"If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out, then the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

From Sarah:

Today I joined thousands of Canadians pushing for the Government to recognize and support work being done around the world to end poverty. Is it an idealistic goal? Most certainly. But ideals and reality do not have to be as irreconcilable as many imagine they are. All it takes is one step. It's not a leap of faith. Just one brief moment of trust and belief that despite all pessimism and fear, we still have our voices, the power and reason to recognize suffering, and the kindness of spirit to do something about it.

From Make Poverty History:

Right now, there is active campaigning in over 50 countries around the three core demands: More and Better Aid, Make Trade Fair, and Cancel the Debt. In Canada, we're also campaigning to End Child Poverty in Canada.

Go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca and sign on to the campaign yourself.

There is no time to lose. It doesn't matter who or where you are, your voice is critical to the success of this campaign. This is a rare chance to join me and thousands of others across the planet to once and for all make poverty history.

What you can do right now:
Sign on to the campaign
Tell Paul Martin to commit to a timeline for 0.7%
Click others into action - forward this message to your networks

WHAM! Pineappled!

Today has been a good day. Terribly unproductive, but one of the best days I have had this month. And I have not so much as left the house yet. Things that make today wonderful:

• wedding planning
• unexpected conversations with wonderful persons
• plans falling apart, only to come together perfectly
• barbecues
• foreign adventure
• pineapples

I opened the pantry in hopes of finding a cracker. A cracker for a snacker, you might say. As I was closing the Breton box, cracker in mouth, I looked up to the top shelf of the pantry. And that's when it hit me. WHAM! PINEAPPLED! Right between the eyes! Note: I was not, in fact, literally marked by the pineapple. But it was a shocker, let me tell you. Oh yes, that is what I was just about to do... Now normally the site of a pineapple would not inspire nearly so much shock and awe in me, but this was an exceptional little pineapple. In the nearly two years that I have inhabited this apartment, you see, there has never, (no, never) been a pineapple to inhabit it with me. You might say the 99 is a pineapple free zone. Note: people might look at you funny if you did, but you just might anyway, you crazy nut, you. So the sight of a pineapple was a highly unusual and foreign experience. Kudos, young produce, for you have braved the treacherous journey that is... being purchased and carried home by Angela!

Dancing Records, Wooden Spoons

I tend to forget that no matter where in the world a person is, the one thing that remains constant is the inconstancy of time. All over North America today there are people cursing their double beds, their dressers, and those cumbersome armoires, wishing they did not have to move from this apartment to the next. People frantically scrounge for first, last, or even just next month's rent. People forget and then recall again with a pang and a turn of the stomach that there are phone bills and mortgage installments to be made. And this activity continues in perpetuity, biweekly, and month after month, never changing, while nothing stays the same. Such is the nature of the capitalist maze, I suppose.

This post is dedicated to Alison and April, in hope that their transitions are without event, and to the 99, which will soon be no longer.