JP in the house

As I recently explained, I am intrigued by politics. For this reason alone, I have gotten involved in the Colorado Political Scene. I was involved with the Boulder County Democrats during election season last fall volunteering to count ballots and votes and to canvas. (Its really fun to canvas btw…NOT). I believe for anyone and everyone interested in politics, you must find at least one issue that you’re passionate about.

If you stand for nothing, then you’ll fall for everything.

There are in the end of the day a hell of a lot of issues that I stand for. I am pro-choice, I am pro women’s rights. I am pro gay marriage, pro abortion, pro pretty much every social issue that democrats would deem worthy of time and resources from the government. I am also pro-Israel.

Let me go into this a second. It really pisses me off when people are like how can you be so liberal and pro-Israel. For some reason, this is a really bad stigma to being liberal, democratic, and pro-Israel. People regularly think that Conservatives, or Republicans would first take on this issue and make it important in their hearts. I can see how some can claim this putting Israel in the category of national defense and international diplomacy, which in the past has often been associated with war and thus more of a Republican hot button. YET, on the other side, Israel is an extremely liberal country. Way more in fact, than the US and 100 x more liberal than any middle eastern country. I know I’ve already ranted about this, but you would be amazed how many ignorant people there are out there. At the same time I am not saying that I am know-it-all. If anything, I am thirsty for this information so I make it a point to read up about it as much as possible and to actively make an effort by being an activist.

I think more people would be involved in politics if they saw how easy it is to become involved. You can chose how involved you are, what issues you care about, and what direction you would like to do. It is so cool to be able to lobby and to MEET congressman, senators, and their aids/assistants. They are the people that are making big, HUGE, influential decisions in our lives and they want us to be involved. The time is now.

Which brings me to the title of this post, JP in the house. JP stands for Jared Polis, and he is Boulder’s newly elected congressman in DC. He is very pro-education, and very knowledgeable, which is why we are bringing him to campus, my group, the Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the College Democrats, to discuss Iran.

Damn, democracy feels good.

The 13 Charms

The symbol for Patience: the pine tree

I’ve mentioned this previously, but I think that it deserves some of its own individual time. I attended a camp for a large time of my life. Of anything that it has taught me, I can confidently say that morals are the biggest thing.

How pathetic is that? I had to learn morals from a summer camp. What is more pathetic, to be honest, is my view that a lot of people have never learned morals. They have never learned at the core, what constitutes a good person.

What is also pathetic to me is what some consider to be good morals. I feel like I have met so many people throughout my life that on the surface seem to be fine moral people, but deep down they’re rotten. They claim people are their friends and they say horrible things behind their backs. Or they steal. Or they cheat. Or they deep down at the core aren’t happy with themselves, their lives, their friends, and their place in society.

Alright I will admit it, I don’t know I are happy with my “place” in society. But who is? Maybe Steve my dog (half German Shephard half Golden Retriever.)

He seems pretty happy.

Before I went off on a tangent and ended at Steve I was talking about morals. Very simply I was taught that all women have 13 charms. These are adjustability, courage, creativity, enthusiasm, growth, humility, love, loyalty, patience, poise, responsibility, sharing, sincerity. At different points in a ladies life she shows these charms in different ways and in different magnitudes. They are all there though and are all shining. Growing up, I would be told twice a summer that I showed one charm in particular. It would be presented to be on a painted leather bracelet with a simple metal strap. I’m currently looking at my accumulated collected bracelets as we speak. Right as I grabbed them, I got a rush of chills. Woah Sally. Weird. Sometimes I don’t believe in spirits but just letting these babies sit on my lap is giving me a chilling sensation. I think because these bracelets all have extreme sentiments to me. They represent different points in my life. I look at these bracelets and realize how far I have come. I have received: sincerity, love, joy and enthusiasm, courage, responsibility, sharing, sharing (twice) creativity, love (twice!), and responsibility (twice!).

I’ve never received the other charms that I listed above. But I still believe that I have these charms inside of me.

In particular, I feel that I am working right now on my patience. My booklet defines it as To graciously outlast stress. I once heard the quote that patience isn’t time but trust. I TRUST deep down that things will work out as they should. It is really hard to realize this yet invigorating at the same time. I have the essential tools to trust what will be. I trust in the sounds of silence. I trust in the world around me. and most of all, I trust myself.

Now I know that I make mistakes. But I think I would have made a lot more mistakes in my life without the guidance of amazing people in the environment that I had it at my camp. Ah youth. I feel it slipping through my fingers faster and quicker then I can comprehend.

Relief from reality

Above, is a gorgeous picture of the CU Boulder campus. I will admit that I have traveled a good amount of places, but really I think Boulder is hands down one of the prettiest places and campuses that I have ever stepped onto. The actual buildings all match, and I was told (or hopefully I’m not making this up) that they were designed to look Italian inspired. There are an abundance of bathrooms and toilet paper is always available. (If you’re laughing right now at the randomness of that observation, it is crucial to my daily life on campus!) I’ve also come to find that my professors are great what they do. As ad advertising major, all of my professors have worked in or currently work in the business. They want us to do our best and go above and beyond what is expected of them. I do not know what I will be doing the next stage in my life but I do know that I have been trained and pushed in positive directions because of them.

On another note, the students at CU are beautiful. I am not talking about myself, in fact, lets entirely exclude myself and even my group of friends (who I think are gorgeous.) The majority of the campus is crawling with fit, tan, attractive, white teethed, groomed kids. These kids drive Audis, pay really high rent (or their parents do), and party pretty hard.

CU doesn’t have a reputation for a reason. I must say, through all of this stereotyping, that there are a good amount of really amazing people at CU or at Boulder who hide in the shadows. I challenge you to step up! I know that we are not the most diverse school, but it would be so great to meet some interesting people every once in a while. Living in Europe, I was exposed to so many different types of people and I miss that here. I feel like I am constantly only introduced to one single type of person. The one I described above.

Then, ratings surface like GQ’s top douche-iest colleges comes out. That looks really good for our reputation. At the same time, it totally fits into that stereotype. The people at CU crave to be hippies, but only do it if they can eat at Whole Foods and wear

RECYCLED

designer Seven Jeans.

I don’t know if I am conforming into one of these people or trying to rebel against them. Ah Help!

A Bag of Popcorn

I decided to open up with the recent speech (or start rather) that Benjamin Nentanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, gave to the United Nations. It was very controversial, and I know that it got a lot of reactions. I’m still in disbelief that he compared the current situation to the heights of  WWII and Nazi Germany being battled by the Allies. Powerful stuff. I remember when I was in Israel this past winter break and he was running for Prime Minister. No one thought that he had a chance because Tzippi Livni was doing so well, but then out of nowhere a few months later, I wander off into the la-la land that is Europe, I come back, and here’s BB (as they call him in Israel) making emotional, daring speeches to the UN in Israel’s defense.

The reason that I found this speech to be so interesting, was the current controversy of the UN condemning Israel for operation Cast-Lead this past January. During this “war”, Israel defended itself for the constant bombs and rockets that had been sent into the towns neighboring the Gaza Strip.

I’m not going to lie, I love being updated on politics, but it really ticks me off when people are misinformed, and thus, don’t know what they’re talking about. Israel has every single right to defend itself, and if it didn’t, it simply wouldn’t survive.

Being pro-Israel, and actively so, has allowed me to have great exposure to the political scene. I have met both of the current Colorado Senators, while lobbying for the current, and yet again, controversial bill on the floor, IRPSA, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act. A good amount of congress was signing onto the bill, until Obama came along and decided that it wasn’t his cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, I love Obama, but at the same time, there has to be a fine line where “tough diplomatic conversations” might not work.

I could ramble on and on about this, but I forgot that I need to explain why this post is titled a bag of popcorn. It all started this summer, when I found myself in the hot sweltering humidity that encompasses Washington DC during the months of May, June and July. Two friends and I had wandered around capital hill after lobbying with Congressman Jared Polis, our representative from Boulder County. We decided that it would be a good idea to try to hunt down the senators (yes, I know that we are stalkers) and sure enough, we totally found BOTH of them. I like Senator Udall and all, but let me tell you, Bennett came with quite a surprise. We found him exiting one of the buildings on capital hill hovering popcorn into his face at the speed of which an 11 year old would do the same at the height of his all time favorite movie. What really struck me was his casualness. We talked to him and he walked us out and around the building as he told us that the weather was quite a change from what he was used to in Denver. All of the conversation was fine and dandy, but really I couldn’t stop watching him eat that darn popcorn. He was just such a human. I mean for me, meeting senators is a big deal. Frankly, it would be like a huge KISS fanatic meeting KISS to discover that they all like Pokemon. Or something like that. The point being is this: I realized that day that politicians are really like the rest of us. Sure, they argue about health care, and sanctions against scary countries that build nuclear bombs like Iran, but deep down, they all like listening to Celine Dion too while painting their nails! (Gawh, looks like that one is just me.)