Hey, we made it!  What an epic year!  And the train of life bolts onward, ever onward…

Wherever you may be….

1/4th of the way through graduate school?  Almost!  What a relief!  They say that for people who take time off, the first semester/quarter back is the hardest.  I hope that’s true.  I’m also taking more credits than most graduate students, so my load seems heavy at times.  With about a one week of classes left, and another week to finish up final papers, I’m very excited. Of course, a week from now marks the first day I started having pain in my lower back…little did I know.  It’s been a long year!!!

Life has been a bit of a balancing act recently, and I feel like I’ve fallen flat on my face a couple of times.  There is only so much one person can do.  Since my last blog, I ended my employment experiment.  It was nice to see that I could still stand for 6 hours at a time, but my body would be so exhausted at the end of a shift, and my schoolwork has suffered tremendously because of the loss of time.

School has been interesting, to say the least.  I am learning a great deal about the hierarchies, power struggles and funding issues of academia, and of the UF in particular.  I have become a member of a student film group composed primarily of Visual Anthropologists.  It has been informing, to say the least.  I have been busy studying and writing papers on Haitian Vodou, the African Diaspora, Gender and Development, Haitian Kreyol and the Vodu (a variant of Haitian Vodou) in the Dominican Republic.  Somewhere in there, I eat, shower and experience the frustrating side effects of insomnia.

I recently received word that a dear old friend and his partner are pregnant.  Congratulations Dan!!

In just about 2 weeks time, I will be thirty.  I have been psychologically preparing for a largely psychological event.  I will be spending the weekend with friends and family in Olympia, Washington.

The weather in Gainesville has become quite pleasant.  No real rain recently, except for right now.  The sky is dark as if the sun were about to go down, and thunder and lightning abound.  Aside from today, we really haven’t had much rain, and long gone are the stifling humid days of this summer.

No news has come from Sundance about the grant, and I’ve kind of let it go.  I could be pleasantly surprised.  We shall see.

I have watched every presidential debate so far.  It’s an exciting time to be an American.  I feel proud and worried at the same time.  I watch the news of stock markets tumbling and I worry about the outcome for those people in other countries who are surviving only because of aid or of money sent home from relatives living in America.  This bumbling embarrassment will be felt by the entire world, and I worry about lag time.  I suspect that we haven’t yet seen the worst of the storm.  The country is changing, rapidly.

And there you have it.  An update, with little creativity.  Ha!  I need to save that for school!

So, I took a job.  I know, I know.  Your doubts can’t be bigger than my self-doubt, but I’ve been known to be persistent and push boundaries–it’s what I’m good at!

I’m slinging breakfast, at a greasy spoon, hippy breakfast place—it’s this place that does all it’s own shopping, local and organic if it can, everything from scratch…home-style cookin’.  If you know my history, then you know I started out slinging breakfast, and I’ve done it for years, so it’s nothing new under the sun for me.  What will be new is standing for long periods of time, for the first time since my paralysis.  Ha!  We’ll see how it goes!

Lucky for me, I’m only working weekends, and one day a week.  So it works well for my schedule.  In a perfect world, I wouldn’t have to work at all.  In a world of rising fuel prices, rising food costs, and a deflating dollar and economy, graduate students have work.  Hey, lots of folks, billions of them, have it worse..  It’s breakfast time

It’s been really windy around here.  I love wind.  My favorite weather is windy and sunny…very rare.  This wind is all related, somehow, to tropical storm/hurricane Fay.  It’s supposed to pass over Gainesville around Thursday night.

There’s a weird energy in the air.  I think it comes from everyone knowing that there is this potentially dangerous storm, just out at sea, that could come in at any moment and destroy everything!  Luckily Gainesville is inland enough, I am told, that a major hit is unlikely.  I watch the trees that run the extent of my apartment as they move in the wind, and wonder if they might come down on me if a big enough storm hits.

As for me, I’ve been busy preparing for graduate school, which starts on Monday!  I somehow have managed to nail down the last details, and I suppose I’m ready.  Here I go…

A new still-life, by Andrew….

Although far from being complete or perfected, I’ve got the beta version of a web site up. It’s a site for a new documentary movie about grassroots reforestation in Haiti, called ‘Espwa Fe Viv : Hope Makes Us Live’.
So, even if you’re not really all that interested in the reforestation of one of the most ecologically devastated countries in the world, you should at least just click the link below, to help me in registering the page higher up on the list of search engines…

http://www.HopeMakesUsLive.org/

Thanks!

Well, I finally made it down to the local Democrat office, and did some volunteer calling for Barack Obama’s campaign for presidency. I consider myself an independent, and I’m not under the illusion that Mr. Obama will change everything around and make the world perfect, but I do certainly prefer him over Mr. McCain. At any rate, I called some people.. It’s pretty easy. They have it all set up. I was calling some far out region of North Florida. I got some interesting responses, including one very rude lady.
Andy: I was wondering if you’d be interested…

Lady: [interrupts] I’d be interested in NOT being called on my Sabbath.

I considered letting her know that Sabbath actually means, seven, so technically the Sabbath is on Saturday. I also considered telling her it wasn’t HER Sabbath…that I was pretty sure a day of the week belongs to everyone. I also considered asking her, “How Would Jesus Respond”?—A coda of many Christian folks. Instead I said, “Okay. Thanks. Good bye”.

Click here to hear the song my brother and I made. That’s me on rhythm and lead electric, playing the guitar my Uncle Carl gave me…

The people who just moved into the vacant house across the street are working on Obama’s campaign here in North Florida.  Because Florida is such a swing state, the campaign appears to be investing quite a bit of money here.

The house has been donated rent free to the volunteers, who came from different places in America.  They work 7 days a week, getting off at around 9 pm each night!  Some of them are paid, some of them are not.  They sleep on inflatable air mattresses.  What a commitment!

Yesterday, as I was sitting in my office, I heard a tremendous cracking noise.  Instantly I knew it was a tree coming down.

What followed was a mighty boom and a slight swaying of my 2nd story apartment.  Maybe it was the size of the old oak or maybe vibrational transference is better here because of the swampy and sandy soils.  Whatever the reason, a giant oak now lay across the street, and the electricity was out.

The oak fell on a truck, and brought down wires all along the block.  Some folks were trapped in their house because of wires landing all around.  We saw them on their porch, captive.

Power was out to most of our neighborhood for a good portion of the night.  It was “Meet Your Neighbors Night” from that point on.  Everyone was out in the street, avoiding the dark and hot apartments.  It was like a block party, without the music and cold beer.

I was very impressed by the local power company, who was on the scene and working hard until the power finally came back, some time around 10 pm, I believe.

We think of Oaks as solid, impenetrable, stoic, mighty, lasting.  I guess in the sandy and shallow soils of north Florida, they can just fall sometimes.  Being a signing/founding member of Olympia’s Gary Oak Society, I thought this might be of interest to some Olympia people.

Good bye big Oak tree!

Go up to “View” on the menu bar. Go to “Page Styles”. Select “No Style”.

PRESTO!

Now I can do laundry, get groceries, help maintain a safe population of armadillos (if that’s what they really are), start a moped gang, rival Ray, walk around with my big Darth Vader helmet, and do my part to warm the planet (you’re welcome Western Washington).

As much as I love Firefox, I’m pained to admit that the blog looks a lot better with Internet Explorer…

I thought I had figured out the feel of downtown Gainesville. It was a small downtown, not that unlike Olympia, but a little less frequented, with mostly empty bars and a couple of sometimes busy cafes.

Last night was Friday, and a new friend and I checked out downtown. I should have guessed it would be busy by the fact that most parking spots were full by around 6pm. What we proceeded to find was that nearly every bar had a line to get in.  A band played to a large audience in the downtown park. There was a hot dog stand, and lots of intoxicated young people. Police patrolled the streets on horseback. And yes, there were bicycle rickshaws.

So, because I love rickshaws so much, we decided to take a little ride. It wasn’t nearly as chaotic as the rickshaws of India, I must say. But it did make me a bit nostalgic.

So the moral of the story is: don’t judge a downtown area until you see it on a Friday night.

Just a shout out to my Jackal brothers. I’m starting a Gainesville chapter.

Bye Cindy! Thanks for everything!

Nearly every day we’ve been getting these huge tropical downpours, lightning and thunder.  I’m so glad.  A good thunderstorm is one of my favorite things in the world, and we just don’t get em very much up in Western Washington…

Well, we made it! By we, I mean my sister and I. She’s here to help me move in and take a vacation from the city.

Arriving around sunset yesterday, after a full day of airplanes and layovers in airports, we soon collapsed into bed.

In the night we heard the sounds of women yelling from the nearby red-light district. Men picked up ladies of the night and the sounds of crickets filled the air. Gradually the hot and humid night gave way to a cool breeze that demanded the use of a blanket at my feet.

This morning we awoke to the sounds of birds from the greenbelt that spans the length of my new apartment. Oaks and other as of yet unidentified tropical trees, drooping with spanish moss (consult diagram). I’m luck to have so many trees and palms surrounding the house.

The apartment is amazing, and H U G E. Wood floors, high ceilings, two rooms, a living room and a bathroom. What will I do with all this space? Maybe I’ll have a roommate.

Today we walked around the town. I marveled at the difference between my first impression of this place a year ago, and how I view it today. I really like Gainesville, so far. The people have been really friendly and we’ve seen a swath of people, including the so-called “counter culture”. Ha!

Tomorrow we rent a car and drive East to St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, established in 1565! It’s where old colonial buildings meet the Atlantic ocean. We expect to meet RVers, motorcyclists, bicycle enthusiasts and travelers from around the U.S. and Europe. We shall challenge them to witty conversation and late night trivia. Perhaps they shall survive our style. We will be staying at a Pirate themed hostel. Arrr!

especially C.R.

I’ve got 18 days left until I fly off to the Sunshine state. This last month has been full of preparations. Now that a bulk of the work has been completed, I find myself saying goodbye to Olympia.
This place and these people have come to mean a lot to me over the last several years. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye. Of course, I’ll be back…in due time.

I’ve received a tremendous amount of advice in the past 1/2 year; what I should eat, what medicines I should take, what lessons I should take, what books I should read…the list is endless.

It’s been a struggle processing it all. I realize that it is almost always good intentioned. The hardest advice to accept has been from people who barely know me. It’s funny…..advice. Everyone has it to give, but nobody seems to take it. Intuitively we know exactly what the best thing for us is, if we only stop and listen. Here is a video of a spoken word song from the 90’s called “Everyones Free (to wear sunscreen)” by Baz Learmann. It’s about advice. I particularly like the last stanza, about how to accept advice with grace:

I’m trading in Douglas Firs for Oaks and Palm Trees.  Here I go…