Lost Keys + Lost Notebook = SADNESS

I am back from Boston and overwhelmed with trying to recover from such an exhausting weekend and homework. I like the city of Boston a lot. It is beautiful. The Amnesty International conference was not as big or impressive as I had expected compared to the other two conferences I had been too, but it was still interesting. The author of the recent book about Child Soldiers was there. His name was Israel something, but he has been on late night television quite a bit recently. There were also some professors from Harvard, one of which that had just been released from prison in China thanks to Amnesty International. His speech was very moving and both he and his wife started crying when he was up there. It was beautiful. I also went to a breakout session on Indigenous Women and the severe problem of domestic violence. I also went to one on how terrible it is that the US is the only developed nation that hasn’t signed CEDAW declaring women’s equal rights. I learned about the Umbrella campaign they are working on at Amnesty, which is a picture petition. I was taught how to start the petition at my own school, but we had an unfortunate event happen. It was pouring rain after our last session of the conference so the president of our group offered to put our folders in his backpack. I put my folder with all of my materials from the conference in there as well as my notebook. When he was at one of the several bars he went to the last night, he claims the bag was stolen. I want to be angry about it, but he lost more than anyone else. His i-pod was in there and a new book he had bought. I am thankful I didn’t lose anything of materialistic value since I spent a lot of money in Boston and I have to pay $40 for my lost keys. I am going to spend one more day looking for them tomorrow, but things are not looking good. I am most upset about losing my notebook though. I had a year’s worth of writing. It was going to be the first notebook I filled up. I was so close to having it finished. I lost my journals from falling into depression as well as climbing out of it. I lost all of my first drafts and brainstorming of things in the past years. I am most upset about losing my journals from New Orleans and when the kids from Pine Ridge were here. I will never be able to look back on those times again. It feels like I lost something valuable even though it was a notebook that was so crappy it had duct tape on it to keep it together.

I am almost finished reading Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar.” She is crazy as hell, but it is very well written. I have been enjoying it a great deal.

I am feeling stressed about working on my schedule for next semester. I just don’t know which classes I should take in addition to the three I am certain about. I just don’t want to be stuck here for more than four years, because I can’t afford to be. I worry I will if I am not efficient enough with scheduling. I am off to study for an exam I have tomorrow. I am killing time at the library like I do so well.