Due

My friend Elizabeth is due today. I wasn't able to call her over the weekend, and I feel kind of bad because I'm hoping she'll not go into labor until I get a chance to talk to her and wish her a proper "good luck". It's not fair for me to feel this way. I should be hoping she gets it out as soon as possible, especially since I know she is firmly convinced she's going to be late. I was firmly convinced I would be a week early, and I was. The end of pregnancy is just not fun. Still, I want to talk to her, like the selfish well-wisher I am.

So, I'm gonna go home early today so I can call her. Jeez, I wish I could visit her. It's one of the hard things about being here-- stuff happens back home and I don't get to be there. My friends Cindy and Heather got married-- I missed that. And I feel in my gut like people understand, but at the same time, I feel like, I don't know, like I should be faulted for choosing a lifestyle that takes me so far (literally and figuratively) from my peeps.

So I can't go visit. Yet. Instead, I'm going to ditch work a bit early, and call. I can do that.

I went to the conference yesterday by the group Women in Church and Society that I joined at 8th Day a while back. Michael and I both went. I was expecting it to be a pretty neat day, but didn't actually expect any actions to come out of it, although I knew that was the ultimate goal. The small group I was in, which focused on economics, wound up committing ourselves to working toward the decriminalization of prostitution-- at least on the part of the exploited women. Instead of prison, we think the women should be directed into education and training programs to help them overcome the social and economic issues that led them into the sex industry to begin with. I was amazed when people, almost immediately, began stepping forward with organizations, groups, individuals, and legislation that I should meet with, learn about, and support. Did a bit more research into it today. I'll keep you posted.

This morning, I met with Julian from the Resurrection Project. He works on immigration issues, and is specifically focussing right now on the legislation that's up. He's going to be coming to Youth Group on Wednesday to talk to the teens.

Also, this lady from Pilsen Neighbors has informed me that the Fiesta del Sol meetings have started up again. So we'll see about getting the youth group involved there as well.

And off of all of the above subjects, here's a quote I just found. It's from an 8th Day pamphlet published around Christmas this past year called "New Year Resolutions". This quote is from John Dear from an article called "Peace on Earth" Means "No More War"

"The story goes that when the noviolent Jesus was born into abject poverty to homeless refugees on the outskirts of a brutal empire, angels appeared in the sky to impoverished shepherds singing, "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth!" That child grew up to become, in Ghandhi's words, "the greatest nonviolent resister in the history of the world," and was subsequently executed by the empire for his insistence on justice."