I was amazed during one of my dates when the young woman asked me if everything I plan goes the way I planned. I was surprised because I always thought, hey I planned and why shouldn’t go the way I planned. Obviously, this is my idealism cashing in but I have always believed in Winston Churchill when he said that the empires of the future are in the minds of men and  the idea that the future belongs to those who imagine it.

Growing up as Catholic, I understood that the Church was not one to endorse candidates, but was rather, issue-based. While mainstream media portrayed the Church as ultra-conservative and seemingly detached from social realities, I knew it be otherwise. Religious leaders from Archbishop Romero, who connoted the term, "liberation theology," God's preference for the poor, to more familiar names including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa, and the basis of my faith, Jesus, all worked tirelessly to turn the world on its head, taking the risk to challenge the status quo as a means of improving the lives of marginalized groups.

 Kanye West said it best in his song, Big Brother, "If you admire somebody, go on head tell em, people never get their flowers while they can still smell em."

So... I am askin us all to give out our flowers fresh, while people can still smell them.

Everything everywhere can basically fit into one of two categories: the bottom 50% of things in the world (1) or the top 50% of things in the world (2). I got this idea from the boyfriend of a friend of a friend and it has completely taken over my life. As I reflect on my daily interactions, I spend time figuring out if that was a (1) or a (2)

Walking through the International Center and nearby language buildings makes me really think about how we communicate in our world. Sure there is a ton of technology that keeps us ever connected to the happenings of the day, whether we want to know or not. As I walk through the halls to my swahili classroom I hear japanese spoken in the corner between friends, there is a french conversation by the water fountain, arabic phrases are repeated in the room across the hall, and as I near the door there is a heated argument in korean taking place. It's best to wait in the hall until that is done. Some of my classmates appear and we start up an informal swahili conversation as two students speaking spanish pass by.