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"The Country Belongs to You... Protesting Lies and Fraud is Your Right." -Mir Hossein Mousavi [Tuesday
June 23, 2009]
[ mood | sympathetic ]

For my friends who may not be following the news (and also for those who do):

Something is happening in Iran.

On June 12th, the Iranian government held elections between the hard-line incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and moderate reformist opponent Mir Hossein Mousavi. Hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens cast their votes by hand on paper ballots, and within a few mere hours after polls closed, election officials announced that the tremendous volume of ballots had been hand counted and the results were in: current regime leader Ahmadinejad won by a landslide. In some regions the "counted" numbers reflect him securing close to 200% of the population's vote.

The people of Iran cried election fraud and have since taken to the streets in massive protest. They claim their votes were never counted and the voice they were promised by their government was gagged by a rigged election. News sources report that within at least 50 cities, the reported number of votes significantly outweighs the actual population. Uncountable numbers of passionate citizens have overtaken the streets of Tehran clad in green; first in violent riots and now marching in mostly silent, peaceful protest.

Their government is again attempting to silence their voices. The Ayatollah, Iran's religious and Supreme Leader, has condemned the protests as acts of rebellion and sanctioned the Basiji - Iran's militia/secret police force - to use violence against the unarmed protesters who now stand in peaceful opposition. This militia has ransacked dorm rooms, broken into homes sheltering protesters, and tracked supporters to brutalize and arrest them later. They have gunned down civilians and opened fire on peaceful demonstrations. The government banned international media from covering the condemned protests in Tehran and also shut down most electronic communications.

Still, the Iranians continue to bravely stand up for their rights to a fair election, fair representation, and a freer government. Mousavi and his supporters are calling for a nullification of the June 12th election and an outside investigation of the election fraud. The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a resolution against the human rights violations of the Iranian government. President Obama issued a statement against the injustice on Saturday:
"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that was lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights...
"...Martin Luther King, Jr. once said - 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people's belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness." (Read the whole thing here.)

As upholders of freedom, peace, and justice, let us stand in solidarity with the protesters in Iran. Let us give volume to their voices. Write to your state representatives asking them to support definitive action against the Iranian government's human rights violations. Contact the UN and pressure them to investigate the fraudulent election. Share the stories of the Iranian freedom fighters risking their lives for justice. We will not let their voices go silent.

Further Information:

A visual explanation of the Iranian government system
Iran's government explained in graphs and words
Election and post-election turmoil coverage in The Boston Globe's "The Big Picture"
Comprehensive collection of news articles, blogs, photostreams, and Twitter feeds

Sometimes I Write Poetry... [Wednesday
April 22, 2009]
[ mood | contemplative ]

How It Started and What It Was Like For Me

Toes curled around
your toes wrapped around
my ankle
while your arms wish
for someone else
to share a thick October sky.

Face framed by blanket,
hair hiding eyes,
"You're beautiful like that,"
as though your words could hide
how your eyes replace her face
over mine.

"It would be so easy."
And action soon replaces words
under blankets on grass
while I become your experience
and she remains your dream.

And just like the shadows that swallowed us
while our bodies swallowed each other
The idea of her shades my idea
of how you really feel
about the one you're holding
versus the one you're holding out for.

National Novel Writing Month 2008 [Monday
November 10, 2008]
[ mood | creative ]

After a week of procrastinating while trying to make up my mind, I've finally decided to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year. I'm cheating a little by using a story I started three or four years ago and abandoned after the third chapter. Now that I'm no longer overwhelmed with classes and assignments, I figured this is the perfect time to pick it up again, and hopefully NaNo will give me the push I need to finish it this time. Wish me luck!


The Post-Election Wind-Down [Thursday
November 06, 2008]
[ mood | happy ]

So now that I've had a few days to process Tuesday's outcome and can string together more than a few coherent sentences, I wanted to post some of my musings from Election Day.

Working the polls was long but fun. We had a huge rush of voters when the polls first opened at 6:00 a.m. and another small rush around dinner time, with a steady trickle of voters throughout the rest of the day. The district I was working in had a 90% voter turn out and a good amount of first-time voters, which was awesome. I was proud of all the first-timers and remembered how monumental it felt when I voted for the first time four years ago. I was surprised at how many people had no idea which voting district they belonged in, though. Our polling place held two districts -- 6 and 9 -- for the same development, divided by street name. The town itself was divided into 10 districts, spread between 5 or 6 different polling places. I would estimate that 60% of all the voters who turned out at our polling place on Tuesday had to be redirected to the right district. My favorite was asking people for their street address to help them figure out their district; most people replied with either, "Uh, Lumberton...?" or "Bobby's Run...?", the name of the development for both districts 6 and 9. Thanks for stating the obvious; now help me out with some specifics so I can figure out which of the 9 other districts you belong in! Despite the constant *headdesk* moments, though, I'm glad that I had the experience. It was fun to feel like such a part of the process on such a historic night.

And now, whether you voted Republican, Democrat, or third-party; whether you believe that our President-elect is a terrorist-endorsing socialist or that he is the next John F. Kennedy; whether you fear or celebrate what's ahead in the next four years, I hope that we can lay aside some of our differences and recognize the sheer gravity of the social and historical impact of Tuesday's outcome. That is hopefully something that everyone can celebrate.

Democracy At Work... [Monday
November 03, 2008]
[ mood | amused ]
[ music | Rachael Yamagata | "Wore Me Down" ]

So I voted today after going through a crazy ordeal to obtain an absentee ballot because I'll be working the polls outside of my voting district tomorrow.

Here's the whole crazy story. At the end of September, I applied to work the polls in my county on election day. It pays $200 for the day and I'll be doing my part to stop voter fraud, so I thought, "Why not?" I faxed in my application and got a letter in the mail about a week later with the date for a mandatory training session to learn how to open and close the polls. The officials who gave the training told us prospective poll workers to expect our assignments in the mail should we be chosen to work on election day. We also filled out a form with our contact info in case they didn't have an opening for us until the last minute. I filled out my form and specified that I could be contacted to work up until the day before the election. We were all encouraged to apply for absentee ballots, as it was likely that we'd be working outside our voting districts and probably wouldn't have enough time to vote in our home districts over the hour-long break we'll be allotted.

Fast-forward to last week, when the Election Board called my house to say they didn't need me. I hadn't bothered to apply for an absentee ballot, because I didn't want to vote absentee if I didn't have to. Something about voting in an actual booth makes it all feel more official. I was bummed at the loss of my potential $200 pay check as well as the loss of a pretty cool experience. I was happy that I didn't have to vote absentee, though.

Fast-forward again to today, in the middle of my late-afternoon naptime after a hard day of filling out job applications at every Barnes & Noble Bookstore in a 20-mile radius of my house. I was in the middle of some half-lucid dream when the phone rang. It was the Election Board calling to ask if I was still interested in working tomorrow. I answered with a "Hells yes!", wrote down the address of the polling place which is only one town away from my own, and took a drive to make sure I could find the place before I set out to start my day at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow. I left my house at 3:45 p.m. and found the polling place a little after 4:00. While I was out, I remembered that today was the cut-off for obtaining absentee ballots, so I took a short drive to the county courthouse to get my ballot and vote so I wouldn't have to stress about getting it done over my break tomorrow.

I got to the courthouse at about 4:30, only to be told by a security guard that the cut-off for obtaining an absentee ballot was at 3:00 this afternoon. I'd have to head up to the 7th floor to see a judge to be approved for a ballot. That's right. I had to see the judge who had the state attorney general on speakerphone to verify that I was a registered voter and approve my need to vote absentee since I had missed the deadline by an hour and a half. Everything checked out after the attorney general's office had fits with the spelling of my name (I heard them talking in the background over the speaker phone: "There's no Rebecca listed? Try it with one 'c'?" Then, "Can you spell your first name for us?" After which the attorney general joked that he had to give me a demerit for not spelling my difficult name for them earlier. "This is going on your permanent record!"). The judge sent me back down to the county clerk's office to fill out an absentee ballot application which I then had to bring back up to him to receive a court order which I then had to bring to the clerk's office along with my application so I could finally receive my ballot, which I promptly filled out in the privacy of the empty ladies' room and dropped off at the Board of Elections in the building next door.

And that's the story of how I voted early. See you at the polls tomorrow!

1 |

Random Musings [Friday
October 24, 2008]
[ mood | contemplative ]

Life is different at 22. Rules change, and suddenly things that youth pastors yelled at us about in high school are no longer sinful, forbidden, wrong - they're just adult. We act on urges and impulse because we learn through experience that life isn't neatly compartmentalized into black and white; life is feeling and doing and learning as we go, because none of us have it figured out yet and that's okay, because life is lived and understood through discovery.

Why did it take me eight years to let go?
Why am I just now waking up to the world at 22, when so many others use college for the same awakening?
Why am I only now sharing secrets in back seats of cars?

I think this is my delayed coming of age.

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Some Obervations from my Return to Temping... [Tuesday
August 12, 2008]
[ mood | working ]

-3:00 is the longest hour ever.
-It's actually nice to be up for the sunrise.
-Sitting can hurt just as much as standing.
-Lunch orders are serious business.
-Smiles go a long way.
-Inter-office conspiracies involving foreign languages are fun.


What do you do with a BA in English? or My Life as a Post-Grad [Tuesday
July 29, 2008]
[ mood | discontent ]
[ music | "Snails" | The Format ]

Nothing makes me feel like a waste of four years and $128,000 more than the post-graduation job search. Finally, after spending half the summer deciding where to look for employment and the current half papering the East coast with a trail of resumes, I've landed a month-long temporary assignment as a receptionist for a PVC plant an hour from home.

Living at home after spending the last four years growing into some version of an adult is interesting. My parents think that I'm still 14 years old. My mom thinks I'm an alcoholic because I buy a bottle of wine every couple of weeks. On the plus side, I don't have to cook, pay utilities, or do laundry. It's like the weekends I used to spend at home during college. But then I wake up and realize that this is the rest of my life. Functioning in the real world isn't quite what they make it out to be.


A Fresh Start [Friday
July 25, 2008]
[ mood | accomplished ]
[ music | Recessional | Vienna Teng ]

I've decided to return to LiveJournal after a previous failed attempt to keep a consistent online journal. I updated my layout and I friends locked my old angsty entries. I lurk around enough communities around here; it's time I actually put my journal to use!


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