This is not the way

Two days ago, Greenpeace, an environmental activism group, conducted a "protest" at the Nazca Lines in Peru. The activists put down yellow plastic letters over the surrounding plants that could have caused irreparable harm.

For those of you not familiar with them, the Nazca Lines are ancient Peruvian monuments dug into the soil to create designs of several animals like the hummingbird pictured above. These lines are thousands of years old and are considered national Peruvian treasures...

...and Greenpeace vandalized them.

Seriously, Greenpeace? When did the environmental movement become about defacing ancient, beloved monuments with garish yellow slogans? This is why people don't take environmentalism seriously. You are now part of the problem, not the solution.

The environmental movement is about protecting sites like this and preserving them for posterity. This is like carving "save the trees" into the bark of a redwood, or dying an endangered animal blue to "raise awareness". All it does is make people dislike you and ignore your message.

Find constructive ways to make positive changes in our world. The environmental movement is about leaving the world a better place than when we found it. We need to create a value shift in the population towards valuing nature. When you devalue national treasures by defacing them you devalue your self and your message. Lead by example and hold yourself to a higher standard.

Immigration Reform

Obama has done good things for this country. He has supported equal rights for all. He has made great strides in mending the economy. He has created and implemented a healthcare system that insures millions more Americans than the previous one did. He ended the war in Iraq. Just to name a few of the big ones, and now he wants to reform immigration policy.

However, it won't be easy just like every other worthwhile thing he has done with his presidency so far.

When Obama put forward his plan to fix the economy with federal spending and economic controls conservatives fought him tooth and nail complaining that he would ruin the economy and the country. Now we stand at an unemployment rate of six percent and a stock market hitting record levels.

When Obama put forth his healthcare plan the GOP screamed bloody murder and threatened to impeach him. Now we have comprehensive medical insurance for millions of Americans that did not have access to it under the previous system.

When Obama struck down the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, Republicans moaned that our armed forces would be compromised by the gays and our family values would be threatened by the unnatural heathens. Now we have the right to marry spreading like wildfire across the country and true equality being granted to some Americans for the first time bolstered by a presidential backing, the acceptance of loving folk, and the occasional circuit judge doing their duty to protect our civil rights.

Now Obama wants to put forward a solution for our broken immigration system, something congress has failed to do in the last two years, and out come the war cries in the form of bastardized Cicero quotes rambling about the loss of the republic.

Let me go over some history that some Republicans have forgotten. This country was built by immigrants with immigrants for immigrants. We are all immigrants. Unless you can trace your heritage to the few native tribes that survived the European genocide, you have no more claim to this land than George Washington did or the Mexican that just crossed the border with his green card does. We are all on equal footing in this country.

If you look closer at our history, America has a made a habit of having this sort of reaction every time there is a larger than usual influx of immigrants from new places. We marginalize and persecute them till they "earn" the right to sit at the American table. It happened to the Irish after the great potato famine. It happened to the Chinese during the age of the railroad. There are a plethora of other examples, and now we are doing it to the Latinos.

So, how are we attempting to learn from history and make the system better? The preliminary outline of the President's immigration plan will allow immigrants who have been here for five years or longer, are willing to submit to a background check, and pay taxes can have the right to live in the country for a three year period. In essence we violate their privacy, charge them rent, and reserve the right to evict them whenever we want.

Now, this is about seven times better than how the system works now, but can we all just take a moment to admire the shit sandwich we are forcing these people to eat just so they can have a chance to make a better life for themselves? While this system is better than outright deportation it is in fact a compromise to cater to all Americans.

While I understand that the methods Obama is using could create a dangerous precedent for lesser men or women who aspire to his chair in the future, I believe that at this point in his term and for this country as a whole it is the only way to get things done. The partisan rift in congress and in the populace as a whole will not allow our electoral system to function properly unless we have a visionary leader that can bring us to the solution.

So, Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada to a Cuban father and an Irish-Italian mother, you have no leg to stand on when you claim that illegal immigrants will ruin this country while giving them no way to come in legally. You are trying to close the door to this country that you yourself walked through for millions of hardworking men and women who just want a better life for their family. You are what is wrong with this country. Your hypocritical, misinformed views are what is holding this country back from true progress. If Al Franken hadn't already torn you a new one over net neutrality I'd do that too, but you don't need more ways to spew the asinine vomit that you call rhetoric into the ears of this country. You just want a platform to use to further your own goals by leveraging off the undeserved hatred of Obama that the rest of your uneducated flock cling to. 

The U.S. became the most powerful country in the world thanks to the hardworking cultural mixing pot that our ancestors created when they emigrated here. You don't get to take that chance away from others just because you are scared or greedy. That is not the American way. We are all entitled to the chance to better our standing by the sweat of our brows and the skills that we are born with. Give our newly immigrated brother and sisters the chance to work their way up the system just like your ancestors did.

The Sum of all Idiots

In case you were still on the fence about whether or not the Tea Party are a bunch of clowns here's a little blurb that will throw you right to left of center.

Ted Cruz has tweeted that "net neutrality is the Obamacare of the internet".

Now, if you don't know, net neutrality is the concept that the internet is a public good. Because of this idea Internet Service Providers (ISP) cannot charge websites based on their usage. Basically the more popular a website is, the more the owner would have to pay to keep internet speeds to that site at optimum speed. This would drive popular streaming sites and social media into the ground fiscally while snuffing out the life of small, privately owned sites. ISP's want to tax internet speeds so they can sit back and gather copious amounts of money for almost no effort on their part.

So really net neutrality is on par with assuring freedom of speech for the internet, arguably the most important communication platform of the 21st century.

And one of the pillars of the Tea Party and probably a 2016 presidential hopeful just likened it to his worst nightmare. That's right, the Tea Party, champions of American freedom, voted to put ISP corporate greed over the first amendment to the constitution.

That is the caliber of the candidates that we are dealing from the conservative end of the spectrum. Some issues that other conservative candidates have equally stupid views on: climate change, women's rights, voter laws, and healthcare reform. Kinda funny, all those things have a huge impact on our lives and well being.

Let the next two years of politics serve as an example of how to not run a government.

Original story

Why you don't have to be worried about Ebola (but don't be stupid, either)

This post is going to be a little bit spread out because I have a lot to talk about, just a forewarning.

Let's start off with a little background information on Ebola.

Ebola spreads by close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms. Ebola is actually a marvelous virus. It has evolved to create symptoms that specifically increase transmission. Symptoms of Ebola include Diarrhea, vomiting, unexplained hemorrhaging, fever, headache, stomach pain, and muscle pain. Notice how the first three all cause the body to expel bodily fluids. However, the virus is not contagious until the patient begins to exhibit symptoms, usually a fever first with other symptoms following later. Another facet of the situation is that Ebola can remain viable in the host after the host has died. This means that bodies remain contagious for some time after death. The virus can also remain the semen for up to three months after a patient recovers from the disease.

So, as we can see, Ebola has evolved to make transmission as likely as possible. These factors make it especially contagious in developing countries where health care systems are not equipped to handle a disease like this. In West Africa, stigmas against health care workers, a lack of facilities and personnel trained to handle an outbreak of Ebola, burial practices, and general ignorance about Ebola have caused this outbreak to spread far beyond previous ones. When a family member is sick they are often not taken to the hospital or treatment center because it is feared that they will be killed while the treatment center will often be understaffed, lack equipment, and lack trained staff. Burial practices in some places can involve touching and crying over the body of the deceased, which increases chances of transmission considerably. And finally, there are many people in West Africa that either don't believe, or don't want to believe that Ebola is real. This can be seen in the hash tags on twitter from that region that claim Ebola is a myth.

Now, As per the title, we'll talk about why residents of the United States don't have to be worried about Ebola. There have been four confirmed cases of Ebola in the country since the beginning of the outbreak. All of the infected persons either were in West Africa where they contracted the virus or were in close contact with an infected person showing symptoms. There is no transmission in the general public, and there won't be precisely because of the items listed in the previous paragraph. We have a robust health care system with trained professionals, advanced personal protective equipment (PPE), and enough hospitals to handle the load. Our culture has a very distanced approach to burial, we often do not see the body once the individual has passed on. We also have an opposite view on our health care system. We have been trained to go to the hospital when we feel unwell and there is no fear that the health care system will fail us.

That being said, people need to stop being stupid. To the Ohio nurse that got on two flights after coming into close contact with Duncan and with knowledge that her PPE had been compromised: how could you be so stupid? You do not fly across the country after having been exposed to an incredibly contagious virus in a confined metal tube. That is exactly how you spread the virus. If you had infected other people their lives would be on your head. And to you Dr. Sherman: are you even more stupid than the nurse? You got off a plane from Guinea where you were treating Ebola patients and didn't event think about going to a hospital to get checked? You flew into the biggest city in the world and just went about your business, you are a moron.

So, readers, how do you not get Ebola and/or not spread it?

1. Do not go near an Ebola patient without advanced training and PPE.
2. Do not go to West Africa without advanced training and PPE.
3. Go to a hospital immediately and tell them why if you violate one or both of the first two rules.
4. If you see or hear about someone with symptoms, report it.

It has also been announced that there will be a million doses of Ebola vaccine by 2015. Funny how that works, usually vaccines cause autism and contain heavy metals but when one is made for a horribly contagious deadly disease that's spreading like wildfire, suddenly they're miracles.

That's another topic for a different post though.

Go to the CDC website for more information: CDC Ebola Page

Dear Gov. Fallon

It does not matter in the slightest bit whether or not Oklahomans voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman. If we deemed that line of logic acceptable to govern human rights we would still have segregation. Just because a majority of your population agrees on something does not make it right. You are fighting to deny a group of people their right to marry the people they love.

We have judges that are not accountable to anyone so that they can rise above popular opinion and make the unpopular choices that are the right ones. It is part of the balance of power. You get to make the laws, the judges get to throw out the unconstitutional ones.

You can cover your tracks in patriotism and legal garbage all you want but in 30 years, if the world remembers you at all, it will remember you as a backwards bigot and nothing more.

Equality is being equal whether you believe in it or not.

Read the press release.

The Scottish Referendum

Many of you are aware that Scotland is heading to the polls right now to decide whether it will remain part of the United Kingdom or become a free state. I don't want to talk about the politics because it is honestly none of my business, what I do want to talk about is voter participation.

Scotland has 97% of the electorate registered to vote for the referendum and has broken the record for most absentee balots cast in its history. At the last election only 65% of U.S. citizens were registered to vote and only 45% actually voted. Now I know that voting for your nations independence and voting for president may seem like they are on different levels of importance, but just let it sink in that the most powerful nation in the world (at the moment) lets less than half of it's voting population decide who gets to run the country.

This country was built on the idea of democracy and that everyone should have an equal voice in how this country was run. Yet, 200 years later, despite the fact that we have technology that makes getting out to vote dramatically easier than it was in the late 1700's we have 1/3 of the population who won't even fill out an address so that they can legally vote.

Scotland, whether you vote to stay or leave I think that you have given the U.S., and the world, a perfect example of what a true democracy looks like: the whole of Scotland, participating in a choice that will determine not only their future, but that of their posterity.

Well done.

Sources for voter information

U.S. Census Bureau:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/p20/2010/index.html

BBC News:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29238890

Water Usage

In the past month or so the ALS ice bucket challenge has become an exceedingly popular social media trend and has raised over 80 million dollars when I last checked on it. Interestingly enough, the social media backlash for the "waste" of water poured over the applicants heads during the challenge has become super popular as well. I understand that wasting water is a large issue facing not only our country, but also the world and that we should not take it lightly. I would love for people to be as ardent about actual water conservation as they seem to be when bashing the ice bucket challenge.

The majority of ice bucket videos I have seen have been using a bucket with maybe 5-10 gallons of water in it. Being generous I'll say each challenge used 20 gallons of water. Now, granted that sounds like a lot of water, especially when you multiply that by the million odd videos posted to Youtube and Facebook, but let's put that number in perspective.

Within water advocacy there is a term called virtual water. Virtual water is the total amount of water used in the production of certain goods. For example, a pair of jeans is made from cotton, which requires water to grow. It also requires dye to applied and if they are fancy jeans, they have been washed to wear them down to be comfortable. All of these things require water. How much water you ask? An average pair of jeans costs 8,000 liters (2,113 gallons) of water. A cotton t-shirt costs 2,500 liters (300 gallons). How many pairs of jeans do you have in your closet at the moment, how about how many t-shirts?

Even the food we eat has a high water cost that you might not be aware of. Pork has a virtual water cost of 5,990 liters per kilogram (717.7 gallons per pound). Beef has a virtual water cost of 15,400 liters per kilogram (1,845 gallons per pound). How often do you eat beef or pork? In contrast a cucumber has a virtual water cost of 240 liters per kilogram (28.7 gallons per pound).

I do not mean to make anyone feel guilty about their water consumption, everyone needs clothes and everyone needs to eat. I am simply trying to make a point about the scale of the issue that water conservation really is. Each year we use trillions of liters of water to feed and clothe ourselves, water that is not being replaced in the aquifers from whence it came. But we as Americans can make a difference. If everyone gets together and actually work towards a solution, we can easily achieve it.

 If you want to conserve water do not leave the faucet on when you brush your teeth. Take shorter showers, or use a low flow shower head. Don't water your yard as often and don't dump harmful chemicals into the sewers. Forget about complaining on Facebook about the ice bucket challenge and next time you're at the store don't buy that new shirt or pair of jeans or, instead of buying a pound of ground beef, make a vegetarian meal. You can easily save thousands of liters of water with one simple decision, and think about that decision multiplied by the thousands of people who have spoken out for water conservation we'll be on the right path to sustainability.

If you want to learn more about virtual water this is a very good website.

Also you can donate to ALS victims at www.alsa.org.

If you feel so inclined, you can also donate money to help secure access to clean drinking water for people in need here.

Does the punishment fit the crime?

By now everyone has heard about the events that transpired in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer after allegedly striking him during a struggle. The incident began after Brown robbed a convenience store when he was seen walking down the middle of a road interfering with traffic. The police officer confronted Brown about the traffic situation and from there the details are disputed. However, we do know Brown died from multiple gun shot wounds to his head and torso.

I think enough people have weighed in on the racial tensions in Ferguson and the statistics behind police and civilian interactions, so what I want to talk about today is one of the overarching issues that I see effecting our whole country: that everyone thinks they have the right to respond with deadly force if they feel threatened.

An unarmed man walking down the middle of the street disrupting traffic does not deserve to be shot. Even if Brown did strike the police officer, assault of a police officer is not an offense that warrants the immediate execution of the perpetrator. I do believe that police officers have the right to defend themselves, but I think the problem is that in our current society, we immediately jump to very deadly, very permanent solutions to crimes that would otherwise amount to a medium length jail sentence.

For instance if I were to go right now and find a police officer and punch them in the face I would face a minimum of six months in jail. Even if I combined that with a robbery charge for the cigars I just stole from a convenience store, the maximum sentence for simple robbery is 10 years in prison and a 20,000 dollar fine. So the absolute worst case scenario is that I would spend 10.5 years in prison and pay 20,000 dollars in fines. That is not even factoring in that I would be a first time offender (like Brown) and only stole a package of low quality cigars (like Brown). This is nowhere near the level required to convict someone of the death penalty in any state in the U.S.

People are dying because we in America are obsessed with our own safety to the degree that we are willing to kill others to keep ourselves secure. If the officer in the Brown incident had used any of the other means usually available to officers this whole situation would have turned out very differently. The officer could have used mace or a tazer, both of which are more effective at close range than a hand gun, if Brown actually was close enough to strike the officer. If the officer had used a non-lethal method Ferguson would not be torn apart by rioting and looting right now. Brown would be alive and facing assault and robbery charges rather than lying dead in the street.

We need to ask ourselves why we as a society jump to the most final of solutions in these confrontations. From shooting a young, drunk, pregnant woman through a locked porch door with a shotgun because you feel threatened to luring a robber into a garage and blasting out the door indiscriminately with a shotgun to shooting an 18 year old for walking in the middle of the street and stealing some cigars. There are better ways to deal with these situations that do not involve death. There are non-lethal solutions to protect yourself. If you are concerned about your safety take self-defense classes, buy mace, buy a tazer, call the police. Think about your actions when they may be ending the life of another human being. This world of ours is already filled up with suffering and pain. More needless violence and bloodshed is disgusting.

Religious Freedom

Some recent events in the U.S., mainly the supreme court decision to allow some companies to deny birth control claims on health care insurance on religious grounds has made me believe that we need a review session on what religious freedom means under the Constitution of the United States of America.

The 1st amendment to the constitution of the United States of America says the following: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Notice how the first sentence explicitly prohibits the creation of a law "respecting an establishment of religion" or "prohibiting the free exercise thereof". In other words no law can be made that makes ME conform to YOUR religious standards and no law can be made to make YOU conform to MY religious standards regardless of what those religious standards come from, be it Islam, Judaism, Satanism, Christianity, Atheism, or any other religious belief system.

Now, to put this in some context of recent events. The recent ruling of the supreme court that Hobby Lobby, or another "closely held", "religious" corporation can decide not to supply birth control to its employees because they deem that it goes against their, the owners, religious views. Going with the logic of the first amendment this decision is saying that closely held corporations can be treated as people with religious freedom, and because they control health care coverage for their employees, they can decline to pay for certain services because it violates their religious freedom. Tell me how a corporation having religious freedom makes sense. You can't, because it doesn't. Corporations are not people, no matter how convenient it makes your business endeavors.

I think that religious freedom is one of the best things about the U.S. It means that I can practice or abstain from religion in whatever way I see fit given that it will not effect my life, or anyone else's life, in any significant fashion. For example, if I don't want to take birth control, I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE IT. If I don't want an abortion I DON'T HAVE TO GET ONE. If I don't want to go to a mosque, or a synagogue, or a church, I DON'T HAVE TO. No one is forcing me to, I have the right to not participate in those aspects of society based on my own convictions. But, I am also guaranteed the right to participate in those aspects of society, as long as I am not negatively affecting anyone else. I am not allowed to encroach on other citizens freedoms by forcing them to adhere to my religious standards. Neither I nor congress shall make a law respecting an establishment of religion.

This country was colonized by people searching for one thing: and end to religious persecution, but now we have people who are trying to "uphold traditional American values" by pushing their Judeo-christian religious values on the rest of the country. The irony would be great if it wasn't effecting so many lives. Uphold the constitution and use it as a shield to protect the weak and enable everyone to live their lives the way they see fit without harming other people. It's not a hard concept to grasp, folks.

Sexual Violence

A quick fore word. While I was traveling I used this blog to update everyone about my travels but now I want to switch the focus to more opinion related items that I want to write about. I did a few of these before so I'm thinking that will be the format of the new ones I will write. Ok, on to the real post:

I guess I'll begin this post with a little confession. I don't really take my personal security into account when walking home late, or if I'm going to be out in the dark by myself. Especially when I am in a city I consider to be "home". Apple Valley, Ames, Dunedin are all cities that I would consider to be safe enough for me to walk homer at 3am drunk and not have to worry about anything. However, I will always walk a girl home of she asks me, not really because I think she won't be safe but more just because it's nice to walk and have someone to talk to.Now, I have come to realize that the only reason I am so relaxed about this is because I have never experienced anything that would lead me to believe anything bad would happen to me. Other people are not so lucky.

I just read an exchange on Facebook between one of my friends and one of her friends in which they describe the times that they have actually been assaulted, been catcalled, felt unsafe, or had to take preventative measures to make themselves feel safe in their own home. The exchange began after my friend posted this video on Facebook.

Now, this is a relatively foreign concept to me, and I think that speaks volumes about the depth of this problem. Now I'm not saying that I didn't know that sexual crimes didn't exist, or that they are not pervasive, but I just always pictured them as far away or not affecting the people I care about in such an intense manner. Here are some of the conversation (I got permission from my friend to use the text):  

"I get teased for not drinking a lot when I go to the bars with friends.
"She's too responsible" my friend says as he stumbles next to me.
Yep, because someone has to keep me and my super drunk girlfriend from getting assaulted.
I hate Ames. I freaking got assaulted on my motherf***ing birthday while at a bar but I couldn't figure out WHICH guy in the group standing next to me and staring at me did it. Bunch of f***ing perverts. I had to pass by them again to get out and whoever did it, did it again. I wanted to vomit and beat the s**t out of someone. I'm never, ever, f***ing ever wearing a skirt out."

"I've been followed to my car, I got literally chased by an angry man into the gym (wouldn't respond to him). I never wear both earbuds, I always have a knife (my excuse is I work in a greenhouse) and I actually do the "honey I'm home!" if there's this certain guy out in the hall or "I'll be back in a few minutes babe" when I'm leaving and he's out. I have no problems glaring at strange men anymore (let them think I'm a b***h). I do the same thing with my car, and check under sometimes even (I'm glad it's a jeep). I ALWAYS walk "confidently" because I don't want to look weak and vulnerable.
Yeah, a lot of times I wish I was fat and unattractive, too. Some guy made a comment about pulling on my hair once and I was so tempted to pull out my knife and just shear it off then and there, Mulan-style. Ugh. I get so tired of having to watch my back all the time. And then you get those guy friends who tell you you're overreacting or don't even think about it when you glare and motion at them across the bar to "Get the f**k over here NOW"."

 I see something seriously wrong with this situation. When a woman feels so unsafe in her own skin that they wish they could change it to become uglier just because they are being constantly harassed and assaulted by men is horrific. The fact that members of my gender make women feel so horribly makes me feel sick. Seriously, when was the last time you felt so unsafe being yourself that you wanted to change who you are. If you are a man, I doubt you ever have, or at least I haven't. This feeling of danger is a crime perpetrated against half of the human beings on this planet. This does not just negatively effect women. Our whole society suffers when we persecute any part of it and make it feel unsafe, insecure, or scared.

Women are men's equals in every respect and deserve so much better than cat calls, leers, and assaults. I challenge anyone reading this to take this issue to heart and work on making everyone feel safe. The only way we will solve this problem is with a concerted effort by everyone to look at their behavior and eliminate any threatening or demeaning actions from what they deem to be acceptable, and hold everyone around them to that same standard. Being drunk is no excuse, being with the "bro's" is no excuse, being horny is no excuse. You are not an animal, you do not rely on base instincts to survive, so don't let them control you. The only failure will be silently standing by and letting this domestic terrorism continue. Don't be afraid to stand up for anyone, a "no" from two people is more powerful than a "no" from one. Even if they don't or can't say anything at the time, they will be grateful to you for helping them, so do the world a favor and help make it a better place for us all.

Final Thoughts

As I am writing this, it is officially my last few hours in Dunedin. Almost everyone else has left and this place feels like a ghost town in some post apocalyptic movie. It's windy and we don't have heat, the food in my flat is almost gone, all the windows are dark. I am so excited to get home and get out of this eerie place. I already miss everyone so much.

It also occurred to me that so many things end as they begin. I will be flying into Auckland this morning and flying out of Auckland tomorrow morning very early. I slept on a couch in my sleeping bag last night, much like I slept on the floor in a hostel my first night in New Zealand. I used my travel deodorant for the first time since my travels almost five months ago and just that smell brought back so many memories of getting up in the early morning, nervous and excited to see what adventures awaited that day.

New Zealand is a wonderful place, and many of the places and people here will always hold a special place in my heart for the role they played in not only my education, but my development into the person I am now and the person I will be later in life. I never thought it was possible to get so close to complete strangers from across the globe so quickly and just how much these people would mean to me at the end of my stay here. Anyone from 378, my doors are always open and my couch is always available.

It is a weird feeling, leaving here. As I said earlier I'm excited to get home, but I also wish we could get everyone back together again for one more night. It's bittersweet knowing that what I got to experience was so amazing, but it will also never be the same again. There is a time and a place for everything and there is no place I would rather have spent my last 139 days than in Dunedin with my complex.

In short, I love you all and I hope that between now and when I see you again that you are prosperous and happy.

All the best,

-Sam

The World of Complex 378 Leith St.

My New Tattoo

I got my second tattoo yesterday as a sort of culmination of all the life changing events I have experienced here in New Zealand. I got a traditional Maori design that represents my "whakapapa" (the "wh" is pronounced like a "f") or genealogy. The Maori put a great deal of emphasis on ancestry and where you came from. Many Maori could trace their lineage back 10 or 15 generations some even to the first explorers that colonized New Zealand. This tracing of heritage gave them an identity and was almost a religion for the Maori. My tattoo is much smaller than a traditional male Maori tattoo, which would cover all of the thigh and buttocks. My tattoo symbolizes my two parents with the two large fern buds in the negative space between the blocks. They are touching to symbolize the connection between them that is me. The silver fern itself is a powerful symbol for the Maori where it shows guidance and wisdom.

The canvas

The design

The finished product

All Blacks and the Nude Blacks

Yesterday was a busy day in Dunedin. The All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby team, played a test match against England at Forsyth Barr Stadium. They beat England 28-27 and continued their two year unbeaten streak. The All Blacks are famous for their Haka. It is a traditonal Maori war dance that is basically a challenge and a threat to the other team. Here is a video of the All Blacks doing the Kapa O Pango Haka to the Australian Rugby team. This is the same Haka they did last night.

You can see the players sticking their tongues out during the chant, this was a way for the Maori to say that they were going to eat you, the Maori did practice cannabilism. They also do throat slitting motions at the end which means exactly what you think it means. It is an incredibly powerful intimidation technique and it was crazy to see it live. My friends who weren't at the game said they could hear the Haka blocks away.There are different Hakas done at different games, another famous and popular one is called Ka Mate.

Here are the lyrics to the Kapa O Pango Haka and what they mean:

Kapa O Pango Haka:

This haka was first performed by the All Blacks versus South Africa on 27 August 2005 at Carisbrook, Dunedin. The All Blacks won 31 - 27. This Haka was written by Ngati Porou's Derek Lardelli. This Haka will only be performed before special test matches.

Kapa o pango kia whakawhenua au i ahau!

Let me become one with the land

Hi aue, hi!

Ko Aotearoa e ngunguru nei!

This is our land that rumbles

Au, au, aue ha!

And it's my time! It's my moment!

Ko Kapa o Pango e ngunguru nei!

This defines us as the All Blacks

Au, au, aue ha!

It's my time! It's my moment!

I ahaha!

Ka tu te ihiihi

Our dominance

Ka tu te wanawana

Our supremacy will triumph

Ki runga ki te rangi e tu iho nei, tu iho nei, hi!

And will be placed on high

Ponga ra!

Silver fern!

Kapa o Pango, aue hi!

All Blacks!

Ponga ra!

Silver fern!

Kapa o Pango, aue hi, ha!

All Blacks!

The All Blacks defending against and English advance

Before the game, a charity match was held between the Nude Blacks and England. Basically it was 14 naked men playing rugby in the middle of the city. Children were in attendance and it was pretty hilarious. They had the "Queen" make an appearance and she made plentiful dick jokes. They had a blind referee, a literal blind woman as the referee, and of course, a naked announcer. They did a naked Haka, the Maori war dance that the All Blacks do at the beginning of every game.

 This next picture is from the Nude Blacks game and is NSFW.

The Nude Blacks lining up before the game

My International Family

For the past four months I have been incredibly lucky living with some of the most awesome people in New Zealand. They say that it doesn't matter where you go as long as you're with good company and I have to say that couldn't be more true. My international family has made New Zealand more than just a destination, but rather a home away from home. I will miss these people more than I thought I would after knowing them for only a few months. They are some of the best, kindest, craziest people I know and I wouldn't trade these past four months of friendship and adventure for anything in the world. I will miss these guys so much. 378 Leith St will forever be a great memory for me.

My Family

Stop light flat picture

The men

The ladies and I at Queenstown

The complex

Claire's birthday

Ben, my kiwi host, and I

Ella, my other kiwi host, and I

Colin, from NY, and I

Lia, from NYC, and I

Jaci, from Western Washington, and I

Claire, Lia and I

Thrift shop party

Peninsula picture

Just goofing around

Flat as pirates for Jaci's birthday

Catlins Forest and Nugget Point

Another weekend adventure,

We decided to do a night trip to the Catlins forest about 2 hours south of Dunedin. We left at 10am and drove down stopping at Nugget Point, the most southern point on the South Island.

The light house and the "nuggets"

If you look hard enough you can see Antarctica

Purakaunui Falls

After Nugget Point we got a little lost on the back roads of the south but we did find Purakaunui falls, which was very cool. We tried to meet up with some of our friends but it started storming pretty badly so we decided to head home early and not camp. A little disappointing, but it was still a fun day!

Where the forest meets the ocean

Mt. Cargill and the Routeburn

Hello folks!

It would seem I have been remiss in my blogging duties and I have not posted in a while, so here is a post about the last two weekends.

Last Saturday I climbed Mt. Cargill which is the highest peak in the Dunedin area. I went with my flatmates Ella and Jaci.

Embracing the oncoming storm

Obligatory jumping photo

Dunedin in the palm of my hand

On the way to Mt. Cargill we stopped at a small rock formation known as the organ pipes. They are pillars of basalt that look like, well, organ pipes. We had to scramble up a rockfall and climb a few meters straight up to get to the plateau but it was totally worth it.

The rockfall

The plateau

The climb down

Now onto the Routeburn! The Routeburn track crosses a mountain range in between Milford Sound at The Divide and Glenarcky, which is 45 minutes northeast from Queenstown. Its 32 kilometers in total or about 19 miles and Celia and I hiked it in two days. The first day we hiked about four hours over the first ridge of mountains to the Lake Mackenzie hut.

This is Lake Mackenzie

We also saw some really cool forests and waterfalls on our first day.

We were in a temperate rainforest, so everything is covered in moss and lichen.

The water is so damn clear!

That night I went to sleep at 6pm when the sun went down... and slept till 7:30am. Only when you're camping can you sleep 13 hours and no one says anything. This morning we had 22 kilometers to hike to get out to the trail head. We did it in six hours and 15 minutes. Here's what we saw:

The little clearing on the lake is our camp

We cleared the saddle and this is what we saw

To get from the above picture to the picture below we had to walk down "The Tombstone Steps"

We stopped at the Routeburn Falls hut for some lunch, what more could you ask for?

Can you see the riders of Rohan coming to Gondors aid?

Finished the track!

It's been a good weekend.

Stand Your Ground

This morning I read an article in the BBC news about an event that, to me, cuts to the core issues of gun culture in the United States: the devaluation and mistrust of other human beings. The story is about a 17 year old German exchange student that was spending a year at a high school in Montana studying. The boy, named Diren Dede, was shot and killed by Markus Kaarma, a local fire fighter as he was trespassing in the Mr. Kaarma's garage. As of now Mr. Kaarma is being charged with murder but he has pleaded not guilty and cited Montana's "castle doctrine", or stand your ground law, as his defense.

Now, the event itself is tragic, but I think what makes this even worse is the circumstances leading up to the event. According to the article, Mr. Kaarma's house had been burgled twice before the shooting, so he and his wife decided to try and set up a trap for the burglars. To set the trap they opened their garage door, set up motion detectors and video cameras, and then left the wife's purse in the open garage into the night as "bait". The pair waited up late until the motion sensors tripped at which point Mr. Kaarma fired a shotgun several times into the garage without looking. A quick aside: Is this the kind of society we live in? Instead of going through the police or even just getting better home security, we resort to lethal violence to solve our petty disputes? Not to mention the fact that anything could have tripped the motion detectors, not just the burglars and the immediate reaction is to shoot a highly lethal weapon into a space without that could have anything in it? What if it had been a child from next door who had gotten out of their house late at night? What if it was a young exchange student attempting to alert the owners that their garage door was open and that it was a prime opportunity for thieves? And even if Mr. Dede's intentions were to steal the hand bag, since when do we mete out the death penalty over petty theft?

I hope the trial finds Mr. Kaarma guilty of murdering Diren Dede. Not only was this event caused by irresponsible gun use and irrational behavior, but letting Mr. Kaarma off without punishment just opens the door to this tragedy occurring again. To make matters worse the tragedy was perpetrated by a civil servant that was of sound mind (as in at the moment he had no mental illness that would have led him to act irrationally). He is a person entrusted with protecting the community and saving lives yet on his off time he baited a burglar onto his property and shot him without pause. And this isn't even the first time that an event like this has happened where a young person was shot and killed over petty offences that would normally result in very minor penalties. Crimes like burglary and trespassing that would not normally present any uncommon danger to the shooter.

The need to feel safe and secure in one's own home is a need that I respect and wish that everyone is able to fulfill. However, what I do not understand is the need to respond to any perceived possibility of threat with immediate and lethal force. Forget the many reasons to not own a gun for home defense: forget the statistics about home defense with a firearm, the multiple mass shootings this country has suffered, the people who are harmed by accident by irresponsible gun owners every year, just think about this for a second: Do I want to live in a world where I am allowed to carry a weapon and use it at my discretion against anyone on my property and know that everyone around me will do the same and live in that sea of tension and mistrust, or do I want to live in a world where I don't have to feel the need to resort to lethal force to secure my home or my person because I trust that there are community units designated to protecting me and I trust that my neighbors and community members aren't constantly trying to murder me and take my things?

This is a value change, and I highly doubt that it will come to pass at any point in the near future, but I can hope. I have experienced versions of both sides of this coin and I have to say that I prefer the incredulous, shocked reactions of my European and Kiwi friends to the extensiveness of our gun laws and the events that happen because of them over the pompous whine of Sarah Palin mocking Joe Biden at an NRA rally for his idea that maybe a warning shot is warranted before you snuff the life out of another human being for merely being in your territory. I want an end to the needless deaths of innocent people. I want an end to the fear that people have when they cannot feel safe in their own homes because they think everyone is out to get them armed to the teeth. When will we learn that there is another way, and while it is hard and will require a lot of effort on every one's part, that it is possible to feel safe and secure without a means of killing within arms reach.

I firmly believe that this country would be a better, safer place without stand your ground laws, licenses to conceal and carry, the ability to own assault weapons, and the idea that you are morally justified in defending your possessions with lethal force. The idea that a purse, or any other physical possession, is more valuable than a human life sickens me. If we do nothing else, can we as a nation simply appreciate the enormous potential and sanctity of a single human life, and the repercussions of ending one of those lives over something so petty it wouldn't even warrant jail time?

Here is the link to the original BBC article.

Mid-Semester Adventure

Hello everybody!

So I just got home last night from my 10 day trip circumnavigating the south island of New Zealand. I traveled with three other internationals: Alan who studies in Berkeley, California, Emma from Ottawa, Canada, and Dani from ISU. We drove in Alan's car named Buckley, which is a 1984 Toyota Vista.

Here is a map of the general route:

Day 1: I woke up early this morning to get all my stuff ready. It was pouring rain outside so I bundled up into my rain jacket and headed off to Dani's flat. We decided that it was raining too hard so we reversed our original plan to go to the west coast first and went up past Christchurch that night. It was raining really hard and there was quite a lot of flash flooding. We barely made it past two roads that were already almost washed out. We picked up a hitch hiker in Timaru named Sam who was a health studies teacher at a girls college in Tiumaru and we dropped him off in Christchurch.

The destroyed front of the Christchurch Cathedral.

After that we got dinner and then made our way to a campsite about an hour outside of Christchurch. The campsite was made up of a bunch of old train cars transformed into little dorm rooms. I realized that night that I had forgotten my toiletries bag back in Dunedin so that was a bummer. Anyway, we made it out of Otago and safely up north.

Our room for the night.

Day 2: We packed up from the train and made our way to Kaikoura. It was a beautifully sunny day and all of us were feeling good. Dani, Alan, and I went fishing in the ocean off Kaikoura that night and caught mostly Sea Perch, Sea Cod, and Dani caught a Barracuda. The charter we took let us keep the fish we caught so that night we loaded up on ingredients and had our own fish fry at our campsite for the night. We tent camped that night and finished our fish fry at about 11pm. We still had a lot of fish left over so Alan and Emma we to put the bagged fish in the river close by so they would stay cold for the night and we could eat them again the next day.

The fishing boat with the Kaikoura coast in the background.

Me and my sea cod that I caught.

Day 3: Woke up to a beautiful moonrise over the hills we were staying in. We retrieved the fish bag early and realized that it had a hole in it so the fish had just been festering in the river all night. It smelled pretty bad. We couldn't leave it there so we took it with us to Kaikoura. It was Easter Sunday so Dani, Alan, and Emma went to a local church and I spent the morning hiking out on the peninsula and sitting on the beach. Around 2pm we headed out for Nelson and picked up another hitch hiker just outside of Kaikoura. His name was Levi and he lived and worked in Nelson so we said we'd take him up there. We had a few issues making it out of there because the road leaving had been washed out by a landslide and crews were trying to clear the road but had only managed to clear one lane. Anyway, we made it out and got into Nelson around 8pm. That night we stayed in a small home hostel near the city center.

Sunset over Nelson.

Day 4: We woke up and made our way quickly to the i-site so that we could book our route through Abel Tasman National Park. We decided to do the coastal track and booked our two camps for the night and our water taxi to get us out after we were done. Once we had that booked we went to go find a mechanic because one of Buckley's tires was wearing pretty badly on one side. It was a national holiday though so no one was open but we managed to catch a shop owner who just dropped in for a bit and got an appointment for the next day at 8am. Once we had that done we went to one of Nelson's famous beaches and then went wine tasting, although we didn't get to taste anything as all the wineries were closed. We went to a local bar and had some craft beers instead, I had a medium dark Scottish ale that was superb. That night we stayed at the Palace hostel which is located up a hill with a good view of Nelson and the surrounding hills.

View from our window at the Palace Hostel.

Nelson's beach.

Day 5: We woke up early and got all packed up and ready to go to Abel Tasman. We got the tires realigned on Buckley and it turns out they were 1800% out of alignment. 9.8mm off instead of 0.5mm. That's why the tire was wearing so badly, so we rotated the tires and everything was looking good. We got food for the trip and then made our way up to Marahau where we would start our hike. We got into Marahau at 1pm and were out onto the track by 2pm. It started out rainy but the day finished cool but clear. We stayed at Anchorage campsite that night and I went star gazing on the beach for a few hours before falling asleep.

The view from Anchorage camp.

Day 6: We woke up early and got started hiking. It was a beautiful day, sunny and 75 degrees. We hiked 3 hours to a beach where we ate lunch and tanned and swam for a few hours before continuing on to our campsite at Onetahuti which was another 3 hour hike. We got in and pitched our tent and ate dinner which for me consisted of a carrot, an apple, and a can of baked beans. Luckily another guide was at that camp and came over later to give us her crews leftovers, curry with rice, and half a brownie. We ate like kings that night. It was too cloudy to see anything that night so I just went to sleep.

A beach in Abel Tasman.

The beach we ate lunch at.

Day 7: We woke up to make our final push to our final destination where the water taxi would pick us up. We explored a sea cave because it was low tide and then began our 2 hour hike to the Awaroa tidal crossing. This part of the track can only be crossed for a two hours before and after low tide and it consists of a few tidal rivers with some mud flats covered in mussels and sand crabs. After the crossing we had  another 2 hour hike to the beach where we would be picked up. The water taxi ride took about 45 minutes to take us back the same distance that took us three days to walk. In total we covered 42 kilometers of forest and beaches. What a great experience. We left Marahau at around 4pm and made our way out to Farewell Spit, the northernmost spot on the south island. After that we grabbed dinner in a small town called Takaka and then drove 6 hours to Greymouth getting to our campsite at 2am.

The beach at sunset at Onetahuti Camp.

Long fin Eel in a river in Abel Tasman.

Day 8: I woke up at 5am to an incredible thunderstorm. Lightning flashes followed one second later by huge rolling claps of thunder that shook my bones. The storm abated somewhat by around 8 and I got out of the car to see that one of our back tires was flat, we found nail in the edge of it. So we changed the tire in the rain and made our way to Hokitika to inflate the spare, which turned out to be a full sized tire. We also got it patched at a mechanics so we could use the old one as a spare. We left Hokitika and made our way down the coast to Franz Josef Glacier. That evening we hiked out to the Glacier and then spent the night in the hot tub relaxing.

Rainbow over the valley of Franz-Josef Glacier.

Franz-Josef Glacier

Day 9: We woke up on this morning and drove the girls out to the airfield to go sky diving and then Alan, myself, and a girl from our hostel named Mel went to Fox Glacier to hike. It took us about 45 minutes to make it to the closest point to the glacier and man was it worth it. The glacier flowed down the hill between two peaks and met a waterfall where they mixed. We could see huge ice chunks floating down the river and I touched one so I technically touched a glacier. After the glacier we drove south through Haast pass to Wanaka. We ate dinner at the first Mexican restaurant I have been to in NZ and went to see a movie at a local theater that had couches instead of seats and served fresh cookies.

Fox Glacier

Striations in the ice at Fox Glacier.

Day 10: We had a late start to the day and went wine tasting at a local vineyard. We had a Sauvignon Blanc, a Rosé, two Pinot Noirs, and Reisling, and a Gewürztraminer. After that we decided to head back to Dunedin and I got in around 5pm yesterday. It was an exhausting trip but very fun.

Lake Wanaka with fall colors and mountains.

The view from the tasting room of the winery looking over Lake Wanaka.

Well that's been my life for the past few days. Only five more weeks of class, then two weeks of finals and then I'll be making my way back to the Midwest! I can't believe that much time passed so quickly, nor how long it has felt.