What Happens When People Care

Call me a sucker for a happy ending, but I burst into joyful tears when I saw this photo and e-vite from my friends J&K, a couple with hearts bigger than Texas. It was an invitation to celebrate an adoption of two children they aren't related to and whom they could have felt sorry for, written a check, and moved on. But they didn't.

(That's a photo of Victor and Vanessa with their adoptive parents, and the judge who made it official.)

My friends J&K were able to see the bigger picture that these two children faced, put aside their daily concerns and stretch the boundaries of their good will, patience and budget to give the kids a fighting chance at life.

J&K both have busy careers, two young sons with full schedules of Little League and school activities, a house to maintain, interests and hobbies of their own...... But when their longtime nanny was run down and killed in a crosswalk on Coast Highway in October 2005 by an inattentive lady in her big SUV, J&K (I suspect they'd rather I didn't use their names) saw the handwriting on the wall for these two, then ages 3 and 8, and recognized a harsh and uncertain future for them.

With the children destined to end up in foster care and with no guarantee that they would be kept together, J&K took them into their home for nine months as temporary foster parents. An optimistic and cheerful couple, I know this move was a big drain on their emotional and financial resources and a strain on the family unit, but to them it was never a question. They patiently facilitated the eventual movement of the children to another foster home of a generous family with financial resources, a similar ethnic background and a fervent desire for more children to love. That foster family officially adopted Victor and Vanessa on April 16th.

I'll happily attend that party, grateful for the opportunity to know J&K and to have observed the real "Secret" -- that we are here to help each other even -- perhaps especially -- if it takes us outside our comfort zone. That they cared enough to go to bat for the futures of Victor and Vanessa demonstrates that bravery comes in many forms, and sometimes it lives quietly just down the street.

Got Extra Babysugar?

A few weeks ago, some friends and I threw some $20 bills into a kitty and became investors in a mini-mart in Ghana, a clothing shop in Azerbaijan, and two retail establishments in Samoa. (That's a photo of Patience Baah, mother of two, in her food shop in Ghana. She's about to expand it to create a dining area for her customers.)

We are microlenders through an organization called Kiva. (www.kiva.org). Micro-lending makes small loans to poor people to start or expand businesses and build better lives for themselves. The loans are almost always repaid. On the Kiva website, you can browse, find a project that interests you and make a loan of $25 or more. When enough lenders sign up for a particular project, the loan is funded, going through existing grass-roots organizations in the region that manage the loans, disbursing and collecting repayments. They report back on the borrower's progress via the easy-to-use Kiva web site.

Samoan shopkeeper Moevao Nuutasi requested an $800 loan "to purchase soda, snacks, soaps, mutton flaps, turkey tails, and chicken" for her shop, Victory Mini-Mart. She has begun paying it back; my friends and I will likely reinvest in another loan.

On the Kiva website, you can create a profile. My favorite profile is of a co-lender, Natalie. Occupation: baby. Why does she lend? "I've got extra babysugar!"

So do I, Natalie. Let's put it to good use and buy some turkey tails and mutton flaps.

***********

Want to learn more about microlending through kiva.org? Check out New York TImes reporter Nicholas Kristof's video of a surprise visit he made to his business partner, a baker in Kabul, Afghanistan (simply cut and paste this link into your browser):
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=FEEDROOM186917

Just Shoot Me

By now you've read and heard the rather bizarre story about the two shooting deaths at the Montage. All the facts aren't being reported yet, and the identities and details of the two dead, a couple apparently involved in an altercation, have not been released.

But after last week in Blacksburg, Va., and this weird event...
Can we talk about guns?
Do we really want everyone to have the right to bear arms? Other "first-world" nations think we're totally nuts to allow citizens to have handguns and semiautomatic weapons. Are they right?
What do you think?

Photo of the Week

Tip o' the hat to the NY Times and Code Pink

Bottled Water: What a Waste

That's the title of the article I pasted below here, posted on www.treehugger.com via Common Dreams. I just HAD to poke around on the Web after having a decadent day at Spa Montage, where upon check-in you get a fluffy towel and a cute little bottle of Fiji brand bottled water. Pretty label, I thought, but it can't possibly be from....what the - oh, yes it is! Which led to finding this item:

1.5 million barrels of oil in the US alone are used to make water bottles from polyethylene terephthalate, 86% of which are landfilled or incinerated. Often it is shipped long distances, like the 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water sent 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) to Saudi Arabia, or the popular Fiji water found in the U.S. and Canada. ''Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing--producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy,'' said Earth Policy Institute researcher Emily Arnold. ''Although in the industrial world bottled water is often no healthier than tap water, it can cost up to 10,000 times more.'' Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water must be transported long distances--and nearly one-fourth of it across national borders--by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This ''involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels,'' Arnold said. It's time to buy a Nalgene and refill it rather than tossing empties. ::Common Dreams

The Lagunan here again --
I would urge you to rethink your use of bottled water in general, and of Fij water in particular. Maybe Spa Montage doesn't deserve a letter-writing campaign over this, but it might be worth bringing up with management. What good is all the chatter and ink about eating locally produced foods and going green if we're foolish enough to ship drinking water over from Fiji and Finland and put it into non-biodegradable plastic bottles from China that end up in our landfills? We have perfectly potable tap water here, unlike so many worldwide. A "Nalgene" suggested above is a tough, long-lasting plastic bottle campers use -- but still plastic. If you don't care for the taste of tap, get a reverse osmosis system, fill up a stainless steel drinking bottle, you're good to go for a long, long time without using a drop of polyethylene terephthalate. (Just remember: frequent hot soapy water!). Comments?

Stick it right here, Laguna!

Laguna Beach is full of big-hearted people doing interesting, helpful, community- and world-enhancing activities. This blog is meant to highlight the many causes, events, and ideas that deserve attention from other Laguna locals that don't make it into the INDY, The COASTLINE-PILOT or the NEWS-POST. And it's a thumb in the eye of all things MTV show-related; we are secure in the knowledge that we aren't actually remotely similar to the the way we're portrayed, so let's not protest too much and just get on with all the positive aspects worth spending our time on.

If you're like me, you get all excited or riled up about an idea or opinion but daily life gets in the way of sending an e-mail blast or a letter to the editor. That, and I start to worry about annoying the long-suffering people in my address book with multiple e-mails that they may or may not care about. And I'd feel a bit silly directing anyone to a myspace page -- isn't that more for the young 'uns? With this blog, you can peruse the offerings and pay attention to whatever you want -- and ask questions, respond, sound off, or pass along information and ideas.

We'll use this as a place to post items of interest; let's make it our big, electronic cork board. Send me your stuff, and with minimal parsing, I will post it (although I reserve the right to edit/endorse/disallow items - hey, it was my idea!). The more complete your item -- with basic who, what, when, where, why, how much -- the better and more likely it is to get posted. If it needs a lot of work, I'll probably just dump it. Stuff that's already being highly promoted in the community may not get a lot of attention here. Those are a few ground rules; I'll probably make up more as we go.

In concept, THE LAGUNAN will help inform and direct anyone who wants to lead their Laguna life a bit richer and connected to the community. When I first moved to Laguna Beach 16 years ago, it would have been a great boon to know about the many unpublished, word-of-mouth local activities, businesses and organizations related to art, politics, families, music, film, neighborhoods, schools, grass-roots philanthropy opportunities and whatever else brings people together and forms the glue of a true community.

I crave that kind of connection and neighborliness; maybe you do, too. The Web makes it so easy. Here it is in its embryonic stage. Let's have a go and see where it takes us.

Love,

THE LAGUNAN

Evonne's Brainwave: Boutique Benefit May 12

My friend Evonne had a brainwave last holiday season.

While most of us were downing See's candy by the boxful and knocking back glögg, Evonne was helping feed homeless people down at the Presbyterian Church. This led to her sorting and organizing clothing donations at the Laguna Resource Center (a.k.a. the Laguna Relief and Resource Coalition www.lagunarelief.org).

And now she's gone and done it -- she's spending her days and nights prepping for the first-ever BOUTIQUE BENEFIT on Saturday, May 12 from 8:30 to 3 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church.

Many of Laguna's best boutiques have donated brand-new items to the sale, and through word-of-mouth appeals, dozens of spring cleanings in local households have turned up hundreds more gently-used donated items. The sale of these items -- clothes, accessories, shoes, handbags, jewelry, small decoratives -- will raise funds for the Laguna Resource Center.

Evonne is running out of space to store all the goodies, so if you have some room she can borrow for a few weeks, please get in touch with her at 949-661-1236.

Thanks for your fine example, Evonne! My closet is emptier (at the moment) for it, and your place in heaven is assured.