The un-deadest thing I saw today!

Over the weekend my friends and I hit the town in our best back from the grave or recently attacked zombie attire.


Here is my husband and I- my husband the werewolf....

There were hundreds and hundreds of undead roaming around. I loved how creative people were with the assignment.

This was me favorite:



She was a zombie stock broker and had great visual aids.

The saddest thing I heard about today- Blog Action Day.

Today is Blog Action Day and the topic is Poverty. My friend N just returned from over a month in Patna, India, which is in the state of Bihar. Bihar is located in the northeastern part of India near Nepal. She is a nurse and she volunteered at an eye clinic through an organization called Unite for Sight. I am very proud of her!

She has countless stories of the struggle and poverty that she witnessed on her trip, things that I cannot even begin to wrap my head around. One thing she saw has stuck in my head and I drew what I imagine it to look like for today:



What she witnessed is hundreds of people gathered to sleep on the median dividing traffic on a very busy road. She said that the median was the only place to lay down and sleep that was not filthy with waste. The alleys and sidewalks are frequented by cows, dogs, pigs, and other humans, who all leave messes behind. There is less of that traffic on the concrete median, so people with no where to go home to sleep there to be cleaner.

Remember, I did not see this, so I cannot do this sad reality justice. I have never seen anything like this, not so many and not the dangerous median of a busy thoroughfare. I cannot fathom being so desperate to rest on a clean surface. Unfortunatly so many around the world can and do every day; even here in Minneapolis where the nighttime temperatures reach below freezing much of the winter.

I have been looking into new volunteer opportunities, both short and long term, as a way to contribute to helping those in my community who struggle. There are so many ways to help, it is overwhelming!

Of course there are always fundraisers to attend, including the Empty Bowls Project, there will be one of these in my neighborhood on November 7th. Maybe I will see you there? Maybe there is one near you?

I am behind, I'm sorry

I have so many things to draw, please come back!

Here is a picture of me in silly glasses, if that helps.

The Jumbotron-iest thing I saw today!

When visiting the area in St. Paul near the RNC Convention, I saw this large monstrosity perched between the Cathedral of Saint Paul and the Minnesota State Capitol, right on the last leg of the route the delegates took to their convention site:


What cracked me up at the time was that I instantly assumed that this eye sore was an installment by the GOP for their convention...

WRONG!

It was the work of True Blue Minnesota, who took the opportunity to exercise their free speech with constant footage of things like post-Katrina media coverage and Frontline exposes on prominent Republicans.

I suppose that is excessive technology that I can get behind...and under!

The nosy-est thing I saw today

When I was at the protests on Monday, I was humored by the three lines of participants; like a layered cake they spanned the street:


The 3 P's:
Police
Press
Protesters

The Press filled the space between the riot police and the protesters. They spent most of the time watching the police. In this shot the press are running to catch up with the deviating anarchist group.

I also noted that all of the 3 P's had camera and video equipment. All three layers were documenting the happenings, all for varying reasons, I think.

The cat and mouse-iest thing I saw today!

On Monday, a friend and I went to St. Paul to check out the big anti-war march on the RNC.

We grew impatient waiting at the rally for the march to start, so we headed into downtown St. Paul to witness what else was going on.

Prior to the start of the big march, we saw a lot of the anarchist crowd during their approved protest and the trouble they stirred up when they reached the end of their approved route and kept right on marching.

They splintered off into little groups like a bunch of mice. We saw them running up and down side streets followed by law enforcement. It was comical and disturbing all at the same time.

We saw a lot of police in riot gear and even some police horses in riot gear.



We saw this guy get pepper sprayed.

Many anarchists went off and broke windows and damaged other property. 200-some were eventually arrested that day.

Then they came out again yesterday and did it all again.

The kickin'-est thing I saw today.

I was stuck on a slow-and-go bus out of downtown the other day, thankfully this guy was walking in tandem to entertain me:He kicked that shoe steady-on for a good 4 blocks before the bus finally broke free of the downtown stop and go bubble.

Do you suppose he was trying to understand someone better by walking a mile kicking their shoes? Or was he breaking a shiny new pair of sneakers in?