***stardust

Hey, alright, it's *snowing* again! ..seriously, for it being February already, we've gotten..like, maybe a foot total this year. Where we usually have that much by like, Thanksgiving! ..*sad sigh*...'s not fair... so maybe my secondary excuse for staying home today could be that I'm taking my *own* snow day.. ;) Actually, I'm home cos I was tired - went to Long Island with Students for the Environment (henceforth referrred to as SFE, cos the real name's too long) for the Ocean Bowl, it was a great time. Had lotsa fun running around our hotel at night, going up on the roof, the Adventures of Bob the Tennis Ball, pushing one of our clubmates into the hotel pool, playing on the playground (yes, we're highschool students! *g*)..met some great people at the competition (esp. the kids from H. Frank Carey school - you guys rock). Went down to the ocean, and it was FREEZING, but very cool... took pics of *everything*... going into New York City was interesting, tho. I'd only ever been through the very fringes of it, but we went thru some of Manhatten, the Bronx, Queens, and Yonkers. (Daf and I were keeping our eyes peeled for any members of U2..knowing they were in the country for the Superbowl, and Bono'd been in NYC the day before for an economics forum..we had pen and paper/cd booklet with us, just in case-!) We caught glimpses of Times Square and stuff, which was really cool, but.. what was interesting to me was goin' thru the Bronx and stuff. We're driving around (in our 15-peep van, no less--!), looking at the poverty in this area, how run down it looks.. and the one kid with us kept sayin' how bad it was, "Look at that lot! Look at that building! Look at that tenant!", an' I started getting kinda upset at him..for one thing, he was sounding just like this stuck-up prig Ronny from a Monkees episode ("One Man Shy"). And me..I try not to look down on people. You can't always help the situation you're in..and I understand lack of financials. The graffiti all over, I didn't mind. Run-down buildings, heck, look around our own city! The people..you don't know that they're scary druggies who're gonna try and kill you and/or rape you! They could be people who liver there as missions workers, trying to save these people, for all you know! ..an' just cos someone's poor doesn't mean they're bad, not at all! ...I don't know, even our driver/advisor, who's one of my favourite teachers (and people) ever, was commenting on how every time you thought it was bad, the city just kept getting worse..and I didn't get that. I was just looking out the window, drinking it all in, trying to understand *this* way of life? Trying to learn about these people, this city, curious, interested, somewhat appalled at seeing this after seeing Times Sqaure and all but not frightened...

*Ananda Daydream * 11:01 AM * *

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