Belize Itinerary, with Pictures

So, if you've been to any of these places and have suggestions on what to see or do, please leave a comment! The more, the merrier.

Day 1: January 2, 2007
Depart Minneapolis 6:30 AM
Arrive Cancun, MX 11:45 AM
Shuttle to Playa del Carmen
Fairy to Cozumel
Hotel: Meson San Miguel
Hotel Cost: $70 USD




Day 2, Jan. 3
Travel day

• Fairy to Playa del Carmen
• Bus from Playa del Carmen to Chetumal on the border of Mexico & Belize
• Bus from Chetumal to Belize City
• Bus from Belize City to San Ignacio

Arrive in the evening at Kumquat Cottage in San Ignacio, Belize
Cost for 1 week stay at Kumquat Cottage: $300 USD (recently raised to $360)



Day 3 - 8, Jan 4-9

San Ignacio, Belize
Exploring the Cayo District
Daytrip to Tikal, Guatamala
Base of operations:
Kumquat Cottage, San Ignacio, Belize



Cayo District Area:

• Cahal Pech
• Xunantunich
• Butterfly Farms
• Tanah Art Museum
  
• Hiking National Parks

Daytrip: Tikal, Guatemala



Day 8, Jan 9
Travel to Caye Caulker

Hotel: Jaguar Morningstar
Cost: $51 USD per night

Day 8-10, Jan 9-11
Snorkeling, lounging and eating.



Night of Jan 11
Treat ourselves to one night at Barefoot Beach Hotel
Cost: $69 USD



Day 11, Jan 12
Travel Day
Back up to Puerto Morelos, Mexico
Just outside of Cancun
Hotel: Posado El Moro
Cost: $60 USD



Day 12, Jan 13
Flight back to Minneapolis
Leaves 11:30 am
Arrives: 4 pm

You Better Belize It!

Alright, the holidays are over, the New Year is barreling down on us and I've finished writing the last of the articles assigned to me by the editors at Lavender Magazine. Just enough time left for Jonah and I to clean the house and pack for our vacation to Belize!

In January we'll be flying from Minneapolis to Cancun, Mexico where we'll stay in Cozumel, bus to San Ignacio, Belize for a week, travel to the islands off the coast of Belize for a few days, then head back to Puerto Morelos and Cancun to return to Minneapolis. Just in time for me to begin my new job. I'll be posting our itinerary here soon with pictures and prices.

Yes, our 2007 is going to start with a couple firsts. It's the first time I'll take a tropical vacation, and the first time I'll be working as a Case Manager at an immigration law firm. Also, with the new year, I'll be looking to grow my writing business, and hopefully do some real estate transactions.

Stay tuned.

Let it Snow. Let it Snow. Ok, Stop.

Well, it's about time. Look at that reddish-orange blob over there. That means the Twin Cities are finally getting a little Winter cheer in the form of snow. For those who have been looking forward to this for weeks, now, I hope they're happy.

Actually, count me in. I don't have to drive anywhere. And the shopping I have left to do, can be done in the comfort of Minneapolis’s space-age habi-trail called the Skyway system. No fuss, no muss, just throngs of shoppers colliding, dividing, converging and emerging from bookstores, perfume shops, department stores, fast food restaurants, slow food restaurants, kitchen supply stores, clothing stores (men's and women's), shoe stores ... well, I'm sure you get the idea.

I just hope they don't have to commute back out to the 'burbs when it's all done. Poor suckers.

S. Dakota Senator in Critical ConditionFuture of Democratic Control of Senate Uncertain

Reported in the Washington Post this morning, Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota is in critical condition this morning after undergoing an emergency surgical procedure to

Johnson, 59, who is in the critical care unit at George Washington University Hospital, fell ill at the Capitol yesterday, introducing a note of uncertainty over control of the Senate just weeks before Democrats are to take over with a one-vote margin.

If Sen. Johnson doesn't recover. or is unfit to hold office, the Republican Governor of South Dakota. Michael Rounds, will appoint his replacement. It's assumed that Rounds would would appoint a Republican. With the narrow majority in the Senate for the 110th Congress currently going to the Democrats at 51 to 49 (including the independents who said they would caucus with the Democrats) this would cause a 50/50 split broken by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Gift Guide: Gift Certificates for Charities

Last year I gave my aunt and her family the opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice. I encouraged them to discuss it as a family, to discover something about each other that maybe they didn't know before. Sure, it's a little touchy-feely, but they seemed to like it. OK, my aunt seemed to like it, I never did learn whether her kids were burning me in effigy, or not.

I know not everyone will be too keen on this idea with the gimme, gimme, gimme-ness of the season crashing down around us (and yes, I love to get presents, too), but for some JustGive.org's charity gift certificates are the perfect choice.

So, even if you aren't sure what causes are closest to your loved one's heart, there's no need to go through the pesky process of talking about your values. You can purchase a gift certificate for any amount of money and send it via email, or print it out and send with a card. Then your budding philanthropist can save the whales, cats, kids or whatever or whomever they like. And you look like a saint. What could be better?

Back to the Main Guide.

Craig's (anti-capital) list

I have to admit I couldn't quite wipe the smirk off my face while reading this article in the New York Times: Craigslist Meets the Capitalists.

Appearing at the UBS global media conference in New York, Mr. Buckmaster took questions from the bemused audience, which apparently could not get its collective mind around the notion that Craigslist exists to help Web users find jobs, cars, apartments and dates — and not so much to make money.

Maybe it's just a happy fiction that will evaporate the next time a group of investment bankers backs a dump truck full of money up to the Criag Newmark's house, but I'll take it. This is a world I believe in.

For furhter reading, check out this post on the Art and Architecture of Craigslist.

Gift Guide: For the Orchid Lover in Your Life

There are plenty of people out there who love to garden. The putter around in the yard planting peonies and generally fussing with their azaleas. Orchid lovers are not like that. If you know one, you know that these little indoor gems can cause otherwise perfectly sane individuals to swoon, slather and write checks for enormous sums in order to purchase a plant the size of your pinky.

There are tomes and sprawling websites devoted entirely to singles species of these plants. If you know someone who loves orchids, a great jumping off point for gift ideas would be The Armchair Orchidist. Recently the Orchidist reviewed the book Orchid Fever: A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy. Pick it up and send that orchid aficionado in your life a not-so-subtle message.

Back to the Main Guide.

Check Back Here for Your Holiday Gift Guide

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah (or Chanukah or Hanukah or Chanuka or Chanukkah or Hanuka or Channukah or Hanukka or Khanike or חנכה or חנוכה), Yule, Kwanza, or perhaps you refuse to celebrate the holiday season at all by not diving into the rampant consumerism that grips the majority of this country, but you know, know, that a certain person will kill you if you don't buy them a gift ... Well, I'll be posting a series of suggestions for you.

You never know. Maybe I'll stumble on the perfect gift that you would never have thought of yourself. Better check back often, or better yet sign up for my feed in order to be sure.

Gift Guide Quick Navigation:

• Top Music of 2006 from the blog DoCopenhagen
• How about a book for the Orchid Lover in your life
• Give the gift of charity.
  

Gift Guide: DoCoppenhagen's Top 15 (of 50) Music Picks for 2006

The Blog DoCopenhagen has been compiling a very popular list of the top 50 music videos of the previous year. There are plenty of artists that internet users will be familiar with, but perhaps the general populous of non-addicts might not be aware of.

I've listed the top 15 here. You can find and watch the all the videos of 2006 by clicking on the link above, and then, when you find something you like, come back here and click on a link below to buy it.

1. Ok Go - Here It Goes Again
2. Jenny Wilson - Let my shoes lead me forward
3. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
4. M. Ward - Chinese Translation
5. Zero 7 - Left Behind
6. Sigur Ros - Flugufrelsarinn
7. Malajube - Montreal -40°C
8. An Pierlé & White Velvet - Jupiter
9. Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
10. Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks
11. The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Health
12. Xiu Xiu - Hello From Eau Claire
13. Battle - Children
14. Para One - Dudun-Dun
15. Ed Harcourt - Visit from the Dead Dog

Back to the Main Guide.

Poetry Press Release: SASE at Intermedia Arts

You Are Invited to

Emergence: Intimate Evenings of Poetry and Prose
Writer-to-Writer Mentorship Series Readings
December 11 & 18, 2006

WHEN/WHERE:
Mondays, December 11 & 18, 2006
7:00 PM at Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis

Join mentors Sun Yung Shin, Joel Turnipseed, and Lyda Morehouse for two spectacular evenings of poetry and prose, featuring fifteen of the twin cities’ most talented emerging writers. Emergence: Intimate Evenings of Poetry and Prose celebrates the passion and dedication of new and emerging writers, and brings to a close our fall semester of Writer-to-Writer, the adult mentorship program in which intimate relationships are created and nurtured between artists, mentors, and the written word.

Fall 2006 Writer-to-Writer Mentees:
Britt Aarnodt
Roseanne Bane
Kelly Barnhill
David Beauvais
Marcus Harcus
Melanie Howard
Jane Levin
James Livingston
April Lott
Argie Manolis
John Medeiros
Chris Pommier
Rob Tregay
John Tribbett
Peggy Vork-Zambory

For the most up-to-date information, call Intermedia Arts at (612) 871-4444 or visit www.intermediaarts.org.

Intermedia Arts is located at
2822 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408.

Intermedia Arts is a catalyst that builds understanding among people through art.

ABOUT WRITER-TO-WRITER:
Writer-to-Writer is an adult mentorship program that gives emerging and
established writers the opportunity to advance to their next level of
artistic development. Participants meet regularly throughout the
program, with one established writer mentoring four-to-six emerging
writers. Writer-to-Writer creates intimate relationships between
artists. Mentors act as artistic catalysts and partners, providing each
mentee with artistic feedback and professional guidance. This program
allows advanced artists to develop their community-based teaching
skills while working to support and strengthen our local literary
community.

Presented by SASE Literary Programs at Intermedia Arts

Latest Links: Israel/ Palestine

Israel 'to ease' W Bank friction
Israel orders troops to avoid "unnecessary friction" in the West Bank, as a truce in Gaza enters a second week.

BBC News

Qatar 'to pay Palestinian wages'
Qatar will pay the salaries of 40,000 Palestinian education workers for several months, says the Palestinian PM.

BBC News

ForeignPolicy: Israel-Palestine: Reconciliation Is in Everyone's Interest
A new documentary that looks at the people most affected by the Israeli-Palestinian divide reminds us that lasting peace will come from popular movements, not political leaders.

AlterNet.org

Black Church Delegation Focuses on Palestine
A delegation of black church leaders say conditions in Palestine remind them of injustices in pre-civil rights America and South Africa during apartheid, says a report from The Arab American News of Dearborn, Mich.

news.newamericamedia.org

Two Palestinians killed in W Bank
Israeli soldiers shoot and kill two Palestinians, one a 16-year-old, in separate incidents in the West Bank.

BBC News

Discussing his new book on "The NewsHour ...
Discussing his new book on "The NewsHour," Carter observed that "there hasn't been a day of negotiation orchestrated or promoted by the United States between Israel and the Palestinians in six years."

Cursor.org

Opinion: Application of Humanitarian Law Not Enough to Address Global Violence

Over at Out of the Blue, a blog written by college instructor and my friend Bluegrrrrl, she posted an intriguing article titled "Militarism vs. humanitarian law" (on her blog, scroll down to Wednesday, November 29, 200 to read it). In it she discusses Mary Kaldor's book "Beyond Militarism, Arms Races, and Arms Control." Kaldor is professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

It's a great post and it really gave me something to think about. I've posted my response here. Just a few things to think about on this bitterly cold Minnesota Sunday.

The one thing I would add to this discussion is that there doesn't seem to be much of a focus on education and poverty in this. Perhaps because it deals primarily with militarism.

In her premise bluegrrrrl writes that Kaldor says, "contemporary warfare is driven primarily by conflicting political ideologies " and I would have to respond that this appears to be at once an overly narrow and overly broad premise. Narrow because it seems to discount issues of poverty, education (or lack thereof), tradition, language, history and religion. Broad because, if it is meant to include all those things, then it becomes unwieldy and leads to a (perhaps) simplistic conclusion that application of international law, by itself, would be a deterrent to war/ violence.

My problem stems from the question that, after all, if one is dealing with a group who is fundamentally opposed to the rule of (western) law, what could be gained from applying it?

To me it seems as though Kaldor is still advocating a top-down mode of "squeezing" or "attacking" her opponents. Replacing violence on the battlefield with violence in the courtroom. Or, at least, the possibility of it. After all, who controls "justice" ultimately?

So, for an addendum to her model, I would turn to what I conceive as a "grassroots" model that addresses the needs of the people, offering education and addressing poverty. Most of all, I would suggest doing away with the fiction that we live in a globally competitive environment that necessitates fighting over intellectual, cultural and natural resources. In many ways the U.S.'s message to the world is "Give us your best and brightest and we will give you McDonald's, KFC and Wal-Mart." This is the old smallpox blanket trick on a global scale.

I'm adding my vote to what spadoman, another commenter to this post and frequent Out of the Blue reader, wrote said in a comment, "look for the circumstances that caused the crime and try to stop it from happening again."

Don't get me wrong, I still think Kaldor's suggestion is preferable to Bush's non-answer answer to violence (More vioence! How stupid). She is supporting a narrative that makes room for answers to conflict that don't necessitate the killing of civilians or soldiers and I absolutely appreciate that.

Celebrities, Puppies and YouTUBE, Oh My

On the lighter side, Canadian-in-Los-Angeles Chris Leavins of the webshow Cute With Chris slakes America's thirst for topless celebrities and dogs dressed as Yoda.