Homeless in D.C.

19 Aug

One of the starkest contrasts I’ve ever noticed is between the have and have nots in downtown Washington DC, right by our hallowed halls of government.  Today I saw two sides of the homeless crisis that is currently affecting our nation’s capital.

Over 6,000 people find themselves homeless in Washington DC in 2010, an increase of over 13% from 2007.  Their plight has been covered very sparingly by media, but two reports, one by CBS and another by Al Jazeera (of all places), covered the plight of DC’s homeless. Thankfully, there are many devoted organizations that are working to end homelessness and provide food to the hungry.  These links are just a few of them.

As I was walking today through McPherson park, I stumbled on a mobile truck that was distributing food to the hungry.  The park is currently closed for some form of construction, but the hungry continue to arrive.  There were probably 50 people around the area.

McPherson Park without construction

The other side to the issue of homelessness came while I was walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on my way to get something to eat.  A young businessman walked by a homeless lady with a sandwich.  She asked him for change, and he apologized but declined.  Her response (eerily similar to something that I heard recently) was, “I hope you choke and die on your damn sandwich.” Unfortuntely, reactions like that give us a sense of justification in not doing more to help end this crisis.

I’m just as guilty, but I’m going to take a second look.  Every time I see pictures like those below, I feel horrible.  How is it that we’re civilizing the rest of the world, but people live without shelter two blocks from the White House?

I was almost arrested

19 Aug

I don’t think I ever told my kids that this happened to me.  So as I mentioned before, during the course of the homestay I lived with this lovely family in Castrolibero, a suburb of Cosenza.  It was about a 15 minute drive to get into the main city of Cosenza (depending on traffic).

My family, Alfredo, Giuseppe and Sara

Now during the day, I tended to stay in the house during the morning while Maria worked.  I would hang out, watch some Murder She Wrote (in italiano), do any work that I needed to do, write in my journal and read.  Often, Sara and Alfredo would both be working, so I was by myself in the house.  Which was normally fine…until…

One day I wanted to simply take out the trash to the dumpster (which was literally ten feet from the house) and do a little walk around the neighborhood.  I had my own set of keys, but they only worked for the side door of the house in the basement.  So, I grab the trash and walk outside.  As I look over, I see the neighbor staring at me.  I wave nervously and prepare to go on.

I hear, “Chi cazzo sei tu?” which basically means “Who the fuck are you?”  I decide to head over and talk with him.  I explain that I’m from the United States and staying with the family for a couple of weeks.  He asks me a bunch of questions, which I respond to, growing increasingly nervous as he fingers his cell phone.  I try to comfort him by explaining that I’ve actually met him once before.  The family had some people over the week before and I met this man at that point.  He had no recollection of me.

Now, gradually I assuaged his fears and convinced him I was just a guest of the family (an “ospite”) but it took a while.   For a moment or two, I thought I was going to meet the carabineri (or police).

An ironic twist was that we had this same man over for dinner that night.  We laughed about the whole incident then.  I learned he worked for the electrciity company, which was under great stress because of the unprecedented high temperatures.  He also told me of the two robberies that occurred at his home over the past four years and my family told me about the robbery at their house as well.

Thank goodness I was home alone for most of the days :)

My host father, Alfredo, chatting with friends

Yay Group of Artists for a Good Cause

18 Aug

The group of super star musicians coming together for a good cause has seen a rebirth in recent memory.  I saw a video of Canadians coming together recently for Haiti and it got me thinking about the history of this strange musical phenomenon.  I only saw the Young Artists for Haiti because I liked the official Coca-Cola theme song for the World Cup (“Wavin’ Flag” by K’naan).

Look at what the Canadians can do.  Who knew they had so many talented artists? (Bieber, Drake, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado)

The Americans elected to redo “We Are the World” in honor of Michael Jackson (who conceived of the original project) and Haiti.  It’s pretty good, except for the rap part and the inclusion of some randos.

Italy also launched its own project recently.  They hoped to honor and raise money for the victims of the horrible earthquake here.  The result is “Domani” which you can appreciate even if you don’t speak a word of Italian.

Dislike cancer?  Yeah, I thought so.  I found this group singing effort pretty moving.  All against cancer.  It’s called “Just Stand Up.”

A spanish version of the original was released.  It’s called “Hermanos” or brothers.

Heavy metal sought some recognizion by releasing their version of the song called “We’re Stars.”

Finally, the original.  A number one hit when it was released.  A great song.  The money the song raised went to those that suffered from hunger in Africa.

We’re On a Boat!

18 Aug

It’s about a week into the homestay. Maria and I have planned a wonderful outing for all the kids, Italians and Americans, on the Mediterranean sea.  The area is gourgeous and we’ve hired a boat that will take us around some of the islands right off the coast.  It’s gonna be amazing.

The boat is late (we’re in Italy after all), but finally it comes.  The captain is loud, obnoxious and hilarious, all in one. He pokes fun of the fact that the Americans cannot understand him, but takes us away to our first stop.  We arrive at a beach, he lets us off and tells us he’ll return in an hour and a half.  Where he goes, I haven’t the faintest idea.  But, we make for this beautiful natural arch in the area called Arcomagno di San Nicolo Arcella. It’s beautiful (see below):

View of Archmagno di San Nicola Arcello

It was in this beautiful spot that we swam for an hour and enjoyed the (cold) water.  There was a large cave accessible from a tiny hole from the ocean that we swam into.  I, along with Lowell and Sam, helped Kelly into the cave since she had never learned how to swim previously.  Back on shore, Bajia and Travis (who didn’t like to swim) stayed behind.  Once we returned (swimming the 1/4 mile back), I snuck up behind Travis and tried to dunk him into the water.  My attempt failed, miserably.

Back on the boat, we waited anxiously for the “abundant” lunch promised to us on the boat.  Instead, we were offered crackers and other little snacks.  Hardly abundant. The kids were bummed out by this development.  The boat captain played obnoxiously loud music and tried to coax the kids to dance.  In the end,  Georgia and Caitlen took the bait.  It was fun.

Finally, we arrived at the blue grotto (“grotta azzurra”).  I was one of the first people who jumped off the back of the boat into the warm water below.  The cyrstal clear water allowed us a beautiful view of the all the fish in the water.  The captain of the boat tossed crackers into the water and all the fish swam around us.

La Grotta Azzurra (sorry it's blurry)

It was really cool.  We rode the boat back after swimming and finished our lovely trip out to the islands by Cosenza!

By the way, we were on a boat.

News in Italy

17 Aug

A couple of interesting stories have emerged from Italy in the past few days.

1) “Eat, Pray, Love” came out in theatres.  Though it didn’t do as well as many hoped, lots of others suspect the movie will prompt many women to flock to Italy.  Remember “Under the Tuscan Sun?”  Yeah, the same thing happened.  The movie let Julia Roberts (who stars in it) eat and eat delicious Italian food and has prompted restaurants in Italy and back home to offer new tasting menus, inspired by the movie.

2) Florence v. Italy? Yep, the city is battling the country over one of the most-viewed tourist attractions.  Michelangelo’s “David.” The statue resides in the Academia in Florence, but the country claims ownership of it.  In spite of other politicians decrying the battle as “absurd and inopportune,” the mayor of Florence vows that the city will keep her sacred treasure.

David: who wants a piece of him?

3) The celebrity world went crazy over the weekend, when it looked like George Clooney’s girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis flashed a wedding ring while the couple dined in Italy.  Now, it turns out it was just a napkin ring. Ladies all over the world can breathe easy again.  Clooney is a famous villa owner on the beautiful Lake Como.

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