There is nothing exquisite
about you and me
lost yesterdays
a Love that withered
on the wings
of a wind blowing south

The laughter
the sly smiles
the back of the Chevy

fade like the
brilliant colors of
autumn.

There is nothing exquisite
about
me not being able
to touch you
your body
your soul

How could I be so careless.
with my life?

How could I not?

In a strange house,
a strange bed
in a strange town,
a very strange me
is waiting for you.

Now
it is very early in the morning.
The silence is loud.
The baby is walking about
with his foaming bottle,
making strange sounds
and deciding, after all,
to be my friend.

You
arrive tonight.

How dull time is!
How empty-and yet,
since I am sitting here,
lying here,
walking up and down here,
waiting,
I see
that time's cruel ability
to make one wait
is time's reality.

I see your hair
which I call red.
I lie here in this bed.

Someone teasted me once,
a friend of ours-
saying that I saw your hair red
because I was not thinking
of the hair on your head.

Someone also told me,
a long time ago:
my father said to me,
It is a terrible thing,
son,
to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now,
I know what he was saying.
I could not have seen red
before finding myself
in this strange, this waiting bed.
Nor had my naked eye suggested
that colour was created
by the light falling, now,
on me,
in this strange bed,
waiting
where no one has ever rested!

The streets, I observe,
are wintry.
It feels like snow.
Starlings circle in the sky,
conspiring,
together, and alone,
unspeakable journeys
into and out of the light.

I know
I will see you tonight.
And snow
may fall
enough to freeze our tongues
and scald our eyes.
We may never be found again!

Just as the birds above our heads
circling
are singing,
knowing
that, in what lies before them,
the always unknown passage,
wind, water, air,
the failing light
the falling night
the blinding sun
they must get the journey done.
Listen.
They have winds and voices
are making choices
are using what they have.
They are aware
that, on long journeys,
each bears the other,
whirring,
stirring
love occuring
in the middle of the terrifying air.

Shit...what a month. Not on here much these days for sure. Don't look like much is goin on in Tribe anyways. School, school, school. The sacrifices for education. I have been interviewing for jobs here in DC for my externship at a restaurant. I have one on Friday for Wolfgang Puck's new joint, Source that just opened up. Should be a good gig if I get it. I NEED to be workin right now for sure. My budget for school has been blown now. Sometimes I ask myself if I am doin the right thing. I friggin love what I do now and I am sure but it sure is hard sometimes. Some days the only thing that gets me goin is music. I have to listen to what I got though cause there is no dinero for new music cept for the occasional splurge at I-tunes. Just splurged and got India Arie's..."ready for love". what a song. Yeah, I am datin here n there but to be honest that takes bucks too. I just need to get laid. My mind goes into the nether places when I am too focused on shit.

NCLR Alert: ACTION NEEDED IMMEDIATELY on DREAM Act!
NCLR Alert: ACTION NEEDED IMMEDIATELY on DREAM Act!
Take Action!

Two Minutes to Help Immigrant Children!

The following is an urgent alert from our friends at the National Immigration Law Center : It is essential that you become engaged in an important matter to ensure a future for many immigrant children TODAY. The Senate leadership has committed to vote VERY SOON on important legislation called the “DREAM Act,” which extends educational opportunities and a pathway to citizenship for many young immigrants, who have grown up in the U.S. , but do not have legal residency under our broken immigration system. For more information on the “DREAM Act,” please contact Raymond Rico at the National Immigration Law Center at rico@nilc-dc.org or (202) 216-0261.
More information and talking points are available at:

www.nilc.org/immlawpolic...AM/index.htm - or-
www.nclr.org/dream

************************************************************************

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
SENATE VOTE ON DREAM ACT AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY!
***IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED***

YOU AND YOUR NETWORKS NEED TO FLOOD SENATE OFFICES WITH PHONE CALLS, FAXES AND EMAILS TODAY!

TUESDAY OCTOBER 23, 2007 TELL SENATORS TO VOTE FOR S. 2205 THE DREAM ACT!!!

CALL THEM AGAIN THE NEXT DAY!!!!!

The DREAM Act will likely come up for a vote on the Senate floor this Wednesday. IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR ALL DREAM ACT SUPPORTERS TO CALL YOUR SENATORS, send an e-mail message and fax them, do it all over again on Wednesday morning first thing.


SHUTDOWN THE SENATE SWITCHBOARD WITH YOUR CALLS!
CALL 202-224-3121
DON'T LET THE ANTI-DREAM CALLERS BEAT US THIS TIME!
Last week, Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) quietly re-introduced the DREAM Act as a new stand-alone bill, S. 2205. Most likely this Wednesday there will be a "cloture" vote on whether the DREAM Act can be debated and ultimately voted on. This will mark the first time that the DREAM Act has ever come to a clean vote on the Senate floor. The provisions of S. 2205 are similar, though not identical, to S. 774, the version of the DREAM Act that was filed by the Senators Durbin, Hagel, and Lugar earlier this year. Like the earlier version, S. 2205 would provide a 6-year path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship for individuals brought to the U.S. more than 5 years ago as undocumented children if they graduate from high school and continue on to college or military service.
The cloture motion will require 60 votes to pass. If it fails, the DREAM Act will be pulled from the floor. If it passes, there will be more votes on the DREAM Act as well as on possible amendments. The outcome of these votes will determine the fate of the DREAM Act for this Congress.

THE FIRST STEP IS PASSAGE OF THE "CLOTURE" MOTION, MOST LIKELY ON WEDNESDAY. We recognize that this is not the first time this year that we have punched the alarm bell, but THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Word is already getting out about the vote on anti-immigrant websites, talk shows, and cable TV who are spreading their usual falsehoods, and there is little doubt that their angry and fearful base will respond.

OUR RESPONSE MUST BE UNPRECENDENTED!

If you care at all about the future of DREAM Act students who have grown up here, then you must make your calls today and tomoroow, then forward this message, and then get on the phone to make sure that everyone you know does likewise. There will not be another chance.

CALL BOTH OF YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM: "PLEASE VOTE FOR THE DREAM ACT SO THAT IMMIGRANT STUDENTS BROUGHT HERE AS CHILDREN CAN REALIZE THEIR POTENTIAL"
Your Senators' phone numbers are online:

www.senate.gov/general/co...ors_cfm.cfm

OR CALL THE SENATE SWITCHBOARD 202-224-3121.

To send an e-mail message to your Senators please go to:

www.democracyinaction.org/dia/o...gn.jsp

What else you can do:

Forward this message to every listserv and everyone you know
Post it on blogs, MySpace, Facebook, or other on-line networking tools
Call in to C-SPAN or other radio or television shows where there is some hope of a sympathetic audience (not anti-immigrant propaganda sites)
The DREAM Act in Brief:

The DREAM Act is narrowly tailoredIt would apply only to individuals brought to the U.S. at least 5 years ago as children, who have grown up here (but are still under 30 years old), and who have remained in school and out of trouble. They could get a green card 6 years after graduating from high school if during that time they continue on to college or serve in the military.
The DREAM Act is not a "mini-amnesty"

At its core, amnesty is forgiveness for wrongdoing. That does not apply to DREAM Act students who were all brought here years ago as children. The DREAM Act rewards them for staying in school or serving our country.
The DREAM Act would benefit taxpayers

The DREAM Act would provide hope to immigrant students and lead many more of them to remain in school. As an example of the fiscal benefits of this, a RAND study showed that a 30-year-old Mexican immigrant woman who graduates from college will pay $5,300 more in taxes and cost $3,900 less in government expenses each year than if she had dropped out of high school. This amounts to an annual fiscal benefit of over $9,000 per person every year, money that can be used to pay for the education of other children. State and local taxpayers have already invested in the education of these children in elementary and secondary school and deserve to get a return on their investment
The most important differences from the earlier version are that S. 2205 would not apply to individuals who, on the date of enactment, are over 30 years old, and it would not delete a provision of federal law that places conditions on states that provide in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.

THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Sep, 24, 2007

CULTURE
Hispanic, Latino or Chicano?
No single term defines ethnic groups

SERGE GIACHETTI

While Whatcom County groups plan events to mark Hispanic Heritage Month,
not everyone thinks the month is appropriately named.

Some don't consider themselves Hispanic, but prefer to be called Latino
or Chicano or by more specific references to their country of origin.

The 2007 Hispanic Almanac notes: "There is no consensus within the
overall group of U.S. Hispanic people on a term that best defines them."

HISPANIC

The term Hispanic appeared in the U.S. Census in 1970 and more
extensively in 1980, as the government sought to better count the
Spanish-speaking population, which is now about 35.3 million.

"Hispanic was kind of an externally composed term as opposed to an
internal one," said Larry Estrada, director of American cultural studies
at Western Washington University and a professor at Fairhaven College.
"It came into vogue in the 1970s, and was later used extensively by
then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter."

Many see the government's choice of the term as an overbroad label.

"The sound and (government origin) of 'Hispanic' is too sterile," said
Pedro Perez, president and founder of the Whatcom Hispanic Organization.
"There's no history behind it. There's no cultural identity to it."

Perez, born of Mexican parents in California, said the organization used
Hispanic in its name "to make things a little easier and faster and to
not bicker over the name." But he said he does not use it to describe
himself.

"For me personally, I try to avoid the terms because you look at me, you
know I'm Mexican. You know I'm not a blue-eyed Norwegian."

"I try not to make it a controversy, " he added. "I go with whatever term
people like to use."

Marta Guevara of Bellingham, former chairwoman of the Washington State
Republican National Hispanic Assembly and board member of Confia, a
religious-political group, agreed.

While she doesn't mind the term, "If you just call a person Hispanic,
that's not according them the respect of showing that you know their
heritage is unique in the world."

The government "took that term and they (grouped) people of Mexican
descent with Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, all these very unique
variations of Latin cultures and they lumped them under one heading."

LATINO/LATINA

Latino, on the other hand, is generally believed to describe people with
roots in Latin America. But European Spanish- speakers could also be
called Latino, since Spanish is a Latin language.

"Latino means Latin and that's more a word that I would use in that
respect. Latin countries including Spain, Portugal and all the colonies
- Brazil, South America," said Manuel Reta, president of the Northwest
Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Reta, who was born in Texas to Mexican parents, said he sees Hispanic as
a term for those living in the U.S., while Latino fits those living
south of the border.

Though Reta said he doesn't mind which term people use, he prefers
Hispanic or "Tejano," which refers to Mexican-Americans in Texas.

Estrada added, "Latino is more of a pan-nationalistic identity. It tends
to be a much more panoramic term ... encompassing large groups across
national lines."

CHICANO/CHICANA

"Chicano" most often describes only Mexican-Americans. Once a slur used
in the 1920s against poor immigrants, the term was adopted by the
immigrant farmworkers movement and higher education protests of the
1960s.

"It was a very popular militant and political term which really stood
for social change and movement for people of Latino origin," said
Estrada, born in California to Mexican parents.

Estrada, who prefers to be called Chicano, said many non- Mexican people
have now adopted the term Chicano because of its political and social
connotations.

Recalling his college years in California, Perez said, "If someone said
'pick one,' I would pick Chicano because that's how I came of age. I
still embrace that term because it's just part of my history. It's part
of who I am."

Estrada said Chicano is widely used, particularly in urban areas and by
those involved in social justice causes.

"We adopt the term to show unity with working people and struggling
people," he said.

SO WHICH IS IT?

Local community leaders say it's a personal preference. Often, people
simply want to be called by their nationality, for example, Guatemalan,
or Mexican- American.

"The debate still goes on and I view it as a healthy debate," Estrada
said. "Identity is incredibly important to each individual and how they
choose to relate to their population."

Perez said the terminology question weighs more on the minds of others
than among Hispanics.

"Don't get hung up on names and labels. Just look at the big picture,"
he said. "Look at what we're doing."

Reach Cat Sieh at cat.sieh@bellingham herald.com or call 715-2236.