The soft bare flesh of your palms Marred along with the bony knees That refuse to carry you along this path Dirt and gravel dig into your skin As you sit facing the Eastern Gate Prostrate like a child before your relentless master On hands and knees too weak for strength But too strong to kneel Defiance is your name As you grit your teeth and grip the gravel Between your blistered fingers There is no blame just a silent battle As you crash to ground Like the rebounded toss Of the writer’s crumpled paper As another idea Dies and dies again Breathe in the ochre Of this ground where you find yourself kneeling Paint your face with the ochre Of the very ground you were once told to kneel upon Let it be your armor, your war paint In the coming battle Where once you had hesitation Shaking as straw in the wind Let this gravel be your battlefield And your oppression become strength We are the children of warriors But we have yet to prove ourselves Even as you sit with battered pride And bleeding palms This is just your beginning Let this blood be the signature That is remembered by all You who wept for what was right We remember your name

I know it has been disappointing how little I am updating my blog but I just want everyone to know I am still here. I have recently been frustrated with my blog and feeling it has started to go in a direction that I never wanted. Very soon I am planning on starting a new and getting back to the way I wanted this blog to be. I am going to start writing more and publishing everyday as soon as finals is over, think of it as my New Years Resolution. So from New Years on I will start to regularly post again. I am sorry it won’t be sooner because I am heading into my first ever finals week at UC Berkeley but I will try to post when I can. ...

Not much to to share about Thanksgiving this year, but we did get a nice family photo of everyone. Happy turkey day!<

Walking into Florence is like entering a labyrinth of colored houses, narrow alley ways, and open market places. There is so much to see here that is just simply astounding. Everywhere you walk is something new and beautiful to look at; every corner beholds a new and interesting facet to this city. We visited the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli gardens which were beautiful. And took a much needed break from the over bearing sun in the shade of the garden.

Matt and Mack sure do look good up on that podium.

Italy is a place of bikes where the alley ways and streets are filled with both bikes well loved and abandoned. Some are tagged with graffiti, while others are dainty and clean. Some are simply left abandoned, down a dark alleyway for someone else to find. They are so interesting to look at with the a thousand different backdrops from different city walls. The city changes but the bikes stay the same. They are a monument to mobility that mark the streets without mercy. ...

I just got back from an exciting encounter at Berkeley where in I got to meet and photograph Johnny Depp. Yes, the Johnny Depp. In an exclusive invite only event at Uc Berkeley, Johnny Depp’s new movie, The Rum Diary, based off of a Hunter S Thompson novel, was aired a week early. Oh and a Q&A with Johnny Depp after the movie. I love Hunter S Thompson, and the work done between Johnny Depp and Thompson is phenomenal. I am a die-hard fan. ...

It’s always a treat to visit Monica up at school, and it’s especially great when we have breakfast at Bette’s Diner. I think Gabe had a special moment with Mark Twain.

Before even entering the magnificent city of Florence we are greeted by a grand overlook of the entire city underneath a replica of the David statue. Besides, the overlook from the Campanile in Venice, this was one of the coolest city overlooks I have ever seen. All of Florence lays before you, you can see Il Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, spires from cathedrals, and all the wonderful components that make up the glory that is Florence ...