Sister Pearl's World

Hi. I'm Marco's sister. Those of you who don't know me can call me Pearl. When I was nineteen, I bit into a pearl in a fried oyster in some linoleum-floored crab shack on Cape Cod.

I'm a recovering graduate student, high school Spanish teacher, unrepentant history geek, and budding mystic. I've traveled to four of the seven continents. I always love to discuss politics, religion, history, and philosophy. In my other life, I'm also a wife with really poor housekeeping skills. But I can cook.

Archive

Sep
17th

Wed

tatielle:

intweetion: page6&7 (via em lewis)

Fall is upon us here in upstate New York, to be sure. It’s apple season, the nights are chilly, the leaves started turning a few weeks ago. I love it.

Sep
16th

Tue

La importancia de ser bilingüe en los Estados Unidos “Hablar español en los Estados Unidos es una gran ventaja, como también entender el mercado latino. Esas son dos poderosas armas que tienes a tu favor ante una eventual entrevista, pues el empleador se dará cuenta de lo útil que podrás ser para la compañía.

Hablar sobre tus experiencias personales, tus tradiciones familiares o tu vida profesional como inmigrante latino, son datos que el empleador apreciará, tanto, como el hecho de que sepas dos idiomas.”

"La educación en Estados Unidos es inquietante, cómica" ‘“En Estados Unidos querían cortar algunos pasajes. Lo referente a la guerra en Irak les parecía inoportuno. Temían que el lector no aceptara mi punto de vista. Pero la situación cambia…”, dice, contenta de no haber cedido a la petición del editor.’

Sep
14th

Sun

US 'in need of rebellion' Al Jazeera speaks to Howard Zinn, the author, American historian, social critic and activist, about how the Iraq war damaged attitudes towards the US and why the US “empire” is close to collapse.

A deadly game... “Size-zero models were out after two high-profile casualties — but suddenly as New York Fashion Week shows, they’re fashionable again…. Spurred on by a spike in reality TV shows promoting extreme dieting, women are once again being encouraged to jettison the pounds and emulate the waif-like proportions of Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham…. ‘Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don’t,’ says [an] MTV statement. ‘Skinny, no body fat and size zero are the words and phrases associated with models. Chubby, well-fed and big-boned are not.’”

No more Mr (Irish) Nice Guy

‘The obsession with being good Europeans and adhering to the SGP rules beggars belief”;

“The Government must look after its own people first and then worry about Europe afterwards”;

“We strongly believe the first country to give the two fingers to the European Commission will also be the first country within the bloc to emerge from recession.”’

Sep
13th

Sat

Well, because I think more people need to meet Muslims named Debbie.

—

— A fellow convert, responding to why she didn’t change her name upon becoming Muslim.

(BTW, contrary to popular belief, taking a “muslim name” is NOT a requirement upon conversion!)

THIS IS MY SONG

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover-leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.

— Lloyd Stone/ Georgia Harkenss

I have so much to say

but I’m just so tired. Hopefully by the time October rolls around, I’ll actually have the time and energy to write and post all of my thoughts.

Hurricane Ike, roughly the same size as the state of Texas.