gracefacewhaaa

He wrote bite-sized philosophies about living with death's shadow: "Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do"; "Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it"; "Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others"; " Don't assume that it's too late to get involved."

I absolutely love reading this book. It really teaches me some amazing life-altering lessons.

you sure how to work those fingers tocando la guitarra <3

QUETTA, Pakistan – The 11-year-old girl blushed as she walked into the car dealer’s showroom on Quetta’s Adalat Road in southwest Pakistan. Her 17-year-old cousin, eyes fixed to the ground, followed her. When the younger girl asked the owner for five rupees (6 cents), he pointed to the back room and told both girls to follow him.

A stocky man in his mid-forties with sallow skin and puffy eyes, he told the girls to lift their shirts – he wanted to see. "Very nice," the owner said. "They are getting bigger," he told the 17-year-old as he touched her.

The 11-year-old was excited as she told us the story; we had followed them inside the showroom pretending to be customers interested in renting one of the Land Cruisers parked inside. The owner had given them 10 rupees (12 cents), the girls told us, more money than they had asked for. Then, giggling, they ran away.

It’s dangerous to be seen following these girls – some of their clients are wealthy feudal land barons and powerful politicians, others are ordinary shopkeepers who will give money to the poor, but want to get something in return.

The girls are part of an alarming problem that gets little attention in Pakistan.

"Prostitution is rampant in all the big cities throughout the country," said Senior Superintendent of Police, Raja Shahid, who heads the police investigation unit in Rawalpindi, a city close to the capital Islamabad.

"There are loopholes in the laws that need to be changed. For example, in order to nab the culprits, we need to conduct a raid – but we cannot conduct a raid without permission from a magistrate. By the time we get the permission we have missed our chance," he said.

Calls for Islamic law
Others in the country have targeted the police’s inability to protect children as a reason to rally the people against the government.

"This is exactly why all the religious parties are campaigning for Shariah law," said Maulvi Noor Mohammed, a hard-line Islamic cleric, known for his ties to the Taliban.

Mohammed preaches "jihad" against the West to young boys in his sprawling madrassa (religious school) on the outskirts of Quetta. In an hour-long interview with NBC News, Mohammed argued that prostitution in Quetta is the perfect example of the corrupt morals of the secular, pro-Western Pakistan government and why it showed the need for a worldwide Islamic revolution.

"What these men are doing is against Islam and they must be punished accordingly," he said. "Islam guarantees protection for these young girls."

The last study on child prostitution in Pakistan was conducted by the government's Federal Bureau of Statistics more than 10 years ago. At that time, the study concluded that an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 children were involved in prostitution.

Today, there is no reliable data or updated figures, perhaps because it is a national shame.

Poverty increases problem
Fathers often send their young daughters out on the streets to earn money for the family. The girls begin by begging – some as young as 3-years old – and as they grow older, they become part of the flourishing sex trade in this deeply conservative city in southwest Pakistan.

"The fathers of these girls are usually drug addicts or alcoholics and the family is impoverished," said Fauzia Baloch, a coordinator for the Aurat Foundation, an NGO that works for women’s rights in rural Pakistan. "We can act, often only when a member of the family comes forth and complains, usually of domestic violence, and then we provide shelter for the girls and their mothers."

On a recent afternoon, we sat outside a tea shop on Quetta’s Adalat Road and watched young girls move easily in and out of the crushing traffic – a chaotic scene of rickshaws, donkey carts piled high with bathtubs, rainbow-colored trucks decorated with gaudy paintings and men on bicycles. The girls made contact with the shopkeepers and with the men sitting in parked cars who were waiting for them.

"We know this is going on," said Inspector Malik Durrani of the Quetta police. "Even though prostitution is illegal in Pakistan, the police cannot arrest anyone without first lodging a case in the courts," he said. "[President Pervez] Musharraf changed the laws in 2007 to give women more rights but the laws are now so complex that unless the woman complains the police are powerless to act."

Life on the streets
One 30-year-old woman with piercing light blue eyes said she has worked the Adalat Road for 25 years. She goes by the name of Shin Khalai.

"I started begging when I was 5 years old," Khalai said. "My father was a drug addict and my mother sent me and my seven brothers and sisters out on the streets to beg. I am married now – my husband is a gambler and he knows I sleep around with other men but he wants the money I earn so he can keep on gambling."

Haji Naseem, another car dealer on Adalat Road, blames the city’s politicians and religious leaders. "Everyone knows what is going on with these children," he said. "No one bothers to stop it because our leaders have forgotten their duties to the people and are only after their own power and their own riches," he said. "We are being destroyed from within by moral corruption and greed."

"Look at them," Khalai pointed out three girls, as they walked down the street, dressed in colorful shalwar kameez – the term for traditional baggy trousers and long tunic shirts.

"They are the working girls of Quetta – those little children. What life do they have? This is no life for any of us," she said as she walked away – to go back to work.





It is sad that this article gets so little attention. We pretend that this is happening just in places like Pakistan when it doesn't take too much research to find it is happening throughout the world. The use of women and children in the sex trade simply doesn't raise the ire of enough people. It is sad and until we reach the point where the dignity and value of each human life is important to us we don't deserve the luxuries we seek.

A very real... very moving book. Reading this made me miss those trips to Mexico and Russia. There are too many untold stories out there. And even in the midst of chaos and economic crisis, we are so fortunate to live HERE. I've realized that sometimes I take waaay to much for granted.

Mia Kirshner... is truly a gem.

NEITZCHE, the man whose chief purpose in writing was to restore the quality of any individual's life.
I just started reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra... very exciting if you ask me :]

such a good movie.











spain is now at the top of my places to travel. barcelona is a place out of my dreams.


i'll leave you with some good tunes.

nighty night <3

I have been so self destructive tonight to the point where I am not sure if even having all the right tools to succeed in life would even be enough for my craziness. I am so hyper sensitive right now it's as if the world has gone against me and I don't want to bother with any of you. The most ideal situation I can imagine myself in would be on the river thames with a pint of strongbow on my way to an audition (yes, with drink in hand) then having enough time after the audition to go to work and get my PHD or Pharm D. in pharmaceutical science.

It seems as though tonight I have become as some might say a real 'meanie' but I suppose that it is a direct result of my overwhelming amount of stress that it is to be a young-full-time working mommy who is trying to prepare for the next steps in life... transferring to a new pharmacy and moving out amongst several other minor things.

I have a headache from crying tonight. It's very painful and it's also quite annoying. Hopefully my nightly reading or strumming of the old guitar fix will help.

Y le mostraron una casa hermosa en el planeta Marte.
Y dijeron: "Ven a vivir aqui para siempre."
Y la niña dijo: "Ah, Marte es un planeta donde la vida es diferente:
Segura, limpia, y linda."
¿Pero, cómo llegas alli?
¿Dónde encuentras un taxi?
¿Cuál autobus tomas?
¿Y cómo sabes que llegaste y cuándo llegaste?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts. Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind: follow the calmness, the absence of pride. - Sutta Nipata

shut your mouth, burn your bridges
throw your words like an attack and stab me in the wait a second wait a second what's that i just heard nevermind
it's obviously worthless...
watch your mouth, hold your tongue
somethings are better left unsaid.
now i hope you're pleased,
you got your prize and tongue
i dance between your words,
right before you fall....

but we do not have to be prisoners of it.

I'm sitting here in my room it's so peaceful and quiet. Tylre is with his dad this weekend & my love is at work right now so I've been sitting here in my room singing and playing some Camera Obscura on the guitarra :] ...

enjoying the isolation for the moment <3

"My mum had to work to support us and we lacked the attention we needed as children, which I think is one of the fundamental problems in our society. I'm not saying women shouldn't go and work for a living- that's not the answer- but something has to adjust, because children are being neglected on an emotional level and it's having and effect on the world."

Ms. Allen you're lovely &
I couldn't agree more with that statement!

!!!!!!!!!!!
<3

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
-Oscar Wilde

Alright so I've completed school for the year. 96% on my final exam!!!
Say hello to your new licensed and soon to be certified pharmacy technician.
I'm definitely going places... and next year, woah...I will be very VERY busy.
USC i'm working my way towards you.

Happy living!
Life is oh so beautiful.

She does not represent me and I am horrified at the prospect of her in the White House.




Palin Daughter's Pregnancy Spurs Sex Ed Debate
Some Renew Call for Sex Education Reform; Other Remain Firm in Abstinence-Only

--The campaigns of both Republican John McCain, who on Friday named Palin as his running mate, and Democrat Barack Obama have emphasized that the matter should not be exploited for political ends. But even so, the announcement has the potential to make waves as both McCain and Palin have expressed a commitment to abstinence-only sex education programs.

Specifically, Palin has a record of opposing any school-based sexual education program other than those that adopt an abstinence-only approach. During her 2006 Alaska gubernatorial campaign, Palin responded to a question on sex education programs with the answer, "The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

Palin also opposes the termination of a pregnancy in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger.

Sexual health experts overwhelmingly agree that such programs represent an ineffective strategy in reducing teen birthrates, favoring instead what is known as comprehensive sexuality education. Such programs incorporate advice on using contraceptives and safe sex practices to reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

"Bristol Palin's pregnancy is another illustration of the need for comprehensive sexuality education," said Stephen Conley, executive director of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists.


"It's a reminder of how, even in strong families where youth are taught to refrain from sex until marriage, teens can make poor decisions," he said. "Teens need the reinforcement of school programs that give them the information and skills they need to take responsibility for their sexual health."

Eli Coleman, professor and director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School, agrees.

"This is just another case of the countless teens that become pregnant in this country," he said, adding that the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the world.

"Armed with one of the most effective educational systems in the world, the nation's policymakers have chosen to invest in a sexuality education approach that preaches abstinence until marriage," he said. "As a consequence, America's youth have been denied knowledge about how to protect themselves and their partners when they do become sexually active." --



Oh yea. Abstinence ONLY works. Right. I have a nice condo to sell you in the 9th Ward with a water view.