Free Mojtaba and Arash Day

Today bloggers around the world are dedicating their sites to two young Iranians - Mojtaba and Arash who are currently in prison as the result of insults to Iranian leaders included in their blogs.

For the whole story, check out this website: http://committeetoprotectbloggers.blogspot.com/

Please take a moment today to think about two things...
1) Even in this age of freedom of information and technology that links the whole world together, regimes around the world are still trying to suppress freedom of speech.
2) How many of your friends would be in jail if posting derogatory things about George Bush landed you 14 years in jail??

Born Into Brothels

zana_group_shot
Originally uploaded by suzannemo.

I saw the most amazing movie today. The kind of movie that can make you rethink the whole meaning of your life after only 1.5 hours.

The movie is called BORN INTO BROTHELS and it is the story of a photogropher who goes into the brothels of Calcutta and works with the children of the sex-workers there to teach them photography. It is the story of their lives, of poverty, abuse and dehuminization, and of the dreams that they hold onto despite it all.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, go out tomorrow and SEE IT. The picture here is the 8 kids who are the focus of the film.

Its so easy to live a comfortable, western life, and to forget to thank god every day for how lucky you really are. This movie reminds you of that. I left the theatre today and walked down the street watching the faces of all the New Yorkers walking by. So few were smiling. Its amazing how we live such EXTRAVAGENT lives, wake up in clean apartments or houses every day, read books, go to school, go to work, go out to restaurants, and are never thankful for these things. Thanks to 8 amazing kids in Calcutta, today I am remembering to be thankful.

Valentine's Day, Onion-Style

Gotta love the Onion..this is HILARIOUS:

"LATEST BIN LADEN VIDEOTAPE WISHES AMERICA 'A CRAPPY VALENTINES DAY' "

Valentines Day

A friend told me the other night that Valentine's Day should be relabeled "SINGLES AWARENESS DAY." It is a way to remind single people of, well, just how single they are.

In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to ponder the concept of love tonight, what it is really about, why it is so hard to find, why we don't know what to do to keep it once we have found it. I won't even begin to describe all my thoughts here....but it reminded me of a quote that I read many years ago which I dug out tonight:

"To love is to be in communion with the other and to discover in that other the spark of God."

- Paolo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept

That quote epitomizes what I think love is about....so it is my Valentine's day gift to all of you!

Merry Christmas!!

Friday night I went out on the town with two of my friends. At the end of the night, on our way back from a club I found a big "Merry Christmas" sign on the ground complete with lights spelling out the words. Now, you all know how much I love social experiments. So I decided to wish a Merry Christmas to every person we passed on the way to the subway. I was curious how they would react. Every New Yorker walking on 27th St. at around 1:30 AM Friday was greeted by a blonde girl holding a BIG Merry Christmas sign telling them Merry Christmas.

Interestingly enough, the warm weather (warm meaning it was 35 farenheit that night, after a week of being below 10 farenheit) must have put everyone in a good mood. No one was rude, no one looked at me like I was REALLY crazy... one guy laughed and said to me "You know it starts earlier and earlier every year" and another person said "Better late than never" showing that celebrating Christmas on February 4th can be construed in different ways...either being a little too late, or REALLY early.

Wise words from the 1/9 Subway Station at 125th St.

This morning as I was waiting for the subway I found the following grafitti scrawled on a post in the subway station:

Simple people,
with simple minds
Beget simple ideas
that complicate times

Proof that you can find great insight in obscure places!

I LOVE Restaurant Week

New York has invited the most amazing concept.... Restaurant Week! For 2 weeks a year you can pretend to be rich by going to the BEST of the BEST NYC restaurants for a $35 prix-fixe three course meal. The perfect thing for people like me who love the poshest NYC places, but have no cash.

Tonight me and 8 of my friends had a FABULOUS dinner at Vento Trattoria. Good food, good wine, and great friends. What more could one ask for?? Tonight I will go to sleep dreaming of chocolate torta :)

My Baby Brother

W. New Years 2004 029
Originally uploaded by suzannemo.

Since Nacho has been requesting pics, I thought I would share this happy holiday photo with everyone.

Here is me and my "Baby" brother on christmas. Yes, despite being 8.5 years younger than me my brother has somehow managed to be a LOT taller than me.

People Actually Read This??

Ok, so after the 67th (yes, I have been counting) person told me today to update my blog I figured it was time to give in and do it.

It was kind of an interesting social experiment for me to not blog for that long. See, I now know who ACTUALLY reads my blog because I know who ACTUALLY noticed when I stopped posting!

So here I am. And back with a good story too...

Joan Rivers was on my flight Monday from New York to Detroit. She was sitting two rows in front of me in First Class (got to love being Gold Elite Status!). Now, seeing Joan was an interesting experience in and of itself. But the thing I found the MOST interesting was seeing other people's reactions to her. Since first-class pre-boarded she was on the plane when everyone else boarded. I watched all 100 people on our flight do the following:
1) Walk onto the plane
2) Notice Joan Rivers was sitting in the front row
3) Get a weird stunned look on their face

And from there it got even more interesing... of the 100 people :
2 Actually said something to her and acknowledged they recognized her.
4 Made comments to people they were with about her that she could hear but didn't say anything directly to her
10 giggled or laughed
10 smiled at her in a "knowing" kind of way
and the other 74 tried their best to pretend they didn't recognize her

So, there is a little social experiment to make you think about how you act the next time you see a star.