Immigration and Inspiration!

I have been preparing for our Immigration Justice experience.  I am reading Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal by Aviva Chomsky: Beacon Press, 2014.  It is opening my eyes to the differential treatment Mexicans have received in our country.

Democracy Now! interviewed Dr. Chomsky in May of 2014.  I just viewed the interview and it is worth seeing if you are curious about her work.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/30/how_immigration_became_illegal_aviva_chomsky

Frankly I am shocked by the history of immigration policies and how they evolved.  Just today I heard on the radio that the US House of Representatives voted to overturn a number of immigration reforms recently proposed by the President.  Proposals that would have assured greater safety and security for workers and their families who are already in the country contributing to our economy.  The United States has created a new criminal class, illegal workers, mostly Mexicans, who are either deported or detained in the prison-industrial complex (aka Detention Centers) that have been built by for-profit systems.  We have one in Tacoma Washington, that has received a lot of press and now is getting scrutinized by our elected officials.   It is incredibly unjust in  my opinion.  I look forward to learning more from the book in preparation for visiting the border.  In her interview Dr. Chomsky was asked what surprised her as she was writing the book.  She states that the surprise came before she began the book when she took a group of students to the Mexican border and interviewed deportees about their experiences.  She had been studying and writing about immigration for years but had never visited the border until 2010.  I wonder what the impact of my border experience will be for me and the group I will be going with?  I am guessing I will no longer be able to intellectualize the immigration issue and that I will be even more skeptical about the current policies than I am today.

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Yesterday I had a lovely visit with one of my colleagues.  Diane Smith is a fairly new faculty member at WSU Extension and is based in Skagit County.  We had a little pre-trip catching up to do and after our meeting we visited the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum.  It was the opening reception for the new shows.  We were so honored to see work by Larkin Van Horn and Freddy Moran.  Larkin's show was stunning!  It was three years in the making.  Entitled, Night Thoughts, it evolved out of journaling she did right as she was drifting into sleep.  There are several themes that emerged and I urge you to visit the Museum if you are close or are traveling through.

Here is the link to the museum:

http://www.laconnerquilts.org/

Larkin was gracious enough to let me share photos of two of the pieces that related to the themes of my sabbatical:  Letting Go and Reinvigorated.

Letting Go by Larkin Jean Van Horn

Reinvigorated by Larkin Jean Van Horn

You can find more examples of her work at http://www.larkinart.com/.  Photos do not do full justice to the beauty of these pieces and others but you get the idea!  For me the inspiration is the universality of themes and the renewal I am receiving as I practice letting go.

Thanks for reading.

Putting things in order

Boxing Day 2014

I chose to work at home today because of the sewer system repair at work.  There is something about using an outdoor Porto-potty in 40ish degree weather that is a deterrent.  Also the county is digging out the roots of the offending tree right underneath my window.  I have decided to go in on the 4th to clean up that space.  So I made huge progress cleaning out  my home office today.  Witness the before and after pictures of my desk.  I recycled lots of old papers. Some with memories, many not.  I also found photos amidst the accumulated paper.  Some of Kate, brought tears to my eyes.  The holidays are always bittersweet without her.  Some of Ben in his rugby playing days.  I am taking leave of all these papers and some personal books that will go the friends of the library and some other things for Wise Buys.  I like the ritual of Boxing Day and the opportunity to give things away.  It is a good cleansing feeling that follows the acquisition binge the holidays can bring.  

We had a minimalistic Christmas.  I love gift certificates and that was my favorite shopping.  The headliner gift for Mike and I is two tickets for the January 8th Cinema Thyme event at the Pickford Cinema.  We were lucky to get drawn in the lottery for tickets!  We will experience The Lunch Box and have a catered sit down dinner after the show and hors d'oeurves synced to the food in the movie.  The food experience is planned and catered by Ciao Thyme.

I am posting my before and after office pics, not without some trepidation because the before was so awful.

Quite a change.  I see I have more books to donate.  The featured book is one we will read for our Immigration Justice journey - Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal  by Aviva Chomsky.   Onward.