phones for the homeless

Google announced that they will be handing out free cell phones and free voicemail to all the homeless in San Francisco, working with shelters and homeless outreach programs to distribute the phones. I think this is a fabulous idea and I'm interested to see how it works out. The one thing that was really clear to me when I was volunteering with homeless women was that a big part of their situation was the isolation that being homeless creates. No phone is a big issue in keeping people from being hired for jobs as well as being able to open a bank account (the other issue is no mailing address). And while naturally there will be those people who would use the phones for illegal activity such as running drugs, etc. there will still be others who will truly benefit from this.

What most people don't realize is that a lot of the homeless out there would much rather pick up there lives and get a job, find a stable place to live and be off the streets. It's when they are given the tools they need to break down the walls of isolation that the lack of money creates in this society that these people are then able to lift themselves up. Simple things like clean clothes, showers, free medical attention, computer and internet access, help with writing a resume and yes, phones...a means of communication with the rest of this fast paced society that is more interested in making sure that they take care of themselves. Who cares about anyone else, right? Me, me, me. The matra of our consumer driven society.

Duh

At least someone is saying something against the treatment of Palestine by Israel on a global level. It would be nice to have some action as well rather than just talk.

I'm still here!

It feels like forever since I last posted...sorry! But I'm back and I've got a couple of days worth of pics to share from last night and last weekend. I'll start with last night...went out with my friend Sarah who is visiting Seattle and caught the lunar eclipse from gasworks park. I didn't get any good pictures of the moon, but I had some fun with the skyline:




Next I've got pics from snowshoeing on monday...that was a ton of fun! I went with my coworker, Craig, and his dog...my godpup...Guinness. We managed to make it out of the mountains alive without getting eaten up by any avalanches...so that was a good thing. We also didn't get eaten up by any sasquatches, but mainly cause we had Guinney with us who scared the sasquatch away by barking his head off at one point. And man was there a lot of snow up in the mountains! For those who are curious we were in the Cascades attempting to climb up to Lake Annette...but we didn't make it...making your own trail in the mountains on snow shoes is a lot more tiring than normal hiking, let me tell you!

Such a handsome pup!

Here be old avalanche debris

That's right, there was so much snow the road signs were covered up.

And now my last batch of pics...just a few more I promise. I went out to Port Angeles and Sequim with my good friend Lisa and her parents for a tour of some wine tastings. I think my favorite winery was Lost Mountain...it's hidden away up in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains so you can sip wine outside on their deck while surrounded by moss covered trees and slight views of the mountains through the branches. We also had some fun walking around the beach in Sequim and then had dinner at the Three Crabs Restaurant which reminded me of my grandmother because i think the last time I ate there was with her..which was a bittersweet memory...I'll start you off with a silly pic from the ferry ride over to the Olympic peninsula: