Thursday, May 31, 2007

More excitement for Justin


More excitement for Justin, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Manga mania at the asian art museum starts this week

We know Justin's excited...

Monday, May 28, 2007

new column

"Friendly Fire"

Recently my friend and I had a terrible fight. Well, less of a fight and more of a difficult dialogue. Words were said that may or may not have been what each of us meant. Thoughts were shared that were deep and painful and overly truthful. Feelings were hurt. And the relationship seemed at an impasse.

I hate it when this happens.

To me, in a simplified form of hope, friendships symbolize getting beyond the difficulties of life and finding comfort between others. And we all are others to everyone. As much as we may be tied to one another in family, friendship, work, community, and other forms of relationships, we are all someone other to someone else. Relationships therefore are built upon, and sometimes rendered apart, by allowing ourselves to communicate beyond the most simplistic of communications and delve deeper into each others' humanity.

So when a friendship, or other type of relationship, becomes difficult, it can cut deep into our everyday soul. When my friend and I were arguing back and forth and neither was really hearing the other, try as we might, my soul was breaking. There were parts of me that wanted to retaliate in negative ways; there were other parts of me that wanted to walk away and never have contact again; and there were others parts of me that wanted to make an effort that went beyond what I might think I would do for or with anyone else. To keep this friendship I was going to have to let down my secure walls, let my friend inside my soul even more than ever, allow myself to be completely vulnerable, and trust that this friendship was worth more to me than petty differences of the day.

This wasn't easy. And it never is. What I've learned over the years is that friendships come and go. Although when I was younger I used to believe in friendships that lasted all of my life, the reality is that most of them do have a beginning, middle, and an end. People move away; they change; they grow; sometimes they die; sometimes they live differently than could have been imagined. And so it comes with experience that I've learned that friendships really only continue when we work on them. Not just working on the friendship itself, or trying to get the other person to understand or change behaviors, but also by working on ourselves and offering more to the other and the friendship than previously thought possible.

After much heated discussion, my friend and I took some important time out and then planned to meet up. When we did, we were each ready to confront the friendship's problems head on, while also each acknowledging that we had work to do. We laid our souls barer than each thought we could or would. We didn't necessarily resolve all of our differences; and, frankly, we can't because we will always be different people, just like we all are an other to one another. But we worked on overcoming those differences, and each decided that our friendship was important enough to keep it going and to keep working on it and see it through.

In politics, we often have situations that arise where we end up fighting among friends and colleagues. This can occur even when we each have the same goal in the long run. There is always an election around every corner, or an issue at City Hall, or a controversy in a community; and we will never have the same response or attitude or thoughts towards the best outcome and the easiest way to get there. Democracy is all about recognizing that there are differences of opinion and finding the resolution that suits the most of the full group. Our American democracy also takes great strides to hear from those who don't have the majority thought in popularity, but who still have important thoughts to share. It's all very hard to do, and takes a great deal of work, compromise, hope, civility, and many difficult dialogues.

We can all get very angry and upset over our differences of opinion. We can fight hard for our beliefs and often end up saying things that we may have not meant or mean things that we didn't say. As with friendships, politics itself is full of complications and decisions on whether to keep working on our relationships with each other. We can try our best to delve deep into ourselves and bring out the best in us and each other; or we can do something inherently different. There is no particular right answer for what comes next in friendship or politics. But the path we lead, and the growth we strive for, as individuals and a community, serve as a model for how we deal with the difficulties associated with bridging the differences between each other.

i'd rather be mugged than bored-- jessie on choosing which streets to walk down last night

rather a good synopsis of choosing life and taking risks over complacency

saw a lovely little movie the other night: waitress. perfectly done movie for its genre. just perfect. you should check it out.

Friday, May 25, 2007

it's been a wild ride of a week this week on the campaign trail. the incumbent that my boss is taking on in the primary for state senate next year had a car crash last friday. honestly, i felt sick to my stomach upon hearing it. i hate to think of people, anyone, even the opponent in our campaign, having such a terrible and frightening moment in their lives.
well, then the car crash investigation became a larger one which involved a much larger and longer event along the highway
then there was this health news bombshell the next day from her, which is also just a terrible thing for anyone to go through.
and then there's today's news about the continued chp investigation.

it's been a really crazy wild ride in the press and in the community and in our hearts this week. i wish her well and the best of health and strength personally, regardless of her being the campaign's opponent for the state senate seat.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Working late


Working late, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

City hall is so pretty at night. And I have a great view of it...

--Reese

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

my brother's guatemalan wedding this last sunday:

Monday, May 14, 2007

mi madre esta en guatemala

my mom went down to guatemala this mother's day weekend to witness my brother's marriage to my new sister-in-law Carol who's family is there. my family witnessed his marriage in our hometown of kansas city, missouri a few months ago and this wedding for was her side of the family in her hometown. here is a note from my mom while there: "Weather is beautiful!!! We had chicken for lunch & we are going to La Antigua for dinner. Carols family is very nice. It is hard to type because the letters on this keyboard are worn away & includes extra letters. Carols dress & veil are beautiful & her mom & aunt are fixing flowers for the church right now. I am having lots of fun!!! I love you all & will see you on Monday."

and a note from my sister in law Carol following the wedding day: "La boda estuvo bonita!! We will send you pictures of our wedding!!! Mom took thousands and thousands of pictures and she danced at the wedding. It was beautiful!!! she may have only known how to say MUCHO GUSTO but she used it very well. We also wish that you could have been here!!! We needed you spanish expertise!!!! (hahahahah) Mom says thanks for your help with spanish."

i'll have pictures and more stories when my mom returns home later tonight... mucho gusto

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Crissy Field


Crissy Field, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

--Reese

Crissy field center's community heroes event

--Reese

Saturday, May 12, 2007

i cannot wait until the new academy of sciences open in 2008! it looks like it's going to be so cool!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

look who's headlining the local paper these days...

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

A festival of proclamations


A festival of proclamations, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

AIDS Walk awards

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

note to my mom and dad: some national park entrance fees are going up

Monday, May 07, 2007

new newsletter's up

Sunday, May 06, 2007

John


John, originally uploaded by Reeses World.

Lunch near the beach

--Reese

Saturday, May 05, 2007

i am absolutely in love with my new coffeepot. it's the best! it's programmable so i can set it up each night to start brewing coffee in the morning at my assigned time. and i wake up with the smell and sounds of coffee. and then i can run downstairs to my stoop, pick up my paper, run back up and have a nice cup while reading the paper in the morning. it's the best part of waking up, i swear.

Friday, May 04, 2007

jessie's had a few run-ins with our local drycleaner, but this situation is completely out of control...

this site calculates a mom's work in dollars and cents, as compared to local employment criteria. so "What's Your Mom Worth?"

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

my first summer in washington, dc was a fun, exciting one where i got to know my new city. this was 1995 and i lived for about 4 to 5 months in the wonderful neighborhood known as 'eastern market' which lies in the shadow of the u.s. capitol but really has a complete neighborhood feel to it. one of the biggest pieces of that neighborhood feeling and community sense was the local eastern market (which created the name of the neighborhood) housed inside an historic beautiful building with incredibly high ceilings and big windows and many, many local farmers, seafood sellers, merchants, and so forth that had been selling their wares for some 80 years or so. my favorite time to go was on the weekends in the morning when people would line up for hours around the block just to wait for some of the best waffles with fresh fruits from the farms around the area for their early morning weekend breakfast, meet friends and other locals, and enjoy the day in the historic building. so it comes as a sad bit of news to hear about how the building itself was ravaged by fire this last weekend. and i hope and pray they can restore it soon. it's an inconic neighborhood institution and i will always have fond memories of my time there.