At the lake's edge: Dancing toward love and liberation

Hello! In keeping with my mother's tradition of sharing her selections for elections, here is my version for the 2019 City elections plus picks from my favorite organizations. For Mayor: Toni Preckwinkle Of the front runners, she is the most progressive, in my opinion. She knows how to govern. She has an electoral coalition that we (ONE Northside and ONE People's Campaign) have relationships with organizationally. She has an actual track record on progressive issues (raising the minimum wage in Cook County, reforming the criminal "justice" system). She is not perfect. No one is. I'm including an email from a friend Julie Biehl below that explains why she supports Toni too. It's not a given that she'll make it to the run-off and I'd much rather have her in a run-off than any of the other front runners.  For Treasurer: Amaya Pawar Not a ton of rational here, I chose him because of his progressive vision for the seat. We have a relationship with...

My dad, Michael Gelder, spent a few weeks volunteering in Tijuana, trying to support the humanitarian crisis our immigration system and international policy has created for people seeking asylum in the United States. This entry reflects his experiences, insights on the systems at play, and lessons he learned.  ***** January 2019 I haven’t posted anything to Facebook in a while, but it seems like the right platform to share my thoughts from Tijuana, Mexico (TJ). I arrived here Tuesday, Jan. 8 to volunteer with Al Otro Lado, a bi-national, direct legal services organization serving indigent deportees, migrants, and refugees in Tijuana, Mexico. Inquiring minds have asked these, or similar questions, so here are some answers. I should note that I am finding this to be the most intense emotional experience of my life, which creates havoc when trying to rationally describe what I’m doing and share the roller coaster of emotions. The first part covers my daily life as a vol...