"Toma la calle" - Campings and protests throughout Spain

I'm not sure if any of you all have read about it, but there is some real political unrest happening all over Spain right now. Since 15 May, in almost every city, Murcia included, there have been campsites set up where people have literally been sleeping in the streets to demonstrate their discontent with the state of the government, the economy, high enemployment, and a handful of other grievances. Below is a posting that a friend shared with me from a website she found:

The day has come,
We have taken the streets for a true democracy now
The day, when the citizens have decided to meet and join their voices
The day, when we have covered the streets with a clear message
WE ARE NOT SAFE IN POLITICIANS AND BANKERS HANDS
And the message took the streets across the whole country
And the streets celebrated that day as the first day that we have taken a true change.

A change depends on YOU, on ME, on ALL OF US:

young people, elderly people, workers, unemployed people.

The Media won’t silence our voices any more because we have seen we are REAL people,

just as the DEMOCRACY we are demanding.

There is no excuse
HISTORY is looking at us and it is our turn to make a movement

We are ready to CHANGE:
Change Injustice into justice
Change Corruption into responsability and dignity
Change Outrage into action

Today, May the 15th, 2011 has been of something unstoppable
The true Democracy of people who consciously choose their path
True democracy who chose consciously the way
We are demanding a true democracy, now
Are you thinking that you can´t do anything?
To accept your responsibility is to take the challenge
Be a part of the necessary change for a world which will be as you want it to be.
Democracy is your choice. Use it.

There are Twitter feeds coming from the camp in the Plaza del Sol in Madrid and the Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona, where things have sadly gotten a little out of control this past week. Up until Monday, all of the protests had been very peaceful and there were no problems with local authorities; that changed when the police (dressed in riot uniforms with barricades and nightsticks) in Barcelona cleared the Plaça Catalunya, using force when the seated protestors refused to move. Here's a link to a Youtube video to see what's happening there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXHOe7FrL8

I hope things remain peaceful here. I wanna go talk to people and get more opinions on what's happening and how people are feeling. When I was in Zaragoza and Barcelona last week (that I'm just realizing I forgot to blog about - damn.) my roommate Keyla and I went to the camping that was going on there with Rubén, the guy we CouchSurfed with.

The whole plaza went silent as people held up their hands.

People chanting and singing

I find the whole thing fascinating. It´s really cool how people of all ages --I´ve literally seen families with young children, elderly couples and everyone in between-- are simply trying to make their voices and their concerns heard. I´m thinking of doing interviews and turning this into my senior research project for my Spanish degree.

They´re calling it a Spanish Revolution. They´re saying that they´re making history - and they just might be.



If you can't sleep.

So...I'm becoming nocturnal. It's because I siesta. Err'y day. :)

So, while I can't sleep I do random things to pass the time.

Like clean and rearrange my room...

...or cut my bangs...

...or create a Twitter account that I'll probably forget the password to and never use again.

Yeah, I have Twitter; I don't wanna talk about it.

Anyway, it's daytime and I'm tired. I'll probably go take a nap, thus digging myself deeper into this bad sleep cycle.

xoxo -

¡Feliz Cumple!

A special birthday wish to the best brother!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztoSUhbNntQ

All these birthdays are making me want cake... with lotssss of frosting. :)

I hope you have a wonderful day, Rhett! Love you so much!



Blessed

Last week I took a study break and read the senior charge that my advisor delivered to the graduating class at Wesleyan on the 15th. While the whole speech focused on the topic of overcoming struggle, I was struck by one quote in particular:

"You have nothing to offer until you have been broken."

- Joan Chittister

As I'm working through the sadness that has come into my life these past few days, I try to remember that struggle, pain, and suffering cultivate compassion and the ability to empathize. It is only by experiencing sadness and grief that we know how to comfort others.

I'm sending comforting thoughts and prayers to all who are suffering...

Matthew 5:4 - "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

¡Cumpleaños Feliz! (aunque sea tarde)

Happy birthday, Dad! Sorry this is a day late. I hope yesterday was wonderful for you. Thanks for being great, and for liking good music, and  for always checking the tire pressure and oil in my car when I leave home, and for inspiring me and supporting me.
A group just started singing "Happy Birthday" at the restaurant across the street - I think they´re singing for you.

Love you! Can´t wait to see you!

"Many origens, one purpose."

Yet another heartwarming, fun-filled day of Phraseology class.

We´re talking about slogans, mottos, and such, and for the first hour of class we just talked about different symbols from the Spain, the United States, and China. A few examples of what we talked about are, "E pluribus unum," the flag of Spain, and a national seal from China. Then, when we were talking about mottos, the professor asked if each state in the US really has it´s own motto or slogan. We said yes, yes they do. So he asked us to write each of ours on the board. I jumped up, went to the board and wrote: "Nebraska, the good life"...

And then I sat down and realized that isn´t the state motto... it´s what the welcome sign on the interstate says. Oops. Anyone could make that mistake, right?

(The actual state motto for Nebraska is, "Equality before the law"... a fun trivia fact for ya.)

At the end of class, the professor thought it would be fun to come up with a motto for our class in groups and then vote on our favorite. There were some good ones in the mix, but we finally chose, "Muchos origenes, un propósito," which translates to the title of this post.

I think I´m gonna miss that class...

Syntactical nonsense

Makenzie and I have literally been working on homework for our Syntax class allllllll dayyyyyyy. We started out being really productive - we finished the corrections to an old assignment (on which we got a B+, I might add) and then we each got started writing summaries of these ridiculously long (ridiculously boring) articles that we have to read to help us prepare for the final.

But for the past 20 minutes we've been telling stories, quoting Modern Family, giggling and singing "Hey Ya."

...this class is driving us crazy.