OMG

Evan just asked me, "If we have a little girl, can we force her to do that?"

Presto Change-O

The seasons are changing here in Panama. We haven't had rain in three whole days which feels crazy. 

This time of year, I often find myself embarking on some sort of health and wellness kick. Winter feels like a natural time for slowing down, simplifying, and turning inward. And, for me, inward focus brings with it a tinge of the blues that is tempered by efforts to reconnect with my body.  

What's unique this year is having prioritized space and time to do just that. It feels like such a mercy. 

I was dubious when Evan suggested using exercise videos to help achieve the recuperation we're looking for here in Panama, but they've proven to be a great tool. 

Welcome to the World of YAYOG. See that guy up there balancing on his fingertips like a Zen warrior? That's Mark Lauren. He's our sensei on this adventure in fitness.  

Is he legit? 

Lauren broke, and still holds, the Pararescue/Combat Control Indoctrination Course's long standing "underwater record" by swimming 133 meters, on one breath, subsurface, for 2 minutes and 23 seconds, until losing consciousness.

Too legit to quit.

He has created four ten-week programs (we're doing the most basic one) as well as mobility workouts and something mysterious called EFX (which makes me feel like a phoenix rising from the puddle of my own sweat or death depending on the day).

To switch things up a bit, we're mixing in walks (a girl needs her Vitamin D), some Yoga Studio (with a teacher who has an endlessly fascinating hairdo), and pilates (if you have a recommendation for a good source of pilates videos, let us know-- the Scandinavian fellow we're currently following leaves us disoriented in his dust).

Two Lawyers : Two Mic-Drops

I have been on a bender... 

It all started with Just Mercy, a book that gives eloquent and humanizing voice to the agonizing injustices perpetrated by our criminal justice system against the black population of the United States. 

(lawyer #1)

It made me weep and it made me ashamed of my inattention. And I developed a huge crush on the author. And the author's mother.  

I started to read every book I could get my hands on about the latest institutional means by which the lives of people whose outward appearance speaks of African ancestry are destroyed in our nation. 

Street Poison, Slavery By Another Name, Between the World and Me, and The New Jim Crow-- there are so many people lending their experience and research to the cause of educating those willing to learn about the crimes of mass incarceration. 

(lawyer #2)

I am hollowed out, humbled, and fumbling to identify and marshall the power I have to effect change.

Estamos aquí

Stuff I like about being in Panama so far that actually has to do with Panama...

1) The sound of marching bands practicing in the distance. All the time. But I have never SEEN a marching band here. 

2) A one-off Zumba practice in the Parque Central with gringos, indigenas, and panameños alike all gawking on a Sunday morning.

3) The downpours of rain each day.

4) When you stop to think about the canal, it's mind-blowing:

5) An improvised horse stall in the bed of an old pickup truck.

6) The processions of leafcutter ants bearing small flowers and sail-like portions of leaves aloft.  

7) EVERYBODY uses taxis here-- it feels super fancy. And school buses are regular buses while vans called "colegiales" function as school buses. Initially confusing.

8) Paso Fino horses (a.k.a. criollos) are a big deal in Panama. The original power walkers, they are naturals at what's got to be one of the most energy intensive ways to cover ground. 

9) The insects that wake us up each morning by making a sound akin to a cabasa.

10) The fruit truck that trawls the neighborhood each week calling out via megaphone, "¡Bananas, papayas, maracujas! ¡Fresas frescas!"

11) Kindness. A lot of kindness.

Fuckitty Fuck Fuck

An article that features the word, "fuck" 127 times AND actually has something valuable to say? 

FUCK YES! 

An article that introduces me to this showstopper of a photo (which I incidentally want to frame and hang over my marriage bed)? 

Fuck yes AGAIN!

Winning, Mark Manson. You are winning. You won. All others loose. Except if they recognize that you've won. That's it. That's all I have. All the fucks I have to give. There they are.

Immigrants Then and Now

These photos were taken by a clerk at Ellis Island from 1892 to 1925. I am amazed that in one hundred years globalization has wiped out ethnic dress in so many cultures. 

Looking at these people who were once considered a scourge and have become our nation's pride, I think about the current refugee crisis and marvel that so many of us, having sought refuge ourselves or having benefitted from the asylum our ancestors received, deny those classified as "others" the same solace.  

I think about how, in a world of 7.4 billion people, immigrant numbers are going to continue to rise as climate change yields extreme weather events and increased pressure on limited resources. 

"The global age has turned our world into a society of strangers. That is not a threat to faith but a call to a faith larger and more demanding... The Bible commands us only once to love our neighbor, but it never tires of urging us to love the stranger." - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

I wonder what is in store for us (and by us, I mean all of us). 

The Animal Kingdom

I grew up on Wild America and Nature specials so imagine my delight when I learned that the torch of wildlife education still burns bright and has been passed on to the likes of Beast Boy and Ze Frank. 

Other species you may or may not be familiar with...