*ahem* I believe the term Laura used was "feed the homeless", but that's what we went off to do Friday evening, down to Skid Row. I was a bit frightened at first because Laura made those hobos sound craaaazy ghetto, but it was actually really fun. Well, maybe "fun" is the wrong word, but it was definitely very worth going.

I find it interesting--and I feel a little guilty for noting this--that other than some of the homeless, me and Laura were the only white people; that is, the sociology professor whose class Laura is in who got some students to do this is Asian, all the church members and pastor were black, and at least two thirds of the homeless were black and hispanic. Not that I was particularly conscious of that, but it just seems interesting, now that I come to think of it...

Laura is so impatient though! Pushing and pushing those plates of stew before I'm ready to hand them off to people! Well, at least everyone who got in line got fed, which is the point, right?

And then, afterwards, we decided to stick around for the apparently customary post-feeding prayer-circle. Y'know, I've realized that I'm one of those people that can be moved by the emotion of religion, but I just can't make that personal connection with God. I'm just too individualistic... Like, maybe it's my trust issues that make me depend so much on myself, and maybe that's not healthy? God help the first person who gets into a real relationship with me...

Speaking of comparing God to relationships, this band, Flyleaf, is rumored to be Christian, but even if these songs are about God, their pure rock awesomeness makes up for it (but then again, I have a great respect for the right kind of Christians, and you can't deny they're interesting). Though I must admit, the lead singer *does* look a little crazy when she's performing. I guess she's getting transported? Aaaaanyways...

Their videos have pretty good production values... Or maybe you think they're cheesy:
"I Am So Sick" is a fairly typical rock video, but "All Around Me" has walls that bleed paint, and  "Fully Alive" has cemetery statues breaking apart into sunlight. Take a gander... or if you don't, I'm sure I'll continue to do so...;P

copperwise just linked to an article about how the Haitian poor have been forced, due to rising food prices, to eat cookies made of dirt. Well, call me a yuppie suffering from liberal white guilt, but it moved me, so I decided to finally go over to this site she and a few others have been linking, and I got about 1500 grains of rice thus far.

Also, another reason I might be feeling more open is my Latin American Politics class--when I say this class was life-changing, I meant it. It's really opened my eyes to the plight of the poor especially, what with class issues being the *main* cause of all these revolutions, and particularly socialist governments. And of course, the U.S. government coming in and toppling any signs of change because it would mess with their economic interests. :P

As for the FreeRice vocab thing... Some of these words are hard, actually! Wow, I should link this over to Summers and the other folks at Choices, they would really dig this, for *both* reasons.

Okay, let's see if I can aim for 2000 next... 

EDIT: Now up to 3000... how many people fed is that, I wonder? It divides it by 100's. Is a plate of rice 100 grains? Hm...