Blurbs From Eunee's Mind (and Life)

Spring has come to Long Island! Actually, it has been here for a while now; I just haven't had time to blog it. But I HAVE managed to take some pictures of the great bloomingness! :) I think it's my first real spring ever. I mean, can you actually compare the "spring" in New Orleans or Los Angeles to this? No. Really. . . . No. This is on my favorite route to New York City and back - the Northern State Parkway. The sky was soooo blue, not too many clouds in the sky, and flowers were blooming. It was a gorgeous day to open up my windows and sun roof, and drink it all in! (By the way, attempt taking pictures while driving ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK.....) Um....yeah, the same drive. :) It was so irresistible.... Oh, I guess I should disclose that I saw this man doing the exact same thing I was! (Taking pictures while driving....He's the one who actually gave me the idea of doing this....So yeah, all you adults out there! Remember, kids like me are watching you!) Hee hee.

Now that classes are over, I have a lot to read. Not that I didn't enjoy the class readings (because I'm going to recommend a lot of them here) but now I can read more of what is specific to my summer business and my area of interest. Plus I can read at a more leisurely pace. But never mind what I'm going to read; I wanted to recommend some books for you to read. These are not fiction, but nonetheless, they'll be enjoyable, thought-provoking, and might even make you laugh. They definitely made me think and I suppose I'll be delving more into these areas as the months go by. So here are some books I highly recommend: The Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Friere What's the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America - Thomas Frank One Market Under God - Thomas Frank The Corrosion of Character - Richard Sennett The Conservative Nanny State - Dean Baker (this is available online here where you can either order a paperback version, read it onl

OK, in light of all that is happening in the world, I feel a bit bad that I am blogging about this. But read my other blog here for today's entry on the incident happening that brought tears to my eyes this morning because I cannot believe that humanitarian aid is being blocked by such a selfish group of people.... Anyway, this is a story of what made me laugh last night, and earlier this afternoon as I talked to my friend again (who was with me last night when this happened). I guess that's how life is - tears of sadness and tears of joy exist in harmony because without one you might not really know the extent of the other. OK, sorry to keep diverting to something more philosophical as this incident really is not philosophical at all! It happened after 9 p.m. last night in the School of Social Welfare (my department). Being kicked out of the library (apparently it doesn't matter that finals are drawing near....Friday nights everyone must stop studying in the library by 9

Did you expect a part three??? I bet you didn't! Especially as it has been a while since I have returned. But I still feel like I owe it to my beloved city to include this part. Part Three (Trois is three in French) covers the part that is not quite so happy or fun. We drove down to the 9th Ward area and the Desire Housing Projects area where I used to tutor as a college student, and I was saddened to see that almost 3 years after Katrina, George Washington Carver High School was still closed.... Rebuilding was going on, however slowly. One friend was indignant - that people were allowed to rebuild on plots of land that will obviously flood again. I didn't know what to say because I feebly wondered where these people would then rebuild their lives. Where would they find a plot of land where they could rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives? The obstacles in this area were numerous, but to change the location of their homes to somewhere else in New Orleans would be almost i