My Latest Initiative: TOMS

After reading so much about this company, as well as now owning a pair myself, I've officially come to the conclusion that TOMS is legit. I've blogged about them before or you might be well aware of TOMS already (a store in my hometown in Mississippi sells them now! what?!) as they seem to have reached their tipping point.
For many months now, I have felt very motivated to encourage Blake (the owner) to consider remote Australia in his next Shoe Drop. From my experience here, these communities are definitely in need of shoes to avoid many health problems. It would be a total success....if he's interested. I've now submitted my letter to the TOMS headquarters in Santa Monica for feedback, so hopefully it makes it in his hands. Luckily, one of the students from Semester at Sea last summer worked as his intern and knows him well! As with all things .... life is all about who you know. I'm hoping she'll send him a friendly email herself w/ the letter. I'll keep you posted on what happens. In the meantime, buy a pair of TOMS shoes. They've now got cute wedges....

I know this to be true...The Mississippi Delta

I love that this was written, but most importantly that it is real and active and alive and valid...all in a place that needs this type of new mindset. I know this place well. Most would not. It's a small, rural nothing-of-a-place in the Mississippi Delta. My family lives there (in Clarksdale) and it is where my roots are maintained. It's a special place, but only if you really understand. As William Falkner so eloquently stated: " To understand the world you must first understand a place like Mississippi." I would venture to guess the Mississippi Delta is what he had in mind...

Toilet Bowl Decoration

Yet another thing I've gotten accustomed to while living remotely....these frogs in my toilet! Since it's winter here, daylight starts around 7:00 and usually I am up before then, which means it is rather dark when I wander into the toilet for my morning pee. I opened the lid and as I was sitting, something clicked that there was a dark spot inside the toilet......What if this had jumped up and hit my butt? I would have freaked!  ha. (which would have been hilarious as an after-thought.) I scared him, He scared me, so he plopped back down into the water and swam away to ???

Kalkirindgi

A Small Place

This book, or rather essay (only 81 pgs) was such a wake up call for travelers who function as tourists.

The book is set in Antigua (AN-TEE-GA), a small island in the Caribbean. The author commentates on life in her home country from the eyes of a tourist, noting how tropical and wonderful the island appears to the outsider.
"Bright blue waters"
"Perfect warm breezes"
"White sand as far as the eye can see"

...but uses the essay to point out how one could easily stop seeing there. She goes into detail about the harsher realities of the lives of the people who are residents of the country. Influenced by a history of slavery, colonial rule by the British, a weak currency and a corrupt government an alternative reality challenges the tourist perception.

I really liked the book. Easy to read and very powerful message. It is the required reading for the Fall voyage of Semester At Sea. I think this is an excellent choice as all of the students will be challenged to see without tourist goggles. 

Who even knew they existed?

Mulberries that is.

The fabled song line “We all go round the Mulberry Bush, the Mulberry Bush, the Mulberry Bush. We all go ‘round the Mulberry Bush and then we all fall down” is about as far as mulberries existed in my world………

…..that is until my oh so observant Mom heard about them on a gardening radio show a couple of years ago. The elusive mulberry is hardly ever sold on the grocery store shelf, hence the need to grow your own. So, although Mom is a closet gardener, the idea of growing one intrigued her enough to stick one in the ground and see what happened. And, this happened…

…A huge tree only 2 years later. It was so easy and was so fun! I am a fanatic over all things berry, so luckily when I was home in May I enjoyed their ever so brief season. We picked for the month and overnight, they were gone. Eating straight off the tree is when they were at their best, but creatively Elizabeth and I froze them in ice cubes for cute party décor.

Along with mulberries, I also got my hands dirty with strawberries. Yes, May being another good season for strawberries in MS left me with cheap flats of the luscious goodness to work with. I jammed enough to make six cute little containers of beautiful pink jam. But this time I focused on perfecting my low-sugar-good-for-you jamming methods. I discovered this really awesome pectin: Pomona’s that works without sugar (As most do, hence why such a high sugar content is required) and instead calcium. I left MS without tasting the finished product, but all I used was berries and a small amount of organic cane sugar and the gelling was perfect! Man!, I love this kind of stuff.

Atlas Shrugged

“Who is John Galt?” – what more can I say? And, oh how much this one question sums up.

After wondering what this line actually meant for a long time, I finally know! I’ve been reading this book literally since about April; it was a long 1,069 pages but oh so worth it!

Typical of Ayn Rand, it took her about 700 pages to develop a solid plot. This was hard for me to stay interested in & only in the last 300 did I hate to put it down. It is too complex and intense for me to sum it any better than this:  (thanks Wikipedia)

The novel explores a dystopian United States where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist, Dagny Taggart, sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society’s most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as “stopping the motor of the world” by withdrawing the “minds” that drive society’s growth and productivity; with their strike these creative minds hope to demonstrate that the economy and society would collapse without the profit motive and the efforts of the rational and productive.

Interestingly, in the wake of the late 2000s recession, sales of this book sharply increased due to the high correlation between present day US and this novel. On Jan. 13, 2009 the book ranked #33 on Amazon.com’s top-selling book. This book is Rand’s “masterpiece”, as some have called it, followed only by The Fountainhead. 

I highly, highly recommend this book to have in everyone's repertoire of knowledge, but I suggest you have space in your life to read it! It's a doozie.

I swear – by my life and my love of it – that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine . p. 1042

I trust that no one will tell me that men such as I write about don’t exist. That this book has been written-and published-is my proof that they do. p. 1070

My 4th.

Kiva : Round 2

I posted this request several months ago, but considered it now a good time to post again.

         Mrs. Thach Eam Village Bank Group

 

I wanted to let you know about Kiva (www.kiva.org), a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur across the globe.

You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It's a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty.

It is a really great organization. Sustainable. Responsible. Frugal. and most importantly, effective.

If you are interested in joining the cause, consider my team.On behalf of someone out there, I thank you.