I Am NOT Black, You are NOT White. These Labels were Made Up to Divide us.
Posted by Prince Ea on lunes, 2 de noviembre de 2015
"I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for" - John Mayer
We are more than the bodies and the faces that we were born with. Time and surgery can change how we look, but our minds, our souls, are beyond our bodies. Who we are is not confined to our bodies. Who we are is SO MUCH MORE. "If there were no 'us' and 'them'...We would be one."
"I just don't get it. I don't get how people in different countries all over the world can be frightened of people who suffered so much, who are so in need, who are so desperately asking to have freedom, justice and dignity. Just give them a welcome."Our video from Mandy Patinkin's recent trip with IRC to Lesbos, Greece, in which he traveled to as soon as he wrapped shooting this season of Homeland. For more on Mandy's perspective on the refugee crisis, read his latest op-ed on the Washington Post: http://bit.ly/1IONmYV
Posted by International Rescue Committee on lunes, 7 de diciembre de 2015
"Our address is AirBnB" writes a man who has spent months hopping from one New York apartment to the next with his partner. They have different personalities and desires and frustrations with the monthly moves, but overall have found not only great things about AirBnB as a company, but about real estate in NY, about neighborhoods in and around Manhattan, and about what we really need to live.
After a few months of living with just a few bags, they determined that their storage unit was packed with belongings they once thought they would eventually want, but ended up donating, instead...recognizing it as superfluous to their needs. It's funny how we think we need some things only until they aren't there and we are able to forget about them.
A long read, but an interesting one if you last to the end, there are a lot of themes that will resonate with you wanderlust dreamers and livers of life out there. There will be moments where you ask what human can afford $3,000/month and still have money left to eat...and then you will sympathize with their rat infested walks to their local bodega where they find worms in their pasta.
NY...I often wonder why so many people love the place. I suppose being a wanderer in and around it short-term could make all the difference!
I may be biased, but I'm stoked to announce the opening season for the very best surf travel destination in Costa Rica: CRsurftrip! We're beyond excited that we are turning our dream of owning a business and our love of budget-friendly travel, the great outdoors, trip-planning and our passion for surfing, friends, and family into reality! The inaugural surf season 2015-2016 is officially open at CRsurftrip: a fun, friendly, come-as-you-are surf school, camp and trip company based in Playa Sámara, Costa Rica. At CRsurftrip, you can come alone or with a group and you can stay local for lessons or take one of our 1/2 or full day trips, or, even better, let us take you on a 5-day (or custom-length) adventure where you can see and surf multiple beaches! Click here for info on surf options and pricing.
We also have a trip-planning menu that will allow you to combine our surf options with any of the following activities: yoga, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking tours, horseback riding tours, zip-lining, fishing, whale-watching, dolphin-watching, turtle nesting tours, whitewater rafting, and more!
In addition, we have accommodation options to meet any budget from the "I'd rather spend money on activities"-minded traveler to the "I need a break and a massage and a cocktail beachfront, NOW, at any price"-traveler. We've been both, so we've got you, no matter what is driving your travel desires and decisions! All of our options are meant to keep you comfortable and give you the Costa Rican experience of culture while allowing you safety and privacy in your own space throughout your trip.
Before, during, or after your trip, you can get surf swag for yourself, your friends and family back home to represent the awesome experience that you're sure to have with us at CRsurftrip. Send us your pictures to be featured in our gallery online and if you believe we're the best, tell us why and you could end up the headliner of our reviews page! We can't wait to host you in our Costa Rican paradise for the experience of a lifetime. Learn to surf, experience the culture and beauty of Costa Rica, make friends for life, and go home with a story to tell and a second-home to return to on your next CRsurftrip!
Sick of airlines dropping travel prices only to be side-swiped by high costs for any of your baggage? Me too. Luckily, there's a company called Orion Travel Technology that is planning something special for the start of 2016: new luggage and fee-free-baggage (for up to 6 trips...not sure if this is one way or roundtrip?)! If you're one of the first users, you'll be part of their lifetime membership which gives you unlimited fee-free-flights.
The catch? It appears there will be a yearly fee for the service and the new luggage will turn you into a walking advertisement for whatever company logo Orion sends you to stick on the bag.
Still, you get to customize one side of the bag, pay $20 total for your 6 trips worth of baggage? Just one bag can be $50, then additional baggage fees rack up quickly. Are you really that attached to your designer luggage? I, for one, am not. So bring on the reduced airfare costs (you know...back to how it was when you thought the airfare included your luggage) and send me some new bags and fun stickers...I'll be your travel-model. Watch me work that runway!
Supply and demand, my friends. Advertising: running the world, and saving us from bag fees.
I recently got to spend the day with a total stranger. Now, I would call him my friend, Florian, a German engineer who I met while he was traveling in the US for 3 weeks and we happened to be waiting for the bus to Yosemite at the same time. We started talking, and we didn't stop until we got back to the hostel.
Florian taught me a lot and reminded me a lot and just made me really happy that airplanes and internet and television and technology in general exist these days that allow the people of the world to be more globalized than ever. We talked about all of the things that people tell you not to talk about: Politics, race, immigration, voting, vacation, salaries, living habits, perspectives...it's actually much easier to talk to someone outside of your realm about these things. I think it's because they don't have as much invested in it when they don't have as much control over it? Or maybe that it's just so different from what we're used to? I wonder if Florian would disagree with me since I always recognize that people from outside of the US are always much more keenly aware of anything happening in the US than I am of things happening elsewhere. I'm not sure.
In any case, I was really excited and happy when Florian told me he really appreciated how friendly Americans are. He said they tend to be really positive people and outgoing, that they often say "hello" and greet strangers on the street. He told me that where he's from, that's really unusual to see...he thinks it's a really wonderful way to offer an opportunity to start a conversation or even just to let people know you acknowledge them.
Thanks, Florian, for a really great day, long conversation about everything, and the opportunity to expand as a person.
...Of course Americans have a lot of other attributes that maybe aren't the best. Doesn't everyone? No? Not sure.
I laughed at this video when they talked about baggy or big clothes...I wonder if they would say the same thing if they specifically asked the people interviewed to describe American women...? Probably not. I also found this funny because most people I speak to (around the world) recognize anything related to tight clothing for men as "very European"...so in that way, I think it's just a good observation of the difference in styles!
I do think it's interesting how portrayal in the media plays a role in how people view others. I wonder how much of it is TV and how much is actually knowing Americans. Do they assume that all people in McDonald's are Americans? Or do they actually know a lot of Americans that always suggest they meet up at McDonald's? I'm interested, actually.
While obesity is a problem in the US, it's also a big problem in a lot of other places. Maybe in the US people make a bigger deal about it because of the constant comparisons they make between one another and our physical appearances...the constant measuring up of our bodies...while at the same time, the girls were absolutely right: sometimes we just don't care at all and we wear PJs to school and no one thinks anything of it! I probably wouldn't even have thought about it but when they said it I was like..."yeah...they're right"; we're really concerned about our bodies and how they look, but when it comes to clothing, generally we're less concerned about the clothes, themselves, than how we look in them. Fascinating. Someone once told me they think Americans are more competitive...how strange that in some ways it's true and in others people think we are completely uninterested.
Finally...I'm definitely always eating. SO they're right; They win. Just kidding...but it's fun to see different perspectives. I think this might be a series; I'd be interested to see if they do this with perceptions of people from other countries as well.
