more NRU

****crazy weekend that included too much time in a hospital and then going through with the overnight I had planned for my parents means I didn't get to post this when I was supposed to....

Happy to post this article about Patagonia calling out consumerism ... yup, may sound counterproductive to their bottom line, but they are standing by what they believe when it comes to the environment.

I am including these families in my metta meditation ... as I struggle to reconcile my anger at the doctors in the hospital where my sister died, I am trying to draw inspiration from the compassion this man's family is applying in their situation. May they have the strength to bear this loss; may they continue to face each day with the courage of their convictions; may they be at peace, and may Jose Antonio rest in peace.

This is a heartbreaking piece on a woman trying to fight criminals who got arrested by the feds in Mexico. She is not unlike Urrea's heroine in Into the Beautiful North, except with tragic results. I hope this news coverage will help to shame the Mexican government into a reversal.  They cannot claim that they care about the war on drugs and criminals in our media while they are doing this at home.  And as a now US citizen, I hope that our government is also taking note of this treatment.

Yikes and super yikes ... I have a friend who gets a lot of grief for her decision to choose different hairstyles at different times, and when she went natural, we talked about it a fair amount. I was so excited for her to not have to be subjecting herself to so many chemicals -- and any style of hair looks great on her.  She loves to do her hair and doesn't mind the work and time involved ... so what is it to other folks.  If I had to endure the number of comments she does about her hair, I would have hurt several people already.  So reading this piece about telling a seven year old to change her hairstyle appalled me.  Ugh ... what they need to do is get those administrators some therapy time.  They all need to talk about why their standard of beauty only includes certain looks.  Ugh, and double ugh.  So glad Tiana has such lovely, supportive parents.  Dad said, "But the way I teach my kids is regardless of what people say, you be yourself and you be happy with who you are and how God made you."  Love him.  Thank goodness for those parents ... I think they were right to move her to another school as well -- they don't need apologies, they need people not to harass their daughter.

I am wondering when the networks would respond to the ultimate bullies.  It is a wonder we deign to call ourselves a democracy. I just cannot fathom how bullying results in so much results for the GOP.  As we come upon the shutting down of our government because the GOP has lost every attempt to make health care reform go away ... there are just too many examples of their bad behavior - it is not just partisan, it is petty, adolescent and worst of all tolerated by too many people.  Bullies, go home ... and others, stand up and let bullies know that this behavior will not be accepted.