long vacation

It's been a long vacation from blogging. I've been busy gardening, bird watching, and just being alive. Best of all, I got married to my love.

watch out squirrels

Beware squirrels there's a new sheriff in town, the Red-tailed Hawk. Last week a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk stopped in an elm tree in the backyard for a gray squirrel meal. This was the first time we saw a Red-tailed Hawk in the yard and we had a front row seat to the carnage. The hawk vigorously pulled apart the squirrel and ate. After a while, crows swarmed in and mobbed it. Eventually the hawk had enough of being harassed and flew off with the squirrel in its talons.

A juvenile Red-tailed Hawk with its prey.

Crows harassing the hawk

i'm a bad consumer

I haven't written anything for a while because I've been sucked into posting on Facebook and spending a lot of time watching videos online at Films for action. My favorite film so far is "The Good Consumer" because I'm a bad consumer. This video pretty much sums up how I feel about shopping.

happy birthday dr. seuss!

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." - The Lorax

university of rochester students in solidarity with people of gaza

Indymedia Rochester, NY, reported, "UR-SDS Occupies University of Rochester in Solidarity with People of Gaza"

"Students from the University of Rochester and members of the local Rochester community will be occupying the atrium of Goergen Hall on the River Campus of the University of Rochester (275 Hutchinson Road) today for peace and in solidarity with the people Gaza and in opposition to U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the recent atrocities in Gaza. The action, organized by U of R Students for a Democratic Society (UR-SDS), will begin on the afternoon of Friday, February 6 and will last until the University of Rochester administration meets the demands.

The student occupation will feature a number of informational and peaceful consciousness raising events such as public talks, teach-ins, and sit-ins. The action was inspired by a wave of student occupations that occurred in 16 universities in England (1, 2) following the Israeli assault on Gaza."

no groundhog, just an opossum

Happy Groundhog day! The all powerful Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, which means winter continues for six more weeks. In Minnesota that could mean a lot longer, groundhog or not.

Punxsutawney Phil, February 2, 2009
Photo from groundhog.org.

I feel sorry for Punxsutawney Phil, who was awakened from hibernation. It's like when your alarm clock goes off early and you realize that you have a half hour of sleep left. Poor Phil is thinking screw you, "let me sleep. I see my shadow now let me go the f--k back to bed." I empathize, I like hibernating in winter too.

In the northland, groundhogs (or woodchucks) are still hibernating. Or they should be. It's still bleeping cold here. Last weekend there were no groundhog appearances, but there was a Virginia Opossum foraging in the backyard. It's North America's only marsupial. Kind of cute.

Virgina Opossum, in backyard

relive protesting the rnc without the pepper-spray

Two new films document the protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota, "Ground Noise & Static and Terrorizing Dissent." Both are available online. You can relive protesting at the RNC without getting pepper-sprayed.

Terrorizing Dissent - Election Cut is an exposé of events at the RNC. "Featuring first-person accounts and footage from more than forty cameras on the streets, 'Terrorizing Dissent' focuses on the story of dissent suppressed. People charged with "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism" speak out against the government's campaign to manipulate media coverage and label civil disobedience and community organizing as terrorism."

Ground Noise & Static is a video report on the protests that occurred in connection with the 2008 Democrat and Republican National Conventions. From the filmmakers, "Ground Noise & Static is a manifesto. We went to Denver and St. Paul to take the pulse of the movement. Corporate media would cover the platitudes and posturing of the politicians, we were interested in something else, a story hidden in plain sight, captured in the now-classic street chant, 'This is what democracy looks like.' Ground Noise & Static is a joint effort of Franklin López of subMedia and PepperSpray Productions. It is the direct result of a wonderful collaboration with many indymedia-style activists and journalists who all pitched in for the common good and success of their various efforts to tell their 'Unconventional' stories."

Terrorizing Dissent RNC08 Election Cut Trailer