen a lot more of me... A LOT!

Woo hoo!