With just over two weeks left, if you aren't aware the latest updates to important bills, or understand the affects of each, keep reading! We'll start this issue of The Pioneer with an update from our marvelous lobbyist, Roxanne Gould, and followed by a summary of each bill, their current statuses, what they really mean for the future of the. Today's # CambioparaCambio champion highlight is the Latino Student Union at Sumner Academy of Arts & Science. This team joined us for the first time this year. They hope to raise $2,000 for Latino Sumner Academy seniors. Don't forget all donations will be matched 100%.
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Nj online casinos. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is calling for action. He tells us that we cannot simply pray for change, or wait for the government to solve the problems we face, we must each act at an individual and community level. We have accepted his challenge, we wonder if you will too.
Yesterday, we posted our first message. We received feedback privately (which we really appreciate!) that our post was too long, too superficial, and confusing. We wonder if you notice the contradiction there?
We were confused! We saw that our post was seen by many but liked by few, shared by fewer, and commented on by none. We wonder if PEACE, the clear goal of our movement, is really something people want.
Casino play for fun. How do you expect that we can accomplish PEACE by trying to explain our human condition in 140 characters, a’la Twitter?! We have 17 days left to get this discussion started and it cannot be carried out only in emoticons and short forms, nor by summarizing thoughts in easily-sharable memes. We wonder if you can spare the time.
A few days ago, like many other people, I covered my profile picture with the image of the French flag after a few lunatics detonated some bombs shouting ‘Allahu akbar!’ in Paris. Even I, overcome by a wave of emotion and therefore lack of reflection, took ‘action’. Mission complete?
I woke up to a message from my Muslim friend asking me why I was mourning for those in Paris when I had not shown the same solidarity for those that had died in Syria and Lebanon – or Iraq, or Afghanistan. I told him it was because I had many French friends, but my answer made me realize something very important: real impact would be bringing all of those affected by war – all of us – together. But I didn’t know how I could get access to everyone.
Changing our profile picture is empty action. We think we are showing solidarity but we are really demonstrating that we don’t know what else we can do. Even worse, this kind of social demonstration gives politicians moral permission to escalate war, sending our friends, brothers, fathers, boyfriends, and husbands off to die, and, naively, we don’t even realize that we actually asked for it. This kind of show of ‘solidarity’ is nothing more than empty instant gratification; it makes us feel like we’ve acted but we never reflect on the real IMPACT of that action. And hey, it looks great, doesn’t it?
This message from my Muslim friend reminded me of the ideals I had when I was 10 years old, when I still believed that everything was possible and that I could do something really great with my life. I remembered a time, just before Christmas, when I was filled with hope and excitement. Our house was prepared for celebration, it was a happy and cheerful place. But one day, I went into the kitchen and I found my mother crying. I asked her, ‘What happened?’ and she answered me, ‘Somebody killed John Lennon!’. True story.
That memory was like a trigger, I knew what I had to do. I realized that I did have access to everyone affected by war, all of us, through Facebook, and that together we could change this world. Full of hope, we launched SexiLeaks the very next day.
We had no experience starting a project of this magnitude but we were driven by those same ideals that I had felt as a 10-year old boy. We all still have those ideals inside of us, no matter how deep they are buried. We can either choose to act to make them a reality or continue to live our li(v)es, unhappy and frustrated, herded like a pack of sheep, or a mob of zombies, because we refuse to act in order to create our own destiny. I wonder how long it will take us to go through all of the flags of the world, how long before we super-impose a white flag over our Facebook picture.
Maybe our posts are not easy to consume, short and sweet, but we are not trying to reach you in the same way that mass media does. We are all familiar with the cliché scene of the ‘bad guy’ with his finger on the button connected to a nuclear launch pad. In the movies, the hero always arrives just at that moment to save the day. But we are not superheroes, or magicians, and this is real life, not the movies. There is no button that we can prevent someone from pushing in order to save this world. But we can all click on the buttons on the screens in front of us marked ‘share’ and ‘comment’ and TOGETHER we can save this world. Imagine, that would be real magic! And a real happy ending ?
Share, subscribe, comment, and invite your friends to do the same. We want to save this world but we can’t do it alone. Will you JOIN US? 17 days left.
Hi, it’s me again. To my handful of avid readers (yes, mom, I’m talking to you), I’m sorry for not writing in awhile – if you know St. Gallen at all, you know school hits you like a truck in May. Beginning this month, I started my seventh class of the semester, which is a management course every day from 9:15 am – 4 pm. The class was originally constructed for the Singapore exchange students, but they have recently opened it up to full-time and international students. While I’m learning a lot and making new friends, the class is quite time consuming. I have five exams, two papers and one presentation to prepare for over the next seventeen days.
It’s fine, I’m fine. Yes – I’m a bit overwhelmed, but I’m not writing to complain. Instead, I wanted to admit my own progress. Under very similar pressure last semester, I would’ve came home from a stressful day and had a panic attack, breaking down until I realized how little time I had to finish the rest of my work that night. Suppression followed by even more anxiety. Looking back at it now, it seems ridiculous, but in the moment, the thought of not being perfect at everything felt absolutely terrifying.
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Yesterday may have been the longest day of my life. Twelve hours of class and group projects interrupted by news that the pants I left in Prague would cost $130 to be shipped to me. I was also behind on readings from the five other classes I’d been skipping to go to my management course. After finally getting home, I felt my chest tighten. The tears were coming. Instead of collapsing, I walked into my friend’s room – the one I spend every free minute here with who already knew about my day because we blow each other’s phones up when we aren’t together. Tears did occur, but it was because we ended up talking and laughing until we were crying. I left her room feeling relieved for the first time all day, and then I went to make myself dinner – something I would’ve skipped last semester to get more work done. I saved my readings for another night, and somehow the world didn’t end.
Is this what it feels like to balance? I don’t know. I’m sure I can do better, but I do think it’s progress.
I had another epiphany a few weeks ago. I was standing outside of a bar with one of my first friends I made here in St. Gallen, and he told me it was a blessing to have had the opportunity to watch me grow throughout the semester. I wasn’t sure what he meant until he said, beer in hand…
“When I first met you, I listened to you explain your life by defending or validating specific relationships or who you were as a person. Now, you can confidently talk about yourself and the people in your life without any ‘buts’ in between. You know what you want and you know your self worth, and I hope to one day get to where you are right now.”
Cue the waterworks (if you can’t tell already, this month has been quite emotional). For someone who is constantly over-analyzing, I was shocked that I hadn’t realized such a huge change, but he was right. Through the ups and downs of traveling, reading and writing, and the conversations I’ve been having with incredible people from all over the world, I’ve been learning more and more about myself. I can recognize myself again, and that’s liberating.
Speaking of people, I’ve realized that it has been those around me who have created every favorite memory I have abroad so far. It’s the laughs and the deep conversations and even the stupid ones that have made this experience for me. Ever since my first trip to Europe when I was twelve years old, I had this dream of studying abroad and seeing the world, and while the scenery has been beautiful and the food to die for, the people I’ve befriended at school, traveled with and met in every city have made my experience – the Singaporeans, Swiss and Germans in my management course, my people from back at home that have met me all over Europe, the hostel workers with crazy stories about past lives, even the random girl on the train that made sure I didn’t miss my stop. I will forever appreciate the unplanned, yet strangely compatible people that just so happen to cross paths with mine.
This concept of crossing paths always reminds me of a podcast I listened to a few months ago about synchronicity, a psychology term Carl Jung defined as an, “acausal connecting principle” introducing the idea that coincidences can occur with no relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related. In other words, everything happens for a reason. Fate. While I’m not particularly religious, this is a concept that has always resonated with me. Almost every person or situation that has occurred in my life has resulted in a lesson, self-improvement or happiness.
Looking back at my semester so far, this awareness feels realer than it ever has before. I’ve learned so much in such a short time, and I’ve had an absolute blast. These people have come into my life for a reason. I’ve made a life long friend who I will be visiting in California next semester (but still, go cocks). I now have friends from Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Romania, Chile, Mexico, Russia, China, Uruguay and Singapore. I strengthened friendships from back at home or school by creating memories we will never forget. I met someone who treats me like I’m the perfect person I’ve always wanted to be.
17 Days Left Of Class
While this isn’t my last post (jokes on you I’m actually never leaving), I think it’s important to reflect on the people who have influenced our lives up until this point. Counting the friends I’m leaving here is depressing, but the feeling is often combatted with excitement to see my people back at home. I can’t wait to see my brother and the rest of the family. I’m actually experiencing withdrawal from my best friends. It’s weird that some of them are graduating and I can’t physically be there. As the days are dwindling, there are so many emotions – sadness, fear, eagerness, joy – probably similar to what graduation feels like. In a panic that I may never see these people again, I’ve continuously reminded myself that if I know anything, it’s that friendships are one of the strongest, most meaningful parts of our lives, and even fate can’t split them apart.