rant whine 'splain espouse: Carmen, Yuliya, and Will

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Carmen, Yuliya, and Will

I was just telling Drew (who's the new Peter, who was the new Diane) that, of the Schoolies I've worked with over the years, there are a prime few with whom I've kept in touch, because they are such stellar individuals and I've always known they are going to do aweomse things the rest of their lives.

Carmen is one of them. Shy as she was when I first met her four or five years ago, she really gre to become one of the most steadfast organizers of the High Schools Group and, more than almost anyone, was a real backbone of the group when there were some seriously long, difficult months.

I heard from her yesterday via a quick AIM while I was asleep (she's currently in Ireland, doing homestay organic family farming; how cool is Carmen?):

"hey mark! miss you and hope things are well, i know you have an away message up, but i just wanted to say hi and that i miss you and that things here are alright. kisses!"

Yuliya is another awesome Schoolie grad. She's also abroad (and a broad). She's in Ghana doing a semester at university there. And attending traditional funerals where you apparently shake hands a lot. And getting proposed to by total strangers. Ghana sounds like fun, don't it?

Learn more about what Yuliya's been up to by reading her LiveJournal.

And then there's Will, who just got back from his first trip to Headwaters Forest. I remember being Will's jail support buddy at a San Francisco action outside Dianne Feinstein's office back in 1997 or '98.

I was there to make sure he got out of jail and had a ride home after a planned arrest action at a peaceful protest (door blockade) of DiFi's role facilitating the Headwaters Deal/debacle, which unloaded a half-billion taxpayer dollars for a tiny portion of North Coast forest that was valued at a fraction of that amount, a deal which also managed to seal the fate of 120,000 acres of other trees. Ever seen a clearcut?

Will stood up to be counted (and arrested) for what he believed in. And he never even got to see that forest until a few days ago.