The Road To Democracy

Most people living in the United States are caught up in the presidential election year. Our current bungling president’s approval ratings are at an all time low. I suppose I will be politically correct and not endorse a particular candidate or party…but we are certainly in desperate need for a change in leadership and policy.

On the Democratic side the fight rages on between Obama and Clinton. They are starting to pull out all the stops with the mud-slinging. My perception is that Clinton is fiercer on that front. She seems to throw down a slam on Obama every chance she gets. Obama tends to be more reserved, but he won’t take the Clinton comments lying down, so he throws a nice jab back. This side of the election equation will continue to be

Mr. McCain finally is getting his day in the sun for the Republicans although probably 8 years too late. I’m not sure if we are ready for a president that needs to go to the senior special at Denny’s at 4:00 in the afternoon. But seriously, I’m sure this election season will still hold a number of surprises as it progresses to the general election in November. As long as the candidates can hold themselves together and not pull a Spitzer! As we have been starting the World Neighbor business in the middle of a recession we have only an upward trajectory to look forward to as the economy recovers! That is my optimistic view anyway….

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World Neighbor's Next Trip to Mexico

I changed my next trip from Nicaragua to Mexico. My daughter has Leukemia so I need to able to come back quickly. Mexico City has multiple direct flights from Chicago while there are no direct flight from Chicago to Nicaragua and they are less frequent. I plan on heading out to the Patzcuaro area a few hours outside of Mexico City where there are a number of indigenous craftspeople that I am going to work with. I am leaving in April and I am extremely excited to be going. There are coppersmiths, reed weavers, textile weavers and pottery makers. I hope to be able to purchase a good number of items for the World Neighbor Store.

I also have some new items that just arrived from Egypt as well as some other items coming from Greece. I will be placing those up in the store over the next few weeks. I am happy that our inventory is expanding to different corners of the world. I am in contact with a number of Vietnamese vendors that I hope to set up a relationship with over the next year or so.

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Bin Laden Blathers On

World Neighbor denounces all those that spew hatred and perpetrate violent acts against anyone. "Osama Bin Laden" released another taped recording recently in reaction to a Danish newspaper publishing a cartoon of Muhammad. Islamic law prohibits the image of Muhammad so Bin Laden whipped out the normal set of terrorist threats. I am all for free speech since it is the underpinning of allowing true freedom to exist for people. At the same time I understand religious and cultural difference and our need to be sensitive to these issues. I think Muslims have every right to be angry and upset over this violation of their religious beliefs. How do I reconcile this centrist view? I’m not exactly sure…it is never an easy task, but if we are ever to be successful at building bridges between cultures we must know empathy.

One non-violent solution would be for Muslims to boycott all things Danish. I have even read about some bakeries in Egypt that have renamed the "danish" rolls to "muslim" rolls. Will this take money out of the pockets of the Danish? No. But it is a nice humorous way for Muslims to tell them how pissed off they are.

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Tibetan Troubles

I have been reading about the crackdown by the Chinese government on the protestors in Tibet. I am saddened by the loss of close to 100 demonstrators in the violent actions used to address the protest. I am glad to see that Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown is meeting with the Dalai Lama. I was also happy when the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the United States President George Bush met with the Dalai Lama. These meetings lend legitimacy to the work to which the Dalai Lama has been dedicating his life. There are some unsubstantiated rumors that the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao may meet with the Dalai Lama. I personally hope this rumour turns out to be true as it would be a small step in building bridges between these two cultures. When the dialogue is opened as the first step, we can then hope that eventually there will be a peaceful solution found and the Tibetans in exile can return home.

This is what World Neighbor is really all about – building bridges between cultures.
We work with a group of exiled Tibetans who are living in Nepal and creating wonderful Tibetan spiritual items (meditation singing bowls, bells, chimes, prayer wheels, ritual daggers and more). Please come by and pick up some great quality Tibetan goods and support these artisans. The more World Neighbor sells the more we will buy from these accomplished artisans. Who knows, maybe one day they will be able to return to a free Tibet. We sincerely wish them the best of luck!
http://www.phayul.com/
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World Neighbor Walks on the Wild Side in the Big Easy

Demetria (my wife) and I went to New Orleans one month before Katrina hit. It was kind of eerie that the local news stations were talking about hurricane preparedness and the designated escape routes while we were there. Little did anyone know that a month later those plans would be needed and how woefully inadequate they would turn out to be.

We spent a good amount of time in the French Quarter and on Bourbon street as well as some of the other area tourist traps. It wasn’t too crowded at that time of year since it was very hot and sticky. We decided to go out and have some extra fun and drinks one night so we started hopping from bar to bar. We saw the multiple tranny shows hawking their night’s entertainment. Demetria and I were curious so we stepped inside one for a laugh. When we walked into the dark bar there were two people sitting at a table smoking and talking, and a few she-males walking around. They all turned to look at us since we were obviously the first customers of the night. Needless to say it wasn’t the most comfortable situation so Demetria and I chickened out and did a 180 out the door. I did stop long enough to take a picture of one of the “ladies”. He/She was very nice about the whole thing saying something to the effect of “ Come back and see us later when you’re ready honey!”.

World Neighbor Does Deutschland

My friends and I hopped on the ferry from Denmark to Germany. We were going to stay for a few nights in East Berlin and we were excited about getting into town to down our first stein of beer. As soon as we got into the city we saw some police cars and a big crowd gathering. We ran into a big “techno-parade” with loud blaring techno and people dressed in lively costumes prancing about. We finally found our way around the spectacle and saw our first glimpse of the Berlin Wall along the river.

We made our way to our hostel in East Berlin in a seedier part of town. It was the right price and we heard that it was a diamond in the rough. When we arrived night was falling and we cautiously made our way inside what appeared to be an abandoned building. Once we got through the courtyard however, we were pleasantly surprised by the reception area. We was a number of backpackers hanging out playing cards, guitars and talking. We scored a room with a toilet and went to settle in. We hunkered down for the night to get ready for our next long day.

(Lovely view from our hotel room)

The next day we headed out to the Brandenburg gate and off to some shopping and eating. I ignorantly order a wiener schnitzel expecting a sausage and instead got a thin slice of veal. I laughed and ordered another weiss beer to wash it down. Just then my married friends decided to have a little lover’s quarrel. He went off to pout and she was just mad and wanted to keep touring. Being the third wheel at this point was not all that much fun. I played the “Three’s Company” routine on them and ran out after him to let him know that she wanted to make up. Once he came back in I put my arms around them, shoved a beer in their faces and shouted “Prost!”. Some other folks in the restaurant followed suit and my friends started to laugh…crisis averted! You have to love a country that serves beer at McDonalds!