Not much I didn't already know, although funny enough at parts and a few interesting surprises - like the CD player hookups in American tankers and the part about Bush's whereabouts and immediate reaction to the news of the plane crashes.

I think it's work seeing this movie, even if you're already be familiar with most of the contents...

Better yet, if this is the case, take your parents. Take your grandparents. Your little brothers and sisters, your teachers, your bank tellers. Take your noisy neighbours who get off on watching info-tainment news and Jerry Springer.

I'm not totally into Michael Moore's sensationalism, but then again, he is fighting fire with fire; mood music with mood music; sound bites with sound bites. He is appealing to the audience that most needs to see this kind of thing, to at least begin to think critically a bit.

Besides, it's good to be able to take this subject matter with a good dose of laughter. That and incredulousness - it's one thing to know it, it's another to see it propagandised... Adam and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows on more than one occasion at some of the home-hitting footage.

For starters, give them Moore; Chomsky can come later.

Spent all day at the polls, without being able to vote.

Kinda like the "water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink" expression...

They wouldn't let me leave my poll booth for the 10 minutes it would have taken to run over to the school where I was designated to vote, nor could I get a last-minute transfer. At least it "dealt with" my dilemna about whether to vote NDP (the party I'm most in lign with this time around) or Liberal (strategically, because in my riding there seemed a too-good chance of a Conservative win, and this seemed the only feasible way to counter that in a not-so-green 'hood).

Funny moment when a lady came over and I looked at the list and told her a lady had already been by to vote, claiming to be her. She was really freaked out. Yep, until we figured out there were actually two near-identical names very close together on the list, and had crossed out the wrong one when the other lady had come...

Other than that, lots of waiting for people; turnout seemed surprisingly low. Luckily, my DRO was Nikki, whom I know from way back, so we got to chat during the lulls. Even luckier, we were at least somewhat competent, meaning we got to leave at around 10:30pm - instead of having to count and re-count through the unbalanced ballots, like some of our more electorally-challenged colleagues...

Anyways, shluffy time :)

P.S. Chatting on MSN with different friends in Mexico City, where there was this huge march with like a million people, literally, all dressed in white earlier. Impressive images, though I don't quite get the politics of it - apparently corporate-sponsored or something...

From the Om after-party Friday night at the El Mocombo to today's Pride festivities, the weekend has been full of people and music, connection and recollection, not to mention inner motion.

Amandha told me on the dance floor not to see it as a path, life's journey, but a river. I am feeling that now, the movements around me and my own current, the way that loves and plans and emotions are ebbing and floating (away and towards me), shifting and ondulating, maturing and morphing, the warmer spots and the chilly spots, the various skies along the way (a river can be a "way", too, right?)...

In the real world, I finally sent off a cover letter for another job in Sustainable Development (due Friday, but I figure if they get it by the time they check e-mail on Monday, it won't make a difference when over the weekend it was sent). Project management and writing stuff for an international organisation based in Geneva. Pretty perfect-sounding. Not sure what chance I have; there are so few good jobs out there and so many qualified applicants... But must keep up the hope (and motivation to keep looking & applying).

On a more flaky note (no insult meant to flakiness), I started working more with energies. It's amazing. Just intuitively; I have no formal Reiki training or anything, which may be a good thing, not to be saddled by a particular school of thought... Yesterday I did some... energy massage I will call it... on Julia Barely even touching her back, I totally "touched" her to the point she said it felt like my hands were inside of her... So weird, yet so cool. I want to work that more...

Okay, must get outa dreamy hippy land and get some sleep, tomorrow I work the elections, starting early - 12 hours+ straight, baby... FUN.

P.S. PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW, YOUNG CANADIANS, SO WE DON'T TURN INTO THE STATES, OKAY!?!

Check out the link to "Attack of the Monster Garbage Cans" at http://www.publicspace.ca/ for more information and what you can do to help keep the visual (and other) contamination levels of T.O. down.

Below, my (now-open) letter to the Works Committee:

Dear Works Committee members,

As a Canadian who has spent the better part of the last year working in the Division of Early Warning and Assessment at the United Nations Environment Programme's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, I applaud and support any efforts to introduce more recycling initiatives in Toronto.

However, during my time in Mexico City, I became all too familiar with the "hidden" costs of increasing visual pollution in the "public space" that is, sadly, in many cases now a blatant misnomer. In this light, I would ask that you please reconsider your plan to install the new 7.5 foot Olifas Marketing Group mega-ad cans (which, incidentally, I understand violate the City's own Sign Bylaw designed to protect our public spaces from proliferation of commercial advertising).

After all, the primary purpose of these ad-trash cans is presumably to encourage people to buy more from those very companies most responsible for the contamination of our city and its surroundings. In addition to contributing directly to our landfill problems, they will also negatively impact the visual landscape of the streets upon which they are imposed.

Toronto is, luckily, still a far way off from the extremely over-polluted (visually and otherwise) Distrito Federal (aka Mexico City). I sincerely hope that, in the interest of keeping it this way, you will do all in your power to avoid quick-fix solutions that, although economically tempting, in the end will result in greater costs to society and the environment than the income they generate.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter in greater detail, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

-----------

If you want to write your own letter to the Works Committee or speak out by making a Deputation at City Hall (Monday, July 5th - check site closer to date for exact time) or sending comments to be distributed at the meeting/to city councillors, city staff & media, check out that web site (http://www.publicspace.ca/) - it tells you how!!

Spent the day with my bro and my cousins on Centre Island.

It's really nice there, especially away from CentreVille - should try to go more often whilst in the GTA.

I got excited when Eli told me he'd just married his first female couple in an obviously not-so-traditional (nor, given the State, legal) Jewish ceremony. They had to sorta wing lots of the typically gendered parts. In the end, for example, both crushed the glass.

I always wanted to crush that glass when I did the role-playing weddings in nursery school and stuff, but it was always the boys who got the satisfaction.

I think the whole bending-the-traditions/rules thing is so cool. Yay progress :)

If I ever opt for a Jewish nuptial ceremony, I definitely want in on the fun of glass-crushing goodness...

P.S. Memorial in the park in Kensington for Tooker. Late arrival, later entrance (for not feeling like breaking into the circle). Didn't know him personally, but from the way his death and life shook so many of my friends & acquaintances while I was in Mexico, felt I should be there, to offer support and maybe gain understanding or something.

Just got back from Om and Em's cottage and the Weston Hotel (where my cousins from Colorado are staying for a few days) and have so many things to write that I can't possibly write them all before I must fade away to sleep in "my own" bed for the first time in forever-ish...

Om Memories:
star spinning
forest dancing
fire warming
massage circling
smoke passing
friend seeing
stranger knowing
long hugging
deep thinking
light sleeping
body moving
hula hooping
vegan eating
gate keeping
hand holding
tent folding
cycles end/starting
paths parting
hopes opening
fears calming
visions merging
plans converging

And then jolted awake at Em's cable-equipped cottage by the realities of the CBC and City TV: child molesters and elections and forest fires and the rest of the sound bites and reminders of violated rites...

At least, tonight I learned, my cousin, the rabbi, has come around since the last time we talked about the war, and is now against Bush and looking forward to seeing Michael Moore's new film...

So there is hope, after all...

*she says/wonders to herself with a yawn and the knowledge it's all in perspective; that sometimes self-delusion, or at least optimistic spin, is a necessary defense - that although against the implications of Taylor & Brown's "positive illusions" theories, whose action-less esteem-protecting properties are objectively destructive, if we're gonna keep looking at the facts, we've gotta keep dreaming and envisioning, being the change small-scale even if it seems macro-silly, beleiving in the possibility, our own ability...*

Toronto really ain't so bad, after all...

Bombing around on a borrowed low-rider, in a city that at least respects bikers so much as to have separate lanes and parking spaces allotted to them, feels so darned good. I have missed pedal power so much. The smiles on the sidewalks, the adrenalin rushes, the slight well-earned ache in your legs, the guilt-free conscience...

Incidentally, today I lunched with Herb, fellow IISD alumni and currently bike ambassador to this city: which in post-Algonquin or post-Vancouver days once seemed so chaotic, dirty and polluted, but now strikes me more as lake-side resort town than a bustling metropolis.

Also went to the TIG offices to see lady (Amy) about a poem and put some faces to the names and 2-D images that to date have formed my mental image of the TakingITGlobal group.

Oh, and met up with CC, my former boss, who said he may have some occasional work for me (possibly in neat places like the Maritimes and out West) and is enthusiastic about hooking me up with people who may be able to help in the job hunt. Staying optimistic...

Just got back from Vegetarian Haven; would like to dedicate this last sentence to the wonderfullness of vegetarianism being a viable, non-punishable option here.

Just got back from Marni's wedding.

Still bit tipsy (chocolate and apple martinis and cosmopolitans a dangerous combo for someone who normally doesn't drink much but has a weakness for stuff that tastes so yummy), so as to qualify if anything below makes it seem so...

So, yeah, my old friend, from Saint Andrew's Junior High School, as in more than a decade of history, knowledge of pre-pubescence through post-university, is now a wife.

It was beautiful and emotional and so, so strange to witness the intensity of the nuptial ceremony, the traditional mixed with the modern-day, the kipahs and the shawls and the chupah and Chinese food stir fry to accompany the pre-sanctuary cocktails...

That stuff always makes me try to position myself within the context of my own culture and present, where I stand in relation to all that stuff and my own lived life, etc. etc. But I also just tried to chill and meet folks and enjoy the privilege of good food and drink and dance a bit.

People here dance so differently than what I've been used to; I couldn't help but wonder when the Mariachi or Norteño or Mexi-pop tunes would come out...

It was really fancy... I even went to Hayley's beforehand to have her do my hair in preparation for the "Black Tie invited" affair. Luckily I had a suitable dress kicking around and had prepared with a rush compra of incredibly uncomfortable but very sexy shoes last week in Tequisquapan (not exactly the shoe capital of the world, but they worked).

Okay, babbling now, time for bed... G'night!!

Just wondering who in the TIG community will be attending... From their web site:

"OM Summer Solstice Festival 2004, June 18-21, Ontario, CANADA

The OM Summer Solstice Festival is an annually anticipated gathering of global and local networks in rural Ontario, Canada. It is the opportunity to unite as one movement in celebration of music, art, activism and forward thinking.

It’s a place to create and inspire, a space to educate and empower and most importantly, a chance to unite and celebrate the strength of our community. We invite you to join us for 4 days together under the sun and stars while the midsummer night and longest day of the year converge.

This year, OM will include diverse sights and sounds. Eight sound villages will feature a cross-section of live musical and visual performances, dj’s, and workshops - all presented in a comprehensive edutainment environment. In addition to the creativity YOU bring, we will host inspiring talks, art installations, theme villages, a healing annex, a freeskool, a film festival, an art gallery, and a free community kitchen all entwined amidst the magical Canadian wilderness.

The OM Festival was born 7 years ago and as each year passes, it continues to organically develop into a thriving and radiant entity of free expression.

Spread the sound …

Just a few reminders …

This year OM is a 4-day outdoor camping event. Be prepared for rain or shine!

Don’t forget drinking WATER, a flashlight & a food donation for the KIND kitchen.

This is a zero garbage event so pack out what you bring in.

Leave no trace!

This festival is only as good as you make it.

No Spectators please!"

For more info, go to http://www.omfestival.com/

I am thinking in lists of late. Like "Things that used to seem normal that now seem odd" or "Good things about being back in Canada" or "Things I miss about Mexico". Maybe I will write some down later, but for now, must leave the house... Mom just got home to go to the bank and all that stuff and I have yet to shower or get dressed. Animo!

Totally beat.

Back in Canada.

Hard to believe I'm here...

Toronto never felt so foreign.

Hard goodbyes w/ Cesar at the airport, uneventful flight, Rob picking me up at the Toronto end, stopped in to drop the stuff at the folks and chill with my brother un ratito and then out to Coffee Time for fluorescent/sterile chat ambience, now home and tired and feeling a bit odd and out of place.

Welcome to reverse culture shock. Sorta wishing I'd had that IISD debriefing.

Oh yeah, the big green Mexicana Air bag, borrowed last night from Laura and at the moment considered a miracle because I needed somewhere to pack all my extra stuff, exploded some time between my checking it in Mexico and my getting it back in TO all wrapped in plastic. I mean big gaping holes, contents hanging out... Oh well, could have been worse. They could have lost it. Hope I didn't lose anything too valuable, though.

return through Queretaro taking a risk as to whether Julieta would be around, visit to the wine and cheese fair in Tequisquiapan with her after her dad luckily picked up the phone on my 5th and last try when the bus rolled in at 8am, back to DF, a ridiculously short Sunday trip to Taxco with César (basically we were only there for a late lunch, since we had less than 3 hours between arrival and last chance out on a bus, and more than double that in travel time!), now once again back in DF, last night to the Cineteca for a neat PNUMA and SEMARNAT-sponsored movie ¨Le Bien Commun¨ by Canadian/Quebecois filmmaker Carole Poliquin (isca to remember email: videoron.ca), now going a bit nutty, physically and emotionally exhausted, making last minute plans to try to see everyone one last time and try to find an extra duffel bag to see if I can minimize the damage of the ridiculous amount of extra overweight luggage I suspect I will pay dearly for if I dont succeed in reduction efforts...

Oof, hows that for a one-sentence update?? Currently in a cafe in CU (the University City) after a visit to Claudia V´s place (weve seen each other all of twice in the last eight months, despite over a decade of history, which is what happens when you combine DF commuting challenges and busy schedules), now should be visiting with German, but we are both staring at screens instead.

I think I would rather be doing this when I get back to Canada.

Hasta luego...

Yep, I just got stung. No time to write more, but lots of interesting twists and unexpeted directions/destinations of late. Damn that hurt, but don{t worry nana, the pain is quickly diminishing, and I am told should be totally gone by tomorrow... Currently leaving Punta Perula, heading east soon, though not sure via morelia or PV.

Internet cafe in Vallerta, waiting for the rest of the crew to show up, so we can squeeze like sardines into Davids car and head to Sayulita, a little town with a great beach (supposedly) about an hour from here.

Starting to feel the cumulative fatigue of going to sleep at dusk, but still having fun.

Kinda wish I knew where I´d be in 2 days when this cozy arrangement in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle expires, though, so I could start planning a bit better... Wait, no, maybe its better to leave it to luck. Luck seems to be on my side, so far.

Postcard message to my friends and loved ones: It´s hot and beachy in PV... Wish you were here!!

Amor,
Cara

P.S. Katie, I just found out about your operation from Leela, please take care of you, and I am sending a chingo of good vibes and love from here, and will try to call you soon, and if I cant get ahold of you from here, we will have a long conversation when I get back to Canada in a couple weeks, and I have been thinking of you lots and eating cool coconut ice cream on your behalf.