Guiding Light

Another Happy Owler night with the Chi Omega Girls at Don's Lighthouse in Lakewood.

I recommend the spinach artichoke dip!

Even though I don't like martinis

This spot in Tremont looks like it must be fun!

We dined down the street at Lolita - one of Iron Chef Michael Symon's properties in the Cleveland Area. The roasted dates with almonds, chillies, bacon, and parsley were a total hit.

You should totally go there and try them.

Now is fine - there's not another post until tomorrow!

Happy little owls

Happy Owler at The Three Birds in Lakewood with my Chi Omega sisters.

Try the citrus crab spring rolls - I didn't!

Total plate envy on the gal who did though...

I ordered the Maine lobster pizza - not so much!

Along The Mighty Missisip!

Yes - I did make it back from St Louis! Here are a sampling of some of the scenes and sights from my trip. Enjoy!

We are made to feel very welcome...

What shall we see while we're here?

They painted the town cardinal and straw just for us!

Every detail well planned and perfectly brought together.

The archives have our original pin on display...

As well as the loving cup.

My University of Toledo, Xi Delta sisters all in our ceremonial white.

East Side, West Side: Cleveland Rocks Baby!

Chi Omega has contributed over 3.8 million dollars and donated over 238,000 hours to Make a Wish since 2001

Our walking tour begins. Our guide a Missouri student orginally hails from Ohio! Small world... Follow the pennant!

Checking out the sights...

We stop to pose for a quick snapshot... thanks random stranger!

Molly is a good sport!

The city is a mix of new and old ...

Detailed frescos,

Lovely architecture,

Sculptures,

Remember Dred Scott? Got his own street now!

Local wildlife

Our trip to the arch is spoiled by a "dramatic pause"... a door won't open and we're unable to take our ride to the top.

So we shop! Sandy finds an owl - they're all about you know!

Then it's the return of the revelry parade...

...and I share the stage with sisters from California, Georgia, and Pennsylvania - what a blast!

Donations to the Owl Tree raised over $48,000 for the Chi Omega Foundation which supports our sisterhood in the areas of scholarship, leadership, communication, life choices, aid to sisters in crisis, and sustains our national headquarters and executive staff.

Checking out the nightlife, we had to meet for a quick Happy Owler with old friends.

We clean up pretty good!

Serenading the Governing Council...

So many lovely voices!

Next time I'm hitting the City Museum and the International Bowling Museum... But for today we're back to the Arch and up we go!

...and hit the top.

Some silly baseball stadium that's not the Indian's...There was a football field too, but it wasn't the Brown's or Packer's! How strange!

And the big city!

next to the mighty river,

um... we might be kinda high up!

Do you recognize these famous faces at the Museum of Western Expansion?

I'm a genuine Junior Ranger! Sworn in and everything!

Dipping my toe in the water... a bit high due to recent rains and flooding.

Everything I've learned and experienced this week has me walking tall as the Arch!

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis

I'm excited to say that I'm in St. Louis until Tuesday at my Chi Omega Women's Fraternity convention. We flew out of Cleveland Airport so you are treated to a snap of the fabulous paper airplane sculptures on the way to Terminal D. Always love to see them!

This event is SO AWESOME! My first very first one and I am learning so much about how to be a great advisor for my collegiate chapter back in Cleveland. Hoot! Hoot! I speak owl sisters!

Bad news - no more posts until I get back...

Good News - my camera is HOT and I will have fun shots of the city!

Blog with you soon!

Founder's Day

Got together with some of my Chi Omega sisters at the Cleveland Chop House today for our annual Founder's Day Luncheon. It is one of the times throughout the year where "Actives" and "Alumnae" gather together. Had a great meal and wonderful conversation. Our collegiate scholarship winners were announced for the Cleveland area. One of our sisters spoke with us about the Make A Wish Organization, which is our philanthropy. We are getting ready for the "Walk For Wishes" at the end of June - More details on that to come!

Here are the folks from my table....

I won the door prize too! A beautiful mum for the garden (If it will stay alive inside until it's safe to plant!)

Still Celebrating the Wearing of the Green

The Chi Omega girls got together tonight for a belated St. Patty's day celebration at Claddagh Irish Pub. Great food - Great Company!

Can I just tell you how much I enjoy getting together with these ladies. Each of them is so very special and always has something to share and to teach each of us. We talk about so many different things, some serious, but often the laughter is the main thing!

As per usual, we had delightful - I mean frightful weather! Considering it was to be the first of Spring within hours, the snow really was not necessary! Lucky for us we had the table next to the fire and it was wonderful and warm, just like the people with me

I highly recommend the Spinach and Artichoke Dip offered there... it was scrumptious! And my Blue Moon Draft was pretty good too!

Hope you all celebrated well and safely too this week - here's a toast to you all~

Go raibh do ghloine lán go deo.

Go raibh láidir go breáan dion thar do cheann.

Go raibh tú í Neamh,leathúair os comhaira bhfuil a fhíos ag an diabhalatá tú bás.

May your glass be ever full.

May the roof over your head be always strong.

May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Film Festival 2008

Had the pleasure of attending the 32nd Annual Cleveland International Film Festival again this year. Although I was only able to screen one film - it was a good one. After sharing dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe at Tower City Center, we moved into our seats at the cinemas and began our movie. The theme this year was "HOW WILL IT CHANGE YOU?" and the movie we picked certainly did it's best to inspire that question. We chose to watch TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI'S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA. This documentary follows Dr. Orbinski's travels back to Rawanda and Somalia where he worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which you may also know as Doctors Without Borders. The movie was heart wrenching and thought provoking to say the least. In fact if you chose to skip this post - I understand. You may not be ready to be changed.

We started off in Baidoa, Somalia where the MSF worked to feed the famine victims in 1992-1993. This was during the time that most humanitarian groups had left the area.... if you remember the period or perhaps the movie Black Hawk Down, then you remember that most outsiders were in no way welcome in the area. Dr. Orbinski spoke of the silence of the famine. The people did not ask or beg for food, they did not cry out - they just stared beyond hope. Using the energy they had remaining they struggled to survive long enough to get themselves or their children to what little food was available. The famine itself created almost entirely by the waring factions of their own people. Warlords accepting the food and hoarding it for themselves, or trading it for guns or drugs to continue the fighting. Fighting for what? Some slim perception of power over the "other". If you have the bigger gun? You win. He described an incident where they were on the road delivering supplies in a clearly marked vehicle, when they were stopped. Their friend and driver told them to climb under the vehicle and only secured their escape by showing that day he had the bigger gun.

From Lancet, 1993, 1993 Apr 10;341(8850):935-8: Famine and civil war have resulted in high mortality rates and large population displacements in Somalia. To assess mortality rates and risk factors for mortality, the authors carried out surveys in the central Somali towns of Afgoi and Baidoa in November and December 1992. In Baidoa, the authors surveyed displaced persons living in camps; the average daily crude mortality rate was 16.8 (95% CI 14.6-19.1) per 10,000 population during the 232 days before the survey. An estimated 74% of children under 5 years living in displaced persons camps died during this period. In Afgoi, where both displaced and resident populations were surveyed, the crude mortality rate was 4.7 (3.9-5.5) deaths/10,000/day. Although mortality rates for all displaced persons were high, people living in temporary camps were at highest risk of death. As in other famine-related disasters, preventable infectious diseases such as measles and diarrhea were the primary causes of death in both towns. These mortality rates are among the highest documented for a civilian population over a long period.

Foolishness.

After leaving there, his work carried him the Rawanda in the height of the troubles of 1994. He spoke of working to save the lives of people horrifically damaged by their countrymen. Genocide is such an ugly prospect. War of any type is I suppose, but if your warriors face off against my warriors at least there is an agreed upon plan. There is the Geneva Convention. Even if you play fast and loose with the rules as some say we have been, the core of it is still there. You do not hack to pieces a mother and her child with a machete just because their identity card says Tutsi instead of Hutu. A brief history of the region: Rawanda is under Belgian rule prior to 1962 and the Tutsi people were the aristocratic minority, dominating the Hutu peasants. After independence from Belgium, the Hutu majority takes power, violently oppress the Tutsi 2000,000 of whom flee the country. They form an army and invade Rawanda attempting to rule along side the Hutu. This works for a very brief period until chaos ensues and the genocide begins. 800,000 Tutsi are killed by the end of July 1994. The U.N. Security Council votes unanimously to abandon Rawanda. The killing is only stopped by Tutsi rebels invading from other countries. The US does not assist presumably due to the earlier incidents in Somalia in which US troops were tortured.

More foolishness.

They describe Dr. Orbinski as a man with both the deepest optimism and the deepest cynicism. After seeing what he's seen - how could he exist otherwise?

Yes - I think this movie changed me.

I don't think it says much for me that rather than stay for the panel discussion, we went to the Ritz to have drinks instead. I just couldn't take in any more. Apparently having a nice meal and then watching a movie was too much. How do we continue to go about or normal, American, isolationist, self-entitled, gluttonous lives after seeing even 88 minutes of this horror.

I am still trying to decide how to make changes in my own life which could possibly be relevant to changing a world which is capable of such horror. We let it happen, and mostly stood by. It continues in other disguises today throughout the globe.

Dr. Orbinski is no longer with MSF, but has co-founded another organisation, Dignitas International. If all else fails, as Americans we could at least throw money at them right?