Personal: Adoption: Is she edible or what??

This is really just a gratuitous posting of cute baby pictures. I'm bored (a little) and haven't updated my blog in forever. :P
This is my Yahoo! Group friend Monica Byler. On one of the Yahoo group posts, she wrote (Monica, if you see, this please email and censure me if it's not appropriate to quote you:)!)

May I mention I met a family this week, adopting their daughter in Chengdu...
(Four families, actually, but that's not the point.) This particular family
is speaking to their daughter in...

(drumroll please)...

... I swear I am not making this up.

ELVISH. Like from Lord of the Rings. I guess they figure she'll pick up
English in pre-school??? (and no, you can't tell from the pics on my site
which family it is... hehehe. (if they are on this list and reading this - I
don't mean to be cruel, I just thought it was funny).

take a peek if you like... www.monicabyler.com

Monica in Chengdu
mama to Alana

Yay yay! Today I just feel so wiped out from studying (ha-wish I had gotten something to actually SHOW for my efforts!), I needed a pick-me-up.
Some people play PS2. Some people eat. I dream of adoption.

Cheers,

novella :P

Personal: Family: I Married a Puppy....

lanovella: it's just soo hard to look into the eyes of your husband...and think nothing but "he must have been reincarnated from a labrador-retriever."
Wcoast cowgrl: haha

Funny Schtuff: With a Heart for all things VEGGIE, CBA is EVIL

Ha, I'm probably totally committing sloppy-right infringement....

As a Going-Vegan Sunday School Teacher, I get a funny feeling I won't be joining....

This is the funniest sh*t ever (or for today). I was listening to the Christian radio station in the car yesterday, and couldn't help but BUST out laughing when I heard a commercial for, get this, Christian BOWHUNTERS of America!
I believe the tagline for the radio spot was "When you're out in the woods, do you find yourself hunting for more than just deer?" I was like, "What? Do you want to kill GOD too??" (jk, I love my uncles and dad, who all hunt beer annually)....

Um, NO. MOST hunters have to take gas-guzzling TRUCKS to FIND WOODS to hunt in, and even then, your average hunter (having family who engages in this kind of stuff, I think I can say) hunts BEER, not DEER, anyway.
It's amazing how the Bible is used to justify all sorts of stuff...I remember that, when I was trying to explain being vegan to my in-laws in China, I said the same thing as these "C"BA people. I said that God gave us the Earth as a garden, and I didn't know a good gardener who would encourage/force animals to couple for the purpose of ending their offspring's life unnaturally (for the eventual purpose of eating, which, in this day and age, is *almost* entirely unnecessary). Ha,ha, these dudes said that the Earth was given to "man" (don't get me started) "to partake of, and govern all its resources wisely." Maybe you should go work for the current administration, "C"BA....I think you would fit right in with all your "wisdom". Also, they state that they "further believe that the art of hunting with bow and arrow is a time proven means of human survival"--I'm sorry, do you really need to hunt beer-I mean Deer- to SURVIVE? Didn't most of you stop at a grocery story LADEN with non-meat protein sources when you were PACKING for this "resource management" hunting trip?

"Christian" Bowhunters of America's website even has to have a "tract" on this sh*t. I guess there are too many Christians who don't believe in that hunting is part of the "divine plan," and kinda think that killing for SPORT shouldn't pose as a direct ministry of Christ....

Personal: Adoption: Weird Thing on 07Sept05

Sooo, just skip the "Adoption' thread if you're not interested. It just happens to be my obession (oh SHUT UP, some people obsess about Manga, some obsess about famous people, or Visual Kei, or 50cent, or future weddings, or death, or....(I should probably stop). Well *I* obsess about adoption! I teach Sunday School and have made friends with like, all of the 5 year old kids at my apt building. I am way excited to become a MOM and I can't wait to have my homestudy(ies), be DTC, hunt for ladybugs (I already do), experience GOTCHA DAY, and celebrate Forever Family Days! Weeeeehooooo!!

Anyway, if you know me, then you also know some of the challenges I've faced thus far (and hell, I've got 8yrs to go for China, 3yrs for Korea, and like 1yr for Eithopia!), from the closest people possible. So, as a disclaimer, this is personal, and while some of it is funny, it's not *all the way* funny.

Oh, another disclaimer-this conversation was originally almost all in Mandarin, so the translation isn't exactly exact (you know what I mean:). I tried my best, though.

Last night Hanxin and I were at the bus stop, and he was talking about how it would be easy to find a teaching position at a small university like I want, if we weren't together.

"You'll be a great professor," he said.

"Yep," I said. "And you'll be great living in DC and doing intelligence work. And I'll get calls late at night from your kid, and he'll be like, AIYI! My dad made me quit the soccer team! He said I can't do it anymore because I didn't finish the extra homework he gave me!
"Well," I'll say (in this not-too-fictional scenario). "What grade did you get on the extra homework?"
"C!" He says.
"Well, what are you grades in school?"
"All A's!," he'll respond.
"Hmm, where's your dad? Put him on the phone."
"He's not here, Aiyi."
"Oh. Well, let me talk to your grandmother, then."
At which point, "Little" Hanxin will put his grandmother on the phone. "Ei, Hanxinmama, how are you?"
"Oh, very good. I'm very well. God help me to enjoy days." (His mother is was religious)
"Great. Is Hanxiin around?"
"Oh, no. He's still at work."
"At 11PM??"
"Yes, he's still at work."

At which point, Hanxin's wife, a sweet, passive, Sweedish woman, picks up the phone.

"Oh, is there someone on the phone?"
"Oh, yep, sorry, it's just Ruona. I'm looking for Hanxin." (Note in this scenario things seem to be going rather nicely-his wife is soo nice to me! As I'd expect her to be, Hanxin is an impeccable judge of character :-P )
"Oh, well Ruona. So nice to hear from you. No, I'm sorry. Hanxin is still at work. You might try his cell phone, though, he always leaves it on." (And running! This boy's phone is glued to his ear with something that muuust be toxic.)
"Okay then, I'll try him there. Thanks. Talk to you both later, then!"

Then, I finally get Hanxin on his cell phone.

"Ey, Datou, how's it going? You're still at work?"
"No, actually, I' just got out of the gym."
"Hmm, yes, 11pm, son, wife, and mother, and the gym takes precedence. You didn't wake up this morning?"
"Well, no...."
"Hmm. SO, your son tells me you made him quit the soccer team! And because he didn't do well enough on the EXTRA homework! What's that about?"
"Well, Ruona, he IS 12 year old now. He needs to be thinking about the SAT's."
"Really? Is that SO?"

At this point, and I know you're probably bored by now (I am, and my memory is fading correspondingly), but Hanxin stops me. He was giggling the whole bus ride home. By this time, the bus stops across from the basketball courts, and we "disembark the motorcoach" (as my middle school bus driver, Mr. Coch-imagine the heyday we had with that one) used to say".

So we step off, and he's trying to get me to shut up, but I'm on a roll. Suprisingly, he's mostly just mad at the prospect that in all this fantasizing (though he started with the idea), we might not be together at some point in the future. So we just sort of sink into solitude, him looking hard at something indescribable, and me taking in the leaves lit by the street-light.

"Besides," he says. "You never know. We could just adopt a whole bunch of Chinese kids."

Personal: Family: Cultural Assimilation

Sooo...that's Hanxin straddling the door, trying to stop the smoke alarm....

And, if you know anything about the "cultural superiority" theories of Chinese history, you'll totally understand the title for this post. In short, I am becoming acculturated. Oh goodness. This means that, in another few hundred years, I should loose my identity completely, not even objecting when the CCP refuses my application to create an NOVELLA AUTONOMOUS REGION!

The following AIM Conversation should explain it rather well.

*And if you don't know or care what xiaobaicai is, or if you think the reference is stupid, then, well, please go find a gorge and make it your own--Cornell style.*

lanovella (8:47:51 PM): f****ck
lanovella (8:47:57 PM): we are SO the Chinese people on the block now....
XiaoFenni (8:48:03 PM): ?
lanovella (8:48:31 PM): 1) no more olive oil. ran out and had to use CORN OIL. OMIGOD I am no longer quasi-Italian-American. I am a shame to my people.
XiaoFenni (8:48:40 PM): *giggles*
lanovella (8:48:45 PM): 2) the house is FILLED with smoke.
lanovella (8:48:52 PM): 3) the fire alarm is LOUD AS HELL.
XiaoFenni (8:48:56 PM): *cracks up*
lanovella (8:49:18 PM): 4) It was xiaobaicai we were cooking. wan't even a *regular* vegatable.
lanovella (8:49:42 PM): wasn't even a vegetable whose name you could bastardize and other ignorant Americans would understand.
XiaoFenni (8:49:49 PM): oh geez
XiaoFenni (8:49:53 PM): that's funnay~
lanovella (8:51:13 PM): 5) It was Hanxin that said "since we *paid SO much* (got overcharged) for the qingcai, we won't use any water- wouldn't want to dilute the flavor."
XiaoFenni (8:51:21 PM): >.<
lanovella (8:52:02 PM): 6) when the alarm starts going off and the house is filled with smoke, Hanxin completely forgets his *good* Engish, walks over, looks at the mess, and says "it because fire too big."
XiaoFenni (8:52:16 PM): >.<
lanovella (8:52:21 PM): Crap. On the first day of Chinese 101, they asked us "you mei you zhongguo pengyou ne?"
lanovella (8:52:55 PM): I just looked really, really daft, pointed to my chest, and said "wow shir lee row nuh."
lanovella (8:53:04 PM): Now ne?
XiaoFenni (8:53:06 PM): *cracks up*
lanovella (8:53:37 PM): Now I'm spelling in Chinglish, I'm married to a man who *freaks* out when you don't wear rubber slippers into the living room, and I've set off the fire alarm with xiaobaicai.
XiaoFenni (8:53:54 PM): You have achived Wazyn-nirvana!

China: Nanjing

This is a view of Sun Yat Sen's mosoleum, and the surrounding Nanjing area. Nanjing is the second city I've gotten to know in China (the first is Shanghai), and the city I know the best, I think. Although I would not have gotten to know Nanjing so well if it were not for my husband (who is a Nanjing native), I always tell people I would STILL have gotten to go there. :)_Anyway, out of the few places I have been so far (Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou), Nanjing is the place I like the best. More on Nanjing later....

China: Nanjing: Why I like Nanjing So Much

When I think about Nanjing and my time there, this is a pretty typical scene for me. I have to admit something, though, I've only been there during winter time (2 winters in a row, now!:).__I guess the tile was popular in the nineties, and SO many buildings are covered with it. The problem is of course how dirty tile gets. It's not easy to clean, and I'm sure the dust from all the other construction doesn't help, either!__I was told that over %50 of Nanjing is under construction! I don't think this is uncommon these days, for a city to be under SO much construction.__Well, so as to why I like Nanjing. NOW, I have to say again that OUT OF the places I have been to, I like Nanjing the best. This leaves a LOT of room for a change of opinion, as three cities isn't exactly representative of such a diverse place as dalu (mainland China).__I've been to Shanghai, where relatively few people stare at foreigners (actually, I think I stare at foreigners more than any Shanghai resident!! Once, I was walking down a busy avenue in Shanghai at night, and these guys caught my eye. I couldn't place them. They looked almost like Hui, a Chinese minority, but they weren't dressed as though they were even from China, let alone from the country side (it's a subtle difference, but definitely there). I just kept staring, even as we were way past them. The guys must have noticed me staring at them, and as they walked into a bank (for the ATM I suppose, as it was night), they turned and shouted, "Faguoren!"-FRENCH! Boy, was I embarrassed!).__I've also been to Suzhou, where people either ARE a foreigner, or they're trying to sell something TO a foreigner (or they're a Chinese tourist, but sometimes I even think a small perk of going to Suzhou is being able to see foreigners from ALL over the world, which is admittedly really cool. I saw Spanish, Japanese, and Korean tour groups at one of the gardens we went to, and even translated the Spanish for my hubby and his friends:).__I guess in Suzhou I just felt, well, accosted. I am not, obviously, an American born Chinese, and my red hair and height pretty much marks me even in a huge crowd. There's NOTHING about me that would let anybody know I'm up on any kind of Chinese history, culture, politics, or language. So I guess I should just suck it up while I'm in Suzhou and try not to get frustrated. It's hard though, because, as I try to explain to people sometimes, I don't exactly feel like I'm a "tourist." My majors are East Asian Studies and government (I'm thinking I'll do my honors thesis on the interactions between Fulian and the govt regarding birth control policy), my husband is Chinese, I speak Mandarin (albeit not well enough to tell complicated jokes or defend my first-adopt decision), many of my friends are Chinese...I even teach Sunday School to Chinese kids IN CHINESE!__So am I your typical tourist? Probably not. But in Suzhou they don't care, and honestly, there's no way for them to tell. I've considered making a T-shirt that says "Ni Kanbuchulai, keshi wo hui!" or mabe just "wo ting de dong nide hua!" but so far I've been to letharic to get startd. Therefore, I still have to face the dudes still try to talk me into riding in those pedi-cabs w/ the McDonald's-sponsored awnings (unfortunately no pics of that, but I hope you can picture the typical three wheeled bycicle-cab w/ the seat in back, and a vinyl awning over the passenger seat, bright yellow, w/ those universal "arches" like a big iron brand....).__Do I sound uncomfortable w/ this situation? I am. So that's why I Suzhou is not my favorite (although the city is beautiful, I will admit--pics later if I can find 'em).__Now on to Nanjing.....(I'm drawing this out and making Nanjing sound way better than it is :P.

China: Nanjing: Stone Poet

"The Stone Poet"I have to be honest, I just made that name up. One might think that the animals should be included in the name, as I don't *think* that animals being included with people so closely is a common theme in China (at least not deer, etc), but the guy looked really, um, not exactly "at one" w/ the animals around him? I don't know. I could be totally wrong. Anyway, this statue is so cool, it just made me think of this poet posing for a quick snapshot with the animals he was about to write a poem about. I think I took it at Zijinshan (Purple Mountain).Yeah, so referring to the picture in the last post, I think that I like Nanjing the best. Not because people don't notice me at all, like in Shanghai (I have to admit I like doing the "look at me I'm sort of exotic" thing a little bit, maybe because I grew up the only plain Jane in a family of complete SUPERmodels :P). Nor is it because I get all the attention, like in Suzhou (commercial attention, though it may be). I guess it's just because Nanjing is a happy medium. When I go to the touristy spots, I get the pitch. When I stick to the places only locals frequent, people just mildly look at me, and that's it. So I guess it's just a choice. I've heard (HEARD, mind you--I'm not vouching for it at all) from other Chinese people that Nanjing-ers are just proud even though they have nothing to be proud of (anymore--they've had a few heyday's, and more than their share of 15min segments of fame). Well, even though I think that their pride is justified, historically, culturally, etc, they DO seem to have an, I don't know, "air" about them. Most Nanjing-ers (not counting the people who come in from the country-side--they're equally interesting, but are strongly from their own place, not Nanjing) (pretend to?) seem totally uninterested in me, and don't make too many special concessions for my yangguizi-ness. And I like that. I mean, when people ask me what it's like to be from the "hippest city on the West Coast" (according to something like Time Magazine or some junk), I laugh at them. I don't play up the "look at our hippies" crap, and I don't let them drink Starf**cks when they come visit me in Olympia. Similarly, the jianbing lady doesn't act strange around me, and the people that live in my in-laws' apartment building don't listen at the door (or at least I don't think.....:).Also, I think Nanjing is big enough (4 mil now? or 5, I don't know), that there's some diversity, and a lot of good resources (NJ Johns Hopkins center, good museums, etc). Yet it's small enough that I don't feel SO overwhelmed by the sheer mass of it (I'm a small-town girl).Also (again), Nanjing has tons of recent history to its name, and that really interests me. As for the ancient artifacts, well those are cool, and honestly I am the worst museum companion, because I won't leave w/o looking at EVERY piece and reading ALL the captions, but I am really more interested in recent history and recent artifacts. The old tree-lined streets have seen SO much since they were planted at the turn of the 20th century. The walled house-compound thingies have housed the last hundred years of history. The Anglican (Episcopal in the USA) church that my husband, his family, and I attend was part of the international zone that protected so many thousands upon thousands of refugees during the Nanjing Massacre. It's all history that is so alive (and in many ways so political, and I love that too ;), and yet recent enough for me to really feel, and grasp.So, the people, the history, blah-de-blah. THE FOOD. That's good too :). I'm definitely a fan of Nanjing area food. I personally think it tends to be more healthy than, oh, say the stuff you get at Panda Express!:P And probably a bit healthier than other provincial cuisines. It's a little bland, to be sure, and I actually can't stand Nanjing salt duck, which is supposed to be the specialty of the region, but it's good fare for daily living. And that definitely makes me hungry, every day :).Yay for Nanjing! :)More later, including "So...do you play Thumb War w/ That Guy??"

China: Nanjing: Do we LOOK like we play thumbwar?

Well, evidently we do....Hanxin (that's his name, in case you didn't have that part figured out. FYI, I also call him Hans, his English name (well, Sweedish, but that's another story)) took me to a small shop where he buys pants whenever he goes back to Nanjing. The pants are just the wind/swooshy pants that were so popular in the early-90s (yep, he STILL thinks they're cool), but the shop has other clothes too, mainly winter jackets and the like. Perhaps too much construction dust (Nanjing is more than %50 under construction), or maybe just too much Nanjing salt duck, but I fell under the influence of my environment (Hans), and decided I definitely needed a pair of those swooshy pants. So off we head, and eventually find the right garage door (more on garage door shops later :)). The shop, a concrete box approximately 10 feet deep and about 5 or 6 feet wide, is absolutely heaped to the ceiling with clothes. We step up about a foot and a half onto the concrete slab floor and start to sift. One or two large tables contain a men's pile over here, a few women's piles here, and a baby pile or two over there. Extras are stored underneath the "display table" (lol). Oh, but I can't forget the one long rack. The window dresser for the store thankfully took one of many of the items and hung it up for display. The nice thing about China (or just Nanjing??) is that, when people are selling things that aren't legit, they don't exactly hide the fell-off-the-truck factor, but they definitely don't try and Mal-Wart stuff up and make it SEEM like it's actually worth the $1.50 you're paying. Truthfully, Hanxin's pants rip every six months or so, and I have to mend them for him (reeally hard to do with that stupid parachute material). Yet, I'm pretty sure that, if he asked the saleslady, she would just shrug her shoulders and say "Well, what'd ya expect?" (and then, if she was really like me, she'd say, "There's an Armani store on the other side of the city, but I don't think they sell pants that are outdated by, oh, 15 YEARS!" I'm kidding, I love my hubby, AND his stupid pants). Speaking of the saleslady (and this is where I get to my title point, finally:)), she's probably the main attraction to the store. Not remarkable looking or anything, she's Han Chinese (most likely), short, probably in her mid-60s, and a bit rotund (it's all that damn Nanjing salt duck, I tell you!! It's poisonous!). Hans is really glad to take me to that particular shop, he says, because the woman has "experience with foreigners". All in all, she's just very cute, and the wrinkly smile really tops it off. As I near the shop, she notices me right away. She's definitely sharp for an older lady, and humorously, really curious too. I nod politely and do the "I'm a foreigner feining Chinese girl" smile, my eyes darting toward random points on the concrete (ah, the many shades of gray I have seen in China--if kidnapped I could probably find my way back just by the shade and texture of any one slab of concrete!). The woman steps up into the shop behind us, all 4 feet and, oh, probably 8 inches of her staring at me with intense curiosity as Hans and I talk quietly about what color, style, etc of swooshy pants would look best on me (as if they could look good on anyone but him!).Forced to break the laser beam stare and help us with clothes, Hans starts asking to see sizes. I shed the "big green beast" jacket, and the woman holds up various sizes to my waist. "Wow, you're really FAT!" she says. "I'll look for the biggest size." Now, I should emphasize that this isn't technically supposed to be as insulting when said in Chinese, but, um, it WAS. So much for her abundant experience w/ foreigners! ;P Eventually, after the painstaking labor of searching for the "biggest size", she finds a few, and, while Hans debates to himself the diverse merits of black over khaki or vice versa (for some reason he cares about these things), the woman turns, once again, to rest her laser beams on me.It's kind of hard to describe the feeling of an extremely short person staring so intensely up at you, but I guess it's a little like being 12 years old and realizing for the first time while being chewed out by your grandmother that you are taller than she is. And not just by an inch or so--puberty has put you a good foot and a half abover her. Yet THERE she is, ripping you a new one and you are still, despite your new found physical superiority, pretty frickin' scared! That's kind of what it was like being scrutinized by this woman (only not so much hostility, but instead a ton more curiosity). "So," she asks. "Ni shi tade qizi ma?" NOW, if you don't understand Chinese, then guess what? You'll be in the same boat I was in! I had NO idea what she was saying!"Shi," my husband cuts in on my behalf ("Shi" means YES).HUH? I think to myself! HUHH? As if reading my mind (or at least the waaay confused expression on my face), the woman smiles. Slowly, she points first to me, then to my husband. Next, she shows me two thumbs-up's, and starts wiggling her thumbs. Again, trying to look adorably confused, I shake my head. "Bu dong"(don't understand"). The woman does it again, only faster this time. She first points to my torso (eye level for her), then to Hanxin's back. THEN SHE PLAYS THUMB WAR, AGAIN! I'm just thinking, WHAT THE HELL? Well, every possible thumb-war related activity went through my head. Do we play thumb-war (duh), do we play video games? Maybe she was trying to sell me a video game? Wha?!Well, no, I don't play thumb-war that often, and I've never played it with my husband, in fact (we've never been on THAT long of a car trip without one of us driving). Also, I don't particularly like video games (except for tetris), and I definately did not want to buy one. So I just said "No, no. Bu shi" (Bu shi=No :).Hans hears me saying no, and turns around and says to the woman once again, "Shi, women shi."(yes, yes we are)."What?" I say, pointing in the direction of her ongoing thumb-war game. "Are you kidding? We don't do that! Hanxin, you don't even know HOW to play thumb-war!"The poor thumb-warrior (as she shall be known hereafter), just switched back and forth between Hans and I, herself looking really confused. SO, DO YOU PLAY THUMB-WAR WITH THAT GUY OR NOT??As it turns out, Hanxin and I do, actually, play thumb-war with each other. The "thumb-war" gesture is just a way to ask people if they are in a relationship or not. And yep, "Ni shi tade qizi ma?" means just that "Are you his wife?" And yep, I am his qizi.The pants? They're currently buried under a pile of other clothes I don't wear, in a storage bin I don't look at in a closet in a room I rarely have cause to go in. I'm proud to say I've made only a few totally frivolous purchases in China thus far. Yet, just about every time I buy something, I end up really having a great adventure. LOL :P

Hmm, so I started this as kind of an online journal, and I think I do need to keep true to that. I did all the China stuff (well not all of it, but whatever), and that was/is nice, but that's a little, um, I don't know, "OK for all viewers"? Anyway, it's not my goal to write stuff that isn't, but I dunno, I guess I just think I need to stay true to the thing of writing a journal. So....__Oh, another disclaimer-this conversation was originally almost all in Mandarin, so the translation isn't exactly exact (you know what I mean:). I tried my best, though.__Last night Hanxin and I were at the bus stop, and he was talking about how it would be easy to find a teaching position at a small university like I want if we weren't together. He said, "You'll be a great professor." And I said, "Yep, and you'll be great living in DC and doing intelligence work. And I'll get calls late at night from your kid, and he'll be like, AIIIIYYYYIIIII! He'll say my dad made me quit the soccer team! He said I can't do it anymore because I didn't finish the extra homework he gave me!_"Well, I'll say, what grade did you get on the extra homework? And he says, a C! Well, what are you grades in school? All A's!, he'll respond.

Personal: Letting Light Shine Pt. 1

So, I just got out of a candlelight vigil for Rosa Parks. I learned some things; some I did want to know, and some I didn't.

I learned that there are a few different versions of why Rosa Parks did what she did. Some say that she was a "test case," set up by the NAACP to prepare for the Montgomery bus boycott, which was at the time still in the planning stages. Some say she was inspired, divinely, ethically, or morally, to do, or not do, what she did. I had heard the former story from a distinguished history professor here at Cornell while taking 20th C. Black Women's History, and I heard it again tonight. The speaker tonight, though, claimed that this was a racist point of view, and espoused the latter. While I have admittedly done no research into the topic, I was interested to hear the possible contradiction. In my own musings (again, uninformed musings), I like to think that the event was neither planned, nor unplanned. Parks had been a NAACP secretary, and, through her friendship with Ella Baker, most likely kept abreast of issues and events being planned in the area. Parks, besides being aware politically, was also aware socially, emotionally, and spiritually. Words, especially not from me, cannot express Parks' feelings or thoughts who, as a Black woman of 42 years in Alabama, had seen and felt the awesome power of racism, in so many of its manifestations, can posess. Yet, Parks' spiritual awareness imbued her with a power of her own, all her own, granted by her Creator. It was using this power that manifested a resistance to the power of hatred. Similarly, it was within this context--of being politically aware, of being emotionally "tired," and of being spiritually "rested"--that Parks, with or without forethought (she claims there was none), or perhaps without her own forethought, but with that of a much greater Power, chose to resist. Resistance, it must be understood, though, was nothing new to Parks. During the service, I learned that Parks so often chose to walk instead of riding on a degrading bus system, to thirst instead of drinking at a fountain symbolizing an order designed oppress all that took part. In short, I learned that to me, versions of why Parks chose not to forfeit her seat are wholely unimportant. Previous to this evening, I was of the opinion that Parks' being a "test case" showed not only the high level of organization that the Civil Rights Movement required, but the sheer amount of energy that citizens, already respected for being productive, active contributors to the Civil Rights movement in their own right, were courageous enough to give, or to risk, as the reality shows it to be.

What I wasn't so excited to learn, well that I will address later, as I don't have enough time or brainspace at the moment....

Cheers,

lanovella