I thought it was snow

But it wasn't, it was ice.
We were hit with an ice storm and this morning was absolute craziness getting to work. All of the schools in the city are closed. Every org. in our building is closed except for (drum roll) us. Our clients canceled for the day and I told a few of our volunteers to just not worry about coming in. It still gives me a lot of time to get things done. I wasn't sure of how or if to close our office. Besides we have a LAB meeting today

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a book talk at the library. Azar Nafisi wrote the book 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' and has a new book out called 'Things I've been silent about.' It was a phenomenal book talk where she discussed the importance of reading and books, finding freedom in oppresive situations and the importance of connecting with our past. I loved how she discussed how books connect us to people we should be connected to in a way that not many other mediums can. She also discussed how love is imperfect in fact she defined perfection as death. "Life is beautiful and dynamic because it is imperfect" she mused with us. She also noted her hope for a march on Washington that is more than a march but becomes a national dialogue. It was inpsiring. Although, at the end, some of the questions that the audience shared were incredibly invasive. There were notable gasps, awky turtle!!
If I had a chance to ask a question, I would've hoped to ask her about her relationship with her female identity and how it has been shaped by the culutre of Iran that she comes from. I feel like here in America, even though we have many rights we didn't have years ago, we are past many struggles and are complacent in what we have received. In many ways we have not engaged in a dynamic relationship with what it means to be a woman in our culutre. Especially considering all it took to bring us here to this place where a woman can run for President and then be beaten, by a black man, whose middle name is Hussein. That is big! Something has shifted and continues to shift and as we gain this greater tolerance and freedom and inclusion, does our relation to ourselves began to change as well. I'd like to share this article...http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/education/23gap.html.

I'm excited about the chance to go to talks and book readings. Tonight after our LAB meeting I'm hoping to go to a discussion at Penn on the causes of homelessness. Both domestic and international. If I make it, I'll be back with insights!