Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament who also dabbles in filmmaking, has recently made a short documentary film, titled, "Fitna." This film has caused controversy both in the Netherlands and throughout the Muslim world. I watched the film, after reading about it in an article. The point of the film is to outline the dangers of the "Islamization" of the Netherlands. The film definitely represents an extreme bias against the Muslim world. It's shocking to see a viewpoint this extreme aired in public, and even worse that the filmmaker himself is a member of parliament.
The title of the film, "Fitna," is an important word to Muslims, holding as much power and emotional charge as the word "jihad." Unlike "jihad," most non-muslims are not familiar with the word "fitna," or with it's meaning. Nahed Selim, a journalist from Trouw, a Netherlands publication, writes the following on the strength of this word in Islam: "Every Muslim knows the Arabic word fitna, says the leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV). 'It refers to situations in which the faith of the Muslims is put to the test. Everything that tests their faith is fitna: uncovered women, alcohol, non-Muslims, resistance against the authority of Islam. I use the term as a mirror image: to me the pernicious Islam is fitna.' Wilders was very pleased with his find, 'I was set on using a word from the Koran.'"
Some of the film is extremely graphic – we are given a warning of this at the beginning of the film and YouTube requires that we confirm our date of birth before giving access to the film on their site. It begins with scenes from 9/11 and moves into scenes of other terrorist attacks and anti-Jew rallies held by Muslims. It shows Muslims to be extremely anti-Semitic, carrying signs that say, "Be prepared for the real holocaust!" and "God Bless Hitler!" All the while, ominous music plays in the background. Among the graphic images is video from the Atocha bombing in Spain, which, again, has not been attributed to any Muslim organization, but to ETA, a Spanish separatist group from the Basque region. Recitation of the Qur'an in Arabic overlays some of the most gruesome scenes. Arabic is subtitled throughout the film, saying things like, "Throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered. This is the path to victory." As we've learned from experience, can these subtitles even be trusted?
The response to this film in U.S. media has been mixed, some recognizing the racism and hate being preached, while others seem to embrace Wilders' view. Roman Verzub, from the Cauldren, a University publication in Ohio, states that, "the film takes a straight look at the ideology of groups like Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, among others." A "straight look" implies an unbiased viewpoint, but that's one thing that's definitely missing in Wilders' film. NPR, on the other hand, describes Fitna as "a short film… that portrays Islam as a violent, fascist-like ideology."
In defending the fear of Islamization, Selim states that, "The islamization of thought will mean the end of all creativity, originality and creative power, for creation is a divine quality patented by Allah. He will not tolerate competition from man. Islamization is the process by which Islamic values eventually gain the upper hand over all other value systems, in all aspects of life."
From what I have learned of Islam, Muslims have been one of the most creative and forward-thinking groups of people in the history of the world. Wilders' film does nothing to show this side of Islam and only promotes ignorance and intolerance of Islam, states of being that have been promoted by the general tone of the media throughout the western world. Until we can find appreciation for Islam, for all that it has to offer, films like "Fitna" will continue to find an audience that is more than willing to embrace these divisive ideas with open arms.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
a fight to the right
Senator Hilary Clinton has seemed as republican lately as President Bush when it comes to her ideas about foreign security policy, and even more republican than Senator John McCain. From threatening to "obliterate" Iran to her recent campaign ad, titled "Kitchen," which flashes a photo of Osama bin Laden, she's taken fear-mongering to a new level for democrats. Republicans can't even get away with language or fear tactics such as these, but she has embraced them.
Watching the democratic presidential debate this past week in Pennsylvania was painful, for many reasons, but nothing surprised me more than Senator Clinton's pledge to defend the whole of the Middle East against Iran. Both Senators Obama and Clinton have surprised me more than once during this campaign with almost republican-like ideas of foreign security policy, but this really went too far. We're trying to get away from Bush policy, not continue it for another hundred years, as McCain would have us do. With this, it sounds like Senator Clinton would have the same thing.
The Jerusalem Post states, "It is within the United States' power to destroy Iran if it attacks Israel, warned Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton in an interview on ABC television Monday night. 'In the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,' said Clinton." Further, she didn't stop at saying that the U.S. would attack Iran if they attacked Israel; she went on to say that we would attack Iran if they attacked any country in the Middle East. Here is her quote from the debate: "I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States, but I would do the same with other countries in the region."
Senator Clinton made this statement on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: "If Iran were to become a nuclear power, it could set off an arms race. The countries in the region are not going to want Iran to be the only nuclear power." David Edwards of Raw Story, an online alternative news organization, responded to that statement: "Clinton's suggestion that Iran might trigger an arms race appeared not to take account of the fact that Iran's immediate neighbor, Pakistan already possesses nuclear weapons, as does India. Israel, which has refused to either confirm or deny whether it has a nuclear weapons program, is widely believed to have an arsenal of over a hundred warheads. Other nations in the region, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have also been reported as interested in obtaining nuclear capability." Her statement was incorrect, so was she ill-informed or intentionally trying to mislead the American people? Eight years of that has been enough.
She also stated on Countdown: "I think deterrence has not been effectively used in recent times. We used it very well during the Cold War." This speaks directly to the point made by Edward Said in his book, Covering Islam: "With the end of the Cold War [Iran], and along with it 'Islam,' has come to represent America's major foreign devil." Said also states, in his documentary titled "On Orientalism," that it is necessary for the U.S. to maintain the impression of having serious enemies, so that it can justify its sizable defense budget, which is more than twice that of any other country.
When Democrats try to keep up with the Republican Right on issues of foreign policy, it can only drive them further away from their base of support. She openly admits to doing this and so states on Countdown: "We're going to have to go toe to toe with John McCain on national security." This may have worked in Ohio and Pennsylvania where the majority of Democratic voters are not college educated (only 38% of Democratic voters in Ohio and 46% in Pennsylvania hold college degrees, according to CNN), but by and large, I don't believe that Democrats will respond well to this type of message.
Watching the democratic presidential debate this past week in Pennsylvania was painful, for many reasons, but nothing surprised me more than Senator Clinton's pledge to defend the whole of the Middle East against Iran. Both Senators Obama and Clinton have surprised me more than once during this campaign with almost republican-like ideas of foreign security policy, but this really went too far. We're trying to get away from Bush policy, not continue it for another hundred years, as McCain would have us do. With this, it sounds like Senator Clinton would have the same thing.
The Jerusalem Post states, "It is within the United States' power to destroy Iran if it attacks Israel, warned Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton in an interview on ABC television Monday night. 'In the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them,' said Clinton." Further, she didn't stop at saying that the U.S. would attack Iran if they attacked Israel; she went on to say that we would attack Iran if they attacked any country in the Middle East. Here is her quote from the debate: "I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than just Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States, but I would do the same with other countries in the region."
Senator Clinton made this statement on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann: "If Iran were to become a nuclear power, it could set off an arms race. The countries in the region are not going to want Iran to be the only nuclear power." David Edwards of Raw Story, an online alternative news organization, responded to that statement: "Clinton's suggestion that Iran might trigger an arms race appeared not to take account of the fact that Iran's immediate neighbor, Pakistan already possesses nuclear weapons, as does India. Israel, which has refused to either confirm or deny whether it has a nuclear weapons program, is widely believed to have an arsenal of over a hundred warheads. Other nations in the region, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, have also been reported as interested in obtaining nuclear capability." Her statement was incorrect, so was she ill-informed or intentionally trying to mislead the American people? Eight years of that has been enough.
She also stated on Countdown: "I think deterrence has not been effectively used in recent times. We used it very well during the Cold War." This speaks directly to the point made by Edward Said in his book, Covering Islam: "With the end of the Cold War [Iran], and along with it 'Islam,' has come to represent America's major foreign devil." Said also states, in his documentary titled "On Orientalism," that it is necessary for the U.S. to maintain the impression of having serious enemies, so that it can justify its sizable defense budget, which is more than twice that of any other country.
When Democrats try to keep up with the Republican Right on issues of foreign policy, it can only drive them further away from their base of support. She openly admits to doing this and so states on Countdown: "We're going to have to go toe to toe with John McCain on national security." This may have worked in Ohio and Pennsylvania where the majority of Democratic voters are not college educated (only 38% of Democratic voters in Ohio and 46% in Pennsylvania hold college degrees, according to CNN), but by and large, I don't believe that Democrats will respond well to this type of message.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
democratic debate - ohio
As a democrat myself, I've found these last 13 months in the realm of politics to be extremely exciting. I've watched every debate and have generally been fascinated with each little tidbit of "breaking news," especially since the primary and caucaus elections began. I've supported Sen. Barack Obama from the beginning for a variety of reasons, and I feel like I'm watching a very close basketball game, biting my nails hoping my team wins. The most recent Democratic debate was, of course, held this past Tuesday and it was chalk-full (as is usually the case) with policy as well as drama. I've heard all the policy before and definitely enjoy when things heat up a bit between the two senators. This time however, I heard something new, which I found quite shocking – a 100% support of Israel, hand-in-hand with a complete shun of the Muslim- and Arab-American populous.
When Tim Russert first posed the question of Minister Louis Farrakhan's (former leader of the Nation of Islam – NOI) support of Sen. Obama, Obama barely let him get the question out of his mouth before he was explaining that his view of Farrakhan has been made quite clear. Russert goes on to say that, "The problem some voters may have is, as you know, Reverend Farrakhan called Judaism 'gutter religion,'" to which Obama responded that he does not approve of Farrakhan's anti-semitic remarks made in the past, and even finds them "reprehensible." Russert then adds that even Obama's own minister, who Obama is known to hold in high esteem, supports Farrakhan and has "said that Louis Farrakhan 'epitomizes greatness.'" After further research on this issue, I found that Farrakhan actually made this statement more than 20 years ago (in 1984) and has since made numerous apologies and retractions of his anti-semetic statements.
I thought that Obama fielded these questions well, but I did find myself extremely disappointed that he did not take this opportunity to reach out to the Muslim community as a whole. Maybe he felt that drawing any connection between the NOI and the larger Muslim world would have been considered insulting to Muslims, but I don't think so. I think he was more concerned with distancing himself from Islam because of the right-wing conservative suspicions throughout his campaign that he is really a Muslim himself, just waiting to get into the White House so that he can hand the U.S. over to Muslim extremists. These suspicions are ridiculous on top of showing extreme prejudice. I am disappointed that Obama is succumbing to this pressure by distancing himself from the Arab/Muslim world. Many people, myself included, support him mainly for the idea that he will be the candidate most open to all sides of issues in the Middle-East and deal with world issues as a whole in a balanced way.
From Obama's support of the Jewish community and his hopes to bring the Jewish and Black communities back together, the debate moved naturally to Israel itself. Obama endorsed Israel 100%, leaving no room to question Israel's policies. Senator Clinton echoed this sentiment, a sentiment which sounds uncritical and uniformed. I think that anyone with a little information on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict can see that both sides have validity and that Israel has been less than fair in its dealings with the Palestinians. I think this speaks to who holds more power in this country, and more than the Jewish vote itself, the power lies in the Israel lobby. One of Obama's advisors is considered anti-Israel, simply because of his support of a book that explores the power of this lobbying group. This speaks to a climate in which politicians are unable to deeply explore all sides of this issue without being labeled anti-Israel and persecuted for it.
I still support Sen. Obama but this leaves me wondering if he can help U.S. relations in the Middle-East in the way I was hoping. The fact that the Arab/Muslim world was left completely out of this discussion was a bad move and will likely result in his losing votes in these communities. But who can they turn to now, besides Ralph Nader, who is pro-Palestinian but clearly doesn't have any chance of ever being elected president.
When Tim Russert first posed the question of Minister Louis Farrakhan's (former leader of the Nation of Islam – NOI) support of Sen. Obama, Obama barely let him get the question out of his mouth before he was explaining that his view of Farrakhan has been made quite clear. Russert goes on to say that, "The problem some voters may have is, as you know, Reverend Farrakhan called Judaism 'gutter religion,'" to which Obama responded that he does not approve of Farrakhan's anti-semitic remarks made in the past, and even finds them "reprehensible." Russert then adds that even Obama's own minister, who Obama is known to hold in high esteem, supports Farrakhan and has "said that Louis Farrakhan 'epitomizes greatness.'" After further research on this issue, I found that Farrakhan actually made this statement more than 20 years ago (in 1984) and has since made numerous apologies and retractions of his anti-semetic statements.
I thought that Obama fielded these questions well, but I did find myself extremely disappointed that he did not take this opportunity to reach out to the Muslim community as a whole. Maybe he felt that drawing any connection between the NOI and the larger Muslim world would have been considered insulting to Muslims, but I don't think so. I think he was more concerned with distancing himself from Islam because of the right-wing conservative suspicions throughout his campaign that he is really a Muslim himself, just waiting to get into the White House so that he can hand the U.S. over to Muslim extremists. These suspicions are ridiculous on top of showing extreme prejudice. I am disappointed that Obama is succumbing to this pressure by distancing himself from the Arab/Muslim world. Many people, myself included, support him mainly for the idea that he will be the candidate most open to all sides of issues in the Middle-East and deal with world issues as a whole in a balanced way.
From Obama's support of the Jewish community and his hopes to bring the Jewish and Black communities back together, the debate moved naturally to Israel itself. Obama endorsed Israel 100%, leaving no room to question Israel's policies. Senator Clinton echoed this sentiment, a sentiment which sounds uncritical and uniformed. I think that anyone with a little information on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict can see that both sides have validity and that Israel has been less than fair in its dealings with the Palestinians. I think this speaks to who holds more power in this country, and more than the Jewish vote itself, the power lies in the Israel lobby. One of Obama's advisors is considered anti-Israel, simply because of his support of a book that explores the power of this lobbying group. This speaks to a climate in which politicians are unable to deeply explore all sides of this issue without being labeled anti-Israel and persecuted for it.
I still support Sen. Obama but this leaves me wondering if he can help U.S. relations in the Middle-East in the way I was hoping. The fact that the Arab/Muslim world was left completely out of this discussion was a bad move and will likely result in his losing votes in these communities. But who can they turn to now, besides Ralph Nader, who is pro-Palestinian but clearly doesn't have any chance of ever being elected president.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
oh my - stars!!
meteor shower!!
it's that time of year again, it always coincides with marti's birthday. ;)
does anyone remember the meteor shower parties
that we used to have in my backyard?
fun fun fun!!!
and waaaay tooooo many good brain cells lost!
hahaha!!
;)
August 12th - Perseid Meteor Shower
nasa story with images
Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "all night" and "Meteors!" Attach the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2007 Perseid meteor shower.
"It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The Moon is new on August 12th--which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors." How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at the shower's peak.
does anyone remember the meteor shower parties
that we used to have in my backyard?
fun fun fun!!!
and waaaay tooooo many good brain cells lost!
hahaha!!
;)
August 12th - Perseid Meteor Shower
nasa story with images
Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "all night" and "Meteors!" Attach the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2007 Perseid meteor shower.
"It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The Moon is new on August 12th--which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors." How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at the shower's peak.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
it's been a while...
wow, it's really been a while since my last blog!! so much has happened over the last couple months. overall life is good, but things have been intense, and this will definitely be a summer to remember!
here's a quick recap:
i'm not sure if you saw the picture of the little sparrow in my "los animales" album, but this was an amazing experience. that little sparrow is actually sitting on my hand! can you believe it? somehow it must have gotten seperated from it's parents and for one magical morning, he thought that my neighbor and i were his two moms. the trust he put in us was mind-blowing.
of course we couldn't keep him, but the people at the animal rescue place said that he'd be fine.
i'm sure most of you know that quinlan is now in san diego. she moved down the 15th of july. i miss her like crazy and i know i'm not the only one. she's settling well into her new adventure though. ;)
before she left, we really made the most of our time - we had parties, went to concerts, did lots and lots of bar-hopping through midtown, got tattoos...
cancer b-day party
quinlan, me, marlena, shasara
shasara and sevgi...
4th of july with the maxey's, at their new place in san pablo
chanté, marlena, troy
marlena and joaquin, troy, quinlan and shaye
lots of bar hopping...
at the tavern - nabor, troy, sevgi, jason
hahaha!! troy doing the cabbage patch! so hella cute!
at the monkey bar for q's birthday - jason, troy, sevgi
quinlan and me
we went to live 105's bfd concert and the warp tour, along with many, many smaller shows.
quinlan and me at warp, pretty buzzed.
kids skating the vans ramp....
one of the smaller shows was "hurts so good" at the poleng lounge in s.f., featuring one of my favorite hip-hop artists, niko villamor. if you haven't added him yet, do it today!
niko and me
quinlan, sevgi and i also made sure to get tattoos before quinlan left. i didn't get pics of sevgi's (my battery died), but here's some pics of mine and q's.
here's a pic of mine, it's on the back of my arm - half sleeve here i come!
okay, i think that's enough pics for now....
my final piece of news for this blog is that i passed my statistics class, which means that i'm on my way to s.f. state. i move at the end of the year and i absolutely can't wait!!
i feel really good about life right now and am so excited to see what happens next!
here's a quick recap:
i'm not sure if you saw the picture of the little sparrow in my "los animales" album, but this was an amazing experience. that little sparrow is actually sitting on my hand! can you believe it? somehow it must have gotten seperated from it's parents and for one magical morning, he thought that my neighbor and i were his two moms. the trust he put in us was mind-blowing.
of course we couldn't keep him, but the people at the animal rescue place said that he'd be fine.
i'm sure most of you know that quinlan is now in san diego. she moved down the 15th of july. i miss her like crazy and i know i'm not the only one. she's settling well into her new adventure though. ;)
before she left, we really made the most of our time - we had parties, went to concerts, did lots and lots of bar-hopping through midtown, got tattoos...
cancer b-day party
quinlan, me, marlena, shasara
shasara and sevgi...
4th of july with the maxey's, at their new place in san pablo
chanté, marlena, troy
marlena and joaquin, troy, quinlan and shaye
lots of bar hopping...
at the tavern - nabor, troy, sevgi, jason
hahaha!! troy doing the cabbage patch! so hella cute!
at the monkey bar for q's birthday - jason, troy, sevgi
quinlan and me
we went to live 105's bfd concert and the warp tour, along with many, many smaller shows.
quinlan and me at warp, pretty buzzed.
kids skating the vans ramp....
one of the smaller shows was "hurts so good" at the poleng lounge in s.f., featuring one of my favorite hip-hop artists, niko villamor. if you haven't added him yet, do it today!
niko and me
quinlan, sevgi and i also made sure to get tattoos before quinlan left. i didn't get pics of sevgi's (my battery died), but here's some pics of mine and q's.
here's a pic of mine, it's on the back of my arm - half sleeve here i come!
okay, i think that's enough pics for now....
my final piece of news for this blog is that i passed my statistics class, which means that i'm on my way to s.f. state. i move at the end of the year and i absolutely can't wait!!
i feel really good about life right now and am so excited to see what happens next!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
mystery pissers weekend
i had such a great memorial day weekend, and am finally getting around to posting a blog about it. friday night, eric and i got all dressed up and went out for dinner and drinks.
it's the first time i've been that dressed up in ages. i loved it and will be doing more of it! it was so nice to feel like i was being shown off all night. ;)
then our friends' band, the mystery pissers, hit northern cal for a little mini tour over the holiday weekend, stopping in sac on saturday night. their show ended up getting cancelled, but we had tons of fun bar hopping w/them anyway.
we hit the tavern, then benny's. also met a fun guy named shawn, and had my palm read by a frisky old man. it was a blast. ;)
l-r: shawn, john and chris (mystery pissers), sevgi, quinlan
since we didn't get to see the band play on saturday, quinlan, sevgi and i went down to sf to watch them play on saturday night. they performed at annie's social club with the white barons - man, they rocked!
annie, of annie's social club
mystery pissers on stage... l-r: john, nate, chris
since we were in sf, it only made sense for troy to make a special guest appearance...
chris did a great job of looking just like the crazy guy on this flyer. ;)
chris, me and q...
aaaww, me and my girl...
eric and i spent monday evening together, first taking a long walk all over midtown, then taking a long drive down the garden hwy. it was such a nice, relaxing way to end the wild weekend. i love long drives and it was so nice to be by the water.
all the pics of the weekend, including some of the white barons' performance, can be seen here, in the album titled "memorial wknd 07."
life is good. ;)
it's the first time i've been that dressed up in ages. i loved it and will be doing more of it! it was so nice to feel like i was being shown off all night. ;)
then our friends' band, the mystery pissers, hit northern cal for a little mini tour over the holiday weekend, stopping in sac on saturday night. their show ended up getting cancelled, but we had tons of fun bar hopping w/them anyway.
we hit the tavern, then benny's. also met a fun guy named shawn, and had my palm read by a frisky old man. it was a blast. ;)
l-r: shawn, john and chris (mystery pissers), sevgi, quinlan
since we didn't get to see the band play on saturday, quinlan, sevgi and i went down to sf to watch them play on saturday night. they performed at annie's social club with the white barons - man, they rocked!
annie, of annie's social club
mystery pissers on stage... l-r: john, nate, chris
since we were in sf, it only made sense for troy to make a special guest appearance...
chris did a great job of looking just like the crazy guy on this flyer. ;)
chris, me and q...
aaaww, me and my girl...
eric and i spent monday evening together, first taking a long walk all over midtown, then taking a long drive down the garden hwy. it was such a nice, relaxing way to end the wild weekend. i love long drives and it was so nice to be by the water.
all the pics of the weekend, including some of the white barons' performance, can be seen here, in the album titled "memorial wknd 07."
life is good. ;)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
jason's grad party
this past weekend, jason graduated from uc berkeley as a mechanical engineer. jason is chanté's husband and it seems like these two have been through it all together. he's been on this education journey for a long time now (haven't we all), but he finally made it!
chanté and jason have struggled to provide the best possible schooling and experiences to their three kids, while satisfying their own needs for advanced education. throughout this journey, they've both taken turns working, but have always both attended school.
now jason is done and chanté's on her way to a second bachelors at mills college, then i imagine grad school will be next for her. these two are absolutely hooked on education!
they've been an inspiration to us all and we're so lucky to have them in our lives. here are some pics from the party...
this picture turned out interesting, very "album cover." (quinlan, suzi, troy)
chanté and jason have struggled to provide the best possible schooling and experiences to their three kids, while satisfying their own needs for advanced education. throughout this journey, they've both taken turns working, but have always both attended school.
now jason is done and chanté's on her way to a second bachelors at mills college, then i imagine grad school will be next for her. these two are absolutely hooked on education!
they've been an inspiration to us all and we're so lucky to have them in our lives. here are some pics from the party...
this picture turned out interesting, very "album cover." (quinlan, suzi, troy)
chanté and jason's youngest, joaquin - isn't he stunning!
family portrait - shaye, chanté, jason, joaquin and shiloh. the second pic is of suzi and quinlan chattin' it up by the bar - of course! ;)
chanté and jason - to quote troy, "the couple of the decade." the second pic is of chanté and branimir, another old friend.
chanté and jason - to quote troy, "the couple of the decade." the second pic is of chanté and branimir, another old friend.
this is annie, who has been an amazing friend to chanté and jason. she's also hilarious. she has that wild british humor and keeps us all laughing. ;)
chanté and her dad in the first pic, the second pic is of branimir with his wife melissa, and quinlan.
troy w/quinlan and joaquin. doesn't he look so cute with the piece of the gold curtain as a headband. jajajaja!!
chanté and laura with the gold curtain, and a picture of shaye w/the balloons.
the next morning we all went to brunch. shaye w/uncle troy's sunglasses, joaquin refusing to put on mine. ;)
back at jason and chanté's to say our goodbyes... shaye and uncle troy chillin' on the lawn...
it was an amazing weekend with a group of friends that is more like family... i was feeling pretty emotional on sunday, after quinlan dropped me off back home, thinking about what an incredible group this is and how these times are going to become less frequent after quinlan and troy move. q's leaving for san diego in july, troy's leaving for spain in august...
we're all spreading out, but i have no doubts that these ties will remain strong and that now we'll just have more cool places to visit. ;)
san diego - thanksgiving '07!
madrid, spain - spring break '08!
you can also view videos of the grad party here.
troy w/quinlan and joaquin. doesn't he look so cute with the piece of the gold curtain as a headband. jajajaja!!
chanté and laura with the gold curtain, and a picture of shaye w/the balloons.
the next morning we all went to brunch. shaye w/uncle troy's sunglasses, joaquin refusing to put on mine. ;)
back at jason and chanté's to say our goodbyes... shaye and uncle troy chillin' on the lawn...
it was an amazing weekend with a group of friends that is more like family... i was feeling pretty emotional on sunday, after quinlan dropped me off back home, thinking about what an incredible group this is and how these times are going to become less frequent after quinlan and troy move. q's leaving for san diego in july, troy's leaving for spain in august...
we're all spreading out, but i have no doubts that these ties will remain strong and that now we'll just have more cool places to visit. ;)
san diego - thanksgiving '07!
madrid, spain - spring break '08!
you can also view videos of the grad party here.
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