A little over a week ago, I was at A's house getting some work done. Her living room overlooks the ocean and when I glanced up from my work, the ocean was gone. I couldn't see much of anything. In a matter of about thirty minutes the temperature probably dropped 10-15 degrees. The marine layer rolled in and made everything kinda spooky. There's not much in the way of weather in California, so it's always a treat when stuff like this happens in the middle of... umm, winter.
Get this: I have 50 Gmail invotes to give away. I can't imagine there are 50 people that need them, but I'm happy to send them to anyone. Got a friend, family member or enemy that you think would enjoy a Gmail account? Great, post their email address in the comments and I will get one out to them. Don't worry, you're email address is safe with me and will be deleted once the invitation has been sent.
Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious Nazi death camp. I decided to take this as an opportunity to share a personal experience about a trip that I took to Poland.
In 1992, I travelled to Poland and Israel as part of the March Of The Living. It's an annual trip that retraces the Holocaust through the concentration and death camps of World War II in Poland and then to Israel for redemption and celebration. I was still in high school when I took this trip and it remains one of the single most defining moments of my life. A seed of hate towards humanity was planted on this trip and I still struggle with it to this day.
The two entires below are from the journal that I kept while I was traveling.
04.30.92 11.38pm
Today was a very rough day. We got on the bus at 5:30am and left Warsaw. We were headed to Auschwitz for The March. It was a four-hour ride, full of laughter and happy times with friends. It retrospect, it seemed a little inappropriate to be celebrating life. Etka Goldenberg, on of the Holocaust survivors, was on our bus. She stood up at the front of the bus and started telling us stories about her survival. Her brother, 20 at the time, as well as her father were both murdered. She told us how it had left a lasting effect on her. She couldn't take showers, she couldn't sleep very well and always thinks people are going to sneak up from behind. She explained that she survived because she didn't give up.
We lined up for The March. Thousands of people from all over the world. We started the 2 - 3 mile walk that our ancestors took. It was the very road on which so many of them had died. I was actually in Auschwitz. I couldn't believe it. As we exited Auschwitz and headed toward Birkenau, you could look ahead and behind and see the thousands of people marching.
As we got closer to Birkenau, I felt very scared. Birkenau was where I lost it. It was incredible. I saw all of the chimneys left over from the barracks. It was all that remained. The barbed wire fence was still there. I went up to it and grasped it in complete pain as I stared off into the sea of people. Tears were streaming down my face. I was sad and so angry at humanity.
05.01.92 11.55pm
Today we went back to Auschwitz-Birkenau. We visited many of the barracks that had been restored. We visited the crematoriums and gas chambers as well. Inside the gas chamber, you could make out finger nail scratches on the concrete walls. There was a small opening at the top where they would drop the canisters of Zyclon-B gas. I felt suffocated and terribly freaked out. The crematorium ovens were dark and dusty. There were ashes still in the ovens. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Hundreds of thousands of people likely died in a single oven.
Block 4 was where we saw the hair brushes, razors and other toiletries that were taken from the prisoners. There were so many! It was overwhelming and I got upset. We then went to Block 5, which was the most difficult of them all. I felt a huge lump form in my throat as I walked down a 50-75 foot hallway with a few tons of human hair on both sides of me. Much of it had been spun into cloth. This was the hair that was shaved from the prisoners' hair. I started crying again. The next room contained shoes and luggage. The number of people who died in this camp was becoming easier to actually comprehend.
The most difficult of all the blocks was the one where they did the medical experiments. It's said that the medical experiments that were done on the prisoners set Auschwitz apart from the other camps. Some of the most unbelievable and terrible things were done to prisoners. The photos on the walls made me sick to my stomach. They showed mainly women, starving to death, sterilized and tortured. I had to leave.
It is of vital importance that we, as human beings, remember those millions of people (6 million of them Jews) that died in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. We must never forget their struggles. It's also important to document survivors' stories. If you have relatives that survived, I urge you to speak with them. Their voices must be heard and their stories must be told. It is essential that future generations have these experiences to study. Most importantly, we must learn from this terrible human atrocity. If we don't examine how Hitler was able to rise to power and kill millions of people, then we are doomed. Sometimes I think that it's already too late. Until we can see past skin color, sex, age, sexual orientation and most especially religion, we will continue marching toward self destruction. When will we wake up to the fact that we are all one? I hope that I live to see such a day.
Did you get the new Chemical Brothers album today? No? Well, then at least pick up the new bootleg.
Check out Terry Gross' interview with Daily Show news correspondent, Stephen Colbert.
In going through the archives this afternoon, I found a screen grab of my first personal web site (circa 1998). That's me sitting on my old green pleather sofa with Holly in Kansas. A girl that I dated in college named Krista McGlohon(sp?) took the photo.
The year was 1996(?) and I was sitting in my home office in Lawrence, Kansas. I had just finished working and I was, of course, in front of my computer with a Connectix QuickCam pointed at me. I'm sure I had a cigarette in my mouth, my hair was platinum blonde and I was videoconferencing on CU-SeeMe with a bunch of online friends. Redboy was one of those friends and we were always talking about music, specifically of the electronic variety. There are a couple of albums I remember us talking about. One of them was Becoming X by Sneaker Pimps. Why am I waxing nostalgic about Sneaker Pimps? I was browsing some MP3 weblogs and found a site that posted "6 Underground," and it triggered a pretty vivid memory. I'm too lazy to paint the picture in its entirety, but it was fun to think about. It even motivated me to go through some of my archives and dig out some screen grabs.
In case you hadn't noticed, I stopped the script the was posting my del.icio.us bookmarks every night. They are now posted along the right side, toward the bottom of the page. It's not the prettiest solution, but it will have to do.
My brother has been working on a book over the last year and it's finally hitting the shelves in the next few weeks. If you are a poker player, you need this book. And he needs your money. Do us both a favor, won't you?
California is very fortunate to have such an amazing senator. When you read about all of the back slapping going on in politics, nothing is quite as refreshing as a strong political voice rising above it all. Enter my senator, Barbara Boxer. I have voted for her every time. An appearance at Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearing made me proud to be a constituent.
Dr. Rice, before I get to my formal remarks, you no doubt will be confirmed -- that's at least what we think. And if you're going to become the voice of diplomacy -- this is just a helpful point -- when Senator Voinovich mentioned the issue of tsunami relief, you said -- your first words were, "The tsunami was a wonderful opportunity for us."
Wow, that must've hurt a bit. And that was just her opening statement.