ellohgov'nah

The communal bank “Melodia” is starting its third loan cycle with Pro Mujer, as part of the Andes Regional Office. It is made up of four members and is directed by a board of directors headed by Martha. The businesses that are put forward by members of this communal bank are varies, amongst them are: used clothes sales, potato sales, dressmaking, glove embroidery, chuño sales and clothes sales.

Martha indicates that she has been working with Pro Mujer for a year and a half and joined the institution as she was invited by a promoter.

Currently she has a business that sells potatoes and chuño, which she has been working in for years having learned the trade from her mother.

The loan that she is taking out is to raise her capital (to buy potatoes and chuño) that she will buy wholesale from markets and then will sell on at market. Her work allows her to generate resources to support her family, as she is married and has ten children.

When asked what she likes about Pro Mujer, she answers that she likes the savings.

Jesus Christ

Center of our Hearts

And Word made flesh

Mindful of our Dominican Friars

Who first came to the New World

We praise you for filling them with your love

And calling them to bring Good News

To the people of Hispaniola.

We bless you for opening their eyes

To the injustices and oppression of the day

And announcing to all the shared humanity

And dignity of the indigenous peoples

We pray that we too may cry out

Against systems that oppress others

Proclaiming “Are they not human?

Are we not obligated to love them as we love ourselves?”

We ask for your grace today

As co-creator of God’s justice and peace

For courage in following the footsteps

Of these first Dominicans.

May your glory, love peace fill our world.

Amen

The Lord leaped down from heaven’s throne to be espoused to our frail flesh

His ocean’s mercy kissed the coast of souls as countless as her sands

He beckons me to dance with him and follow where his footsteps lead

Now I pursue eternal Love eternally pursuing me

At what point do things that make you happy cease to do so? Many times, this is over-indulgence of these items or events. As it turns out, the same things that make us happy, if overused, begin to simply ward off unhappiness. We begin to ponder and chew on the elusive thought of general happiness and self-actualization. 

Many continue on the pursuit of increased stimulus—things that make them “happy.” Often times, as we’ve seen around us, these are the tangible belongings becoming satisfactory. Being that it is only physically possible for one human to ‘own’ so much, as the world can offer it, this will so come to an end—or at least plateau. When the increase of stimulus was the only deterrent of unhappiness, these individuals likely approach feelings of depression and anger.

Only through the practice of self-denial may one achieve true happiness, according to Aristotle and other great philosophers of times past. And when you think about it, this makes sense. Happiness is dynamic and fluid. No one thing can make you truly happy if it has a handle on you. You can choose to eat ice cream, but unless you have the control to deny it at the same time, it is momentarily making you not unhappy.

One must also perform virtuous acts to achieve happiness. We acquired our discernment of right and wrong in our early years, but continue to expand on the idea each year of our lives. Virtuousness IS essential to happiness, but a topic for another time..

Do everything that comes your way to the glory of God. Offer all the tasks of your day to the One who calls you to do those tasks. 

Peace&Blessings

Jared<3

Is it possible that all of your decisions of today score the course of the future? Well the glimmering answer is yes, or at least this is one way to think about such things. Is it so that each decision compromises the well-being of future family, both immediate and greatly postliminary—hundreds, thousands? May your concerns be counseled by selflessness. Partitions of your world are not independent of one another, nor independent from loved ones who you haven’t met yet.

As the synapses rearrange, so do new thoughts as they align—new to old, and old to old. Learning is quite possibly exponential. Keep your eyes peeled and stay awake.

Peace&Blessings

<3 Jared

Geraldine is 35 and a resident of Dasmarinas, Cavite, Philippines. She is married to Samuel, and is the mother of three children, one of whom is in high school while the other two are in elementary grades. At this time, she is working hard to be able to send her remaining children all the way through college — a dream for most Filipino parents like Geraldine as she herself was only a high school graduate and believes that a college diploma is the best inheritance parents could leave to their children.

Geraldine operates a rug-making business. She mainly offers rugs from those round palm-sized ones to the much larger doormats and other crafts that most rug-makers come up with every day. As rugs are a major part of Filipino housekeeping and cleaning, rugs are one of the most common products that can be bought, sometimes even from a peddler while you are riding in a speeding jeepney down the highway. Her regular customers are her neighbors and the local community. She earns a minimum of 300 Philippine Pesos (Php) in sales every day.

To help her continue operations of her business, she is requesting a Php15,000 loan. She will be utilizing the loan to buy more quantities of raw materials like fabric, thread and other materials. She expects a boost in her business income as she expands her business.

Geraldine dreams to be able to give all of her children a good and high quality education through all her hard work on her business. And she also wants to have her own warehouse for the rugs that she is selling. She faithfully meets up with her co-fellowship members to share stories of her work every week, and this is where she can also draw strength and inspiration from the Word of God she studies.

In partical fulfillment of Dr. Simone Yehuda’s class

November 2008

Many commercial ads and other means of advertising had been whizzing past our heads before the end of the 2008 presidential election with a significant portion of them saying to get out and vote. What if some of the viewers are not meant to vote? It would be an understatement to say that many voters are not knowledgeable enough about politics itself, current issues and candidates to make an educated selection on which bubbles to fill in. I propose that there should be an exam that permits or excludes certain people from voting based on their political knowledge to relinquish any type of uncertainty.

A basic entrance exam would have general political questions that include prior knowledge of candidates, current issues, and common misconceptions. Through the process of the exam, many potential voters that were not up to par would be filtered out of the equation. An informational pamphlet-type piece of literature would also be mandated to be read. The literature would include the plans of the candidates and the actuality of real world and national situations. This aspect of voting manipulation process would include a subjection of general facts about all levels of his or her government. Instead of immediately disposing of potential voters, we could give them a chance to learn the corresponding information so they could pass the exam, and in turn, gain the right to vote.

The average political knowledge is not where it should be here in America. We cite the MSM, the progressive media, other blogs, TV, radio, campaign signs, robo-calls, and other ways we get information on who to vote for in an election states Flash (2008). This is not a sturdy basis for which to select our president on. Much of the media today has biases that not all viewers can pick up on. According to Mahalo (2008), “Gayle Quinnell, of Shakopee, Minnesota, told Senator John McCain while attending a rally ‘I don’t trust Obama, I have read about him. He’s an Arab.’ McCain defended Obama saying ‘No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with him on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.’” Gayle had some obvious misconceptions about candidate Barak Obama. If John McCain had not corrected Gayle, it is very likely that she may have gone into the voting-booth and voted for a president on the incorrect information. These misconceptions may have been remedied if she was subjected to truthful information and mandated to pass an exam.

The question of whether the mentally retarded should be allowed to vote is of immense interest and practical importance since it bears on the more general questions of personal rights and dignity. Recent moves to relieve the disabilities of the mentally retarded have focused on their right to vote and participate as full citizens in the political system (Green 1980). An exam that would assess their level of political knowledge would phase out any lack of distinction about whether a mentally handicapped person would remain with innate right. 

Only 537 people decided the 2000 election says Snead (2008). If a mere one hundred of them could have been swayed by due to their lack of political knowledge, it would have increased the chance of one candidates chance to win by nearly 20%. Now say if these hypothetical 537 were to have been mandated to read literature and passed the entrance exam, there would be much more confidence in that particular election and not a potential fluke.

            Those who were to pass the exam would feel less indifferent about voting once they earned their right. The feeling that someone less knowledgeable about the issues cancelling out their vote would be less evident. When someone does cancel out another vote by voting opposite the party, it is more likely that that person has made an educated decision for that candidate. This idea would also increase the effect of one vote.

            Although this may be far from coming into effect due to the Constitution of the United States, I believe that this process would solve many of our national problems. In many ways, like driving a car, we all are allowed to do so, but some of us are not capable of operating properly and are putting the lives of others into other people’s hands. In effect, doing so would make a more educated guess on choosing the “right” president and put the fate of our county into the hands of those more politically active.

(Circa 2008)

It started with a reference, or several. Theses references turned out to be several people. These people included my mother, my friend Bryan, another friend named Lisa, and a couple ex-employees. I was at the stage in my life where I was taking on many more responsibilities at once. One of the larger, and of greater importance, was finding a source of income that did not consist of out-of-pocket change for washing the dishes and other household chores.

My search for employment was immense. I began in my hometown, Deerfield. Given that there are only a few stores that likely have a larger staff reservoir of four or more people, my numbers where limited. As I had suspected, nobody was hiring; one store was sympathetic enough to have my write down my name and phone number on a scrap piece of paper just in case an opening pulled an appearance act. My search continued. I went to neighboring towns such as Blissfield, Adrian, Tecumseh, Monroe and most of Dundee. I asked for suggestions, but was responded with an overpowering octave that was derived from my mother’s vocal cords. She was the steam engine to my train of filling out applications whether I wanted her to be or not. I don’t believe she actually understood how hard I was working at this seemingly response-less goal. This was probably due to my lack of cooperativeness, disobedience as she called it, the previous summer. My goal now was simply to make my mother more of an approachable person— a certain calm that could be obtained by a change in my status.

I sat waiting for a response—my cell phone to come up with an unknown number with a nearby area code.  I figured at very least the fast food chains would come to my aid and request an interview…even the fast food chains, that I thought I would be turning down by the dozens, did not get a hold of me after a week of applying. I began to think that there was something wrong with me, or at least with my applying skills. Oh wait! It was at that point that I had an epiphany. Duh, why wouldn’t I listen to all the people that were telling me that the Holiday Inn Express in Dundee was ‘hiring.’ I felt like an idiot—the only place that I had probably overlooked. I felt as if this were my last chance.

Surely enough, I was contacted back by some ‘Cherie’ lady within less than a couple hours. She wanted to know if I would come into the office a bit later that day. I responded “yes” trying not to make the little girl screaming for joy inside me too evident. It was on like donkey kong. I put on some of my better attire and even took a shower to look ‘presentable’ as my mother instructed—whatever that means.  I was very confident in my interview capabilities. Little did I know that this would be irrelevant. The actual interview consisted of very little of me speaking which meant there was much babbling going on on the other side of the desk.  The only question directed at me was followed by a “uhh, carry linen to the girls and stuff.” Way to go, clutch. She kept on saying “If we decide to hire you…” like it was based on my attributes. It was more like if my name happened to be drawn out of the bingo mixer. I walked out of the office a satisfied man.  For the next two weeks or so, we danced around trying to get me in a day of work with basketball camp and other family oriented gatherings.  Once I got to work the first day I knew I was official.

It did not take me long to fit in. Most of the people there could easily be characterized into a few select groups: people living paycheck to paycheck/ trailer park, authority, and underclassmen. I was obviously not from a trailer park nor was I authority.  My free time was spent with fellow underclassmen and other housemen. Work was hard and it wasn’t long before most of the group started falling out. I was amongst a select few of hard workers for a short phase in time. My main peer’s name was Danny. He was kind of dirty. Regardless of what he was, we got along. HIE decided to step it up and started hiring people. I got to train a vaguely familiar-looking Mark character. We also got along. At the start I was a median for the three of us. I had to leave for about a week near after these events. I came back to an establish trio. We were the three musketeers of pre-cleaning rooms. We, as the superior housemen, called ourselves ‘superhousemen’—purely for the fact that we could. I mean come on, who was going to stop us? This was a great era. As all good things do, this came to an end. I now had a new outlook on life. Because my alliance had disintegrated and left me to die, my job turned into guerilla warfare. It was every houseman for himself.  I had to do something different than every other houseman—hard work did not cut it anymore. I began to help/do the work that was purely designated to the maids. This included cleaning bathrooms, sweeping, tons and tons of bed-making and much more. I did not understand why this did not create me into the top dog. My last resort was to bare it out and continue living as I was—the odds were against me. I alone had the longest houseperson life span out of everybody I had seen. This was no help to me because you could not tell by my appearance which induced that I would have no type of seniority or look of experience.  My career as a houseman ended with a swift farewell due to my fall semester at college. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be missing it much.

I now find myself really good at house chores. I consider myself superior to most women at what they fancy themselves better at by birth.  For instance, when it comes to bed making, anybody that knows me will not think about doing their own bed or anybody else’s bed near or around me. My new goal in life is to become the best trophy husband anyone has ever seen—this, in turn, should make my mother somewhat approachable.