What can you buy for five dollars?

This website has people around the word participate in sending photos of what they could purchase with five dollars. It's pretty cool. Check it out!

http://fivedollarcomparison.org/

The Mask

The Mask

A mask of plastic happiness often covers her sadness.

Her beliefs hidden from most.

Afraid of, but willing to face the unknown.

Wondering where her place is in this life.

She has come close to sharing herself

Never completely revealing anything to anyone

Feelings of invisible chains corner her

When she dreams, reality shatters before her very eyes

Accomplishments she strives for just at hands grasp

She feels lost sometimes, not yet finding her notch in this world

At times the glimmer in her calm eyes slowly disappears

But within her heart a silent flame burns her inside and out

She roams day by day, playing roles

Strength unknowingly resides in her

History repeats itself once again

The translucent veil she so proudly wears

Little by little answers will come, pushing it aside

One day there will be no more mask for her to wear

One day her beliefs will be known

One day she'll know her place in this life

One day she will share herself.

Onw day this mask will be no more

-Author Anonymous

“The Universe is a great dream room”

Photographer: Duane Micheals

"Things are Queer"

Photographer: Sandy Skoglund

Walking on Eggshells is an amazing picture.

Old Poem

Expressed Projection

Rewind, Unwind
To a time where words did not rhyme
Why did you knock?
You weren’t scheduled on my clock.
For love to my heart is just a mock.
Are you blind?
My heart is as hard as a rock.

By: Paula, 2005

The Persistence of Memory

24th District: Rogers Park

According to Chicago Municipal Code in certain Districts, " No person 12 or more years of age shall ride a bicycle upon any sidewalk,violators are subject to arrest." Rogers Park is a participating district in which you see a lot of these signs posted.

As a Resident of Rogers Park, I am fully aware of the open drug market on Morse street. There are probably a ton of drug corners other than this one, but I will use this one for the purpose of example. Living in this area I noticed that a lot of the dealers use bicycles to make their transactions. There are usually two dealers on bikes, three hanging out in front of the Golden Mini-Mart. They've spot a buyer, a bike courier drives up and picks up the product from the holder and whisks off to make the transaction.

I looked up at the sign today and finally put two and two together. For a lot of cops it is difficult to even have reasonable suspicion to stop these dealers, having the "no bicycle on sidewalk law", enables cops to bypass the law. They can stop the individual on the basis of illegally bike riding on the sidewalk, this allows them to "Stop and Frisk" therefore giving the cop plenty of probable cause.

Sure this helps cops catch our bad guys, but how many other laws or codes are targeted at helping law enforcement bypass our fundamental rights, like our right against unlawful search and seizures.

Laugh of the Day

A burglar was sneaking through the living room of a house, looking for the DVD player, when all of a sudden he hears a voice saying: "Jesus sees you!" Startled, the burglar hides behind a curtain; when everything stays quiet, he appears from behind the curtain, only to hear again: "Jesus sees you!" This time the burglar switches on his flashlight and investigates, only to find a parrot in a cage. "Jesus sees you!" the parrot says. "A talking parrot." the burglar says, "Hello parrot. What is your name?" he asks. "Moses!" the parrot answers. "Moses!" "That's funny, what kind of people calls their parrot Moses?" To which the parrot replies: "The same people that call their Rottweiler Jesus!"