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Monica
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Surfing
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Snowboarding
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Whitewater Paddling
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Monica's Page
Profile Information
- Relationship Status:
- Married
- About Me:
- I am doing everything I can to influence the minds of the young to be concerned for our environment, respectful of cultural differences, and curious about the shades of gray.
- Activities:
- What I actually do -sit in Panera coffee shop grading paper and discussing news, What I want to do more of - snowboard, kayak, climb.
- Favorite books:
- Siddhartha
Blessed Unrest
- Favorite music:
- The sound of my Tibetan Singing Bowl :), Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
- Favorite movies:
- Volver, Children of Men (minus the violence althought it is part of the message), Pay it Forward
- Favorite places:
- Standing in the snow at night listening to the flakes hitting the ground in Hakuba, Japan. Watching the mist rise off the mountains while drinking ginger tea in the Yangstze River Gorge, Yunnan, China. Resting at the top of the Groove Tube feeling the cool ocean breeze in Ton Sai, Thailand. Looking up at the waters surface while resting weightless 15 feet under, listening to the rain hit the oceans surface off the coast of Koh Tao, Thailand. Sleeping next to Chris. Those are my favorite places.
- Dislikes:
- People who have to be right all the time. Talkers who don't listen. Traffic. Litter. Crowds. Competition that makes winners and losers.
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Hope you had a good visit with Tim and Tomoe. Good times those were. Keep us posted with what you guys are up to this summer. We have airmiles we should use, and would like to catch up with you and Chrissyphur again.
Gemma, Ryan, and Keely
I am doing some organizing around an event related to a movement to stop the government from eliminating the pacifist Article 9 from the Japanese constitution. The way that people in Japan are fighting it is by making it a global issue. Hence the Global 9 Campaign, which is trying to encourage other countries to take on a war renouncing clause into their own constitutions. The other thing is that some Nobel Peace prize winners have been trying to do is to get the a special award created for the constitutions peace clause.
Check out the www.article-9.org
I will be taking a group of my international course students to this event in Tokyo in May.
This has been spreading internationally and I think there is even a group in Canada. I am sure there are a large number of Japanese American's that would like to pressure the US government to take on such a clause. The right wing in Japan have been saying that the peace clause was forced on them, so they should re-write it to make Japan a "normal" nation. Normal seems to be defined, militarily, by the very government that imposed it on Japan...that being the US. People in the US might be wise to ask the US government why they imposed it on Japan? What was the goal? If it was to create peace in Asia, then maybe the citizens of the US should think about imposing such a clause on the US government, in order to create peace in the rest of the world.
Food for thought;)
I hope you are playing in the snow lots!
James
I was reading an article on the issue of whaling in the Japan times and I thought it was one of the best pieces that I have found on the subject. It really looks at the issue from a crosscultura perspective.
It is worth a read.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080117a1.html
James
Cool site. I don't have any clever or insightful thoughts for our answers to the questions. Cool to see the ocean onsen pic on there. Can you email us a copy of that?
I heard from Chris that you are doing some pretty interesting stuff now. I would really love to hear more about what you are doing. I have a huge interest in international educational issues. I am just finishing my thesis on national education reform at the community level, here in Japan. I hope to keep looking at these issues when I move back to Canada next summer.
Living here these last seven years and learning a lot about the Japanese perspective has really made me see that there is indeed a lot of grey area. We all have such different beliefs. I think it comes down to ism's. I don't eat meat, but I don't like to say I am a vegetarian. I try every day to live in a more sustainable way, but I don't think I am an environmentalist. I think the ism's lead to division, to us verses them, rather than unifying we have a tendency to divide. I think this is highlighted in the Greenpeace fight against whaling in Japan. I think Greenpeace has taken a suedo religious stance in there, our way or the highway approach. It turns even those like me who support there overall movement, against them.
Feel free to use my blog comment...also feel free to edit it, as I am sure it is full of all kinds of English mistakes;)
We need to chat about what you are doing now...maybe we can internet chat sometime...you on Skype?
Isn't this cool, our own little secret club :-)
Hope to see you guys next weekend. We can hang out on Friday so hopefully we can find some time to chill.