As it turns out, Belize is a cool place.
Not cool as in cold, but cool as in hip and fun.
Speaking of temperatures, in Kriol (one of the dialects of Belize), the correct way to say 'I'm hot,' is 'Ah hat.' If you're 'very' hot, you might say 'Ah hat hat,' or 'Ah hat bad.' No lie.
In conclusion, the entire Mexico/Belize trip with Jack and Lindsey was excellent. You can see pictures to that effect on my gallery, and even more than I have, Jack's gallery is chocked full of the same.
Also, on Jack's site now, you can see the strict rules for his Poems for Poemosity Project, which has produced some fine poetry already. I encourage anyone reading my site to head over and get your free copy of City of Cold Ribcages and contribute to Jack's cause.
Already, my short return here to Tacoma has been excellent as well. Yesterday featured an afternoon sailing adventure, and the later evening saw a 'Manastery Head Shave' event, the likes of which brought Jared, Erik, and I together in a gloriously stubbly celebration of manhood. If I do manage to get pictures of such, you can be sure they'll be posted.
With only nine days left in the Puget Pit, I plan on more of the same caliber fun-having and merry making. Expect subsequent posts to reflect such.
After a full week-and-a-half in Cleveland, I have now moved on to warmer climates. You can check out my pictures of Phase One on the bigwhoop galley (see links at right). Of special note are the shots of the Smucker's world headquarters (taken from the car), Andrew chillin with Bach, and the abandoned observatory down the street from Andrew's place.
My time there finished out well, with a few more good beers and an encore performance of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Already here in California, I've also been to the Disney Concert Hall, which is quite possibly the best Frank Gehry building I've seen to date. Pictures of that will hopefully be posted momentarily. Tonight will hopefully include a trip to Santa Barbara for dinner, but now that's getting into stuff that's too mundane. I'll just leave you to see any pictures we produce.
On Monday afternoon, I officially submitted my acceptance to Teach For America. It feels good, though I am concerned about the money situation this may bring on (I won't get paid until mid-September).
Cleveland continues to treat me well. Since I last left off, I've eaten more great food, wandered through a very large arboretum, visited the art museum, seen a real live Amish person in a buggy, and nearly completed watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Also, among the things Andrew and I have been discussing is the American news media. It seems to me that, although much of the media is biased toward the center (meaning they try not to run news that reflects poorly on the left or the right), there are a few examples of good, intelligent and informative, reporting. NPR is the prime example of this. I find their news to be relevant (unlike the local news that warns you living normally may be deadly), intelligent, and investigative. That is, that it digs beyond the surface of stories we hear in the news otherwise in order to get a fuller picture of events.
Now, I recognize it's true that many of the small news clips NPR produces are taken form the Associated Press or Reuters, but these also seem to be trustworthy sources. This, I guess, is where the question comes in: is the American news media, through the AP, CNN, Reuters, and whoever else, failing us as a nation? Are we simply hearing the glossed over versions of half-truths that lead us to believe we're doing well as a nation and a race?