Shared Thoughts of 4 Former English Students

if you haven't seen Crash, Carla, rent it this week. it's a beautiful movie about prejudice. though it's not always the most realistic plotwise, it shows what you're talking about--we are all victims in some way and we are also all guilty in some way. i'll never forget meeting a Chicago fireman in San Diego who told me that racism was a problem in his work, and he hated it and claimed himself innocent. everything changed, he said, when he finally admitted to his fellow workers that he was to some extent racist, even against his will. it is cultured into us, i think, and it's in me too. hopefully Anthony de Mello is right when he says awareness is the first step in change.

thanks for the cherry blossoms, sc. they're beautiful. quite an amazing photographic talent behind that picture i would say.

celebrities? i think my fascination with them is because i envy them. i applaud the ones who say things i agree with and condemn the ones whose values don't agree with mine. like, um, materialism. a chance to be some "righteous judge" but a hypocrite really. i'm as materialistic as them all. i just haven't been blessed with quite as much wealth to throw around. but i envy them most i think because they have a chance to speak. i fantasize about having my voice out there and people wanting to hear what it says. at the same time i'm angry about not having that chance (probably a lie to myself) of course, i'm insecure and scared to try to put my voice out in the little space i live in. afraid my talents are inferior, afraid i'll be laughed at or argued with, or, the biggest fear of them all, afraid i'll be ignored and dismissed as irrelevant and unimportant.